Kindle 2 compared to Kindle 1, a review

[badgoodDeb]

I suppose I could do the topaz test myself (if I can find time besides reading the next good book!). I buy a book in a series, even if it *is* topaz. When you gotta read something, you gotta read it! So I have a bunch.

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by Slow_hand

A question. The page turning is dependent on font size in my experience. Could you try the page turning comparison with several different font sizes? Thanks!

Okay, here you go:

Page turning speed test results:

The fonts are numbered: "smallest, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th biggest" in order of increasing size.

Spacing on K2 is listed as alt-2 alt-3 alt-4 alt-5. I didn't think there would be much demand for spacing wider than alt-5, and of course every extra spacing means six extra tests, so I didn't test spacings wider than alt-5. If someone seriously has a pressing reason to want to know, and asks very nicely, I could be persuaded to test a particular combination of spacing and text size that I have left out of this reply. (Alt-1, for those who hate to see a pattern incomplete, produces the same spacing results as alt-2.)

Text used: the Manybooks.net Mobipocket download of The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius, starting point for each series of button presses: location 15. I usually turned 4 to 6 pages before stopping. Since the different Kindles were often showing different amounts of text, I couldn't keep the page turn conditions quite the same for both, but I felt this was a pretty good approximation.

To keep conditions as similar as possible, I am using fully justified text (words line up at both left and right margins) on both Kindles for this test, though I normally prefer reading left justified (aka "ragged right") text. This is because I can find no way to turn off full justification for the K2.

The K2 has slightly shorter lines than K1, to the point where in the first paragraph of the Preface, in the smallest font, five extra words wind up on the last (short) line. This is a hefty paragraph, taking up well over half the page even in the smallest font, but the reader may want to keep in mind that n lines of K2 text shows slightly fewer words than n lines of K1 text would.

I tested page turning speed in two ways, first turning pages as soon as I saw the page change on both devices ("Flipping") and then going back to the beginning and pausing three seconds after the page turned on the slower device ("3 second pause.") This was because I noticed that if you give the Kindle a little time to think, it seems to turn pages faster, and I figured most of the time when you turn the page you have just read a whole page and the Kindle has had quite a bit of time to think.
-----------Results-------------------------------------
Smallest font
K1 smallest font / K2 smallest font and alt-2 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 26 lines / K2 28 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and sometimes does not flash black
3 second pause: K1 slower

K1 smallest font / K2 smallest font and alt-3 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 26 lines / K2 26 lines (K2's shorter lines means it shows 2 fewer words on this screen.)
Flipping: K1 slower and does not always flash black
3 second pause: K1 slower

K1 smallest font / K2 smallest font and alt-4 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 26 lines / K2 23 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and does not always flash black
3 second pause: K1 slower

K1 smallest font / K2 smallest font and alt-5 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 26 lines / K2 21 lines
Flipping:K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other page turn, and non-flashing page turns take longer than flashing page turns.
3 second pause: K1 slower

2nd Font
K1 2nd font / K2 2nd font and alt-2 spacing:
Amount of text: K1 shows 20 lines / K2 25 lines.
Flipping: K1 slower and sometimes does not flash black.
3 second pause: K1 slower.

K1 2nd font / K2 2nd font and alt-3 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 20 lines / K2 23 lines.
Flipping: K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other page.
3 second pause: K1 slower—but sometimes by a wider margin than others: occasionally they are close to the same speed.

K1 2nd font / K2 2nd font and alt-4 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 20 lines / K2 21 lines.
Flipping: K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other page.
3 second pause: K1 slower

K1 2nd font / K2 2nd font and alt-5 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 20 lines / K2 19 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other page.
3 second pause: K1 slower.

3rd Font
K1 3rd font / K2 3rd font and alt-2 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 16 lines / K2 22 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and sometimes does not flash black.
3 second pause: K1 slower

K1 3rd font / K2 3rd font and alt -3 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 16 lines / K2 20 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and sometimes does not flash black
3 second pause: K1 slower

K1 3rd font / K2 3rd font and alt-4 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 16 lines / K2 18 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other turn
3 second pause: K1 slower

K1 3rd font / K2 3rd font and alt-5 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 16 lines / K2 17 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other turn
3 second pause: K1 slower

4th Font
K1 4th font / K2 4th font and alt-2 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 16 lines (yes, the same as the 3rd font—the lines are shorter, though) / K2 19 lines
Flipping:K1 slower and sometimes fails to flash black.
3 second pause: K1 slower

K1 4th font / K2 4th font and alt-3 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 16 lines / K2 18 lines
Flipping:K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other page turn
3 second pause: K1 slower.

K1 4th font / K2 4th font and alt-4 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 16 lines / K2 16 lines (same number of words)
Flipping:K1 slower and sometimes fails to flash black
3 second pause: K1 slower but sometimes not by much.

K1 4th font / K2 4th font and alt-5 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 16 lines / K2 15 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other page turn
3 second pause: K1 slower

5th Font
K1 5th font / K2 5th font and alt-2 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 13 lines / K2 15 lines
Flipping:K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other page turn
3 second pause: K1 slower.

K1 5th font / K2 5th font and alt-3 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 13 lines / K2 14 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other page turn.
3 second pause: K1 slower.

K1 5th font / K2 5th font and alt-4 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 13 lines / K2 13 lines (but the K2 shows 6 fewer words, which form one complete line on the K1)
Flipping: K1 slower and sometimes fails to flash black.
3 second pause: K1 slower.

K1 5th font / K2 5th font and alt-5 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 13 lines / K2 12 lines
Flipping:K1 slower and fails to flash black on every other line.
3 second pause: K1 slower.

Biggest font
K1 6th font / K2 6th font and alt-2 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 11 lines / K2 13 lines, but its shorter lines means it shows only 1 more word than K1
Flipping: usually K1 is slower, but sometimes it is faster. K1 sometimes fails to flash black.
3 second pause: usually K1 is a little slower, but sometimes it is barely faster.

K1 6th font / K2 6th font and alt-3 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 11 lines / K2 12 lines (but 4 fewer words)
Flipping:K1 slower and sometimes fails to flash black.
3 second pause: K1 usually slower, sometimes equal.

K1 6th font / K2 6th font and alt-4 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 11 lines / K2 11 lines (8 fewer words)
Flipping: K1 slower and sometimes fails to flash black.
3 second pause:K1 slower or sometimes nearly equal.

K1 6th font / K2 6th font and alt-5 spacing
Amount of text: K1 shows 11 lines / K2 10 lines
Flipping: K1 slower and fails to flash black every other page turn.
3 second pause: K1 slower or sometimes nearly equal.

--------------End Results-----------------------------------------------------

So the summary is that K2 is usually faster, but at some sizes/spacings and pages, K1 is slightly faster.

The difference in speed between page turns would vary during a series of button presses (so same text size, spacing, etc, but speed difference would vary between 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th page turns). My impression was that this was because of varying page turn speeds on the K1. I did not manage to figure out whether this was related to specific attributes of text on the page (lots of capital letters, poetry with short lines, etc.)

Note that the screen's response to typing is also faster on K2, but the "feel" and sound of the keys is less noticeable; I like the K1 keyboard better in this regard. Menus are also faster on K2

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I suppose I could do the topaz test myself (if I can find time besides reading the next good book!). I buy a book in a series, even if it *is* topaz. When you gotta read something, you gotta read it! So I have a bunch.

Hey--that would be great! Now you've got me curious

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by catsittingstill

The fonts are numbered: "smallest, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th biggest" in order of increasing size.

Um... do you do QA/Software testing for a living? If not you should. I wish we were hiring.

BOb

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Um... do you do QA/Software testing for a living? If not you should. I wish we were hiring.

BOb

(blush) Um, no. But I'm looking for a job :-)

I'm a scientist (molecular biologist) by training and this is just roughly how I would set up an experiment.

I have to admit that actually doing the experiment was kind of --less than thrilling---in this case. I got up and stared into the fridge a few times while I was working my way down the list. But I wanted to know how it would come out, and it did seem like an appropriate appendix to the review.

[Boston]

Very nice review.

I was wondering if you found yourself accidentally pressing the keyboard while reading? I kind of like the fact that the keys are dead on the K1.

Thanks for the write-up and congratulations again on the K2

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by Boston

Very nice review.

I was wondering if you found yourself accidentally pressing the keyboard while reading? I kind of like the fact that the keys are dead on the K1.

Thanks for the write-up and congratulations again on the K2

I'm glad you liked the review Thanks!

Very occasionally I press something on the keyboard and the K2 thinks I'm starting a search. I either ignore it (it doesn't actually hide any of the book text, and it disappears when I turn the page) or twitch the joystick down to make it go away.

I think the keyboard being "dead" on the K1 while you're in a book is a good thing, because it leaves you some space to handle the reader without pressing the side buttons. But the side buttons on the K2 are much harder to press accidentally, so the live keyboard is not a big inconvenience, at least for me.

[fugazied]

Excellent info in this review.

I only have the Kindle 2, but my relatives and friends always ask me about it and ask if they should just get a 2nd hand Kindle 1, what the differences are between K1 and K2 etc.

Now I can just send them to this thread

[Slow_hand]

Wow, catsittingstill, I am very grateful for your thorough testing. What a lot of work. If I can think of anything to do for you I will. I work in a Library so if you have any Library questions I may be able to help.

[kevindorsey]

How much time did you spend dong this?

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by kevindorsey

How much time did you spend dong this?

Not sure if you mean the review, or the appendix with the page turn info. The review I worked on for about a week, but not continuously--an hour here, half an hour there, that kind of thing. And it's not like I *minded* putting the Kindle through its paces or anything The page turn info--I guess that took me about two and a half hours. It would have been quicker, except I kept wandering off to stare disconsolately into the fridge, then dragging myself back to the desk.

I'm sure there are people here who have put a lot more time into converting books for upload or writing programs to get more functionality out of our readers.

I can't do that kind of thing (at least not yet) but I was happy to do this.

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by Slow_hand

Wow, catsittingstill, I am very grateful for your thorough testing. What a lot of work. If I can think of anything to do for you I will. I work in a Library so if you have any Library questions I may be able to help.

(blush) Thanks. I will keep you in mind as my go-to library guy

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by fugazied

Excellent info in this review.

I only have the Kindle 2, but my relatives and friends always ask me about it and ask if they should just get a 2nd hand Kindle 1, what the differences are between K1 and K2 etc.

Now I can just send them to this thread

Hey, fresh meat--ahem, I mean, new Mobilereaders! Great! Send them on over!

[MoboHobo]

Wow, great review with some good details. Thanks

[Slow_hand]

Mods I request this thread be "stickied" so it doesn't get pushed down.