New Gadgets! Part II - Kindle Paperwhite

Don't let anyone tell you that Amazon and Jeff Bezos aren't smart.  Founded and beginning online sales in the mid 90's, it survived the dot com burst.  That alone says a lot, as I remember several online services that I tried or even used regularly, that quickly disappeared back then.  Amazon even hosted the websites for several brick and mortar stalwarts until fairly recently, including Toys-R-Us and Target.

But becoming the biggest and best in online sales wasn't enough for Amazon.  In November 2007, Amazon launched the Kindle.  I tend not to buy gen 1 tech products, as I prefer to let the manufacturer work out the bugs and add a few new features first.  I was also very hesitant to try an e-reader.  Sony already had something on the market, but I'd also already begun to worry about Sony electronics products in general, so I did not want to be tied to their ecosystem.  This was before Barnes & Noble had released the Nook.  And, as an avid reader, I was quite concerned with switching to an e-reader in general.  Was e-ink really easier on the eyes than LCD screens?  Would I read more or less on a device like this compared to actual books?  Would I spend more or less on books this way?  And, could I just give up the "feel" of physical books?  All things I wondered about...

Fast-forward about a year, and I bought the Kindle 2.  I had tried a few original Kindles, and as mentioned a time or two, I love electronics gadgets in general.  And I fell in love.  I read more, found a lot of titles for free or for less than I'd pay for the physical book, started saving space in my house (I'm sure my husband was happy to have me stop asking for new bookcases and/or room in our basement to store more books), and on what other device could you get free 3G data?  My initial hesitation totally shifted to me being a Kindle advocate.  I joked that I should be paid some sort of royalty from Amazon for all of the Kindles I was selling for them by telling friends and family how great a device it was.

My daughter owns and uses that same Kindle 2.  I graduated to a Kindle Touch a few years later.  And yes, I'm seriously considering upgrading again, but not to a Kindle Fire HD as some might suspect. I want a Kindle Paperwhite.  I like my Kindle Touch, but I want some of the new features:

• Paperwhite built-in light:  I was disappointed in Amazon that they let Barnes & Noble beat them to the punch with a lighted e-reader.  But I am now convinced that the technology behind the Kindle Paperwhite is better compared to the Nook Simple Touch with Glow Light.  For one, the shorter name helps (ok, not really, but I have to laugh at some of the product naming that companies still manage to come up with).  I like that the light points downward and illuminates the screen equally.  And I like that you can keep the light on at all times (even in direct sunlight) and still have a battery that lasts 8 weeks.
• Battery life:  They essentially kept the same battery life of the Kindle Touch, while adding an awesome light.
• Display:  212 ppi (pixels per inch), up from 167 ppi on the Kindle Touch.  Clearer text, faster page-turns, same size (6-inch) screen that has proven to be a sweet spot for e-readers.
• Data:  Still only 2gb of built-in storage (and yes, I still mourn the SD card option they took away after the original Kindle), but if you don't mind buying primarily from Amazon, most of what you own can be stored in their cloud anyway.  Free 3G available is available (higher price upfront of course) in addition to standard WiFi connection.  A little-known fact though is that you used to actually be able to use the 3G for web surfing on the Kindle 2, and that does not work anymore (although I believe it still will over WiFi).  Not that this is something Amazon advertises or that you'd spend a lot of time doing on a dedicated e-reader, but it was another cut that I do (slightly) miss.

To special offer or not to special offer...  I broke down and saved the money on my Kindle Touch and took the special offers model.  I was not disappointed.  I think I've grown accustomed to mostly ignoring ads anyway, and they are not obtrusive (not shown at all within a book).  I have even claimed one or two of them.  And, if you find that you just don't like the ads, you can pay to have them removed.  It looks like Amazon is moving to having them included up-front as a standard anyway, but that shouldn't keep you from considering a Kindle product even if you know that you will immediately pay to remove the ads.

Amazon customer service has typically been great over the years in my experience.  If something happens to your Kindle within the year warranty, they send you a new one happily (at least in my experience, which did happen personally with my Kindle 2, and I've heard of friends with similar experiences).  You can actually speak to someone over the phone without a long hold time (as long as you know where to find that option in the online help section).  My only real complaint is their pricing strategy on other (non-Kindle) goods and software, and their lack of customer empathy on that front.

Why don't I want a Kindle Fire HD you ask?  I do like the idea of offering 3G data (although with a monthly limit) at a very reasonable price (although with a hefty addition to the price of the Fire with 3G versus WiFi only).  But, while I don't mind being fairly locked in to the Amazon ecosystem for books, especially now that I can borrow in Kindle format from my local library, I do NOT want to be locked in for a tablet experience.  I want full access to the Android or Apple markets.  With Android, I still have access to the Amazon App Store and content anyway.  But I can see that it's a product that will still attract a large demographic.  If I had an unlimited electronics budget, I'd buy one, too, so I certainly can't say it's a bad product.

While it's become much easier to read on a tablet device, or even my smartphone, I still see great benefits in reading an e-ink device, especially in longer reading sessions.  I'm excited to stop using my iPad for night time reading if and when I get the Kindle Paperwhite.

I hope you have or get a tech toy that you enjoy, too!

New Gadgets! Part 1: Apple

Yes, I am one of the minority of females who gets excited when new consumer electronics products are announced.  New jewelry doesn't do much for me as a present these days.  I could care less about designer clothes labels.  If you want to actually see a gleam in my eye for a material object, get me (or tell me I can order) the latest xyz gadget.  Let me research the specs, dream about the new things I can do with it, think about all the ways I'll set it up to be individually mine.

I actually sometimes even watch the new product announcements.  There were a lot over the past week or so, in case you didn't notice.  Several smartphone and tablet manufacturers were in a rush to get their latest and greatest Android or Windows 8 product announced before Apple's big reveal.  I am a little biased towards Samsung at the moment given my great experiences with their smartphones over the past two years, so I'll admit that I felt a little smug that Samsung announced their flagship phone (with flare) months before all of this hubbub, and that I've had my Galaxy S3 in hand long enough to already know all of its ins and outs before these other products can be had.

Anyway, there were only two of these product announcements that I actually watched in the past week - Apple and Amazon.  These are two amazing companies.  I admire them both for different reasons.  Apple came back from the brink (with a little help from Microsoft, but most people don't know or want to hear about that) with a revolutionary device, and no, it wasn't the iPhone.  The iPod overcame all the objections to digital music, and finally got us to actually pay and listen to mp3 files.  The user design with the little scroll wheel that most people came to love - kudos!  I have mixed feelings about the usability of iTunes, but no one can deny that they accomplished something amazing.

Some people think I don't like Apple just because I actually have some complaints with some of their products.  Not true, I just roll my eyes at the people who think they are everything, will only consider their products, and think they invented the smartphone.  But, I won't go into all that here.

Amazon.  Well, they may not have invented the digital marketplace, but they certainly mainstreamed it.  They didn't invent the e-reader either, but they did with ebooks what Apple did with mp3 music.  They made it easy and seamless, and they did it when we'd already learned to depend on them to order so much online already.  Today, I can read a Kindle book on my laptop, phone, iPad, or Kindle Touch and it will sync seamlessly to the last place I read.  I can carry around a library full of books rather than asking my husband to help me find a place for yet another bookcase.  I don't have to remember the page I left off on the several books I sometimes have going (I was never a fan of bookmarks, so yes, I'd literally memorize the page number each time).

Back to the product announcements.  Here are my general first impressions of the Apple product announcement, in case it is helpful to anyone out there: 

iPhone 5, etc.

• 4-inch screen:  Finally, now I don't have to feel sorry for iPhone owners browsing the net on their tiny screens.  I'll still keep my 4.8 inch screen, but it's a definite improvement.
• Display:  Yes, they have Sammy beat on the ppi (pixels per inch) - beautiful, and the entire reason I purchase an iPad.  The new Nokia Lumina will beat it, but I've been disappointed so far with Windows Phone's attempt at a resurrection of their OS.  I wish them well and hope Windows Phone 8 is great.
• Design:  Yes, it's very pretty.  I would never argue that.  Nor would I ever confuse a Samsung phone for it or it's predecessors, but that's an entirely different blog post.  It now will briefly hold the title for the world's thinnest phone.  Although that's a war I hope stops soon as well.  I don't care what type of glass or back you put on a phone, if it gets too thin, it will be easier to break.  Someday I imagine we'll have the technology for super-thin and super-durable phones, and I hope some folks smarter than I are working on it, but for now, it just doesn't work.  I've already noticed a durability difference in my thinner Galaxy S3 (with Gorilla Glass 2) phone compared to my Galaxy S2 (with original, thicker Gorilla Glass).
• Connectivity:  LTE, finally.  Yes, you now have 4G data connection, which has been available on other phones for a long time, and honestly, confused a lot of people as to why they had iPhone 4's and 4S's that weren't 4G.
• Processor:  Why is Apple so vague about the processor's actual specs?  I still don't understand that.  I suspect the specs are actually quite good given that it is supposed to be twice as fast as the already decent processor in the S4, so why not just tell us?
• Battery:  They managed to keep similar battery life despite the speedier processor and thinner phone, BUT it doesn't match some of the Android phones out there (mine included), and, as always, you cannot easily replace the battery.  My phone has longer battery life and I still carry around a spare for emergencies.  To be fair, several high-end Android phones and others are starting to include a non-replaceable battery, but I don't like it for any consumer electronics product and never have.
• Storage:  Options, options, options.  Well, except the one that's always missing - to add an external microSD card.
• Connector:  Lightning.  Sounds great, something new to market.  And we promise we'll make adaptors for all of your old Apple products!  Really, this is my hugest disappointment.  Instead of updating an adaptor to something more universal (microUSB) that works great, let's make another proprietary connector different from the old one.  If I had lots of Apple products, I would be ticked.  I already don't like what it implies for my iPad 3.  I just keep imagining all those nice iPhone/iPod docks with a beautiful new iPhone/iPod sitting precariously above the new adaptor.  Hmmm...
• EarPods:  To me, just about the best thing that came out of the entire product announcement.  My daughter is the only person I know well who just loves the old Apple earphones.  These earpods look very well-designed and I have high hopes that the sound quality will be much better.  And the price is not outrageous. 

One more general comment:  Why can't I watch the Apple keynote in real-time video like I can others?  It was a bit of a pain to follow just the live feed comments and images.  I'd much rather be watching video of the actual event as it is happening.

Stay tuned for a separate post about my thoughts on the Amazon product announcement!

I hope your weekend is filled with lots of time with family and friends, and time with your favorite tech product as well.

Ahead of my Kids

I don't know everything there is to know about technology.  I don't even know more than some other moms, I'm sure.  But I know more than my kids do, and my entire goal is to keep it that way.  Considering one of my kids is already a teenager, I think I'm doing well most days.

We added unlimited texting to our cell phone plan a few years ago because our (almost teen at the time) daughter was begging us to.  We made it one of her Christmas presents, along with a new phone.  In our current billing cycle, she has sent and received 123 texts to my 744.  A few years ago, I was one of those who couldn't imagine texting other than to keep up with my teenagers, but obviously, I've embraced it much more than my daughter.

I usually don't get new technology first, and I don't just go for the most popular thing out there.  I love to research.  I love just keeping up with tech sites like Engadget, Life Hacker, Android Central, CNET, Gizmodo, Popular Science, and MacWorld.  The most recent magazine I subscribed to is Laptop.

I've never liked programming, and I don't want to know all the inner workings of my cell phone, computer, or TV.  But, if I need one of them to do something or need to solve an issue, I'm willing to search the internet until I find a solution that works for me.  And I'm willing to help other people with this also.  Just ask my neighbor whose phone I recently installed a new keyboard on.  Just ask my father-in-law who calls regularly with questions about his phone and computer.

I also don't tend to jailbreak, root, or otherwise do things to my gadgets that would void the warranties.  It's not that I can't do it (believe me, there are easy step-by-step directions posted all over), but that I am a rule-follower in general, who wants the warranty intact should I have any issues and need to insist on a repair.  However, I'm all for side-loading apps, installing OS updates from the manufacturer before my provider sends them over the air, etc.  And don't worry if you have no idea what I just said - my hope is that I can explain some of these things in non-technical terms in upcoming posts.

I think part of why I have gotten so into electronics gadgets is because I have always liked little things.  I was the kid who couldn't bring myself to eat Cornish game hens just because they were so little and cute.  I remember vividly dreaming about a TV that I could fit in my hands and carry around wherever I wanted to watch shows on the go.  I didn't even think to add a phone into that, but look how far we've come since my childhood!  My absolute favorite toy as a child was the tape recorder I got the Christmas I was six years old.  It was small enough to carry around with me, and it could record whatever I wanted!  It was nearly magical in that it made me believe in Santa Claus just a little longer - he'd recorded a message just for me to discover Christmas morning!  I even always dated taller guys, perhaps in part to make me feel smaller.  One of the best compliments Darrell gave me while dating was calling me miniature.  Yes, I know this probably all sounds kind of weird to some people.  Oh well, it's me.

So, I don't know where this is all heading.  But I love tech gadgets and I like to write.  And until I find a job and maybe after that, I'm not writing nearly as much as I'd like.  Perhaps it will start to fizzle the way it feels like my marriage blog has.  Perhaps it will continue on and I'll be helping some friends and people I don't even know along the way.  I hope it's the latter, but I've learned to be fairly content with most of what falls my way in life these days.

Thanks for reading!