This is my first ereader and I love it! I’ve been researching them for years and finally I’ve found one that worth buying.
Pros
- Super long battery life: it was half-charged when I pulled it out of the box. It’s been over a week and I have yet to charge it, even though I’ve been using it a couple of hours every day. Amazon claims a 2-month battery life, assuming you use it 1-hr per day and with little wifi, but at maximum brightness. That seems reasonable. Yet even if it’s half that, it’s amazingly good, considering how bright the display can be.
- Multi-touch display:Although it’s not as responsive as a iPhone/iPad, you can swipe and pinch all you want. Typing is also less responsive than a standard LCD touch screen, but you can certainly type and even use the free to-do list app.
- The screen is as bright as you want it: Ironically, I don’t like black text on a white background; I prefer black text on a gray background. I find it easier on my eyes, so I rarely boost the brightness to the max. However, it is amazing how bright it can get and that you can have a nice white background even in a bright room.
- The double helix nanoimprinted light guide technology: It lights up the eink perfectly and evenly, unlike any other ereader in the market today.
Cons
- Can’t play MP3s, unlike some other Kindles, so no audiobooks or podcasts.
- Like all Kindles, it doesn’t accept the industry-standard ePub format. As a result, if you like checking ebooks out of your library, your selection will be limited.
- The ads on the home screen are (so far) not very relevant to me. They’ve been offering Editor’s Picks, Young Adult Novels, and Mysteries/Suspense – none of these topics interest me at all. I hope (and expect) that the ads will become more personalized once Amazon sees what I read. Otherwise, it’s a huge waste of real estate on the home screen. (Luckily, that’s the only place where you’ll see such big ads – they won’t appear anywhere while you’re reading a book.)
Conclusion
For $119, it’s the best value of any ereader out there! I’m going to take this on my trip to all 54 countries next year.
Francis Tapon is half Chilean and half French and he was born and raised in San Francisco, California. He’s been to over 80 countries, but he keeps coming back to this magical city because he loves earthquakes.
He spoke Spanish at home, French at school, and English everywhere else. He can get by in Portuguese and Italian, barely survive in Russian and Slovenian, and speak a few other languages.
Francis has an MBA from Harvard Business School and co-founded a successful Silicon Valley company that did robotic vision. He left his technology life to walk across America four times. He has thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, and in 2007, became the first to do a round-trip on the Continental Divide Trail. In 2009, he was one of the finalists for the California Outdoors Hall of Fame, which “features nominees who are world-renowned for their skills and who have helped inspire thousands of others to take part in the great outdoors.”
Francis has written a couple of travel books including The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us and Hike Your Own Hike: 7 Life Lessons from Backpacking Across America. He also produced a 77-minute video about his CDT Yo-Yo.
