Comments on: Make it better: Amazon Kindle 2

Molly Wood offers some constructive advice on how to make the Kindle 2 a truly killer device.

[tdi1]

Molly - thanks for starting this discussion. Vendors need to listen to their users. The problem I see with many devices is that the designers aren't actually users. They're industrial designers who create products to appeal to those looking for sexy products in focus groups. A classic example is the bright white bezel around the E-Ink screen. This looks 'cool' but it's an idiotic idea for this type of screen as it makes the E-Ink screen appear to be a dull gray rather than the desired white.

During the first few weeks I had the K2, I put together a list of user interface enhancements for the K2:
https://sites.google.com/a/etccreations.com/kdesignworks/Home/sw-enhancements

That was before helping people enhance the fonts, which many people have tried and found that to greatly increase their enjoyment with the device. You can follow that from the beginning and get other tips for improving the K2
https://sites.google.com/a/etccreations.com/kdesignworks/

[SixVodkas]

An improved Kindle?

Easy!

Remove the LCD, case and keyboard, make it out of paper and print the text in ink.

Lower its price by say, I dunno, $300 and give it a little cover art and I'd be all over it!

[mweingar]

You should get to know the reviewed device and service before trying to redesign it.

[AListener]

Unfettered net access is part of the Kindle already, 24/7. Slow and awkward (it's cell phone network access), but I use it all the time, almost anywhere. And it's free. That's quite a Net data plan, no?

Here's a guide to how to use it best, to avoid frustrations -- it's at my site and the link is just made shorter. http://tinyurl.com/kindleweb

- Andrys
http://kindleworld.blogspot.com

[charitabee]

I don't have a kindle, as some have said its just so expensive and I already have laptops and net books and computers and.................best move kindle ever made IMO an iphone. Sooo I have access to all the kindle content without having to buy a kindle. And I ALWAYS have my phone with me. I'm sure the electronic paper is a SUPPER thing, but I haven't had any trouble reading books on my iphone.

[wshun0]

Just curious. Have you ever read math, physics, engineering books using iphone?

[tdi1]

All these comments complaining about the cost reminds me how short sighted (and duped) so many people are. Unfortunately, many people only look at "first cost" - the initial outlay of cash to purchase a device. This is as opposed to "lifetime cost", which represents the total cost of ownership over the life of a product. As Andrys has noted, the Kindles include lifetime, no extra charge wireless access, something for which most cellphone users pay $30-$40/month. Even conservatively, with a two year product life, the data plan for a cell costs twice as much as the the "expensive Kindle"!

This thinking is exactly what got many into trouble in the sub-prime fiasco. People purchase way beyond their means because they don't look at the real costs, they just look at the initial price and say "wow! what a bargain! I can buy X for only $y/month!" People - wake up and start looking at the real cost of what you buy.

While Amazon can clearly can improve aspects of the Kindle, price is not one of those. You either pay for it now or you pay for it later. I'd rather pay once and own the device rather than pay for it every month for the rest of my life. I give Bezos credit for not ripping off the consumer by taking advantage of their stupidity, like the cell phone companies do.

On the other hand, Amazon should probably offer an option for those who like to waste their money on monthly subscriptions. Sell the Kindle for $99 and charge $25/month. Maybe include a "free" subscription to a magazine or two or a "book a month" like Audible. After 12 months, they will have made $300 in subscription fees. After 24 months, they'll have an extra $300 in income and the fools and their money will have been parted...

[Sourdust]

I wish they offered something similar to Netflix where for a monthly fee ($10) and you can "borrow" one book at a time (more if you get the bigger plan). You can get another book when you "return" a book. People I've talked to are most bothered by the fact that they can't sell an ebook when they're done with it and that ebooks are sometimes not much cheaper than a paper book. This would satisfy both issues to some extent.

I love this idea. Publishers would never go for it, not to mention Amazon who does subscriptions on their audible sight which then just give you a credit for 1 or 2 books a month instead of buying them outright, but it's a great dream and I would sign up today.

[amyintexas]

I'd love to see a combined e-book/audiobook so I could listen as I drive, and then pick up where the audiobook leaves off.

[GilBorman]

So close to perfect but not quite!

By allowing revenue share with newspapers and blogs, Amazon can make the dream of monetized content real. This is the holy grail of the internet revenue problem.

[dshaskin]

I've had my Kindle 2 for 3 weeks now and absolutely love it. Agree with everything you proposed in your article, disagree with color screen suggestion made often for this device - let's not sacrifice the long battery life, and easy on the eyes screen.

However, one screen issue is important for me: The device does not render good images of charts and drawings that are in many of the history books I read. Even when zoomed in for the one level of zoom, the device still tries to fit the chart on one screen, and there's no further zoom in and pan ability.

I'd like to see that "zoom in further and pan" option, but then they'd have to do something about the horrible little stick mouse...I'd vote for a little roller ball mouse a la Blackberry and others.

Another option for this problem would be to let me print out the charts on a decent size piece of paper, at reasonable resolution, which would be ok when I'm not reading on the road.

In spite of this, it's still a fantastic device, and definitely points the way towards the future for printed media.

[ralfthedog]

Just a note for all the ,"Make it cheep" people. Not everything is made for people who don't have money. There is nothing wrong with building a quality product where price is not a factor. If you can't afford it, you are not the target market.

I agree with the conversion discount, but take it farther. Part of the reason I haven't bought a kindle is I have a library of books that I consider essential and would want to be able to access them and get to them whenever I need. If there was a 2 or 3 dollar exchange fee or even the opportunity to send in the books and pay to upgrade them to kindle, then Amazon could resell the book as a used and I'd have the electronic library I crave but am not willing to pay 5,000 dollars for.

They have also got a long way to work on their periodicals and periodical pricing. I shouldn't have to pay a premium and receive less content than a paper version that requires printing and postage, etc.

[wellslouis]

I'd like Kindle to be one of the "share" options when i'm reading an article online. I think letting people send individual articles would not take away from subscription users.

[WISBENAH]

Hey, this is one of the best analysis/suggestion I've seen Cnet.com. Please continue doing sure.

[gravesb]

I'd like to be able to mark things up. For me, I want native .PDF (like the DX) and some method to annotate it. I would buy a Kindle tomorrow if I could use it to do work on public transportation. If I could download 5 or 10 cases at work, then read them on the way home, it would pay for itself in a couple of weeks.

[sambledsoe]

Until an electronic reader is as open source and flexible as the printed page and the internet, you can forget it as a revolutionary idea. --or as a tool which I will adopt (though I'll try anything once).

[shiloh_walker01]

>>>>>Learn from iTunes and allow authorizations. Let me authorize multiple Kindles on a single account so that I can share subscriptions and purchases between them. At minimum, allow two authorizations, which would cover several households; better yet, allow up to four or five. This lets me share a book with a friend, a spouse, a roommate, a parent. This is just a no-brainer. There's no reason to undo the tradition of sharing the Sunday newspaper by tying a subscription to a single device. Let's hurry up with that one, shall we?<<<<<<

Actually, it's not a no brainer-it's piracy-it's making more than one copy of a work-you have a copy, then you give a digital copy to a friend, etc. Actions like that impact the author's ability to continue writing for a living, especially those who are best-sellers.

I'm not opposed to an idea that would let a reader 'check out' so to speak, but there needs to some sort of controls. Five households isn't my idea of control. 'Lending' one for a limited time frame I could possibly understand. But as you have explained it, should something like that take off, a lot of writers would have their income affected-big time-and many of them wouldn't be able to continue to pursue writing.

Whatever the solution is, it has to be one that proves still viable for authors, because if authors can't get reliable income for their writing-they don't write. Publishing is a business and if a writer can't make money, they can't continue to write. If publishers don't turn a profit, they go out of business. Dieheard readers probably don't want to see that.

[drsclim]

There have been previous comments bemoaning the exclusion of potential customers outside of USA. I can imagine the frustration of US citizens living in distant countries wanting to buy a Kindle. But at least in defense of Amazon there are considerable technological hurdles negotiating wireless data contracts with multiple companies in the various countries, not to mention the wireless frequency differences.

But I live in Canada, just next door, guys. The population is relatively homogenous, we share a common wireless technology, not to mention the same American Continent 3 digit phone prefix system, and we buy from Amazon. The population is about 10% of the US, representing a huge potential market for Kindle. The cellular phone companies in Canada are essentially branches of those in the US or closely affiliated. It should be a no brainer to offer Kindles for sale to Canadians, supported by Canadian wireless networks (who are essentially are the same Sprints/Bells/...) If the US market supports Kindles, so would the Canadian market. Jump on it now, you'll make a fortune!