Kindle owner *sadly* disappointed by today's announcement

[lunixer]

Hi! I'm looking for something to replace my 4-yo KK. (Or 3 years? Can't remember.) However, I really hate the current lineup of Kindles. This is what I want:

1) No touch screen navigation whatsoever. I hate touch screens on every device I have ever used.

2) At least the same battery life as my KK.

3) Must have easy highlighting functionality (one click or so) but I don't care about taking notes.

4) Customizable screensavers would be a plus, and having the current book cover as a screensaver would be an even bigger plus.

5) Customizable margins would be a plus (using a hack is okay- that's how I customize the margin size on my KK)

6) Epub compatibility would be nice, but really, I'm perfectly happy with .mobi files.

7) I don't care about the light technology

8) I don't care at all about the amount of storage

Anybody have advice? I'm just really upset that Amazon is moving away from hardware page turn buttons and that the basic Kindle has such a small battery. Thanks!

[ucfgrad93]

Given your list, I think that the Kindle Keyboard is the device for you. I am assuming that your current one is the Kindle 2. The pictures below L-R are Kindle 2 & Kindle Keyboard

[TimW]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

Given your list, I think that the Kindle Keyboard is the device for you. I am assuming that your current one is the Kindle 2. The pictures below L-R are Kindle 2 & Kindle Keyboard

The OP has a K3. The time frame of 3-4 years would be a K2...that's the confusion, I imagine. The K3/KK launched August 27th two years ago.

[lunixer]

Yeah, it's a Keyboard that I have. I guess I haven't had it as long as I thought, haha. So, do none of the Sony readers have similar features what I mention in the OP?

[soulfuldog]

There don't seem to be many non-touch screen e-readers available, that's the problem I think? The last Sony's to not have a touch screen are five years old (PRS-505), from the three year old PRS-600 onwards, they've all had touch screens.

There's the old Kobo WiFi which now seems to be a discontinued model, it's battery life was measured in page turns (10,000) which I'm pretty sure converts to a couple of weeks, and compared to the Kindle, it was quite slow anyway.

Of the current models, apart from the Kindle, off hand I can only think of the recently release BeBook Pure which I think is only available in Europe, and it's battery life is only 12,000 page turns so certainly no better than the current basic Kindle, and nowhere near as good as the Kindle Keyboard you currently have.

I don't know if there are any suitable in the more obscure e-reader brands?

[Rizla]

Buy another KK. I saw a new one in the box the other day in a store. Tons of refurbs and stuff on ebay around too.

[askak]

Hi lunixer,

I fell your pain. I've postponed the purchase of my first ereader waiting for a new model with side buttons.

Is the only thing I don't like about the KT. But I'm searching and I don't find a good alternative. BTW Sony is also dropping audio support in the new T2.

As other poster said you can look in less mainstream brands.
Onyx X61E for example. Kind of ugly but...
Papyre 601 http://grammata.es/papyres/50736/papyre-601.html

[Edward M. Grant]

Originally Posted by TimW

The K3/KK launched August 27th two years ago.

I have a hard time seeing what they could do to improve on the current version. Better screen? New chipset with lower power consumption? Fix some of the software bugs?

[TimW]

Originally Posted by Edward M. Grant

I have a hard time seeing what they could do to improve on the current version. Better screen? New chipset with lower power consumption? Fix some of the software bugs?

Yeah, you could tweak it some but, all in all, it's a good solid reader. I'd say that's one big reason Amazon is keeping it in the lineup.

[pdurrant]

It could do with a firmware update to provide KF8 support. That will become increasingly important in the future.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It could do with a firmware update to provide KF8 support. That will become increasingly important in the future.

Good point, yes, I hope Amazon decides to add KF8 to it.

[EowynCarter]

Setting margin is rarely available with epub. The kobo touch does that (with kepubs).

Why change your reader ? What annoys you with your kindle ?

[robko]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Setting margin is rarely available with epub. The kobo touch does that (with kepubs).

Why change your reader ? What annoys you with your kindle ?

Actually you can change margins/font/font size in all kepub AND epubs (a few epubs aren't friendly to being overridden and may require modification via Cailbre etc, but most work).


If you haven't played with an e-reader with touchscreen I would suggest you try one out (ideally if you can borrow one that will give you more time than just playing in the store). I know I HATE touchscreens generally, but the new technology makes it work really well on e-readers IMHO. I know there are a number of threads from people like me who almost didn't get a particular e-reader because it had touch only that would never want to go back.

[lunixer]

Originally Posted by TimW

Yeah, you could tweak it some but, all in all, it's a good solid reader. I'd say that's one big reason Amazon is keeping it in the lineup.

I want to see one without the keyboard. If they put all of the features on the Touch into something with hardware buttons, that would be great. Long battery life, lighter, smaller, even the paperwhite display (though I do think that's a gimmick). It's a great reader, but the keyboard is a useless feature that just gets in the way.

[Namekuseijin]

but the new kindle has a mindblowing 8-month battery life! (or I read that wrong?)

Also, I don't know how you guys used to read back in the old days. Not only you had to touch the paper, you also usually had to wet your finger in saliva to make the page move... you whine too much.