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Kindle Touch – Review

Richard — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:03:46 +0000

The Kindle Touch is the second of Amazon’s newest fourth generation e-ink based ereaders and the first Kindle to come with a touchscreen. The launch of the Kindle Touch was somewhat eclipsed by the simultaneous launch of the Kindle Fire, which is too bad as the Touch is a nice ereader with some new features. I am, however, puzzled by some of the features Amazon left out of the Kindle Touch — features without which the Kindle Touch will be unacceptable for some users.

The Kindle Keyboard has been my favorite ereader for awhile, though I have been eagerly waiting for Amazon to release a Kindle with a touchscreen to replace the 5-way controller. I was a bit disappointed with the basic Kindle, but the Kindle Touch has handily replaced the Keyboard as my main ereader.

The Kindle Touch is a little smaller and about an ounce lighter than the Kindle 3. It has a more squarish shape and is a two-tone silver and gray. Holding and using Amazon’s new ereader comfortably in one hand did take some getting used to for me. However, I have got a cover for my Kindle Touch (more on that later) that helps it to be very comfortable and ergonomic to use.

Like the basic Kindle, the Kindle Touch comes with only a USB cable. If you want the AC power adapteryou can purchase it separately from Amazon for $15; otherwise you will need to charge the ereader by connecting it to your computer’s USB port.

Amazon uses the same IR touchscreen technology from Neonode that B&N, Kobo and Sony use in their ereaders. Amazon differentiates its touchscreen from those of other purveyors of zForce equipped ebook readers by branding the tap zone layout on the Touch. EasyReach divides the touchscreen into three zones that are designed for tapping rather than swiping: Tap anywhere on most of the screen to turn pages forward; a narrow strip along the left edge of the screen turns pages back and a tap on the top edge brings up the reading tools. I’ve found this arrangement to work very well if you tap rather than swipe the screen to turn pages.

I much prefer using a touchscreen to turn pages rather than hard buttons. But every device I’ve used, including the Kindle Touch, occasionally misinterprets my swipes and turns the page back instead of forward. Maybe I’m just a bad swiper. EasyReach still permits users to swipe either direction to turn pages anywhere on the screen, but I have gotten used to just tapping out my page turns on the Kindle Touch and it has become very comfortable with no mistaken backward page turns.

By default the e-ink display of the Kindle Touch does a complete refresh with every sixth page turn. There is a setting that can be changed by the user to do a complete refresh with each new page. When the intermittent refresh option is selected page turns are very smooth, although there is noticeable ghosting. Personally, I would rather put up with the faint ghosts of pages past than the black flash that ushers in each new page on older e-ink based ereaders.

X-Ray is a new ereading tool from Amazon that makes its debut in the Kindle Touch. This lets you easily find passages across a book that mention particular characters, places and topics. This can be really useful for reference purposes or even if you just forget who a particular character is. If you tap a character’s name in the X-Ray panel all of the mentions of that particular character in the book (or in some cases you can also confine the results to a page or chapter) are listed in chronological order. The X-Ray feature is not available for all Kindle books.

Another useful feature is being able to zoom into images. To do this one taps and holds an image to display a magnifying glass icon. This is useful not only for illustrations but for charts and graphs, which can sometimes be difficult to read in ebooks.

When viewing PDF files pinch-to-zoom is enabled and you pan around the page easily enough by dragging it, but the experience is not as smooth as on some other ereaders. You can double tap a page to make it fit to the width of the screen. ~~You cannot make notes or highlights on PDFs and~~ for some reason Amazon has elected to not give the Kindle Touch a landscape viewing ability; so this is not an ereader I would recommend for more than just very light and occasional PDF reading — at least until and unless Amazon adds some more capabilities to it. It is odd that the basic Kindle has these features while the Kindle Touch does not.

Update: When I wrote this I was unable to make notes or highlights on PDFs, but it does work now. While my Kindle Touch was suffering from the glitch described below many features were laggy and strange — I think I forgot to try again after my Kindle was working properly.

Update 4/11/2012: Software update v5.1.0 has added landscape mode and the pan and zoom seems to work much more smoothly as well. This update has made the Kindle Touch a much more useful ereader for use with PDFs.

The Kindle Touch has audio capabilities, and can be used for playing MP3s or text-to-speech. The Kindle MP3 player is still ‘experimental’ and only plays tracks in the order they were added to the device. There is a built-in player for audiobooks from Audible.com.

I’ve only experienced one glitch with my Kindle Touch, but it was a rather bizarre one. While visiting the Kindle Store from the Touch for the first time the ereader became increasingly laggy and the touchscreen unresponsive until it finally crashed back to the home screen. After this when I tried to visit the Kindle Store, launch the web browser or tap on a Special Offer I would get an error message telling me that the app could not be launched. Overall performance of the Touch also became much slower than it was before the event.

I tried rebooting with no effect, but Amazon CS had me reboot while the ereader was charging and this seemed to do the trick. It seems this was the first time CS had heard of this problem, which apparently was caused by some sort of Kindle Store update that failed to install correctly when I connected to the store that first time.

On the whole, I am happy with the Kindle Touch. I really would recommend it over the basic Kindle, which is only $20 cheaper. That additional $20 buys you quite a lot. If your main focus is reading Kindle books, this is a good ereader. The Kindle Touch will not be a good choice if you need to view PDF files, at least unless Amazon adds a landscape mode and improves the PDF reader. I would recommend the Kindle Keyboard if you need better PDF capability.

The Kindle Touch is available with Special Offers in both a Wi-Fi versionfor $99 and a free 3G + Wi-Fi modelfor $149. Without the Special Offers the Kindle Touch will cost $30-$40 more.

The trend with the latest Kindle hardware seems to be devices that break new pricing barriers while not being quite as well-spec’d and polished as the competition but compensate for this by being backed up by the strongest ereading platform and biggest ebookstore. The Kindle Touch is no exception. It does not look as good to me or feel as good in my hands (when unadorned by a cover anyway) as does the Nook Simple Touch. Navigation and reading tools on the Nook also sometimes seem more polished. Nevertheless, even though I have both ereaders, I continue to buy the vast majority of my ebooks from the Kindle Store and my new Kindle continues to get way more use than my Nook ST.

I have purchased a cover for my Kindle Touch that has proven to be more than just another suit of ereader armor — with the addition of this cover my Kindle Touch has become much more ergonomic and pleasant to use. I show the cover briefly at the end of my video review of the Kindle Touch below and in the covers and cases section after the video.

Covers & Cases for the Kindle Touch

There are a goodly number of covers available already for the Kindle Touch to choose from. I’ll start with the case I purchased, which I show at the end of my video review.

The Timbuk2 Dinner Jacket has a fabric exterior and is available in several colors — I have the black one. It is attractive and light weight, and seems to be of quite good construction. There is a zipper pocket on the outside that will hold an ID or folded up papers. The front cover has a stiffener sewn inside to protect the ereader screen. Inside the front cover is a strap that, when the front cover is folded back, you can slide your fingers through. This makes for a very secure and comfortable way to hold the Kindle Touch (or the basic Kindle) in one hand.

This cover not only looks good and protects my Kindle Touch, but it has also made it much more comfortable to hold and use. Currently this cover is priced at $35 at Amazon. I will say that this is one of the best ereader covers I’ve come across so far.

Another case that gets very good user reviews and which I almost bought is the JIVO Kindle Case. This one features a pebbled leather exterior and gives the Kindle a book-like look. JIVO makes these in a variety of colorsfor $35.

Verso makes a series of covers that are designed to be a one-size-fits-all solution for a variety of ereaders, including the Kindle Touch and the Kindle Fire. I have one of the Verso Artist Seriescovers for my Kindle Keyboard (see my review) and I put the Kindle Touch into it to check the fit. As you can see in the photo below it works well. The Touch is a little smaller than the Kindle Keyboard, so there is a wider margin around the ereader, but it is held quite securely. These are well-made attractive covers and work nicely with the Kindle Touch.

I prefer the bezel of my ereaders to be of a darker color (increases the perceived contrast of the screen) than Amazon chose to use for the fourth generation of Kindles and to that end I’ve ordered a dark skin for my Touch. DecalGirl, GelaSkins, and Skinit all have skins available for the Kindle Touch. GelaSkins has some very intriguing artwork from over 100 artists and also lets you upload your own pictures to be turned into device skins. Skinit is the place to go for collegiate, sports and popular entertainment themed skins.

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Kindle DX 2 – PDF

Richard — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:54:28 +0000

I’ve just made a video of viewing a PDF file on the latest generation Kindle DX (Kindle DX 2). The Kindle DX is the best e-ink based ereader I’ve seen so far for handling PDF files.

With its larger screen, in many cases zooming in will not be required – especially with the magnification that the landscape mode provides.

I’m really happy with the Kindle DX. I do find that I like reading on a larger screen, but in my case I mostly use my ereaders at home, so portability is not really an issue for me.

It is rather suspicious that Amazon is out of stock of the Kindle DX for several weeks. Is a new DX incoming? If so, I imagine more than a few people who purchased the “latest generation” Kindle DX will be unhappy that their generation was so short-lived.

If Amazon is about to release a new Kindle DX 3 it will probably have only incremental improvements. There will no doubt be a Wi-Fi only version that will cost less, and the PDF handling improvements introduced with the Kindle 3 (contrast adjustment, annotations and dictionary lookup on non-scanned PDFs) will also be included.

Hopefully the better PDF handling features can be ported over to the Kindle DX 2 as well – this should only be a matter of a software update.

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Sharper Image Branded Literati eReader

Richard — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:50:15 +0000

There is word of yet another lower priced LCD ereader. This one is called the Literati and carries The Sharper Image branding while being supplied by MerchSource.

MerchSource is a California-based company that specializes in the design, development, and production of consumer products to companies such as The Sharper Image, JCPenney, CVS, Rite Aid and others. A lot of the company’s prior efforts seem to have been directed at toys and games, but there are a wide range of products in the MerchSource bag of tricks. Yes, MerchSource also has a few digital picture frames to its credit.

The Literati has a 7-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 and is limited to reading books and other printed content. There is no web browser, no games or video. Input is via the keyboard at the bottom of the device – no touchscreen here. The ereading software is by Kobo, and you can use the Wi-Fi connection to buy books from Kobo.

The Literati comes with a cover and will cost $159. There will be two colors – white or a black model with silver keyboard. The Literati comes preloaded with 25 public domain titles and a coupon that will let you download another 125 pre-selected public domain titles free.

Beginning in October the new ereader will be sold in the usual places: Bed, Bath and Beyond, Kohl’s, Best Buy, etc. The press release says that the Literati will be available in 7,000 stores, so this one should be pretty easy to find.

"The majority of eReaders available today are either too expensive with too many features, or the manufacturer has slashed key functionality and overall device quality to lower the price," said Kirk McLean, co-founder of MerchSource, the company that designed and distributes the Literati under trademark license from The Sharper Image. "We designed the Literati from the inside out — starting with the bookstore — to give booklovers exactly what they wanted: a simple, dedicated device that lets them get right to the book."

I would say that the Literati is going to have a hard time at this price. It is being presented as an inexpensive and simple ereader that “bypasses high prices and feature bloat, offering instead an affordable, stylish and simple device for those who just want to read.” Yet it is more expensive than the Kindle 3 Wi-Fi, which has way more features and with its e-ink screen will be much better for those “who just want to read.”

Well, you say, but it has a color display. True, true – it does have a color screen. That should come in really handy for reading all of those color ebooks over at Kobo.

There are a number of other color LCD ereaders available at around the same price range; some for more, some for less. Most of them have at least a semblance of multifunctionality.

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Kogan eReader

Richard — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:01:50 +0000

This is a new ereader for the Australian market. The Kogan ebook reader sports a 6-inch e-ink screen and is Linux based. Some of the other features:

e-ink display: 800 x 600 resolution; 16 grayscales
Ram: 64 MB DDR2
Battery life: 10,000 page turns
Internal memory: 2GB
SDHC card slot (up to 32 GB)
eBook formats: PDF, CHM, EPUB, TXT, HTM, HTML, RTF, PDB, DJVU, DJV, IW44, IW4, FB2, OEB, PRC, MOBI, TCR, OPF; Adobe Digital Editions
Language support: English, Italian, French, Russian, Dutch and German
5 font sizes
Comes pre-loaded with over 1,500 classic books – including Australian titles

A leather cover, earphones and USB cable/charger are included, as is a one-year warranty (looks like the warranty on the items Kogan sells is only good in Australia).

The Kogan ereader is expected to ship towards the end of next month at a price of $189 AUD (about $165 USD) with free shipping. Kogan is taking pre-orders now.

This looks like a rebranded ereader made by ~~China-based Acuce Co. (model number CL-EBK007), if I’m not mistaken~~. Edit: Oops! Acuce is a distributer, this ereader is from Gajah International.

Kogan Technologies is an online only consumer electronics retailer based in Melbourne. The company was founded by Ruslan Kogan in 2003 while he was still in university, which appears to be a bit of an interesting story.

via itwire

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Barnes and Noble Gift Cards Will be Usable for eBook Purchases

Richard — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:03:01 +0000

I have speculated before that after the holidays there may well be a number of nook ereader owners that are disgruntled with the Barnes and Noble ebook store, leading to some backlash if B&N doesn’t fix some of the problems. There is already some evidence of this in the B & N forums, and the nook is not even out yet.

Barnes and Noble apparently found yet another way to antagonize their customers – gift cards are not usable for purchasing ebooks at this time. This means that if you gift a nook ereader and wish to add a gift card for the purpose of stocking it with reading material it won’t work for that. There are some reports that B&N salesclerks are not aware of this and are cheerily suggesting gift cards to go along with your nook ereader gift.

Barnes and Noble has heard the complaints, and has announced that beginning in mid-December gift cards and online gift certificates will be allowed for the purchase of ebooks either online or through the nook ereader and on other devices using B&N’s eReader software.

That’s one problem solved; now if they can do something about their ebook pricing and the inferior selection of non-public domain titles offered in their ebook store.

Barnes and Noble also announced that their ebook store will be available in Canada around the first of December. At the present time the nook ereader is not available in Canada, but if you do have a nook in Canada you will be able to sync it with your B&N eBook library on your computer or access their ebook store via Wi-Fi. Canada is still a glaring omission in the Kindle ereader’s international coverage, though Amazon is working on this.

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Barnes & Noble eBook Store

Richard — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:00:17 +0000

This week Barnes and Noble launched its new ebook store which is said to contain 700,000 titles. This number includes approximately 500,000 free public domain titles available through Google Books. Next year Plastic Logic’s ebook reader will hit the market and Barnes & Noble will be supporting it with their ebookstore.

By using Barnes & Noble’s reader software the ebooks are currently readable on Mac and Windows computers, iPhones and iPod Touches and several PDA phones.

There is a thoughtful article about Barnes & Noble’s new ebook service in the Washington Post, where it gets a mixed review; and some also interesting follow-up thoughts at TeleRead concerning DRM.

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It’s an Orwellian World

Richard — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:10:58 +0000

This week Kindle owners were shocked to learn that certain titles by George Orwell had been disappeared from their Kindles, and their accounts refunded the amounts paid for the titles. What apparently happened is that Amazon got a hold of unauthorized additions of some of Orwell’s titles and when the mistake was discovered, Amazon’s system automatically removed the ebooks from purchaser’s Kindles via the wireless connection. It’s kind of fitting that Amazon should choose a title such as 1984 to introduce us to the dark side of the Wispernet.

Because of the outrage this incident has caused, Amazon has said that in the future it will not just automatically remove purchased books from Kindles if a similar situation arises.

* * *

Mobile is reporting that Amazon is close to finalizing a launch date for the Kindle in the UK, presumably in time for Christmas. Agreements with book publishers have already been finalized, and negotiations with a mobile operator and with newspaper and magazine publishers are in progress, according to the article.

* * *

FreeHand Systems, a global leader in digital sheet music publishing, has announced that its Novato Music Press catalog of over 20,000 classical, traditional and American music titles is now available for the Kindle.

“This is a wonderful boon to musicians who want instant access to a vast library of in-demand sheet music,” said Kim Lorz, CEO of FreeHand Systems, Inc. “In addition to the convenient and comprehensive content selection that we offer, musicians never have to fumble through paper scores or worry about forgetting a piece of music. Everything is wirelessly downloaded and stored in the Kindle and is available for easy recall.”

This is the first time such a comprehensive collection of sheet music has been made available on an ebook reader. FreeHand Systems’ goal is to make all of their more than 130,000 titles available for the Kindle.

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A Busy Week for eBook Readers

Richard — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:00:36 +0000

This has been one busy week for ebooks and related news. Perhaps most welcome was the announcement by Amazon that it was lowering the price of the Kindle 2. Does this herald a round of price cuts by other ebook reader manufacturers? So far not, at least as far as I can find. Is it possible that the purchase of E-Ink last month by Prime View International has resulted in lower manufacturing costs? If so, other ereader makers may be able to lower their prices as well. Prior to this price cut, the Bebook at $279, or the more basic but quite functional Cool-er reader at $249 were good alternatives if one didn’t want to spend $359 for a Kindle 2. But at $299 with its wireless connectivity, the Kindle 2 is now the clear winner.

In other news, Amazon was reported as having patents for a method of including advertising on an ebook reader device. This would, if implemented, have some pretty obvious pros and cons: for one thing, advertising could subsidize the price of readers and/or ebooks. On the other hand, if not implemented correctly, it could be very annoying. I would at least hope that a choice would be offered to consumers: cheaper products with ads, or pay more for ad-free. You can read more about this at www.mediapost.com and www.geek.com.

A new ebook reader was introduced in the UK. The Elonex eBook 600EB is made by Elonex for Borders. It comes preloaded with 100 classic ebooks and sudoku. There is an SD card slot, and the device comes with a one year guarantee. This reader seems to be pretty basic but functional and its main competition will probably be the Sony ereaders, as the Kindle is not available in Europe.

Speaking of the Sony ereaders; if you have one of these and your computer is a Mac, you will be happy to hear that Sony has apparently announced upcoming official Mac support for the Sony eBook Store. You can read more here.

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Amazon Reduces Kindle 2 Price

Richard — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:58:39 +0000

Just a quick note; Amazon has announced that it is reducing the price for the Kindle 2 by $60.00. The new price effective immediately will be $299. Amazon says they have been able to lower the manufactering cost, but it seems a bit early in the Kindle 2 life cycle for a price cut of this magnitude. Amazon is now facing more competition to the Kindle 2 than just the Sony products. There are several good ebook readers under $300, but with its wireless features Kindle 2 is much more compelling at this price point.

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Kindle and Kindle Books Outside of USA

Richard — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:38:32 +0000

Currently Amazon’s Kindle 2 and Kindle DX are only sold by Amazon in the US. While it is possible to have someone in the US buy a Kindle for you and ship it to your overseas location, or you can buy one on eBay, you then have the problem of not being able to access the Kindle book store unless you have a credit card issued by an American bank with a US billing address. If you are an American, or have a credit card billed in the US, then you can download books while overseas to your PC and then to your Kindle.

If the Kindle 2 or Kindle DX is the ebook reader you are set on, there is a workaround that some are using to purchase books from Amazon, even though they are living in other countries. This involves buying Amazon gift cards and using those to pay for your ebooks. You can find out how to do this here: http://www.nerdgirl.com/2009/03/20/amazon-kindle-outside-the-us/

At some point Amazon will presumably make the Kindle Family available worldwide, but it will need to be rebuilt to have wireless access via the systems in place outside the US. Also Amazon will no doubt have to negotiate with publishers as different publishers usually have the rights to publish a particular book in different geographical areas.