MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - The Kindle is dead. Long live the Kindle.

kingtermite · 03-17-2012, 12:31 PM

<Rant>

I got my first Kindle (and first e-book reader) about 3 weeks ago. I settled on a Kindle Touch after looking at the specs.

I read 3 books on the Kindle Touch and was impressed at how much faster I could read on it versus a real book. However, I was having a few issues.

1) Every once in a while it seemed to randomly jump many pages forward or backwards when I tried to touch for next page. I'd have to tinker for a bit to figure out which direction it went and work my way back.

2) The "previous page" area was touchy. If I was just slightly low (I'm guessing that was the problem) it would go forward instead of backwards (even though the instructions said nothing about touching on the left anywhere to go forward).

3) A couple of times it just went completely wonky. I'd hit the on button and it wouldn't turn on. I'd fiddle with it for 10 minutes before finally realizing holding the power button in would reset it. Sometimes that would bring it back (sometimes it needed the reset a few times).

4) Sometimes you hit the area of the screen (lower right) to page forward and nothing would happen. So you are sitting there wondering if it registered the touch or you need to press again. Many times I give up after 5-10 seconds and touch again, then it forwards 2 pages (because it was "just" about to turn page for the first touch). Even normally the page turn could be anywhere from 1-20 seconds with it probably average on about 4-5 seconds.

So I finally decided yesterday that since it was only 3 weeks I'd return it and get the Kindle 4 NT instead. I've always had bad luck with touch screens, so I thought maybe a standard button interface would be more solid and less prone to those nuances.

I was trying to get into the Kindle to reset it to factory condition and as if the device sensed my feeling it really played hard ball with me. It rebooted and every time I got back in to hit any menu item or anything, it would go back into reboot again. It did this over and over about 15 times before I finally got in long enough to reset to factory defaults.

I had no troubles returning and came home with the Kindle 4 NT last night. So far, this Kindle seems MUCH better. Buttons are much more responsive. It turns on in about 1 second instead of 5-10. Paging forward while reading is no longer iffy. I press the button it forwards. No more waiting to wonder if the touch registered or not. When it does change page its typically immediate...no more long waits to find out if its going to happen or not.

</Rant>

From my experience - stay away from the Kindle Touch and get the regular Kindle 4 NT.

03-17-2012, 12:31 PM	#1
kingtermite KingTermite Posts: 31 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Bellevue, WA Device: Kindle Touch	The Kindle is dead. Long live the Kindle. <Rant> I got my first Kindle (and first e-book reader) about 3 weeks ago. I settled on a Kindle Touch after looking at the specs. I read 3 books on the Kindle Touch and was impressed at how much faster I could read on it versus a real book. However, I was having a few issues. 1) Every once in a while it seemed to randomly jump many pages forward or backwards when I tried to touch for next page. I'd have to tinker for a bit to figure out which direction it went and work my way back. 2) The "previous page" area was touchy. If I was just slightly low (I'm guessing that was the problem) it would go forward instead of backwards (even though the instructions said nothing about touching on the left anywhere to go forward). 3) A couple of times it just went completely wonky. I'd hit the on button and it wouldn't turn on. I'd fiddle with it for 10 minutes before finally realizing holding the power button in would reset it. Sometimes that would bring it back (sometimes it needed the reset a few times). 4) Sometimes you hit the area of the screen (lower right) to page forward and nothing would happen. So you are sitting there wondering if it registered the touch or you need to press again. Many times I give up after 5-10 seconds and touch again, then it forwards 2 pages (because it was "just" about to turn page for the first touch). Even normally the page turn could be anywhere from 1-20 seconds with it probably average on about 4-5 seconds. So I finally decided yesterday that since it was only 3 weeks I'd return it and get the Kindle 4 NT instead. I've always had bad luck with touch screens, so I thought maybe a standard button interface would be more solid and less prone to those nuances. I was trying to get into the Kindle to reset it to factory condition and as if the device sensed my feeling it really played hard ball with me. It rebooted and every time I got back in to hit any menu item or anything, it would go back into reboot again. It did this over and over about 15 times before I finally got in long enough to reset to factory defaults. I had no troubles returning and came home with the Kindle 4 NT last night. So far, this Kindle seems MUCH better. Buttons are much more responsive. It turns on in about 1 second instead of 5-10. Paging forward while reading is no longer iffy. I press the button it forwards. No more waiting to wonder if the touch registered or not. When it does change page its typically immediate...no more long waits to find out if its going to happen or not. </Rant> From my experience - stay away from the Kindle Touch and get the regular Kindle 4 NT.