Amazon Kindle How-to Series: What Could be New With the Kindle 2?
Michael Piston asked:
Amazon has sent-out press releases for a big announcement on February 9th in New York City hosted by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Since the event is being held in the Morgan Library, the big rumor is that the new Kindle 2 will debut. For Amazon this is big news since the Kindle was one of the big bright spots of the depressing 2008 holiday selling season.
One of the other interesting reasons that the Kindle is great for Amazon is that it appears to be incremental sales for the company. During a recent earnings call, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos claimed that for every physical book Kindle owners purchase from Amazon they also purchase 1.6 to 1.7 e-books for their Kindle. It seems that the Kindle really gets owners even more involved in reading.
So what’s in it for people like you and me that might buy a new Kindle 2? We’ve done a little research on the rumors and some sites like The New York Times and The Boy Genius Report have some interesting details.
1. According to The New York Times the big feature is the improved responsiveness of the display on the new Kindle. One of the key irritants owners of the Kindle 1 have is that when you click the “Next Page” button the Kindle screen goes dark for a second before the next page displays. The new display uses a new microchip and digital ink technology that – reportedly – does away with this issue.
2. In addition to improving responsiveness for reading, the new display also improves responsiveness for doing things OTHER than reading – for example browsing the Web and working with e-mail. The Kindle 1 Web browser was an “experimental” feature that handled text-based sites best. You could use G-Mail for example, but in the “mobile phone mode” which is primarily text vs. graphics based. The new screen technology seems to remove this barrier.
3. Keyboard is larger – based on “leaked” pictures posted on The Boy Genius Report, the new Kindle 2 keyboard is larger making it easier to work with the keys.
4. The scroll wheel is replaced with a track-ball. Again – checking out the “leaked” pictures of the Kindle 2 it appears the scroll wheel is replaced by a track-ball. We expect this means the way you might interact with the new Kindle 2 screen will be significantly different than the Kindle 1. Rather than using the screen in a “linear” fashion, the track ball will allow you to roam the screen and select text more easily for bookmarks, notes, etc. The new Kindle 2 track-ball might also make it easier to interact with web pages vs. the current scroll wheel.
Let’s think about what we’d like to see in the new Kindle 2 as well!
A. Better web browsing – this seems to be covered
B. Built-in Media Player – allow selecting and playing of mp3 files vs. random play
C. Built-in ability to read .pdf files – Adobe .pdf is a universal file format for a lot of e-books. You can now read .pdf files by e-mailing them to your Kindle e-mail address. Google will convert them for a small charge
And the big question – will those people who now have Kindle’s on back order get the new Kindle 2 when it is released?
We can only wait until February 9th to find-out!
Amazon has sent-out press releases for a big announcement on February 9th in New York City hosted by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Since the event is being held in the Morgan Library, the big rumor is that the new Kindle 2 will debut. For Amazon this is big news since the Kindle was one of the big bright spots of the depressing 2008 holiday selling season.
One of the other interesting reasons that the Kindle is great for Amazon is that it appears to be incremental sales for the company. During a recent earnings call, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos claimed that for every physical book Kindle owners purchase from Amazon they also purchase 1.6 to 1.7 e-books for their Kindle. It seems that the Kindle really gets owners even more involved in reading.
So what’s in it for people like you and me that might buy a new Kindle 2? We’ve done a little research on the rumors and some sites like The New York Times and The Boy Genius Report have some interesting details.
1. According to The New York Times the big feature is the improved responsiveness of the display on the new Kindle. One of the key irritants owners of the Kindle 1 have is that when you click the “Next Page” button the Kindle screen goes dark for a second before the next page displays. The new display uses a new microchip and digital ink technology that – reportedly – does away with this issue.
2. In addition to improving responsiveness for reading, the new display also improves responsiveness for doing things OTHER than reading – for example browsing the Web and working with e-mail. The Kindle 1 Web browser was an “experimental” feature that handled text-based sites best. You could use G-Mail for example, but in the “mobile phone mode” which is primarily text vs. graphics based. The new screen technology seems to remove this barrier.
3. Keyboard is larger – based on “leaked” pictures posted on The Boy Genius Report, the new Kindle 2 keyboard is larger making it easier to work with the keys.
4. The scroll wheel is replaced with a track-ball. Again – checking out the “leaked” pictures of the Kindle 2 it appears the scroll wheel is replaced by a track-ball. We expect this means the way you might interact with the new Kindle 2 screen will be significantly different than the Kindle 1. Rather than using the screen in a “linear” fashion, the track ball will allow you to roam the screen and select text more easily for bookmarks, notes, etc. The new Kindle 2 track-ball might also make it easier to interact with web pages vs. the current scroll wheel.
Let’s think about what we’d like to see in the new Kindle 2 as well!
A. Better web browsing – this seems to be covered
B. Built-in Media Player – allow selecting and playing of mp3 files vs. random play
C. Built-in ability to read .pdf files – Adobe .pdf is a universal file format for a lot of e-books. You can now read .pdf files by e-mailing them to your Kindle e-mail address. Google will convert them for a small charge
And the big question – will those people who now have Kindle’s on back order get the new Kindle 2 when it is released?
We can only wait until February 9th to find-out!
Kindle 2 Reviews – Why Read Another
consumerelectronicsbuzz asked:
I’m not one inclined to writing reviews but I do examine them carefully before I make a significant purchase, here on Amazon.com and on other seller web sites. So on the chance that I might say something that helps a potential buyer make up their mind, particularly someone who has not owned the first Kindle, this is my small effort to give back to the process.
First of all, I loved Kindle 1 although I noted several shortcomings due primarily to the design of the hardware. I’m glad to learn that every shortcoming(except one) has been fixed beyond my expectations. When I received my Kindle 2 yesterday, I eagerly removed it from the shipping container, plugged it in and began to download my library. As I did I marveled at the new Kindle’s fresh, sleek design. It is a beauty!
The main issue I had with Kindle 1 was the navigation button design and placement. My original thought was that I wanted to use my Kindle 1 without a cover but I quickly learned that doing so wasn’t practical. I like to read holding the Kindle with one hand and it just didn’t work well because I kept bumping the next, previous and back buttons. So I began to use the cover it came with so I could hold the Kindle by the cover, only to learn that this cover did not keep the device securely in place very well. So I bought an m-edge cover, which is bulkier and the front does not fold back easily. I was stuck reading using two hands and I didn’t like that at all.
Kindle 2 solves all these problems. I’m not going to bother with a cover at all now. I love the way it feels in my hand without a cover. It is easy to navigate without any risk of accidentally changing the page I’m on. I will probably buy a Belkin sleeve to protect it when I take it out but that’s all. Now my reading experience is complete!
The Kindle 2′s redesigned features are fantastic. The display is better and the 5-way button is a major improvement. I do a lot of highlighting and this design fix is huge. Looking up words is much easier and many times faster. One improved feature I haven’t notice any comment on is the progress bar at the bottom of each book page. Now it shows the total number of locations and the percent already read. This is so much better than the old way of determining how far I’m into a book. Thank you, design team!
The fact that Kindle 2 has no SD card capability and the battery is not user-serviceable is not an issue with me. Even with a few hundred books in my library, it will be a long time before the 2 gig memory starts to be a limiting factor and when it does (if it does) I’ll just archive what I’ve already read. Amazon’s design team has made it simple to pull archived books back to the Kindle 2 without having to go to a computer.
The only item on my wish list that was not addressed in Kindle 2 is the lack of an improved file storage system. It would have been nice to have that but it doesn’t take away from my enjoyment.
Page turns are significantly faster and the page reloads are less intrusive to the reading experience. On/off buttons are repositioned to be easily accessible. The home page is easier to navigate. There are other improvements that many others have already noted so I’m going to stop here without repeating everything that’s been said already. But the biggest thing about Kindle (both 1 and 2) is the Amazon store and how simple it is to browse and buy books from. I’m so impressed with the way they have seamlessly brought the store together with the reading device via Whispernet to make the digital reading experience such a wonderful thing to enjoy.
Access to more article:Consumer Electronics Buzz
I’m not one inclined to writing reviews but I do examine them carefully before I make a significant purchase, here on Amazon.com and on other seller web sites. So on the chance that I might say something that helps a potential buyer make up their mind, particularly someone who has not owned the first Kindle, this is my small effort to give back to the process.
First of all, I loved Kindle 1 although I noted several shortcomings due primarily to the design of the hardware. I’m glad to learn that every shortcoming(except one) has been fixed beyond my expectations. When I received my Kindle 2 yesterday, I eagerly removed it from the shipping container, plugged it in and began to download my library. As I did I marveled at the new Kindle’s fresh, sleek design. It is a beauty!
The main issue I had with Kindle 1 was the navigation button design and placement. My original thought was that I wanted to use my Kindle 1 without a cover but I quickly learned that doing so wasn’t practical. I like to read holding the Kindle with one hand and it just didn’t work well because I kept bumping the next, previous and back buttons. So I began to use the cover it came with so I could hold the Kindle by the cover, only to learn that this cover did not keep the device securely in place very well. So I bought an m-edge cover, which is bulkier and the front does not fold back easily. I was stuck reading using two hands and I didn’t like that at all.
Kindle 2 solves all these problems. I’m not going to bother with a cover at all now. I love the way it feels in my hand without a cover. It is easy to navigate without any risk of accidentally changing the page I’m on. I will probably buy a Belkin sleeve to protect it when I take it out but that’s all. Now my reading experience is complete!
The Kindle 2′s redesigned features are fantastic. The display is better and the 5-way button is a major improvement. I do a lot of highlighting and this design fix is huge. Looking up words is much easier and many times faster. One improved feature I haven’t notice any comment on is the progress bar at the bottom of each book page. Now it shows the total number of locations and the percent already read. This is so much better than the old way of determining how far I’m into a book. Thank you, design team!
The fact that Kindle 2 has no SD card capability and the battery is not user-serviceable is not an issue with me. Even with a few hundred books in my library, it will be a long time before the 2 gig memory starts to be a limiting factor and when it does (if it does) I’ll just archive what I’ve already read. Amazon’s design team has made it simple to pull archived books back to the Kindle 2 without having to go to a computer.
The only item on my wish list that was not addressed in Kindle 2 is the lack of an improved file storage system. It would have been nice to have that but it doesn’t take away from my enjoyment.
Page turns are significantly faster and the page reloads are less intrusive to the reading experience. On/off buttons are repositioned to be easily accessible. The home page is easier to navigate. There are other improvements that many others have already noted so I’m going to stop here without repeating everything that’s been said already. But the biggest thing about Kindle (both 1 and 2) is the Amazon store and how simple it is to browse and buy books from. I’m so impressed with the way they have seamlessly brought the store together with the reading device via Whispernet to make the digital reading experience such a wonderful thing to enjoy.
Access to more article:Consumer Electronics Buzz
Amazon Kindle How-to Series: Saving E-books and Audio Books on Your Kindle
Michael Piston asked:
One of the great features of the Kindle Wireless Reading Device from Amazon is that it holds so many e-books and audio books. Even with it’s fairly large built-in storage however, your book collection might exceed the limits of what can fit on your Kindle.
To help you handle your growing collection of e-books and audio books, the you can add extra memory to your Kindle in the form of an SD memory card. You can purchase these cards in many sizes from 1 GB up-to 16 GB. At the time you read this 32 GB cards may readily be available and affordable. Installing SD memory in your Kindle is straightforward. You can find complete instructions in our Kindle How-To Series available in the web-site listed below.
Once you have your memory card installed it’s time to move some of the e-books or audio books stored in your Kindle’s main memory to your new SD Card. There are a few things you should consider first before “making the move.”
1. Audio books are a good candidate for moving from your Kindle’s main memory to the SD card. Audio book files can be large – some are up-to 90 mb or more. Audio books will quickly consumer your Kindle’s main memory leaving less space for your e-books.
2. If you’ve purchased books that are on the Amazon digital site and have yet to be sent to your Kindle these also might be good candidates to load onto your SD memory card. This will keep all of your e-books and audio books in one place in-case you run into a situation where you do not have wireless access.
3. Pictures, music files, and digital files other than e-books also consume a lot of space in the Kindle’s main memory. Again, this makes them good choices to move to the new SD card you’ve installed in your Kindle.
Now – let’s take a look at your Kindle and get ready to save some files to your SD memory card. Here are the steps you can follow to do this -
A. Turn on your Kindle
B. Move the scroll wheel to “Menu” and press to select the Main Menu
C. Scroll to “Content Manager” on the Main Menu the press to select the Content Manager
D. Once the Content Manager screen opens take a look at your list of audio books and e-books – pay specific attention to the storage location of the book listed directly under the first word of the title –
a. “Kindle” – the book is stored in your Kindle’s main memory
b. “SD Card” – any books you’ve moved to your SD Card will have this location
c. “Amazon” – books you’ve purchased but that have not been downloaded to your Kindle will have this location
E. Choose a book now located on your Kindle by scrolling to the location of the book and pressing the scroll wheel to “select” the book. When you do this you will notice an “x” in the box immediately to the right of the book’s title.
F. Next scroll back down to “Menu” at the bottom of the Kindle screen and press the scroll wheel to select.
G. When the Menu opens, scroll to “Move to SD Card” and press the scroll wheel to select.
H. Once you do this you will notice the location icon will show the book is being transferred to your Kindle’s SD memory card. For example you will see an arrow pointing from the “Kindle” location to the SD Card location.
I. When the move is complete the location icon below the title will change from “Kindle” to “SD Card” – this is how you know the transfer process is complete.
That’s all there is to it! You’ve now learned how-to quickly save books from your Kindle’s main memory to the SD Card you’ve installed in your Kindle.
Complete instructions with photos can be found at the web site in the resource box below.
One of the great features of the Kindle Wireless Reading Device from Amazon is that it holds so many e-books and audio books. Even with it’s fairly large built-in storage however, your book collection might exceed the limits of what can fit on your Kindle.
To help you handle your growing collection of e-books and audio books, the you can add extra memory to your Kindle in the form of an SD memory card. You can purchase these cards in many sizes from 1 GB up-to 16 GB. At the time you read this 32 GB cards may readily be available and affordable. Installing SD memory in your Kindle is straightforward. You can find complete instructions in our Kindle How-To Series available in the web-site listed below.
Once you have your memory card installed it’s time to move some of the e-books or audio books stored in your Kindle’s main memory to your new SD Card. There are a few things you should consider first before “making the move.”
1. Audio books are a good candidate for moving from your Kindle’s main memory to the SD card. Audio book files can be large – some are up-to 90 mb or more. Audio books will quickly consumer your Kindle’s main memory leaving less space for your e-books.
2. If you’ve purchased books that are on the Amazon digital site and have yet to be sent to your Kindle these also might be good candidates to load onto your SD memory card. This will keep all of your e-books and audio books in one place in-case you run into a situation where you do not have wireless access.
3. Pictures, music files, and digital files other than e-books also consume a lot of space in the Kindle’s main memory. Again, this makes them good choices to move to the new SD card you’ve installed in your Kindle.
Now – let’s take a look at your Kindle and get ready to save some files to your SD memory card. Here are the steps you can follow to do this -
A. Turn on your Kindle
B. Move the scroll wheel to “Menu” and press to select the Main Menu
C. Scroll to “Content Manager” on the Main Menu the press to select the Content Manager
D. Once the Content Manager screen opens take a look at your list of audio books and e-books – pay specific attention to the storage location of the book listed directly under the first word of the title –
a. “Kindle” – the book is stored in your Kindle’s main memory
b. “SD Card” – any books you’ve moved to your SD Card will have this location
c. “Amazon” – books you’ve purchased but that have not been downloaded to your Kindle will have this location
E. Choose a book now located on your Kindle by scrolling to the location of the book and pressing the scroll wheel to “select” the book. When you do this you will notice an “x” in the box immediately to the right of the book’s title.
F. Next scroll back down to “Menu” at the bottom of the Kindle screen and press the scroll wheel to select.
G. When the Menu opens, scroll to “Move to SD Card” and press the scroll wheel to select.
H. Once you do this you will notice the location icon will show the book is being transferred to your Kindle’s SD memory card. For example you will see an arrow pointing from the “Kindle” location to the SD Card location.
I. When the move is complete the location icon below the title will change from “Kindle” to “SD Card” – this is how you know the transfer process is complete.
That’s all there is to it! You’ve now learned how-to quickly save books from your Kindle’s main memory to the SD Card you’ve installed in your Kindle.
Complete instructions with photos can be found at the web site in the resource box below.
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