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Amazon Kindle |OT| of eInk superiority
- Thread starter HiroProtagonist
- Start date
BuddyC said:
New X-Ray Feature
Amazon invented X-Ray, a new feature that lets customers explore the bones of the book. With a single tap, readers can see all the passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics that interest them, as well as more detailed descriptions from Wikipedia and Shelfari, Amazons community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers. Amazon built X-Ray using its expertise in language processing and machine learning, access to significant storage and computing resources with Amazon S3 and EC2, and a deep library of book and character information. The vision is to have every important phrase in every book.
Marty Chinn
Member
You know the battery life is there because they had to match the Nook right?BuddyC said:
Not really feeling either of the new ones. Kindle without the keyboard seems like a pain in the ass, and the Touch doesn't have hardware buttons which would get annoying very quickly.
I guess out of the two of them, the Kindle is the lesser of two evils. Will hold onto my 3rd gen as long as it will last.
I guess out of the two of them, the Kindle is the lesser of two evils. Will hold onto my 3rd gen as long as it will last.
Schlep said:
Yeah I like seeing the new ones, but you're right the touch would have been so much better with the addition of page turn buttons on the side. If I was to buy a Kindle today I would go with the low end model with the buttons, I barely use the keyboard on my Kindle 3 right now so I wouldn't miss it. Navigating with the 5-way controller across a virtual onscreen keyboard would be a pain, but like I said I don't use the keyboard alot as it is. I guess if that's important to you then the touch version makes more sense.
HellKarnassus
Banned
No love for DX? Not even a price drop? firmware update? something?
Malajax said:
Seems to only be listed in the "Touch" new Kindle. I would THINK it's just a software update but maybe they won't give it to the older/lower model Kindles to have some sort of product differentiation. Someone will most likely hack it so it works on all Kindles if Amazon doesn't roll it out.
Marty Chinn
Member
BuddyC said:
Sigh, it saddens me to see people get excited over something that has existed for awhile and how unaware people are about the amazing Nook Touch. Amazon was scrambling after that announcement and tried to make their existing Kindles sound like they have the same battery life. They changed the spec page shortly after the Nook Touch was announced to say something like "Up to 2 months" on battery life.
So :
Kindle DX - $379
Kindle Keyboard with Ads - $99
Kindle Keyboard with no Ads - $139
Kindle Keyboard 3G with Ads - $139
Kindle Keyboard 3G with no Ads - $189
Kindle with Ads - $79
Kindle with no Ads - $109
Kindle Touch with Ads -$99
Kindle Touch with no Ads -$139
Kindle Touch 3G with ads -$149
Kindle Touch 3G with no ads -$189
Kindle Fire - $199
This is going to confuse alot of people LOL
Edit: that about does it.
Kindle DX - $379
Kindle Keyboard with Ads - $99
Kindle Keyboard with no Ads - $139
Kindle Keyboard 3G with Ads - $139
Kindle Keyboard 3G with no Ads - $189
Kindle with Ads - $79
Kindle with no Ads - $109
Kindle Touch with Ads -$99
Kindle Touch with no Ads -$139
Kindle Touch 3G with ads -$149
Kindle Touch 3G with no ads -$189
Kindle Fire - $199
This is going to confuse alot of people LOL
Edit: that about does it.
VistraNorrez
Member
It's amazing how big Kindle is already, but that $79 model is going to move crazy amounts of units.
I'm glad to see they renamed the Kindle 3 to Kindle Keyboard. That indicates they'll keep it around at least a little longer. But I doubt it'll get the X-ray feature. The Kindle 1 and 2 didn't even get something as simple as real page numbers.
I have a Kindle 2 and I'm unsure what I'd like to upgrade to. The lack of physical page turn buttons on the Touch is something of a turnoff, but no keyboard on the Kindle doesn't make that an easy choice. I also really like having 3G. I could just go with the Keyboard, but I like new shiny things.
I'm glad to see they renamed the Kindle 3 to Kindle Keyboard. That indicates they'll keep it around at least a little longer. But I doubt it'll get the X-ray feature. The Kindle 1 and 2 didn't even get something as simple as real page numbers.
I have a Kindle 2 and I'm unsure what I'd like to upgrade to. The lack of physical page turn buttons on the Touch is something of a turnoff, but no keyboard on the Kindle doesn't make that an easy choice. I also really like having 3G. I could just go with the Keyboard, but I like new shiny things.
For me, at least, part of the ignorance is due to how satisfied I was with my existing Kindle (I didn't feel the need to scope out other e-readers) and also how entrenched / much I've invested in a Kindle library that can be easily shared and accessed across multiple devices. (iPhone, iPad, Kindle Cloud, etc.) Again, I don't know if the Nook offers something like that.Marty Chinn said:
I also have a feeling that that sort of investment / entrenchment in the Amazon library is going to be a major selling / sticking point for the Kindle Fire, especially once you factor in videos and music as well.
06nbarnhill
Member
BuddyC said:
Nook is the same pretty much. I have all my nook books on my iPad.
Marty Chinn
Member
BuddyC said:
Nook does offer something like that where your library is shared across multiple devices. I'm a huge Amazon fan, especially cuz of Prime, and a Kindle was the first eReader I ever used, but I've always felt that the Nook was doing things a bit better than Amazon and Amazon keeps playing catch up to B&N. The Nook Touch is amazing, and where it stands out to me as being better still is the fact that it still has a few buttons to use (power, home, page turn buttons) and it supports the open format ePub and for awhile supported library check out while the Kindle did not. On top of that, anything I wanted on Amazon, I could just convert to the Nook anyway. There is very little exclusive content on the Kindle to make it outweigh all the additional support I get out of the box from other services. Thus, anything that is only on the Kindle, I'll convert and everything else will work natively. The Kindle does have the advantage of Audio Books though.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Amazon and the Kindle will always be a great product, especially at these new amazing price points, but it saddens me to see people not be aware that there is a slightly better product out there.
VistraNorrez
Member
Marty Chinn said:
Is it really sad? People who want Kindle's tend to like Amazon, how they operate, and the whole system surrounding the Kindle. It's doesn't matter what B&N offer tech wise a lot people just prefer Amazon. And vice versa for that matter. If they see a product the other company offers there's a good chance those advancements will come to the other side in time. Most people have patience enough to wait.
JoshuaJSlone
Member
It's the same claim they make for the previous model, but it's a bit of a stretch. I don't last a week, but they're assuming someone who's never using wireless and reading a half hour or less a day.BuddyC said:
They used to say the battery would last up to a month if reading an hour a day yeah.Marty Chinn said:
I think they just want it to sit and rot until they've got a 10" Fire to sell in its place.HellKarnassus said:
peppermints
Member
Any word on new firmware for Kindle 3 (Keyboard I guess now lol) owners?
Manos: The Hans of Fate
Banned
JoshuaJSlone said:
I've always found the battery claims by both Amazon and B&N a bit funny since unless you use the thing all the damn time (and I mean hours a day) you really have to work to not charge it so that it gets to 0. I think you have to expand more effort to get it to 0 than to not (even randomly) charge it.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Marty Chinn said:
Or you could go bitch somewhere the fuck else instead of constantly going on and on with your amazon bitching. Holy fuck dude.
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
I know I've said this before but mine is constantly dying on me. It lasts so long even though I read hours a day that I think to charge it and go nah, it'll be good except I do that for a week or two and it's stone dead while I'm out reading somewhere.
Marty Chinn
Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
What?
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
You constantly come in the official kindle thread and bitch about how much worse the kindle is and nook is the greatest thing ever and amazon never innovates only B&N does. No one gives a shit.Marty Chinn said:
Marty Chinn
Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
I'm not bitching about Amazon at all. I love them and always praise their service highly. I'm not saying the Kindle is terrible either. I've always said the Kindle is a great product. I even highly recommended a Kindle 3 before the Nook Touch came out. Where did I say Amazon never innovates? X-Ray is a nice example of something they're doing that's new. You're characterizing me as something that I'm not.
Despite my love for Amazon, let's face it, as of the last two years, B&N has been pushing the tech ahead of Amazon and no matter how great of a job they do, they rarely get any credit for it which saddens me. Especially in cases where people seem to act like Amazon somehow created this crazy battery life that nobody else has yet.
It's never been bitching about how the Kindle is "worse" because like I said the Kindle has always been a fantastic product and I owned one before. It's more about people not knowing the strengths of the competition or the fact that there is competition. I always said the Nook Touch was the best thing out at the time and that would likely change when the Kindle Touch came out. Now it has.
That said, with these new versions, I'm consider getting a Kindle for my parents thanks to these price points. I may even consider one for my wife since she wants a new eReader and is jealous of my Nook Touch (she has the original Nook). With a Kindle, then we'd have both worlds and can trade off.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Marty Chinn said:
How long did it take B&N to get pearl screens? There's plenty of things they haven't been leaders on since they still don't have audio books or xray. How long did it take B&N to finally put out a pearl eink screen? There are plenty of things they have each done ahead of the other. And no it's not about people "not knowing" strengths of the competitor and you go on a 2 paragraph rant about B&N are the true innovators and amazon has been doing nothing. Again, this is the official kindle thread, no one gives a shit about a 2 paragraph rant that boils down to Nook>Kindle. This isn't the first time you've pulled this shit. I'm not responding after this, this shouldn't even be in this thread.
Marty Chinn
Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Look, if you want to talk about innovation, I'd say the Nook Color and the touch screen were by far more bigger game changers than simply adding a better quality Pearl screen. B&N beat Amazon to the punch on both of them. Amazon however has always been a big push on lowering the price.
Yes it is about people "not knowing" because that's what started my response to begin with. Read back a few posts and you'll see that. Just because it's an official thread doesn't mean the competition should be ignored either. Kindle Touch was just announced so I think it's more than fair to be discussing how it stacks up against the competition. Why are you afraid of comparisons? Not once did I say Amazon didn't innovate, nor did I say the Kindle sucked or was a bad product. I was being civil about all this and being fair until you came in with the attacks.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Marty Chinn said:
Civil trolling... Umm, ok. And I don't think nook color beat amazon to the punch since they clearly had 0 interest in it until other tablets took off. It's not hard to beat someone who isn't even competing in a category. :lol And it wasn't a comparison it went on about how B&N innovate more and make superior products to amazon. How is that comparing and weighing the pros and cons of each product? You're a B&N shill and have been since the thread began and it's beyond old. That's it.
Marty Chinn
Member
It's the same tech. Hardware wise, there is very little difference between the Nook Touch and Kindle Touch I would imagine. The screen may be a newer iteration though. So if you didn't like the touch screen on the Nook Touch, there's probably a good chance you won't like it on the Kindle Touch. I'm surprised you found it not very responsive. Did you find it laggy or just wouldn't always reconigze your input? I find that I barely have to touch the screen and it registers the input which is great since I don't have to get fingerprints all over the screen.Manics said:
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
So one can't like both products but see the merrit of one over the other without being a troll? That's complete stupidity. Come on, are we now trying to put down the Nook Color? Are we trying to say the Kindle Fire is nothing like the Nook Color? The Nook Color has been a pretty big success for B&N and yes they beat Amazon to the punch. That doesn't mean the Kindle Fire isn't better than the Nook Color, but really? We're trying to act like they aren't comparable devices and that B&N had a year step over them?
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
btkadams said:
Depends on what you do I guess. If you're using it for school or something and make a lot of annotations I can see it coming in handy but I read for pleasure on my kindle so I only use the keyboard for the experimental browser which is sucky but good enough for what I need it for and awesome for 3G. I've bought a bunch of books from my kindle but I can't see an onscreen keyboard being cumbersome for that since how much do you really need to type that it won't be in the first page of results? Searching the store without a keyboard wouldn't bother me at all.
maniac-kun
Member
Just preordered the German 99 Kindle
Marty Chinn said:
I found it wouldn't always recognize the touch and was a tad slow. There was a firmware update from Nook that said addressed the touch-screen responsiveness but I haven't tried it since I told my brother in law to upgrade his firmware.
Hardware might be the same, but the OS might make the experience on one or the other better. For what it's worth I don't really like touch-screen on an eReader for the smudge factor like you mentioned.
I was a little annoyed at first that the Kindle Touch didn't have page turn buttons like the new Nook but it became a non-issue for me after watching the This Is My Next hands-on video where it came off looking very responsive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Lk4gs662k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Lk4gs662k
I don't know which Kindle to get. =/
I don't want another tablet so the Fire is out the window. The new Kindle is gimped in comparison to the Kindle Keyboard 3G right? So that goes out the window as well. And I don't want the touch one, so it's out as well (and all the new ones are white huhu). Maybe I'll just go for the Kindle Keyboard 3G afterall.
I don't want another tablet so the Fire is out the window. The new Kindle is gimped in comparison to the Kindle Keyboard 3G right? So that goes out the window as well. And I don't want the touch one, so it's out as well (and all the new ones are white huhu). Maybe I'll just go for the Kindle Keyboard 3G afterall.
Marty Chinn
Member
Manics said:
Ya, I really want to see what they did with the OS to make it touch friendly. Can't wait to play with one in a Best Buy or something like that. I agree that the OS might be all the difference here. Personally I was a bit afraid of the smudge factor too but the light responsiveness negates that aspect for me so it's almost a non-issue.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Anastacio said:
How are they gimped in comparison to the keyboard model? Would you use the keyboard that much?
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
btkadams said:
Ya, and for the most part the browser is only worthwhile on 3G IMO since most people would have some other device with wifi to go online. I honestly just use the browser to check hockey scores, lol. Well that and my email when I didn't have internet access in Germany.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Manics said:
I found this on apple insider:
"Amazon is expected to build 12 million new e-ink Kindles this year -- 8 million of the low-end $79 model, with another 4 million Kindle Touches. The high-end touch model, code-named "Whitney," features a Freescale i.MX515 processor and 256MB of RAM with its 6-inch display. The touchsreen model is arriving later because of a "more complicated design and assembly," analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed.
The new $79 model is said to feature the same processor as the touch model, but has an integrated controller that will provide "better system design and lower cost" when compared to previous Kindle hardware, Kuo said."
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...99_kindle_touch_stick_with_e_ink_display.html
I don't remember what the keyboard one had though.
Edit: Wiki says Kindle 3 used: "The Kindle 3 utilizes a Freescale i. MX353 applications processor". So it's new but no clue how much of a difference it makes.
UltimaKilo
Gold Member
How are you supposed to make notes without it on the regular Kindle? I really prefer my Kindle 3 (or "Kindle Keyboard" now) to this new one. It doesn't even seem to have any tech. improvements...
I have to look into the Kindle Fire though.
I have to look into the Kindle Fire though.
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
The new $79 Kindle has 1 month of battery life and 2GB of storage, vs 2 months of battery life and 4GB of storage on the keyboard model.
see Compare Kindles section here:
http://www.amazon.com/kindle