Amazon's Ebook Reader

As you may or not know/care Amazon recently released an E-Ink based ebook reader. I’m trying to avoid any stupid puns about its name, there will be absolutely no mention of kindling here.

I’ve been following the ebook reader scene since I first burnt my eyes out on a Palm Pilot back at University, and in line with emerging technology switched to an E-Ink device last Xmas.

The device I switched to was the Sony Reader PRS-500, which has been recently updated to the PRS-505. It was a bit of an early adopter device with a few interface quirks and limitations, but the technology was solid. In fact the latest version even with the newer Vizplex screen and sexy chassis doesn’t really merit an upgrade.

The Kindle (Amazon’s device), is pretty impressive if slightly bizarre looking. It looks a bit like the plastic puzzle pieces you sometimes get in an Xmas cracker. It is apparently wedge shaped to resemble the lines of a book, although I don’t know why product designers don’t just bury that metaphor once and for all. My Palm Pilot didn’t look like a book, my mobile phone doesn’t look like a book and I have and still can happily read books on both of them.

Although I have read a few critical reviews about the Kindle, DRM lock in and heavy copyright warnings aside I think they actually have a winner. It strikes me that these convergent devices are all about feature balance, and even though it looks like a prop from Space 1999, it has that balance.

It combines the best features from its rivals, wifi access from the Dutch Illiad (Now on sale in Dutch bookstore selexyz), context menus and navigation from Bookeen’s Cybook. It has even taken some tips from the Apple Itunes model and allows you buy your books directly from the device, providing you are in the vicinity of a hotspot of course. It also has a really novel thumb pointer/cursor navigation interface, which looks pretty alien at first, but I’m sure is effective.

Update: Michael Arrington from Techcrunch fame has also weighed in with his opinion on the Kindle, and it isn’t glowing to say the least. I don’t think he has ever owned an E-ink device before and openly admits he had a few beers before he tried it out. That being the case I’m not sure he should have bothered writing anything about it all.

Here’s a more positive review from fellow Sony Reader owner Don MacAskill.