Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t understand why any company creating new technology decides that a black-and-white product is a good idea. The Amazon Kindle is black-and-white, the Sony Reader is black-and-white and all the other competing readers are black-and-white.
The Kindle 2 now has wifi abilities, which allows you to read blogs, magazines and newspapers in 16 shades of gray! Why in gray?? When did we decide it was okay to pay $299 for technology from the ’90s?
Remember this Nokia? I think everyone had one at some point, but then the iPhone and Blackberry came along and we moved on to bigger and better.
What bothers me more, is that once Amazon unveiled the Kindle, not one competitor thought to make a better e-reader by usings TODAY’s technology and adding color.
Please say I’m not crazy.
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You’re not crazy. Add to the list of why-that-way: Why so big and so clunky?
I used to read books on my ancient M500 Palm Pilot (we can’t call them that, officially, but…); I finally upgraded to a Palm T|X for two things: WiFi access and a Really Decent (color) Screen. I now read books (in mobipocket format — the same as Kindle) and so on on my Palm Pilot T|X. It slips in my pocket, doesn’t even really bulk. Entirely readable color screen, hold it in one hand, and so on. The only downside: Palm QA sucks (so much for the Pre, perhaps…); I have been through — four? — under warranty (extended to two years, expired last March). This extends to Palm’s accessories (e. g., the bluetooth keyboard that lasted a month…). Where I can plug into WiFi (the college where I teach; the comfy chair in my living room…), I do mail, I do (limited) web-browsing, and so on.
Absolutely the right observation. Well said, and well put.
Here’s why I want a kindle and not an Ipod. After a while reading on an LCD screen my eyes start to hurt. So black and white stuff like regular books give them a rest. Also when it comes to battery life ipod kinda sucks, somewhere in the range of 4-8 hours. That doesn’t cut it for me when it comes to reading. I don’t want to have to charge it every single day. Kindle gets something like 50 hours of battery life, if not more. I wouldn’t overlook products like these, they might just replace the book somewhere down the road.