Get Updates in your Feed ReaderThe Kindle 2 F.A.Q.
March 03, 2009
Since receiving my Kindle 2 a week ago, I’ve received a lot of questions about it—in person and on Twitter. I put together a Kindle 2 F.A.Q. so as to collate the questions and my responses in one resource—available, for free, to the entire population of the world.
- In this economy, how can you justify spending $359 on an ebook reader?
Oh, you must be on Twitter. Hello.
- Is there a backlight?
No.
- Well, how do you read a book on the Kindle in the dark?
The same way you read a paper book in the dark. WITH THE LIGHT ON.
- What’s the first thing you read on the Kindle?
The manual. And then I read Stephen King’s Kindle-only novella UR. It was classic King and damn good.
- Can you surf the Internet on the Kindle?
Yes, but that’s what I have a laptop for. If you’re looking to surf the web, don’t bother getting a Kindle. The browser is a throwback to pre-iPhone mobile browsers, i.e. it sucks.
- Is the text-to-speech feature useful?
If you enjoy having your books read to you by Rosie, the maid from the Jetsons, then yes, it’s very useful.
My experience with the text-to-speech wasn’t positive. I shouldn’t have to work that hard just to understand and process what is being read to me. Until they have a James Earl Jones synthetic voice, I won’t be using the text-to-speech feature.
- Does the Kindle 2 come with a case?
No.
- Did you get one for your Kindle?
Yes. I picked up the Belkin neoprene case. It’s a little too FranklinCovey for my tastes, but it does a nice job protecting the Kindle when I take it with me outside the house. I never have it in the case while at home. It’s like a case for an iPhone—I didn’t buy the iPhone so I could ruin it with some third-party hunk of plastic crap. Same goes for the Kindle.
- So, do you like your Kindle 2?
Best thing since the iPhone. If you’re into reading, it’s an extremely useful device.
- What is your favorite feature on the Kindle?
Besides the obvious, like the crisp and clear e-ink display, the wireless book delivery is by far the killer feature in the Kindle. The new form factor of Kindle 2 is nice—it is, after all, what made me order one—but the wireless browsing, purchase and delivery of books and periodicals is so convenient that even though it sounds cool, until you actually use it and have that moment where it really comes in handy, you don’t really know just how cool it is.
Thank you! I was JUST looking at the Kindle yesterday and wondered about those things. I do a lot of reading with the kids and can’t carry books around all day so I would love to have them all on a handheld and just whip it out and read any time, any place. I can’t wait to get one!
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