Worth upgrading from Kindle 2?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Are you speaking from experience, Jon? Have you used a K4?

If it's anything like the virtual keyboard on the 650, it should be just fine. The 650 keyboard is easy to type with.

[Belle2Be]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

IR Touch is very nice. Don't bother with the $79 K4. It's awful. The keyboard is not nice. But the virtual keyboard on the touch will be fine.

So you finally bit the bullet and bought a kindle huh?

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

IR Touch is very nice. Don't bother with the $79 K4. It's awful. The keyboard is not nice. But the virtual keyboard on the touch will be fine.

Why would you say that! The $79 Kindle looks great! If I didn't already have more ereaders than I need, I would have one in hand already! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wanted a basic ereader. I would love to have one.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Why would you say that!

It doesn't say "SONY" on it

.

[Noughty]

Originally Posted by lordheeb

The Kindle Touch looks like it could be convenient, for example with easy dictionary searches and a more convenient keyboard than the non-touch, but I don't like the idea of having to move my thumb every time I want to turn the page, where current I just press down. I've never used a touch-screen e-reader so I don't know how easily I would get used to this...

Actually, you might not need to move your thumb. It depends on what kind of touch screen it is. I only know two kinds (don't know how the technology differs), one reacts to touch (iphone) so you'll need to move your finger. Another is like nokia - you need to slightly press, so you don't need to move thumb, you can hold it on the screen and slightly press when needed.

I have no idea which touchscreen this kindle have and would like to know. The later option sounds better for an ereader.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Noughty

Actually, you might not need to move your thumb. It depends on what kind of touch screen it is. I only know two kinds (don't know how the technology differs), one reacts to touch (iphone) so you'll need to move your finger. Another is like nokia - you need to slightly press, so you don't need to move thumb, you can hold it on the screen and slightly press when needed.

I have no idea which touchscreen this kindle have and would like to know. The later option sounds better for an ereader.

The Kindle has an "infrared beam" touch screen. There are infrared emitters positioned all around the edges of the screen bezel, so a "grid" of invisible beams is over the screen. Breaking one of these with your finger (or anything else) will register a "touch". The beams are actually positioned slightly (perhaps 1mm) above the screen, so you don't need to physically touch the screen at all.

The iPhone uses a capacitive touchscreen. From Wikipedia:

A capacitive touchscreen panel consists of an insulator such as glass, coated with a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide (ITO).[11][12] As the human body is also an electrical conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the screen's electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Noughty

Actually, you might not need to move your thumb. It depends on what kind of touch screen it is. I only know two kinds (don't know how the technology differs), one reacts to touch (iphone) so you'll need to move your finger. Another is like nokia - you need to slightly press, so you don't need to move thumb, you can hold it on the screen and slightly press when needed.

I have no idea which touchscreen this kindle have and would like to know. The later option sounds better for an ereader.

It's a third kind. When something such as your finger blocks an infrared beam, the device registers a "touch" at that point. This is better than the press method, because the display is not degraded by the touch layer.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

It's a third kind. When something such as your finger blocks an infrared beam, the device registers a "touch" at that point. This is better than the press method, because the display is not degraded by the touch layer.

In fairness, capacitive touch screens don't degrade the image, either. And nor do the other common type - Wacom touch screens.

[Noughty]

So it sounds like it reacts to actual touch not a press. So no keeping your thumb on the screen , you'll have to move it. I think it might be annoying to and you might start to move your thumb in your sleep after so many page turnings

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Noughty

So it sounds like it reacts to actual touch not a press. So no keeping your thumb on the screen , you'll have to move it. I think it might be annoying to and you might start to move your thumb in your sleep after so many page turnings

Yes - that's why I prefer hardware page-turning buttons, such as the K3 has. I just keep the base of my thumb resting against the button, and a very slight pressure turns the page.