Off-Topic

When Amazon announced the new Kindles yesterday, I bought the $79 Incredibly Basic Kindle with Ads. I wanted the absolute dumbest device possible so I wouldn’t be tempted to do anything with it other than read books. (I already have an iPad 2, which I adore, but is more work-and-play than reading device.)

The Kindle came today. It’s ridiculously light, and really is as thin as a pencil. The back is a slightly-rubbery textured plastic which is perfect. I hope Apple steals it.

Based on reviews, the screen is apparently equally fast and sharp as the last incarnation — but it’s noticeably better than the original Kindle, which is the last one I owned. There is still a flash when changing pages, but menus work much more smoothly.

I got the non-Touch version — you go to the next page using buttons on the side. I was worried at first that I wouldn’t be able to one-hand it, but the side buttons are smartly placed so that you can still squeeze them while holding along the edge. And if your hands are big enough, they can wrap all the way around the Kindle.

The interface hasn’t changed much since the original Kindle. There’s no keyboard, so to enter text you use a five-way switch which is much like entering info on XBox or PlayStation. I figure I’ll almost always be buying books on the iPad or computer anyway, but it would be a significant disincentive to taking notes, for example. The only time I’ve needed the keyboard was to log on to a wireless network. (It doesn’t have 3G/Whispernet/anything else.)

The device’s selling points are (1) its price and (2) its incredibly light weight. Seriously, you don’t expect it to be so light until you pick it up. I think the iPhone 4 has made me accustomed to much higher density.