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pwalker8 · 05-09-2009, 07:02 AM

The battery on my Kindle 1 completely and utterly died this week. It won't hold a charge and the Kindle won't even turn on. Given that I've only had the Kindle since last September, this is not a good thing. Especially since both my original Sony PRS-500 and my Sony PRS-505 are still going strong. I have ordered two new batteries for it, but given the short time that I've had the Kindle and the fact that it's not my main reader (I use it to buy books and read topaz formated books, most of my reading is done on the 505), this really makes me hesitate to buy an eReader with a non replaceable battery from Amazon.

In general, consumer devices in a fast changing market such as the eReader, iPod, iPhone and cell phones in general have a rule of thumb life span of two years before they are bypassed by significant new offerings in the market. Of course, the older device still remains useful, but the newer devices tend to have enough of an advantage to make upgrading worthwhile. Laptops and computers use to be in that category, but the changes in computers has slowed down quite a bit over the last several years and the difference between by the macbook pro that I bought just over two years ago and what I could buy today isn't all that great.

With that in mind, I've been watching the eReader market with interest and see two possible eReaders that I'm interested in. The first is the just announced Kindle DX. While it would not take the place of the my more mobile PRS-505/500/kindle 1, it strikes me as a good size for reading at home. I think that it would be especially useful for history books that contain maps, since those maps tend to be too small to be useful on the smaller form readers. I will be interested to see what it's really like and how well normal books scale up when people actually start getting these devices.

The other possibility is the much rumored apple media tablet. If the rumors are true (basically an iTouch the size of a kindle) and if the iPhone apps will run on it (i.e. the kindle app), then it is certainly an intriguing choice. I read books on my iTouch/iPhone with no problem. June should be interesting.

05-09-2009, 07:02 AM	#1
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,195 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	battery life and what to buy next The battery on my Kindle 1 completely and utterly died this week. It won't hold a charge and the Kindle won't even turn on. Given that I've only had the Kindle since last September, this is not a good thing. Especially since both my original Sony PRS-500 and my Sony PRS-505 are still going strong. I have ordered two new batteries for it, but given the short time that I've had the Kindle and the fact that it's not my main reader (I use it to buy books and read topaz formated books, most of my reading is done on the 505), this really makes me hesitate to buy an eReader with a non replaceable battery from Amazon. In general, consumer devices in a fast changing market such as the eReader, iPod, iPhone and cell phones in general have a rule of thumb life span of two years before they are bypassed by significant new offerings in the market. Of course, the older device still remains useful, but the newer devices tend to have enough of an advantage to make upgrading worthwhile. Laptops and computers use to be in that category, but the changes in computers has slowed down quite a bit over the last several years and the difference between by the macbook pro that I bought just over two years ago and what I could buy today isn't all that great. With that in mind, I've been watching the eReader market with interest and see two possible eReaders that I'm interested in. The first is the just announced Kindle DX. While it would not take the place of the my more mobile PRS-505/500/kindle 1, it strikes me as a good size for reading at home. I think that it would be especially useful for history books that contain maps, since those maps tend to be too small to be useful on the smaller form readers. I will be interested to see what it's really like and how well normal books scale up when people actually start getting these devices. The other possibility is the much rumored apple media tablet. If the rumors are true (basically an iTouch the size of a kindle) and if the iPhone apps will run on it (i.e. the kindle app), then it is certainly an intriguing choice. I read books on my iTouch/iPhone with no problem. June should be interesting.