Kindle Touch - first thoughts

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Leep

One new trick that I pleased me on the Kindle Touch was accessing the Dropbox and being able to download a book from there directly onto my Kindle. Very convenient and the book doesn't have to be sent through the Amazon servers like Calibre book sharing.

cheers

Yes Dropbox is the way to go! I use it on all my Kindles.

[MikeCL]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Ah.. then the answer is yes. You can not surf the web on Amazons dime via 3G on the new models.

But, I got a cell phone for that.

BOb

Ok just checking.. I have a cell phone for that too but sometimes I may use the kindle to check the email while in bed instead of walking up to the window to check on my phone.

Glad I did not hold out for this

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by MikeCL

Ok just checking.. I have a cell phone for that too but sometimes I may use the kindle to check the email while in bed instead of walking up to the window to check on my phone.

Glad I did not hold out for this

Do you not have WiFi at home?

BOb

[MikeCL]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Do you not have WiFi at home?

BOb

I do but I travel and I don't want to be like OH shoot I want to get this book but I have to wait until I'm near some wifi AP and hope it's open!

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by SCION

You can often get a decent connection from the parking lot. I rarely buy something solely for WiFi access, unless I'll be using the connection for more than 10-15 minutes.

I believe it's as you say in your area. As I said--here there is one "free" wifi I know of--and I couldn't get to it even in the store, much less the parking lot.

I haven't used free wifi much, obviously, but I would have thought the owner of the store would set it up such that people have to buy something to get it? Unless in the big cities it's just considered an amenity for anyone passing through that mostly benefits customers, like a bathroom, I suppose.

I guess if I was stuck with wifi I could try driving randomly through neighborhoods until I find someone who hasn't secured their home wifi.

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by blue_skies

How well does mapquest display on the Kindle? Do you have to use a mobile version of the site?

On the KK it displays just fine (well, greyscale, obviously), and I use the regular version of the site, though I may try the mobile version just to see if I like it better.

It IS slow, and a certain amount of patience is required. I imagine messing with the map would be frustrating, but haven't tried it.

I'm afraid it has been long enough since I did this on the Kindle 2 that I don't remember much about it. It got me directions to where I needed to go. I *think* I used the main site because I don't know the url for the mobile one. But I can't guarantee that.

[apenney]

Originally Posted by Leep

One new trick that I pleased me on the Kindle Touch was accessing the Dropbox and being able to download a book from there directly onto my Kindle. Very convenient and the book doesn't have to be sent through the Amazon servers like Calibre book sharing.

cheers

This sounds awesome... how do I do this?!

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by apenney

This sounds awesome... how do I do this?!

By using the Kindle Touch's web browser just log into Dropbox and download the book directly to your Kindle.

[ericmeiguo]

just got a k4. glad to know dropbox works. I've been using dropbox for goodreader on iDevice for long time.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by ericmeiguo

just got a k4. glad to know dropbox works. I've been using dropbox for goodreader on iDevice for long time.

The main site will not the mobile site because the Kindle browser doesn't open new windows.

[fizgig]

I just received my Kindle Touch and have a few questions:

1. anyone know how to turn off right (full) justification? seems like it used to be pretty straight forward but now there's no keyboard or reader.pref to edit.

2. is there any way to turn on page numbers like iBooks has? Even if it's calculated, it's good to know how many "pages" are left in a chapter or have some sort of baseline other than a percentage.

3. the little graphic at the top of a chapter is appearing on its own page, any way to fix that?

[mastercob]

Originally Posted by fizgig

I just received my Kindle Touch and have a few questions:

2. is there any way to turn on page numbers like iBooks has? Even if it's calculated, it's good to know how many "pages" are left in a chapter or have some sort of baseline other than a percentage.

I don't think there is. :<

I have my own question:

When I want to add a note, I press down, hold, and then drag to highlight a section; then I receive a prompt asking if I want to add a highlight, add a note, or cancel. I choose add a note, then I add my note. But! It seems to also add a highlight - like, the text stays highlighted. And the only way I found to unhighlight that text is to drag and highlight it again and then choose "delete highlight." This seems like a dumb extra step, to remove a highlight that I never even wanted in the first place (I only wanted a note).

But perhaps I'm missing something here. Am I?

[shinew]

So after using my Kindle Touch for a week, I'm debating wether to send it back or to wait for a firmware update to possibly fix some of the issues I have with it.

For both hardware & software, I prefer the Non-touch version:
- kindle touch looks & feels "bulky" compares to NT
- it is noticeably heavier than the NT.
- every operation is slower compares to the NT, from page turning to going back to home page. It feels laggy while NT does not and it has nothing to do with indexing.
- instead of the flushed power button on the NT, KT's one is raised, so I accidentally click on it all the time, even when I read a book.
- ghosting is significantly worse on the KT(my replacement unit arrived yesterday, same ghosting issue). Although this is most likely going to be fixed by a firmware update.
- this one is more of a personal preference, but I like the almost flushed design from the screen to the bazel for the NT, I find the KT's recessed screen(to accomodate for the IR sensor) less comfortable to look at for reading.

The only thing that I really like on the KT is the X-Ray feature. However that's mostly useful for the first 20% of the book. After that, I find that I don't need to access it as much. But still, it's nice to have it.

Overall I agree with those who said the KT feels like a rushed product. My recommendation to my friends and others would be to pass on the KT and wait for amazon's next iteration unless the X-Ray feature is very important to you.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by shinew

So after using my Kindle Touch for a week, I'm debating wether to send it back or to wait for a firmware update to possibly fix some of the issues I have with it.

For both hardware & software, I prefer the Non-touch version:
- kindle touch looks & feels "bulky" compares to NT
- it is noticeably heavier than the NT.
- every operation is slower compares to the NT, from page turning to going back to home page. It feels laggy while NT does not and it has nothing to do with indexing.
- instead of the flushed power button on the NT, KT's one is raised, so I accidentally click on it all the time, even when I read a book.
- ghosting is significantly worse on the KT(my replacement unit arrived yesterday, same ghosting issue). Although this is most likely going to be fixed by a firmware update.
- this one is more of a personal preference, but I like the almost flushed design from the screen to the bazel for the NT, I find the KT's recessed screen(to accomodate for the IR sensor) less comfortable to look at for reading.

The only thing that I really like on the KT is the X-Ray feature. However that's mostly useful for the first 20% of the book. After that, I find that I don't need to access it as much. But still, it's nice to have it.

Overall I agree with those who said the KT feels like a rushed product. My recommendation to my friends and others would be to pass on the KT and wait for amazon's next iteration unless the X-Ray feature is very important to you.

I cannot comment regarding performance relative to KNT as I don't have one. But relative to my Nook Touch, yes, it is slower. That could be addressed by software update.

Obviously its physical characteristics cannot be addressed by a software update. As for the bezel depth, that is, as you note, due to the IR technology. It is the same on all devices that use it (Nook Touch, Kobo Touch, Sony). I don't personally have issue with any of this.

Ghosting seems to be an issue for me, but I don't seen nearly the volume of forum comments that complain about this. So I'm getting a replacement and hopefully it will be better.

To me the biggest problems are to do with text selection. It seems to be the least capable of any Kindle I've had:
- can't start on one page and end on another
- can't adjust the selection once it is made, which you need because you can't really tell what you have selected until your finger moves off of the initial/ending points

I also greatly miss being able to change orientation. This would largely mitigate the issues with the power button being pushed accidentally, or having USB or headphone wires in the way (if you could flip the orientation 180). And landscape viewing makes PDF viewing much more usable.

Also I had expected the 'international' features of K4 (option to change UI language, additional dictionaries for French, Spanish etc.). Maybe this will be added so they can sell in Europe.

They should make it easier to launch the browser. There used to be a 'Goto' option on Home screen search that did this, but it is gone.

TTS now covers up part of the screen it is reading, which is a little annoying. Couldn't they hide it and leave a button in the status area to reveal it?

Picture viewer is gone, too, and the reader.prefs is no longer visible, so no margin/justification/font hack unless someone figures out a different way.

Speaking of PDF, we do have a couple of new features: TOC view, and TTS capabilities. Maybe K4 has TOC also but K3 did not.

So far I haven't used X-Ray enough to like it. The main problem is that there aren't many books that have it and there's no way to tell prior to purchasing.

[shinew]

yes I would expect both screen ghosting(not unbearable, but noticeably worse than K4) and should be fixable through firmware update. the slowness is only noticeable when I compare it to the NT, doesn't really bother me much for reading though.

To me the biggest problems are to do with text selection. It seems to be the least capable of any Kindle I've had:
- can't start on one page and end on another

I just tried it, actually you can if you don't mind adding one more step.
First note your current location, choose "Go To" -> "Page or Location" -> add 2 to your current location(ex: if current location is 1000, input 1002).
Now the texts you need to select should be on the same page.
You can adjust the number depending on how much you need to select for the next page, 2 is a good starting point)

So far I haven't used X-Ray enough to like it. The main problem is that there aren't many books that have it and there's no way to tell prior to purchasing.

Yes that is a bit annoying, but publisher needs to give permission first before Amazon can add it. You can give the x-ray generator script i wrote for the book(I put it in my sig) a try. it's very simple to use, once you input the required fields, just drag & drop like side loading any books. It's quite handy to have reference on the device.

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X-Ray Generator for Kindle Touch