Amusing Reviews

[clintbradford]

Almost every "in-depth, exclusive review" simply re-states what the promo material states on Amazon's Web site.

Like battery longevity. No one on the planet has owned a Kindle3 for a month - to verify that "month-long" battery life claim. Yet you see that claim published everywhere as gospel.

And I am amused that the claims of "smaller and lighter." Yeah - almost as small and as light as my Kobo.

And another claim: "Page turns are 20% faster." Yeah, right. As if a couple milliseconds are really discernable by the human eye.

Oh, the K3 is an amazing device. Yes, I am enjoying mine. But "we" sure have swallowed a lot of KoolAid as we receive 'em in the mail, haven't we?

Still looking for truly objective reviews - there are NOT that many published yet.

[WilliamG]

To defend at least some of the reviewers, I reviewed the K3 on Amazon, and I specifically mentioned the page turns, too. I have a K2 and a K3 and that 20% is easily noticeable to me. It's changed how far ahead of the end of the bottom line I hit the next-page button. Is it 20% faster or 18% faster or 22% faster? I don't know. But it's noticeably faster to me.

[clintbradford]

>> ... It's changed how far ahead of the end of the bottom line I hit the next-page button ...

Your hands-on, objective review on this point is worth more to me than SCORES of others' who mix in the hype in their writings. Thank you, WilliamG!

I agree page turns are noticeably faster.

I don't think were are being intentionally fed a line from Amazon's marketing page as clintbradford seems to imply. I do agree that a lot of reviews seem to be copycat reviews using other sources. The same goes for most of the Sony rumors floating around which all appear to be traceable back to a single rumor circulated by Sony Insider. However, there are some very legitimate, thoughtful, and unique K3 reviews that are professionally done.

[clintbradford]

>> ... I don't think were are being intentionally fed a line from Amazon's marketing page as clintbradford seems to imply ...


You sure read my post incorrectly. We're not being "fed" anything by Amazon - it is the "reviewers" that I have problems with.

I have read more than thirty "reviews" that claim the K3 battery lasts a month if WiFi is turned off. How objective can the rest of the review really be?

>> ... However, there are some very legitimate, thoughtful, and unique K3 reviews that are professionally done.

WilliamG's statement above on screen refreshing is FAR more valuable to me than most of the "expert reviews" that have been published so far.

Maybe I have a more critical eye? Maybe I demand that "first hand" accounts be written by people who actually have "first hand" experience with a product?

[tomsem]

Fewer of these faster page turns are required, as well: with the new 'disappearing' property of the title/status bar, more lines of text fit on the screen. That's even before selecting the 'Condensed' typeface...

[WilliamG]

clintbradford, your argument is valid. It is true there's a lot of fluff being written about the new Kindle 3, but I can tell you from first-hand experience that:

1.) The page turning is noticeably faster
2.) The contrast is fantastically better than mine and my wife's K2
3.) The size of the new Kindle 3 is just.... adorable (for lack of a better word)
4.) Being able to use wifi is great! Much quicker lock-on and connection than 3G if you're at home and don't NEED 3G.
5.) It's better in pretty much every way than the K2.

[WilliamG]

Oh, and let me add: 6.) As I've mentioned in other threads, I REALLY don't like the new Kindle case with light.

[clintbradford]

>> ... The page turning is noticeably faster ...

To me - using a K2, K3, and a Kobo, this "page turning" aspect of eReaders is merely one where one gets used to a machine, and hits the "next page" button in time with their reading rate. Neither the K2, K3, nor the Kobo have what I would term "obnoxious" page turn times.

>> ... The contrast is fantastically better than mine and my wife's K2 ...

I have been "swearing by" how cool my Kobo is - but the text on the new K3 is, indeed, much "crisper" and clean, indeed!

>> ... The size of the new Kindle 3 is just ...

Larger and heavier than the Kobo (grin).

>> ... wi-fi is great ...

Yes, it is. But as I suspected - for ME - when I pick up the K3, I find myself messin' with its connectivity issues. If I want to READ, the Kobo gets picked up with me as I leave the house ...

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by clintbradford

Yes, it is. But as I suspected - for ME - when I pick up the K3, I find myself messin' with its connectivity issues. If I want to READ, the Kobo gets picked up with me as I leave the house ...

I did that for a couple days when I first got my K1. It was a novelty. Now I just read unless I actually have something I want to search or I'm buying a book after I read the sample. Those are the sorts of things where I find the connectivity really adds to my reading experience. It's nice to be able to pop over to Wikipedia and check on a historical time line or literary reference. Plus, I like being able to read samples of all my books before I buy them. With the Kindle, I don't have to concern myself about whether I'll be near a computer when I finish a sample.

I don't think the Kobo is a bad device but it's definitely not for me. When I got my first Kindle, the drop-dead, must-have features for me were search and dictionary look-up. Annotation was also a pretty big deal but I was willing to skip it if I had to. It irked me that these features were so rare. We have computing power and text. Can't we bring those together to do something besides just show pages? Sadly, the only e-ink product that offered that at the time was the iRex. It was heavy, buggy, had horrible battery life and was hundreds more than other readers. Now I don't mind a reader being a unitasker but for me, if you're going to focus on one thing, you should find a way to make it better. I want a reader to do things a paper book can't do aside from just being a better storage unit. A Kindle isn't a good multitasker but people tend to think of it in those terms because of the connectivity. It's primarily a reader that uses Internet connectivity to help you make more of your reading. If people were commonly using it as a Web-browsing device, the 3G wireless wouldn't be free.

[clintbradford]

ALISA>> ... [connectivity] ... It was a novelty ...

Oh, but Alisa - Amazon is teasing us with "experimental" applications ... (grin)

Going to bed now - with my K3 tonight.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by clintbradford

ALISA>> ... [connectivity] ... It was a novelty ...

Oh, but Alisa - Amazon is teasing us with "experimental" applications ... (grin)

My guess is they call it "experimental" because they have not promised to provide general Web access for free in perpetuity. They have only guaranteed free access to the store, purchased content, and Wikipedia. It's been "experimental" for nigh on three years now. It's not because they want to lure you into using. They don't want you to get too used to it lest they have to remove it for financial reasons. I would bet you that if they ever get a suitably fast screen (especially if it's color) free 3G for browsing will go away.

[nremondelli]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

Oh, and let me add: 6.) As I've mentioned in other threads, I REALLY don't like the new Kindle case with light.

I think it's great. Used it last night for the first time. I like a little heft. Feels like I'm actually holding something substantial. And it lights it up nicely. Not nearly as uneven as some others have mentioned IMO.

[emalvick]

I'm a new user. I got my Kindle 3G yesterday. I can't say much myself as a new user, but I do want to state that it seems that most reviews from any source on any product seem to regurgitate what is given in the promotional literature for a device.

While I can appreciate the promotional literature such as what Amazon provided for the Kindle (a big reason I bought the thing along with price), having the same info provided in reviews is worthless. I buy enough items and I am a discerning enough consumer that I like to see reviews that are unbiased and thorough, but that is actually harder to find than one would expect.

I do like the user reviews that places like Amazon provide as I can often find what I want with a little effort, and I'd much rather wade through the obviously biased reviews for the few gems than to deal with the same project literature time and time again. Forums like this tend to be fantastic, too.

[clintbradford]

>> ... most reviews from any source on any product seem to regurgitate what is given in the promotional literature for a device ...

And, quite unfortunately, a LOT of our mainstream "news" is merely re-read "media alerts," too. But that is a topic for the journalism messageboard.

>> ... I like to see reviews that are unbiased and thorough, but that is actually harder to find than one would expect ...

Do NOT change your viewpoint on this - don't "give in" to the marketeers and puppets! (grin)

>> ... I do like the user reviews that places like Amazon ...

Just one thing - I firmly believe that ANY comment made on such systems should be SIGNED with a real name. Preferably, of course, the name of the writer (g). I believe it is our responsibility to the 'Net that we respect the system enough to sign our true names to comments and reviews and editorials. "Anonymity," on the 'Net, is way over-abused.

Clint Bradford