E-bookery

[kate_nepveu]

Because I just know you were all waiting breathlessly for my verdict on Amazon's Kindle e-book reader:

If I had stupid money, I'd get a Cybook instead. [*]

Since I don't have stupid money, I'll stick with my Palm TX, which functions just fine as an e-book reader except in bright sunlight, which is not that often an issue (though if a Cybook showed up my doorstep for free, I wouldn't send it back). Speaking of which, from now until Monday Palm is selling the TX for $200 with a wireless keyboard thrown in, which is so cheap that I'm tempted to buy a spare against the likely day that Palm stops making standalone PDAs.

I love my TX and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who's looking for an organizer, e-book reader, game player, etc., but who doesn't need a smartphone. On the other hand, when this TX eventually dies, I may have other options: Nokia is releasing a Palm OS emulator, and the Nokia N810 looks very cool: bigger screen! Built-in keyboard! GPS! Anyone got one of these, or played with one?

(Because, you know, what I really need is to be gathering information on a tech toy that I neither need nor should have . . . )

[*] References:

• Look At Me, I’m on the Cutting Edge
• 15 Things I Just Learned About the Amazon Kindle - Boing Boing Gadgets
• Amazon Kindle Hands-On and Questions Answered (Gallery)
• The Future of Reading (A Play in Six Acts) [dive into mark] — Critique of Amazon's Kindle, in the words of Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos and George Orwell, among others.
• Comparing Amazon Kindle to E-Book Readers of Yesterday and Tomorrow

Comments

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

Ah, a decent Garnet-enabled competitor to the Windows Mobile-based HTC Advantage X7501 (http://www.mobiletechreview.com/HTC-Advantage.htm), or perhaps the cheaper TyTN II. Sounds pretty good. I like my Treo for portability--I've come to prefer having the phone in the same package, though when I had cheap phone + wifi-enabled Tungsten C, that was fine, too.

[kate_nepveu]

I hardly ever use my cell phone, and it'll never replace a landline in our current house because our walls are extremely thick solid plaster and we get at most one bar's worth of signal. And I don't travel enough to locations where I'd need a data plan on my phone, either. So while I definitely see the attraction of smartphones, I don't think they make sense for me.

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

I catch up on reading e-mail (if not replying) while riding public transit daily--whereas audiobooks would fail, for me. :)

[kate_nepveu]

Is it weird to miss public transit? I used to get so much reading done then (well, on trains, anyway; I avoided buses because they made me motion-sick). Now I'm stuck driving with audiobooks, which are enjoyable but not the same.

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

Not weird to me. I prefer public transit for midlength commuting because one can doze as needed, as well as read, work a little, whatever. For short commutes (I'm on the train for 15min each way, aside from walking at both ends) cars are nice because they're more flexible in case of errand-running. Of course, though I appreciate having transit and like supporting it, I can't drive to work anyway because there's nowhere to stash the car. :P