April 22, 2014

update on Kindle

It's been awhile since I wrote a post about Kindle. I've been reading more on my Kindle Touch lately so I thought I would make a post. I have to say that the Kindle has come a long way! In a previous post, I made a wish list for Kindle and I'm happy to say that quite a few have been answered. Now part of Kindle:
  1. touchscreen (I could also live with the keyboard) (I use the Kindle touch and I love it.
  2. sync of all documents including personal documents with notes and annotations across devices (Android and Kindle desktop)
  3. faster page turning (faster CPU)
  4. page numbers!!!! 
Re: #1- touchscreen
Of course the list was compiled in 2011 and two years later with Kindle Fire, the touchscreen has obviously taken off. Still I prefer the e-ink on Kindle and I love my Kindle Touch for that. In one of the best ever moves, highlighting can go across screens now-- a move that makes it seem so much more like natural reading.

Re: #2- sync across devices
This was a very important feature and I'm happy to report that it works wonderfully. Since you can now read in your Kindle PC app, Kindle Cloud app, Kindle iPad app, Kindle Android and of course your Kindle, it seemed to be incredibly important all devices sync and by in large it does.

There is one quirky feature I discovered. If you buy a book and have it sent directly to your Kindle device, then the Kindle for PC app can't seem to download it-- you'll get a message such as 'Failed to download.' The fix for this is remove it from the Kindle Touch so that it's back in the cloud, download it to your PC then download it again to your device-- a bit quirky, but manageable once you figure it out.

Notes and highlights also sync across apps and devices which makes it fantastic. However, exporting the notes is a bit quirky in that highlights and notes made on a Kindle device is stored on in a text file, so if you read the same book on iPad, Android, or PC and make highlights, they don't show up in the text file (although they do show up in the book as you read...).

Re: #3- faster page turns
A faster CPU has largely made this good enough for me.

Re: #4- page numbers
This system is still not perfect, but getting there. Page numbers are available for some books. If the Kindle book you want allows page numbers, you should see...

Still I've run into some problems


Part of original list by I think I can live without:
  1. color e-ink
  2. replaceable battery
  3. SD slot
  4. 7" rather than 6"

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