Should I get the Touch or the Keyboard?

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Really? When did they add that function? It's news to me—good news indeed.

Keyboard has also supported download from Audible even before Kindle Touch shipped.

There are a couple of basic problems Kindle's Audible support, IMO:
1. no way to cancel a lengthy download, short of restart. This is especially problematic with Touch, since a stray touch can easily initiate download from Archived Items (it doesn't even check to see if there's enough space first). I always try to leave the Archived Items 'filter' set to show 'Books' or 'Docs' rather than 'All Items', then switch to 'Audible' when I want something there.
2. no way to choose the more compact format '4' for wireless download. It's doubtful that you can even tell the difference between '4' and 'enhanced' with Kindle's audio, and 'enhanced' is twice as big (twice as long to download, more storage required). It is just dumb dumb dumb. You have to side-load '4' if you want to save space, and often that's split into parts, which has its tradeoffs.

I've sent feedback to Amazon about this but it's obviously a low priority, and involves different teams to address. I don't use Audible feature much because I use my iPod Touch. The iOS (or Android) app has more features as well (bookmarks, speed variation).

Of course Fire is better: you can listen to the audiobook and follow along in the text at the same time (if you have both formats). Too bad Kindle doesn't let you play audiobooks in 'background' as it will for MP3.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by tomsem

...I don't use Audible feature much because I use my iPod Touch....

I use either my 5th Generation (non-touch) iPod or my PC for listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I've never used the audio function of any of my Kindles, with the exception of a couple of extremely brief experiments with Text-to-Speech. The speakers are just too tinny and weak for my tastes, but the Kindle's audio does sound okay through headphones or earbuds.

[Lordblacknail]

Maybe I am missing something here, but I can't imagine reading a book on a touch device. Wouldn't the screen get smudgy all the time? I have the Kindle 3 3g and they will have to pry it from my cold dead fingers to get me to part with it.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Lordblacknail

Maybe I am missing something here, but I can't imagine reading a book on a touch device. Wouldn't the screen get smudgy all the time? I have the Kindle 3 3g and they will have to pry it from my cold dead fingers to get me to part with it.

First, inspect your current Kindle for smudges. It probably has some. Do they bother you? Now, Pretend your Kindle 3 is a Kindle Touch and swipe and tap the display with your finger for a few minutes Then see if you can see any smudges. You'll have your answer, or at least, a more concrete idea.

I have not found it to be any sort of problem, smudges don't really affect the clarity of text significantly and are basically invisible unless you have light reflecting directly into your eye (in which case you cannot read that part of the screen). Nor have I seen reports of people returning Touch because it bothered them. But we all self-select so one can't conclude that NOBODY will be bothered.

What is mildly annoying is when dust or hair lands on the screen. if you're unable to blow it off, you have to lock the screen to wipe. With K3 you just wipe.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by Lordblacknail

Maybe I am missing something here, but I can't imagine reading a book on a touch device. Wouldn't the screen get smudgy all the time?

I read a lot on my HP TouchPad and on my PRS-950, and they both have touch screens, and no, they don't get smudgy unless you have lots of goo and grease on your hands when you touch the screen. I'm not in the habit of handling any form of electronic device with greasy hands, so my screens are fine.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Lordblacknail

Maybe I am missing something here, but I can't imagine reading a book on a touch device. Wouldn't the screen get smudgy all the time? I have the Kindle 3 3g and they will have to pry it from my cold dead fingers to get me to part with it.

For some reason I don't notice the finger smudges on the surface of my KT in the same way I do on my iPad. Perhaps that's in part because one uses eInk and the other is backlit, but I think that the main reason is because the iPad by its design gets much more finger use per the same number of hours they're used. In any case, I do keep a couple of micro-fiber cloths on hand which I use frequently on the iPad and occasionally on the Kindle.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

For some reason I don't notice the finger smudges on the surface of my KT in the same way I do on my iPad.

Agreed. The iPad is a "fingerprint magnet" (although you can't see them when it's switched on), but the Kindle Touch just doesn't show fingerprints at all. I guess it's perhaps because the Touch has a fairly matt screen, whereas the iPad's screen is highly reflective.

[PeculiarPooch]

The Touch is enormously better than the keyboard, for a variety of reasons - I'm sure those reasons have already been mentioned here, so I'll just be brief: KF8 support, the same internal size/lifespan as the keyboard with a much decreased weight and physical size, I personally think the grey bezel blends better than the black bezel, multi-touch is very intuitive gesture-wise. If I didn't already have a functional keyboard, I'd get a touch without a doubt.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by PeculiarPooch

The Touch is enormously better than the keyboard, for a variety of reasons - I'm sure those reasons have already been mentioned here, so I'll just be brief: KF8 support, the same internal size/lifespan as the keyboard with a much decreased weight and physical size, I personally think the grey bezel blends better than the black bezel, multi-touch is very intuitive gesture-wise. If I didn't already have a functional keyboard, I'd get a touch without a doubt.

For the sake of accuracy, it should be noted that the Touch actually has a little less storage space available than the Keyboard does: 3.25GB against 3.75GB for the keyboard. They both have 4GB of storage, but the firmware uses more of it on the Touch than the Keyboard.

Not that this matters in the least (IMHO); I have over 1000 books on my Touch, and have used about 30% of the available storage space.

[Pismire]

An important aspect in all of that is that the touch's keyboard works like a charm. no 50% error rate in reading your input.

[vxf]

Some of the 'choose your own adventure' and similar books with active content do not work on the touch. For example, the Lone Wolf books by Worldweaver are not available on Touch, but work on the keyboard. Those are the only example of apps that do not work on the Touch I have ran into. Unfortunately, it is also content I really care about. Patiently waiting for updates.

Regardless, I would go with the Touch. It is just so convenient, gives you so many more options when holding it, as you can flip pages with a tap almost anywhere on the page...

[BeeTee-Ess]

A consideration no-one else has mentioned...

I have over 4000 books and dozens of collections. I administer my library using Calibre, with the Kindle Collections plugin. This makes collection creation and maintenance a breeze, BUT for reasons known only to Amazon, the Kindle Touch cannot be controlled using this incredibly useful software. Amazon have made the collections mechanism in the Touch inaccessible to the Calibre/Kindle Collections combo, but it is still possible to use it for either the Kindle NonTouch or the Kindle Keyboard.

I should not enjoy having to create my collections one book at a time!

In my case, this is reason enough to prevent my buying the Touch.

[ElizabethN]

Originally Posted by BeeTee-Ess

A consideration no-one else has mentioned...

I have over 4000 books and dozens of collections. I administer my library using Calibre, with the Kindle Collections plugin. This makes collection creation and maintenance a breeze, BUT for reasons known only to Amazon, the Kindle Touch cannot be controlled using this incredibly useful software. Amazon have made the collections mechanism in the Touch inaccessible to the Calibre/Kindle Collections combo, but it is still possible to use it for either the Kindle NonTouch or the Kindle Keyboard.

I should not enjoy having to create my collections one book at a time!

In my case, this is reason enough to prevent my buying the Touch.

Ditto, this is also what's primarily keeping me from buying a touch.


At the end of an amazon purchased book in the touch, do you get a page with share and other books purchased by readers/by this author (like the keyboard), or does the book just come to an end (like the fire)?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by BeeTee-Ess

I have over 4000 books and dozens of collections. I administer my library using Calibre, with the Kindle Collections plugin. This makes collection creation and maintenance a breeze, BUT for reasons known only to Amazon, the Kindle Touch cannot be controlled using this incredibly useful software. Amazon have made the collections mechanism in the Touch inaccessible to the Calibre/Kindle Collections combo, but it is still possible to use it for either the Kindle NonTouch or the Kindle Keyboard.

I should not enjoy having to create my collections one book at a time!

I told you in another thread that you do NOT have to create your collections "one book at a time". Why do you keep repeating this incorrect statement?

[zeb]

I just acquired the Touch and am very happy with it. It is very sturdy, and you don't need to hardly press the screen to turn pages, it is very sensitive and aproaching the finger (very close though) is enough.

I am also an exclusive Linux user, and have been usin it succesfully to sideload. You can of course do it as a USB drive, but I would recommend using Calibre since it is easier at converting formats and manage the bookshelf. Furthermore, you can use the DeDRM tools on Linux too (as they are Python based), so that you secure your collection for the eternity. Collections, however, require registration. You cannot manage collections with Calibre with the Touch, you need to do this from the Touch (and having subcollection support would be a plus, but as far as I understand collections are tags, not subfolders).