Amazon.com's Kindle: Second Impressions

In the last post I basically covered my first thoughts and how it handled various types of media. But there is more to the device. There is the odd case, wireless connectivity, the promised Wikipedia access, experimental web browser, and the curiosity about what this thing really is.

Odd case

The case that comes with the device has certainly had it's fair share of detractors. At first I didn't like it. The way the Kindle sits in it isn't very exacting. It would seem like it would fall out easily, and apparently some people have had malfunctions or a loose fitting where it just doesn't work at all. On mine it just doesn't sit square, but is about 2° askew. I forced myself to use it a bit more, and it does let me hold the Kindle more like a book, and protects it a bit when carrying it around. However with the cover it's much harder to type on the keyboard. Hopefully Crumpler, Case Logic, and/or Body Glove will fill the need with a neoprene sleeve that I'll end up loving. As free gadget cases that come with gadgets go, it's on par with what you'd expect, so I don't know why people are complaining.

Wireless Connectivity

The Kindle uses "Whispernet" which is some kind of resale of Sprint data without a long term contract or monthly fee. Amazon pays for the bandwidth by including that as part of the price of books, magazines, and blogs. The access is about what I'd expect. Sprint is supposed to have a good network, and it certainly seems to have better coverage than my T-Mobile phone. The wireless has a hard switch in the back so you can conserve battery and use it on planes. Certainly no complaints here, this is where the Kindle shines above all other e-readers.

Wikipedia

I guess it is there, the search quickly allows you to pull up your search phrase on Wikipedia, an I can read the resulting pages, but I wouldn't herald the experience. For example, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Click the link and see for yourself what it looks like where you are, and then witness what it looks like on the Kindle:

Clearly this wasn't considered as a priority feature by the Amazon.com team, or they are having issues with the Wikipedia people, or don't want to spend time reflowing/reformatting Wikipedia content. Perhaps it will get straightened out, perhaps not. The information is still there, and I still didn't pay a dime for the wireless connectivity.

Web Browser

Yes it has a web browser. Yes it works even though I'm not paying for access. However, no color, rudimentary javascript at best, small screen size, no resizing options, some pages just don't work (like Google Reader). What I'd love to be able to do is use this as my blog reader, but since the aforementioned Google Reader doesn't work, and the mobile Google Reader is horrible, my only hope would be to switch back to bloglines, and I'm not entertaining that idea. Google did do a Wii Opera Browser version of the Google Reader, which likely has 1 user, so perhaps they'll roll out a Kindle version. And where is this access coming from? IP Chicken knows:

What is this thing anyway?

So, as with most new gadgets, the question in the Linux community is: "How do we get Linux to install on this thing?". Why people want to install Linux on every device known to man, I don't know, but in this case it's already there:

I fuzzed out a few of the numbers, just in case they were identifying in some way that would be bad to me. But hey, how did I get all of these screen shots and the extra info? Hacker Igorsk knows how. He also has a guide on how to get non-Amazon.com Mobipocket DRMed e-books on to your device. Not sure if Amazon.com has issues with that, but apparently they are somewhat cool with hacking the device. Want even more details on what this thing is? Igorsk has part 1 and part 2 of his reversing the device, plus Mahalo has a page set up.