You may be familiar with Foxit Software’s PDF viewing app, which is a pretty good alternative to Adobe’s PDF viewer. Did you know they make an ebook reader as well? I recently reviewed it for PC World. The long and short of it is this: it’s not that great. The interface is sort of clunky, and it really only reads PDF and plain text documents. It’s got no wireless capability at all, and it’s priced the same as other, better ebook readers. It’s no Kindle, and not the sharp competitor the new Barnes and Noble new Nook reader is. Check out the review at PC World.
I’m not sure how the review ended up with a score of 72 (good). They come up with that number as a composite of various sub-scores and stuff I give them when I submit it, but my scores were pretty low. I think the text of the review makes it pretty clear that I don’t think it’s a “good” ebook reader.
#1 by Gunxgirl Gunxgirl on December 13, 2009 - 7:02 pm
I am an original Kindle user and a technophile. I couldn’t help myself, so I upgraded. It arrived today, and I immediately fell in love with it. It’s compact and sleek design sitting next to my old Kindle makes it look like a dinosaur! The new Kindle isn’t as sexy as the sony reader, but I still think hands down, it is a better product for many reasons.
I love that Amazon rounded the corners and moved things around so that you cant accidentally hit buttons. This was a constant problem on the Kindle 1 and extremely annoying. The 2 fits better in the hand and its thin design is much easier to handle than the bulky Kindle 1.
Another feature I read about that I was surprised I actually cared about was the page turning speed. I had gotten used to the Kindle 1 and stopped noticing the screen flash and never paid attention to the speed that the pages turned. The Kindle 2 is lightning fast, and the flash is nearly gone. Now that I can compare them side to side, it is much quicker. I was in the middle of a book when the new one arrived. I played with it awhile and set it aside to finish charging. I decided to finish the book on the Kindle 1 while I waited. I was immediately annoyed by the pages turning slower – so I guess I do care.
I agree with other reviewers that they should have an SD slot and a removable battery. I have a few other criticisms:
1. Kindle 2 does not come with a cover. I had to order one separately. I understand that people have cover preferences, but it would be nice to have at least a base model cover until the custom cover I prefer comes in. The brushed aluminum back will scratch easily if not protected.
2. No light. I agree with Amazon’s decision not to put in a backlight. I owned one of the early Rocket E-books and backlights are very harsh on the eyes and hard to read long-term. However, I think it should come with some sort of external light. A friend has a Sony book, and her case has a nifty tray-like light that lays over the screen and illuminates the entire screen with no glare. Something like this would be excellent for the Kindle. It would be nice for Amazon to include these little “extras” as I think it would make the Kindle a better value to those who balk at the price.
3. The buttons. Amazon did a much better job of the buttons, but this time they made them too small. They are positioned low, so you really can only hold the Kindle 2 a certain way. I think there is a happy-medium here on the button issue – not as big as the Kindle 1, but not as small as the Kindle 2. Make them an inch or so longer, and position them up a little.
Either way, the Kindle 2 is light years ahead of Kindle 1 in design. I will post another review after I have had it a few weeks.