So what's the verdict on K3? - Page 4

Hampshire Nanny · 08-30-2010, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schulzmc

I voted "Kinda Awesome"
<stuff omitted>
All in all - love it and really glad I upgraded.

Me too. my "kinda" is because I'm still happy with my K1. Didn't want a K2 at all, and what pushed me toward the K3 was the Wi-Fi option. There's more I'd like to see in the ideal electronic reader, so I can't give this one a superlative vote.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

My considered opinion: it's good, but not great. For me, at least, the 5-way nav control is too small and fiddly for my fat fingers - I keep accidentally pressing the central button instead of one of the directional buttons. There are many things that have to be done with this nav control that a touch screen would have made much, much easier.

I have no problem with the 5-way controller. I really liked the wheel in the K1 and would have been happy enough with that control even in this generation. I do not like touch screens and would not purchase a reader which had only a touch interface. I "fat finger" the touch screens and cannot get them to behave. Keys with positive feedback are much more acceptable to me. Now, one thing that might make the 5-way controller easier for me to use is that I tend to click the key with my thumbnails rather than the pads of my fingers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Collections are no substitute for real folders, and the process of assigning books to collections is tortuous for large numbers of books.

I haven't had collections before so can't comment on them vs folders. I do feel a need for a flexible means to organize content on the device. I'm not sure I've seen any system that works perfectly. I'm thinking that tagging might be a good solution; with the ability to assign tags to books and then to tell the device to only display books with certain tags. That would allow me to quickly identify the books that were free, those from independent authors, books in series, books I've already read, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The web browser is extremely "flaky" and causes the Kindle to reboot frequently.

Haven't had a chance to play with this yet. I had hoped to take some time during my lunch hour, but had some work come in that needed to be handled, so my lunch was more like 15 minutes.

Ben Thornton · 08-31-2010, 12:06 PM

Mine has arrived. So far, my view is that it is superb.

The quality of the screen is stunning (to someone used to a Sony with a touch screen). Access to samples is hugely useful - and seamless (i.e. if I want to, I just buy it and keep going). I have no trouble with the buttons (for reading books etc.)

As a web browser, it's very fiddly. I'm not interested in using it for that, nor as an mp3 player. I may get frustrated when I want to add notes - I've not tried that yet - although the only reason that I do that is to mark up corrections.

All in all, because there was no option for JD, I picked super-awesome.

HarryT · 08-31-2010, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

I haven't had collections before so can't comment on them vs folders. I do feel a need for a flexible means to organize content on the device. I'm not sure I've seen any system that works perfectly. I'm thinking that tagging might be a good solution; with the ability to assign tags to books and then to tell the device to only display books with certain tags. That would allow me to quickly identify the books that were free, those from independent authors, books in series, books I've already read, etc.

In fairness I must add that since writing my previous comment that "adding books to collections is tortuous" someone's pointed out to me a much better way of doing it, which has made it a whole lot easier.

drnos · 08-31-2010, 12:43 PM

Just got my 3G version 3 days ago; my first eReader device. I voted kinda awesome.

My biggest gripe is the web browser. I had expected better. I guess by calling it "experimental" that means Amazon can disclaim any problems. I can't search in Google or in Yahoo because it freezes up every time I type the first letter into the search box. Can't get my email off Yahoo either. I could live with no video support and no color, but come on, no search engines that work? I get repeated freeze ups and a couple of spontaneous re-boots. My Palm cellphone has no mouse either, but makes a way better web browser than the Kindle.

Another concern, because I haven't lived with it for a long time yet, is its durability. Will the page buttons really stand up to thousands and thousands of uses? What of the reader itself when (not if) it drops on the tiled floor?

It is kinda awesome though. Book downloads are way, way faster than I expected. The biggest book I think I downloaded so far is the Kindle Bible. About 6-7 seconds was all it took. Most books in under 5 seconds. Being my first eReader, I just assumed that it took minutes to get a book.

The Text-to-Speech is pretty cool. I used it for the first chapter of Heart of Darkness and got used to the inflection-less voice in no time. I read the balance of the book the conventional way and got totally used to the eReader experience. The integrated dictionary was helpful and simple the couple of times that I used it.

pen_sq · 08-31-2010, 02:26 PM

I don't see what all the hate is with the web browser. Sure, it is a little too likely to lock up on bad websites, once they start loading ad banners within banners. But, if you set aside a few links to the mobile (or cell phone) version of your favorites, it runs like a champ. Services like google reader will clean up pages a lot, giving an automatic article view. You can also make a set of bookmarks(link) to go in your regular book list.

http://www.google.com/m/news

http://www.google.com/reader/m/view/ , Set up some choice RSS feeds first!

http://m.gmail.com/ , vs. http://m.yahoo.com/mail

http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgad...cts&dc=organic - Chat, while on 3G!

http://mobile.srh.noaa.gov/ , and bookmark after entering your location.

(Another 5-cent hint, since I'm feeling generous - you can use shift+arrow to pan a zoomed view. Shift+arrow also works to move the Aa menu's 150-300% zoom box in smaller increments.)

ProfCrash · 08-31-2010, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Another concern, because I haven't lived with it for a long time yet, is its durability. Will the page buttons really stand up to thousands and thousands of uses? What of the reader itself when (not if) it drops on the tiled floor?

There are many functioning K1's out in the world as we discuss the K3. I think that you will find that the K3 is very durable. Some people have dropped their readers and had them break others have dropped their readers and have had them be fine. I keep my K1 and DXG in a cover for protection but that is no guarentee that it will not break. My K1 survived a decent size fall in the parking lot while in its cover.

Personally, I try and treat my Kindle like I would my netbook. It is a computer that should be treated with care. I don't think it needs to be babied but I do think that it needs to be protected more then a cell phone.

HarryT · 08-31-2010, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pen_sq

I don't see what all the hate is with the web browser.

Who has said that they "hate" it? All I said was that I found it to be extremely unstable, with frequent spontaneous reboots of the Kindle while using it. That's merely a factual observation, not an expression of hatred.

TallMomof2 · 08-31-2010, 03:11 PM

The controller is too fiddly (love the word, HarryT) for me with my arthritic hands but I manage. Besides the K2 joy stick, I would love to be able to sync all my content not just Amazon content. I'd rather have that than access to library ebooks.

The new screen is awesome. I can tell the difference and I've spent a lot of time reading with the new K3. The graphite color offers better contrast than the old white case and I won't be using a skin, don't need to.

The page turn buttons on the K3 are easy to use.

The added wifi is great because it allows me to easily (and cheaply) send books via Calibre. No more digging out a USB cable.

Battery life is fine even leaving the 3G/wifi on all the time.

All in all a very nice (maybe even awesome) Kindle upgrade.

Viseguy · 08-31-2010, 04:08 PM

I've only had it for about 24 hours, so it's early days. Still, my first impressions of this, my first e-reader, are very promising.

Just about everything has gone without a hitch so far. Happily, there was nothing rattling around inside the Kindle when I took it out of the box (a problem that some people here have reported). The first thing I did, before turning the machine on, was to charge it fully; it took less than 2 hours to get the green light. Connecting to my home wireless network was a cinch (once I got the password right

). I don't know if it was necessary or not, but in an abundance of caution I restarted the Kindle after connecting to Wi-Fi; after rebooting, it reconnected to the network hands-off. I kept the unit plugged in for another few hours while it downloaded and indexed 33 books or collections that I had in my Amazon queue. While that was happening, I browsed the dictionary and a few of the downloaded books; however, I avoided trying the browser until indexing was finished as I'd read here that this had caused freeze-ups.

I did try the browser later, visiting nytimes.com, and found it serviceable but not problem-free. "Article mode" is a good idea -- actually, on a 6-inch screen it's indispensable -- but, after switching into Article mode with the beginning of an article on the screen, I found myself in the middle of the article with no evident way to get back to the top (PageUp did not work). Maybe this is a bug, or maybe I'm just missing something.

The heart of the matter is the Pearl screen, which I find to be excellent. When reading with compact-fluorescent or incandescent lighting, it's comfortable; when reading by daylight, as I did on the ferry this morning, it's superb. I'm in the middle of James Bradley's The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War, enjoying both the book and the reading experience immensely.

The page-turn buttons are small but, I find, comfortable and quiet. Page turns are quite fast; the flash-to-black is brief and no more distracting than the turn of a physical page. I find it handy to toggle the display into landscape orientation so that I can rest the Kindle on my lap and read while sipping coffee or eating. Flipping to upside-down portrait orientation is convenient if you want to hold the Kindle in your left hand with the front cover bent back all the way around and nestle a couple of fingers between the front and back covers, a position I find comfy. (The leather cover from Amazon folds back easily.)

That's about it for now. Will check back in with further impressions or if I encounter any glitches, but it's been smooth sailing so far.

Gwen Morse · 09-01-2010, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

There are many functioning K1's out in the world as we discuss the K3. I think that you will find that the K3 is very durable. Some people have dropped their readers and had them break others have dropped their readers and have had them be fine. I keep my K1 and DXG in a cover for protection but that is no guarentee that it will not break. My K1 survived a decent size fall in the parking lot while in its cover.

Personally, I try and treat my Kindle like I would my netbook. It is a computer that should be treated with care. I don't think it needs to be babied but I do think that it needs to be protected more then a cell phone.

I've dropped my Kindle 2 from my bed to the floor several dozen times (literally). It hasn't broken/chipped/otherwise shown negative results. I routinely put it in its own pocket in my messenger-style purse without a case. Ditto on staying functional. While I won't recommend abusing it, it's a sturdy little device.

For reference: I now only rest on my left side when I read in bed. That way when I "drop" my Kindle it falls gently on my very padded mattress

.

djgreedo · 09-01-2010, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianM

Actually, it would be nice to have the option to remove them entirely. I don't understand why there are so few personalisation options actually - like margin resizing for instance.

I agree, but I'm very happy that they have introduced a narrow font and a sans serif font. And also the extra few lines of screen real estate they have regained by tweaking a few things is welcome as well. Less page turning required now.

And the screen is amazing.

jswinden · 09-01-2010, 12:12 PM

I love both my Kindle DX Graphite and my Kindle WiFi. I love them even more now that Sony has finally showed its new line of readers and to me they seem to be disappointing, so I'm glad I went with Kindles instead of waiting.

The Sony 350 and 650 do NOT have WiFi or 3G, yet they are both more expensive than the K3 WiFi + 3G. And the 350 is more expensive than the K3 WiFi only. I had previously owned a 600 and 900 so I know their touchscreens are a disappointment too as they require a stylus and were not that responsive. They might have fixed the glare, although some photos I saw this morning clearly showed glare remaining from some angles. At any rate, it looks like Sony has disappointed a lot of people with a lackluster update, and I'm so glad I didn't wait until today to order my Kindles!

JSWolf · 09-01-2010, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

I love both my Kindle DX Graphite and my Kindle WiFi. I love them even more now that Sony has finally showed its new line of readers and to me they seem to be disappointing, so I'm glad I went with Kindles instead of waiting.

The Sony 350 and 650 do NOT have WiFi or 3G, yet they are both more expensive than the K3 WiFi + 3G. And the 350 is more expensive than the K3 WiFi only. I had previously owned a 600 and 900 so I know their touchscreens are a disappointment too as they require a stylus and were not that responsive. They might have fixed the glare, although some photos I saw this morning clearly showed glare remaining from some angles. At any rate, it looks like Sony has disappointed a lot of people with a lackluster update, and I'm so glad I didn't wait until today to order my Kindles!

Teleread said that the new Sony screens are every bit as good as the k3. So the touch screens are not interfering at all.

Williamlk · 09-01-2010, 06:15 PM

Still looks like Super Awesome is waaaaay ahead in the poll.

carld · 09-01-2010, 06:22 PM

Got my K3 this afternoon (yay me!), and it's currently charging. From a preliminary look, I have to vote Super Awesome! It's much sleeker than my K1, and the difference between the screens in just amazing. I don't have any problem using the d-pad or the little page-turn buttons, even though I lean toward the chunky end of the scale.

Only two small negatives so far. AT&T's 3G sucks here, my K1 gets way better reception with Sprint. The browser does not, so far, seem to remember user names and passwords. I'd pay for an app that did that for me.

View Poll Results: How good is the Kindle 3?
Super Awesome!	131	63.59%
Kinda awesome	55	26.70%
Just Good	17	8.25%
Not what I expected, bad, bad, bad!	3	1.46%
Voters: 206. You may not vote on this poll

08-31-2010, 04:08 PM	#54
Viseguy Just a kid from Bklyn Posts: 135 Karma: 4448 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: NYC Device: Kindle 3 Wi-Fi; Samsung Galaxy Tab 7	K3 Wi-Fi: I vote Super Awesome! I've only had it for about 24 hours, so it's early days. Still, my first impressions of this, my first e-reader, are very promising. Just about everything has gone without a hitch so far. Happily, there was nothing rattling around inside the Kindle when I took it out of the box (a problem that some people here have reported). The first thing I did, before turning the machine on, was to charge it fully; it took less than 2 hours to get the green light. Connecting to my home wireless network was a cinch (once I got the password right ). I don't know if it was necessary or not, but in an abundance of caution I restarted the Kindle after connecting to Wi-Fi; after rebooting, it reconnected to the network hands-off. I kept the unit plugged in for another few hours while it downloaded and indexed 33 books or collections that I had in my Amazon queue. While that was happening, I browsed the dictionary and a few of the downloaded books; however, I avoided trying the browser until indexing was finished as I'd read here that this had caused freeze-ups. I did try the browser later, visiting nytimes.com, and found it serviceable but not problem-free. "Article mode" is a good idea -- actually, on a 6-inch screen it's indispensable -- but, after switching into Article mode with the beginning of an article on the screen, I found myself in the middle of the article with no evident way to get back to the top (PageUp did not work). Maybe this is a bug, or maybe I'm just missing something. The heart of the matter is the Pearl screen, which I find to be excellent. When reading with compact-fluorescent or incandescent lighting, it's comfortable; when reading by daylight, as I did on the ferry this morning, it's superb. I'm in the middle of James Bradley's The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War, enjoying both the book and the reading experience immensely. The page-turn buttons are small but, I find, comfortable and quiet. Page turns are quite fast; the flash-to-black is brief and no more distracting than the turn of a physical page. I find it handy to toggle the display into landscape orientation so that I can rest the Kindle on my lap and read while sipping coffee or eating. Flipping to upside-down portrait orientation is convenient if you want to hold the Kindle in your left hand with the front cover bent back all the way around and nestle a couple of fingers between the front and back covers, a position I find comfy. (The leather cover from Amazon folds back easily.) That's about it for now. Will check back in with further impressions or if I encounter any glitches, but it's been smooth sailing so far.

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08-31-2010, 12:06 PM	#47
Ben Thornton Guru Posts: 900 Karma: 779635 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: UK Device: Kindle 3, iPad 2 (but not for e-books)	Mine has arrived. So far, my view is that it is superb. The quality of the screen is stunning (to someone used to a Sony with a touch screen). Access to samples is hugely useful - and seamless (i.e. if I want to, I just buy it and keep going). I have no trouble with the buttons (for reading books etc.) As a web browser, it's very fiddly. I'm not interested in using it for that, nor as an mp3 player. I may get frustrated when I want to add notes - I've not tried that yet - although the only reason that I do that is to mark up corrections. All in all, because there was no option for JD, I picked super-awesome.

08-31-2010, 12:43 PM	#49
drnos Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: kindle	Just got my 3G version 3 days ago; my first eReader device. I voted kinda awesome. My biggest gripe is the web browser. I had expected better. I guess by calling it "experimental" that means Amazon can disclaim any problems. I can't search in Google or in Yahoo because it freezes up every time I type the first letter into the search box. Can't get my email off Yahoo either. I could live with no video support and no color, but come on, no search engines that work? I get repeated freeze ups and a couple of spontaneous re-boots. My Palm cellphone has no mouse either, but makes a way better web browser than the Kindle. Another concern, because I haven't lived with it for a long time yet, is its durability. Will the page buttons really stand up to thousands and thousands of uses? What of the reader itself when (not if) it drops on the tiled floor? It is kinda awesome though. Book downloads are way, way faster than I expected. The biggest book I think I downloaded so far is the Kindle Bible. About 6-7 seconds was all it took. Most books in under 5 seconds. Being my first eReader, I just assumed that it took minutes to get a book. The Text-to-Speech is pretty cool. I used it for the first chapter of Heart of Darkness and got used to the inflection-less voice in no time. I read the balance of the book the conventional way and got totally used to the eReader experience. The integrated dictionary was helpful and simple the couple of times that I used it.

08-31-2010, 02:26 PM	#50
pen_sq Enthusiast Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: none	I don't see what all the hate is with the web browser. Sure, it is a little too likely to lock up on bad websites, once they start loading ad banners within banners. But, if you set aside a few links to the mobile (or cell phone) version of your favorites, it runs like a champ. Services like google reader will clean up pages a lot, giving an automatic article view. You can also make a set of bookmarks(link) to go in your regular book list. http://www.google.com/m/news http://www.google.com/reader/m/view/ , Set up some choice RSS feeds first! http://m.gmail.com/ , vs. http://m.yahoo.com/mail http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgad...cts&dc=organic - Chat, while on 3G! http://mobile.srh.noaa.gov/ , and bookmark after entering your location. (Another 5-cent hint, since I'm feeling generous - you can use shift+arrow to pan a zoomed view. Shift+arrow also works to move the Aa menu's 150-300% zoom box in smaller increments.)

08-31-2010, 03:11 PM	#53
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	The controller is too fiddly (love the word, HarryT) for me with my arthritic hands but I manage. Besides the K2 joy stick, I would love to be able to sync all my content not just Amazon content. I'd rather have that than access to library ebooks. The new screen is awesome. I can tell the difference and I've spent a lot of time reading with the new K3. The graphite color offers better contrast than the old white case and I won't be using a skin, don't need to. The page turn buttons on the K3 are easy to use. The added wifi is great because it allows me to easily (and cheaply) send books via Calibre. No more digging out a USB cable. Battery life is fine even leaving the 3G/wifi on all the time. All in all a very nice (maybe even awesome) Kindle upgrade.

09-01-2010, 12:12 PM	#57
jswinden Nameless Being	I love both my Kindle DX Graphite and my Kindle WiFi. I love them even more now that Sony has finally showed its new line of readers and to me they seem to be disappointing, so I'm glad I went with Kindles instead of waiting. The Sony 350 and 650 do NOT have WiFi or 3G, yet they are both more expensive than the K3 WiFi + 3G. And the 350 is more expensive than the K3 WiFi only. I had previously owned a 600 and 900 so I know their touchscreens are a disappointment too as they require a stylus and were not that responsive. They might have fixed the glare, although some photos I saw this morning clearly showed glare remaining from some angles. At any rate, it looks like Sony has disappointed a lot of people with a lackluster update, and I'm so glad I didn't wait until today to order my Kindles!

09-01-2010, 06:15 PM	#59
Williamlk Guru Posts: 624 Karma: 700001 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: New York Device: kindle	Still looks like Super Awesome is waaaaay ahead in the poll.

09-01-2010, 06:22 PM	#60
carld Wizard Posts: 2,698 Karma: 4748723 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Got my K3 this afternoon (yay me!), and it's currently charging. From a preliminary look, I have to vote Super Awesome! It's much sleeker than my K1, and the difference between the screens in just amazing. I don't have any problem using the d-pad or the little page-turn buttons, even though I lean toward the chunky end of the scale. Only two small negatives so far. AT&T's 3G sucks here, my K1 gets way better reception with Sprint. The browser does not, so far, seem to remember user names and passwords. I'd pay for an app that did that for me.

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