![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juniperinflightI love my Sony Reader. I really do. It's easy to use with its touchscreen interface, looks good, and the display is fine. I particularly love the wide range of book formats that it will read, which was probably the main reason I chose that reader. I would like a better choice of fonts and font sizes, and I'm not desperately struck on the PC software that lets you load your books onto the reader.
I considered a Kindle, but I really don't like the way that Amazon tie you into their device if you buy books from them, and I wasn't keen to encourage them. Also, I wasn't keen on the hardware keyboard and the odd side-mounted page-turn buttons and having a device that's much larger than its screen. I don't make annotations, or hardly ever, and so the keyboard seemed a waste of space. Apart from some concerns about battery life which probably simply reflect the fact that I use it a lot, I've been very pleased with my Sony. It even plays music - that really does wipe the battery, though.
But, I'm fed up. I keep finding books that are only available in ebook format from Amazon, or are much cheaper there.
And now, Amazon have brought out the new, cheaper, Kindles, without the keyboard. And they're small and slim and light and look gorgeous.
I'm afraid I bought one.
And, it's... OK. I like how small it is, I like the wifi connection, I like the fact that I can use it and charge it via USB at the same time (which the Sony doesn't allow: you have to get the mains charger if you want to do that) and the user interface seems reasonable. I'm wishing a little that I'd waited for the touchscreen versions to become available, because entering text with the 5-way button is very tedious, and I'm still not keen on the side-mounted buttons and haven't found a comfortable way to use it one-handed yet. I expect I'll be used to it by the time I've read a few books, though. The screen is very clear and the letters crisp. So far, it's still bugging me that the large button on the right advances the page and the large button on the left - advances the page. Paging back is done by smaller, harder to reach buttons. The Sony lets you decide which gestures turn forward and back, and the mapping of buttons is more intuitive.
Anyway, the .mobi books that I have on my Palm TX are readable on the Kindle, so I've loaded some favourites, and I'll need to work out how to manage having my books spread across three different devices. Yes, three. I haven't put anything new onto the Palm since I bought the Sony, but I always carry it, and I still find it much easier to use as an e-reader than either of the other gadgets - except that you can't read it at all when the sun is shining.
I considered a Kindle, but I really don't like the way that Amazon tie you into their device if you buy books from them, and I wasn't keen to encourage them. Also, I wasn't keen on the hardware keyboard and the odd side-mounted page-turn buttons and having a device that's much larger than its screen. I don't make annotations, or hardly ever, and so the keyboard seemed a waste of space. Apart from some concerns about battery life which probably simply reflect the fact that I use it a lot, I've been very pleased with my Sony. It even plays music - that really does wipe the battery, though.
But, I'm fed up. I keep finding books that are only available in ebook format from Amazon, or are much cheaper there.
And now, Amazon have brought out the new, cheaper, Kindles, without the keyboard. And they're small and slim and light and look gorgeous.
I'm afraid I bought one.
And, it's... OK. I like how small it is, I like the wifi connection, I like the fact that I can use it and charge it via USB at the same time (which the Sony doesn't allow: you have to get the mains charger if you want to do that) and the user interface seems reasonable. I'm wishing a little that I'd waited for the touchscreen versions to become available, because entering text with the 5-way button is very tedious, and I'm still not keen on the side-mounted buttons and haven't found a comfortable way to use it one-handed yet. I expect I'll be used to it by the time I've read a few books, though. The screen is very clear and the letters crisp. So far, it's still bugging me that the large button on the right advances the page and the large button on the left - advances the page. Paging back is done by smaller, harder to reach buttons. The Sony lets you decide which gestures turn forward and back, and the mapping of buttons is more intuitive.
Anyway, the .mobi books that I have on my Palm TX are readable on the Kindle, so I've loaded some favourites, and I'll need to work out how to manage having my books spread across three different devices. Yes, three. I haven't put anything new onto the Palm since I bought the Sony, but I always carry it, and I still find it much easier to use as an e-reader than either of the other gadgets - except that you can't read it at all when the sun is shining.
