Do people really want to cuddle up with a piece of technology? No, I don’t mean it like that. I’m talking about Kindle, the wireless reading device from Amazon. The prevailing wisdom is that for an e-reader to succeed, it will have to make people want to “cuddle up” with it like they do a good book.
A number of consumer product companies have taken a shot at it, and to date, haven’t been able to put together a package that appeals to general readers.
But if anyone can do it, Amazon can, right?. They have the brand, the relationships with publishers, and the infrastructure to pull it off.
So how does Kindle stack up? Here is what I found.
Availability
If if you want a Kindle, you’re going to have to wait. On the Amazon website, Jeff Bezos apologizes for the fact that people are waiting up to six weeks to get one. I fared a little better. I bought mine on February 2nd and received it on Valentines Day. Jeff, you sure know how to make a guy feel special!
The good: The device arrived charged and registered to my Amazon account. No set up. Ready to go. I suppose the only way the out-of-box experience could have been better would have been if they had pre-installed a title from my wish list.
The bad: While selling out on the first day says “hit product”, being continually out of stock four months after launch says “rookie consumer products company”. I’m sure that a number of people are waiting to take the $399 plunge to see how well Amazon supports a consumer product.
The Industrial Design
Kindle had the privilege of launching shortly after the iPhone, and unfortunately for Amazon, the iPhone raised the industrial design bar quite high.
The good: Much has been made of the fact that the Kindle is bigger than the competing reader from Sony. I think this is a benefit. When reading on your couch or in your comfy chair, the device rests comfortably on your lap or stomach. A thinner device would put more pounds per square inch on said lap or stomach, and be less comfortable.
Another plus is that Kindle is not a simple box. It has lots of angles. Not curves, gently rounded angles that fit nicely in the crook of your palm.
The bad: The Kindle industrial design has received some pointed criticism, some of it with good reason:
- When holding the device, it is very easy to inadvertently hit the Next Page button. Distressingly easy. I couldn’t find a way to hold it in my right hand without pressing either the Next Page or the Back button.
- The power switch is located on the back of the device. If you keep the device in its cover, you have to take it out to turn the machine on. Why isn’t the switch located on the top?
- The Home key (a frequently used key) is buried in the middle of the keypad.
- The page flashes when you advance to the next page. This is distracting.
- No touch interface. This isn’t Amazon’s fault, really. Apple raised the bar. Unfortunately, it is easy to imagine that Kindle would be greatly improved with a touch interface.
The Cuddle Up Factor
So can you cuddle up with Kindle?
After some experimentation, I found that I was able to balance it in one hand, thumb placed over the Amazon logo and within striking distance of the “Next Page” button, and read comfortably for several hours using less physical energy than a conventional book. I didn’t develop the almost pavlovian attachment to the Kindle that I did to the iPhone, but neither did I find the technology intruding on the reading experience. “Cuddle” may be too strong a word, but the experience was perfectly acceptable.
Conclusion
Kindle is a good (but not great) 1.0 product. The industrial design issues aside, I found the reading experience to be a reasonable replacement for paper when reading text-only books like novels or biographies. Not having stacks of books littering my reading area will be a welcome change and after using the device for about six weeks, I look forward to using it more.
And I’m looking forward to 2.0.
