Troubleshooting How to stop a kindle breaking

[haggardpete]

Im waiting for my third replacement Kindle (keyboard model) in a year. The last two developed the lines on the screen syndrome.

After the first failure I invested in what seemed to be a robust cover and have treated it like a baby. This has not stopped the issues. I’m not alone, about half the Kindle owners I know have had at least one replacement. By contrast my Sony reader is still going strong after being dropped many times and dragged around the world in all sorts of luggage.

Has anyone come across a truly bomb proof Kindle case? Alternatively are the later Kindle models more robust?

I've never broken any ereader of any make or model. Do you have a small child? A 2 year old can destroy an anvil with a banana peel! How about a dog? They can tear up anything.

[soulfuldog]

I've not had my Kindle 3 for a year yet but despite it only ever being in a soft sleeve, and the fact it's fallen on the floor a couple of times, (touch wood) it's still working just fine. The one thing I don't do very often is carry it in a bag with other items, and if it is, I always make sure the Kindle screen is to the outside, so nothing else in the bag can press on it.

I think the screens on all e-readers are fairly fragile, the Kindle 3 isn't any different to any other model.

[ucfgrad93]

My Kindle 3 is coming up on its 1st birthday (got it for Father's Day last year) and it is still going strong. I never use a cover unless I need the light or I am traveling out of town. I take it to doctors appointments, etc. naked.

[Shopaholic]

Otterbox. They make cases for the Kindle 3 & the Kindle DX plus a few other tablets. My hubby pretty much eats cell phones. He wanted an iPhone & I said not unless you get the best protective case for it. I'm not paying, nor can I afford to pay $500 a shot every time he breaks his phone. The Otterbox case has saved my sanity & my pocketbook. They're pricey but worth it.

The Otterbox cases are fabulous! For phones at least, they make 3 different levels of protection. I believe Defender is their strongest level. Impact is lowest & Commuter is mid-level. I don't know about 'bomb' proof but pretty darn good!!

Here's a link to their Kindle page but you can access any other tablet or phone case from links on the left.

Otterbox Kindle Cases

[Blossom]

I'm still on my original K3. I own a Amazon lighted cover. I store it on its own shelf. I've had mine since November 2010.

[Jessica Lares]

I broke my Kindle 3 on the third day of owning it. I've learned since then.

The plastic doesn't protect the internals of the device very well like say an iPad does. Amazon needs to work on that.

[pidgeon92]

I haven't broken a kindle yet, and I have personally owned four of them, three of which are still in my possession, and have no defects.

There is no eink ereader that is any more robust than a Kindle. They are all made of the same composite screen.

[ProfCrash]

Sounds like you are torquing it. No case protects against that. My K1, DXG, and K3 are all fine. No replacements needed.

[JSWolf]

One way to stop breaking a Kindle is to buy a different brand.

[CRussel]

We have had four Kindles, and we've only ever had one break a screen. ALL our Kindles have had Amazon-branded leather covers on them (the lighted cover for our K3's), and all have been fine, right up until my DW, in a moment of total frustration with one of our two adorable dogs (and a day that had NOT gone well in other ways), threw her K3 at the dog. Missed, of course, but bounced the Kindle off the corner of the night-stand with the cover flipped back. The result was entirely predictable -- the screen broke, and Kindle Customer Service replaced it at 1/2 price. (it was out of warranty.)

Of course, she only told me how it was broken several days later.

My point is simple - it took active abuse to break the screen. Yes, they _are_ subject to torque. That's something that a stiff cover can help protect against to a certain extent, but there are limits and that's probably the biggest risk. Breakage from dropping is relatively uncommon if you have it in a (good) cover. So stuffing your Kindle into a back pack without considering torsional stresses is a significant risk.

[ProfCrash]

From the reports that I have seen, on the boards and with friends, the cases of broken e-readers, Kindle and otherwise, tend to come from really high drops, sitting on them, and backpack or other tightly confined places. We have over 10 Kindles in our family. One person had the sun fade issue on her K2. One DX was lost. Other than that, all are fully functional. That is 1 K1, 5 K2's (not including the sun fade one), 2 K3, 1 K4 DX's. Three are used by kids under the age of 12.

No offense, I would say that they are pretty sturdy little devices when properly treated.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

One way to stop breaking a Kindle is to buy a different brand.

Good idea, buy a Sony and break it instead! Better hurry though as Sony is on the brink of extinction.

[ProfCrash]

We don't know that. There could be a new Sony being released which would explain the sales in the US.

I would be sad if we lost the Sony's. They have been an innovator and applied pressure to Amazon and other companies. If I were to get an E Pub reader, it would be a Sony.

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

We don't know that. There could be a new Sony being released which would explain the sales in the US.

I would be sad if we lost the Sony's. They have been an innovator and applied pressure to Amazon and other companies. If I were to get an E Pub reader, it would be a Sony.

Sony has lost billions of dollars over the past two years and they got hit hard by floods in Thailand and the earthquake/tsunami in Japan, plus they have a very dysfunctional corporate organization wherein competing divisions have no clue as to what the other divisions are doing. Something has got to give sooner or later. I would not be surprised to see Sony start downsizing their lackluster hardware systems in order to concentrate on hardware systems that have good profits. I suspect their bread and butter right now is their music holdings, which of course is not hardware.

Their camera division is struggling big time to keep up with demand. I think their ereader group has also been struggling for at least a couple of years judging by the on and off unavailability of even new ereaders during that period.