the Kindle-First Imressions

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I've had the Kindle now for a day and a half, so I thought I'd share my first impressions.

For starters, it's really small and narrow. I knew the size before hand, having seen one, but I'm still amazed at how very thin it is. I got the graphite (gray) color and while I like the way it looks, I've already laid it down twice and not been able to find it! It just sort of blends into the background, which I guess is a good thing.

I've ordered a cover for it and hopefully that will make it a bit easier to find. Right now, I will have to be very careful to put it in the same place every time (something I'm not very good at). I can see how it could easily be thrown out with a stack of magazines or the daily paper.

To try and keep an eye on it for the time being, I went through the ginormous box of purses in the house and found a lovely little Japanese bag that I seem to have picked up somewhere.

For now, I think I'll just put it in this.
In fact, I think it's so pretty,
I may put it in here even
after I get the cover!

Now, as to my first impressions of its use. I find it very easy to read, the electronic page is quite legible, and I like that I can change the font and size to suit my mood. I often wake up in the middle of the night and read at odd hours, so sometimes, a larger font is easier on my eyes.

It's very light and easy on the hands, and I like that a lot. In fact, it's so light, I've let it slip through my fingers a couple of times when I'm a bit tired. The new cover should fix that.

I'm having a bit of a time with the controls. When reading sitting up, the page controls are fine, but when I'm lying in bed, it's a bit of a stretch to put my fingers on the page turning keys (there are two sets of back and forward keys, one set per side). While I'm finding it a bit awkward, I have no doubt that I will adjust.

Now, on to the other controls . . .

Again, I'm sure I will get used to them in time, but I had no idea how much I've gotten used to the touch screen on my iPhone. I continually find myself touching the screen to try to move the cursor on the Kindle screen. I also want to move the four way mouse to turn the pages, when the page turners are on the sides!

None of these are huge obstacles, I just mention them because these are my thoughts in the first days of ownership

I had the option of a wi-fi model or a 3G, which offers free connections to Amazon and several other sites on the internet. We usually have our own wi-fi, but since, when we are using the Hughes satellite, I'm limited to how much I can download, I decided that the 3G would be my best option. This was also something I noticed when I had an iPod Touch, I missed having constant internet access. Since I use that option so often on my phone, I figured it was best to have it on the Kindle also. The 3g is a bit slow, but I believe that's a function of our location. Still, even at a bit slow, it's very usable and if you're thinking of getting a Kindle (especially if you travel in an RV) I think the 3G is a good choice.

I've spent a lot of time looking up info on the internet to try to learn how to use the Kindle to my best advantage, and so far, I'm really impressed. One thing I would like to do is to be able to put my own pictures into the Kindle to use as screen savers. They would only be in black and white, but since I do a lot of black and white photography, that would be fine with me. Unfortunately, it seems you could do this on the Kindle 2 but not on the Kindle 3. If anyone knows how to do this, could you please let me know?

One final thought.

I went on Amazon and found that Diana Gabaldon had put the first book in her Outlander series up on Amazon for free. Wow, I read these years ago and really liked them, so that's going to be my first serious read.

I also downloaded a book from Project Gutenberg "the Illustrated Catalogue of The Collections Obtained From The Indians Of New Mexico And Arizona In 1879". It's a lovely piece with many black and white ink drawings that show up nicely on the screen.

As you can tell, I'm enjoying this, and I'm sure it will be a great addition to Cholula Red. As time goes by and I get more used to it, there may even come a day when I only buy one or two books at a library sale instead of one or two boxes!