Amazon Press Conference on Sept. 6th Causes Much Speculation

Amazon has sent invitations to the media for a press conference to be held September 6th in Santa Monica. The event will take place at Barker Hangar, a 35,000 sq. ft venue that claims to be the largest stage on the westside.

Amazon Remains Mum
The invitations gave no clues or hints about the reason for this press conference. As usual, Amazon’s lips are tighter than my husband’s wallet. The full text states: “Please join us for an Amazon Press Conference.”

So, this leaves me with just one thing to so… SPECULATE!

Speculation — This Press Conference
The Yodeling Pickle that I have been dying to buy will be half priced.
Amazon will be introducing new Kindles!

I believe that we will soon be hearing news about the new 7″  Kindle Fire 2 and even possibly a 10″ tablet codenamed ‘Hollywood’.

The press conference is being organized by Amazon’s Kindle business.  <—– HUGE clue!

In the past, Kindle press conferences were held in New York about this time of year. The change in location from New York to Santa Monica, which is just 12 miles  from Hollywood, makes me think there is more going on than just a new Kindle launch.

More Speculation!
Maybe they chose this area of the entertainment field to also promote a new content provider, like a major network or studio.

Or maybe they’ll be introducing a smartphone. Rumors have been spreading like wild fire for months about Amazon developing a smartphone.

Patience Young Grasshopper
I guess we will just have to sit and wait it out patiently until September 6th.

Waiting…

Waiting…..

Waiting………

I’m not a patient person!  Help me out, please! Answer the question below to help distract me.

What do you think will happen at the press conference?

Kindle e-ink recommendations

I have been using a Kindle e-reader for about 3 1/2 years now and love them.  Even though I have both a Kindle Fire and a Nook Color – if I had to choose one device only and my main focus was on reading – give me an e-ink e-reader any day.

Several people have asked me my recommendations, so I thought I would put it down in print.

Note: I have not used a Kindle 1st generation or Kindle DX – so will not be putting my thoughts down about them.

Kindle 2nd Generation

Although the Kindle 2nd Generation is not actively sold in stores, it is often found on e-bay, classified ads, pawn shops, etc.  This was my very first Kindle and I used it exclusively for about 2 years.  I love this device.  It automatically came with 3G and did everything I wanted it to do.  I could read books on it (and was thrilled when Collections were added), I could do minimal web browsing, play games and purchase and download books.  It has an old-style 5-way with a raised joystick, a full physical keyboard, including a number row.  It also has speakers and text-to-speech options. While not as fast as the new Kindles, it is an incredible machine and I still highly recommend it – especially if you don’t have the money to purchase a new Kindle.

Kindle Keyboard (aka Kindle 3)

Kindle Keyboard is always going to be known as Kindle 3 in my heart. It has a WiFi only version as well as a 3G option and can come with or without Special Offers.  Kindle Keyboard (WiFi) with Special Offers is currently selling for $99 and then Kindle Keyboard with 3G/WiFi and no Special Offers sells for $189.  There are variations in between.  Again – this is a great device for reading, playing games and apps.  It has a physical keyboard, except for some reason Amazon took away the numeric row.   It also has speakers and text-to-speech options. The new style 5-way started on this device.  Kindle Keyboard is faster than Kindle 2nd Generation and is plenty fast for me.  It also has increased battery life over the 2nd Generation.  This is probably my favorite Kindle.  I think the physical keyboard is extremely useful if you take notes or use functionality apps on your Kindle or even play a lot of games.  Unless your heart is set on the latest and the greatest – if you can only have one Kindle in your life – this is the one that I recommend. In my opinion – with Kindle Keyboard you can’t go wrong.

Kindle (aka Kindle 4)

Kindle is WiFi only and sells for $79 with Special Offers and $109 without Special Offers.  This is often referred to by many users as the “Mindle” (although what they are calling it with Kindle Touch the same size is beyond me) and is referred to by me as “Kindle for Kids.” No physical keyboard.   Much smaller in size.  No speakers and no text-to-speech option.  But the Kindle is very fast and reading on it is very easy – still has Previous Page and Next Page buttons on both sides. It takes getting used to not having the physical keyboard and only 5 buttons on the bottom (including the 5-way).  I recommend this device for users that can’t afford the extra $20 to get Kindle Keyboard or if you are purchasing a Kindle for a child up to early teen.  I also recommend this device if you speak a language that uses accents or other diacritics because the keyboard has special keyboard tabs to handle these. Typing on this device is mentally painful and very slow.  Many apps/games have been rewritten for the Kindle – but not all of them and some might never be.  Keep that in mind if gaming or functionality apps are important to you.

Kindle Touch

Kindle Touch has both WiFi and 3G versions with or without Special Offers and ranges from $99 up to $189.  This is about the same size as Kindle, but includes speakers and text-to-speech options.  I have been using it for about 2 weeks and I am not super impressed.  The touch is quite fast when you are within books and turning pages, but I find it clunky and annoying when working through the menu pages or achived objects pages.  The touch keyboard is better than the keyboard in the Kindle because it is easier to touch a letter than pretend you are playing a video game to type.  Interestingly enough – this keyboard does not include the letters for additional foreign languages. Download speeds are fast.  Still – I just don’t feel the love for this device that Amazon wants me to. Very few apps/games have been rewritten at this point for the Kindle Touch. Amazon is no longer requiring every app/game function on all Kindles, so there may be many that are never redone for the Kindle Touch because it is going to take a lot of work.

Conclusions

E-ink e-readers rock.  You can use them in direct sunlight.  You can buy a light to attach to them to read in the dark. They are light, tough and easy to use.  As I mentioned earlier – if I had to choose between a tablet and an e-reader and could have only one – I would go with the e-reader every time.  These are awesome devices.  Do some research to see what is right for you.  These are just my thoughts – but I have enough experience on each of them to be able to hopefully guide you in making the correct choice.

Happy e-reading!

Kindle Touch – Initial Thoughts

I am excited to have a Kindle Touch in my grubby little hands tonight.  Since I wasn’t expecting it until next week, it was nice to open up a box and see my new device.  After a total of 30 minutes of use (most of it figuring things out), I thought I would post some initial thoughts about the Kindle Touch.  I will do a more thorough breakdown as time goes by and compare it to the other Kindle devices I have worked on in future blog posts.

Size:  The Kindle Touch is the same size as the Kindle 4.  Very lightweight and compact.  Easy on the arms and hands to hold.

Design:  It is a bit disconcerting to not have a 5-way controller.  I am so used to those on all my Kindles.  The Kindle Touch has one button on the center of the bottom front panel.  At first I thought it was the speaker – because it has 4 parallel lines, but it is the Home button. On the bottom edge of the device are the adapter port, earphone plug, and the power/screensaver button. On the backside near the bottom of the device are the audio speakers.

Original Documents: Original Documents include the Kindle User’s Guide, a document called “Things to know about your new Kindle”, and two dictionaries. I found it interesting that once I connected via WiFi I received a “Welcome Maurine” message that not only indicated they knew I had other Kindle’s but suggested the first thing I do is check out the  Amazon store.  Yeah – nice suggestion Mr. Bezos – but it is not going to fly.

Keyboard: The touch keyboard is slower than a physical keyboard, but much less painful than that on the Kindle 4.  It was responsive and easy to use. One thing that I find extremely interesting – with the Kindle 4, Amazon added in keyboard tabs for non-English characters.  I thought this was a great step towards making the Kindle an international item.  However, those same characters are not available on the keyboard for Kindle Touch.  It is also missing the ability to keep the keyboard capitalized. 

The Touch action: The User’s Guide points out that you can use touch/tap or swipe to move through a book.  Swiping from right to left advances the page, swiping from left to right turns back a page. The left side of the screen (about the width of a slim finger) can be tapped to go to the previous page. The remaining portion (most of the screen) can be tapped to advance a page. The upper portion of the screen (again – the size of a slim finger) can be tapped to open up the menu. It would be nice if they added an option to reverse the tap sections for left handed users. Paging through books was very quick.  They have reduced the refresh rate on this Kindle and it makes for much faster speeds.

Confusion on Touch:  The User’s Guide seems to indicate that you will never need to swipe in order to use your Kindle Touch. That touch is all that is needed.  This is incorrect and I found out through a few frustrating incidents. When downloading Archived items, I wanted to advance a couple of pages, so carefully tapped the screen in between books.  Wrong move! Each time I did that, I started downloading the nearby book.  You do have to swipe in the Home Screen and in Archived items to advance a page.  It is also going to take a while to get used to when I need to “press” instead of “tap”. The pressing motion is needed within books to highlight words, look up meanings. On the Home Screen it is needed to bring up the submenus for the books.

Downloads: Downloading content from my Archived items was extremely quick.  I was very pleased to select a group of items and have them already downloaded before I went back to the Home screen.

I just read about the Xray feature.  According to the Amazon website – Xray is 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, Amazon’s community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers. I am excited to try this out and will let you know my thoughts when I have explored it.

My intial feelings on the Kindle Touch are one of excitement.  I think they have a winner here.  It is not perfect, but it is fast, light, and inexpensive.  While I recommended the Kindle 4 as the Kindle to purchase for children and tweens, I think this might be my recommendation for all other users.  I will miss having a physical keyboard, but think that the adaptation to the touch keyboard will be quick and painless.  Yes, I am going to fumble about looking for buttons, a 5-way controller and other items for a couple of weeks, but this will be an interesting e-reader to have. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts for any readers that purchase the Kindle Touch. Also – please leave a comment if there are any questions you have or any areas you would like me to focus on.

Bonus question: Once again – my favorite question is unanswered for an important tool I need for testing and blogging on the Kindle Touch.  How do I take a screenshot?  Please let me  know if you find this out.

Kindle Keyboard/Kindle 3 Upgrade

In the middle of October, Amazon released an upgrade (version 3.3) for the Kindle Keyboard (formerly known as Kindle 3 [not nearly as good as being formerly known as Prince]).  If you haven’t already downloaded the upgrade or received it wirelessly on your Kindle, I thought I would mention some of the features included in the upgrade:

1) Download your archived Personal Documents on Kindle Keyboard: You can now view and download your archived personal documents to your Kindle Keyboard conveniently anywhere at any time. Your personal documents will be stored in your Kindle library until you delete them from the Manage Your Kindle page. Personal document types include:

  • Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX)
  • HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
  • RTF (.RTF)
  • JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
  • Kindle Format (.MOBI, .AZW)
  • GIF (.GIF)
  • PNG (.PNG)
  • BMP (.BMP)
  • PDF (.PDF)

So – Personal Documents on your Kindle are actually backed up and you are able to access them on your Kindle.  You may need to manipulate them some with font size – but it is a nice addition. 

2) Whispersync for Personal Documents on Kindle Keyboard: Just as with Kindle books, Whispersync automatically synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks and annotations for personal documents (with the exception of PDFs) across the Kindle devices.  I haven’t played with this to see if I can actually bookmark and highlight Personal Documents.

3) AmazonLocal deals – Kindle Keyboard with Special Offers users in many regions can now view, purchase and redeem AmazonLocal deals directly from Kindle Keyboard – no computer, no printer, no hassle. AmazonLocal offers savings up to 75% off products and services from businesses in your city, national chains and online merchants.

So – only useful if you have a Special Offers Kindle and only useful if you actually live in an area where there are AmazonLocal deals.  So – the Groupon aspect of Special Offers goes local. You have to subscribe in order to receive these notifications.  You also have to live where they are available.  Right now there are no deals in my area and the closest location is Boise, Idaho.  My guess is Amazon is hoping this will go big – but it is still an iffy deal.

4) Voice Guide Shortcut: Kindle Keyboard users can now quickly turn the Voice Guide feature on and off by holding the Shift key and pressing Spacebar.  Voice Guide reads aloud menu options, content listings and item descriptions.

OK – I have to admit that I did not know about the Voice Guide feature that reads some basic details to you about your Kindle items.  Turned this on tonight and have enjoyed playing with it.  This might be a great feature for visually impaired users (just turn it off at work if you don’t want your boss to know you are reading your Kindle).  This new shortcut works great.  It does not instantly turn on/off the Voice Guide – but will change the setting for the next message that would be read aloud.

If you use any of these features – then get the upgrade.  I don’t know that it is something you will actually need in normal circumstances.  I had to actually download mine to my computer and then move it onto my Kindle.  Amazon walks you through the upgrade process at www.amazon.com/kindlesoftwareupdates.

A friend of mine has put the screensaver hack on his Kindle Keyboard and tested the upgrade against the hack.  Never fear – his screensavers still appeared after the upgrade.

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