Amazon Kindle

I got the new Amazon Kindle, the nifty one with the go anywhere 3G capability. I really, really like it. When I opened the box it was in sleep mode, so the screen showed me how to hook it up. That was amusing, as I at first thought there was a clear cover over the screen. It took a few moments to sort out that the information was actually displayed on the screen of the Kindle.

It was super easy to get started using, and the only complaint that I have so far is that the buttons to the side to move from page to page take a little getting used to. The assumption would be to click the buttons on the left to go back through the e-book, and the buttons on the right to go forward through the e-book. Instead you have two buttons on each side, and the bottom one advances one page, while the upper button takes you back one page. It makes it very comfortable for use with either the left or right hand, but I would have liked to have the option for the upper button to take you forward or back a chapter at a time, while the lower button moves single page at a time.

Overall, I am so far very happy with the visibility and the overall usefulness of the Kindle. It also has proven to be rugged, as my first day of having it, I put it into my ATV carry bag and took off down the dirt ATV trails to head for town 15 miles away. The Kindle bounced along the trails in the bag and back home (a padded bounce, not loose rattling about), and had no ill effect from what would essentially be months of jostled about bouncing compressed into a couple hours. I am very satisfied with the toughness, since that is the main use the Kindle will get from me, is being taken out on my ATV to let me read rough drafts of novels I am working on while out and about.

I have not yet loaded anything up onto the Kindle, but the information on how to do that was easy to find and looks very easy to set up so I can work on my novels on the go. And I can't wait to start getting that done! I will report more on it as I get more familiar with its use.