Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

This post will talk about the physical design and looks of the Kindle, the Sony Reader Touch Edition and the Nook.

There are subtleties that photos can’t really capture and which video would take too long to explore. So this is an attempt to describe in words what each reader feels and looks like.

Sony Reader Touch Edition – Design and Looks

The Touch Edition is a beauty.

1. Mine is red and the main case is red with a metallic strip running exactly where the paper pages of a physical book would.
2. There are 5 metallic buttons at the front – soft to the touch and almost silent. They have a little metal strip above them with icons that tell you what they do – turn a page back, turn a page forward, go to home, magnify, and go to Options. The buttons are close to the bottom in a horizontal strip.
3. Above the buttons and taking up 75% to 80% of the front surface is an eInk screen – There’s recessed glass and then a layer below it. It’s almost white. The eInk shows up dark and clear.
4. All around the screen is a red border – The buttons are just below and almost one with the screen – it’s easy to forget they’re not part of the screen sometimes.
5. At the top of the screen is a SONY.
6. At the spine the Sony Reader is solid and rounded. At what would be the open end of a book there’s a subtle thinning that makes it easy to hold.
7. The back of the Sony Reader is red throughout with a Reader logo at the middle-left. At the bottom-left is ‘Digital Book Reader PRS-600′ and FCC compliance information. In Canada so it’s in two languages.
8. At the right is almost a column with two screws that seem entirely too tiny to be holding together even the compact Sony Touch.  

Quite simply it is beautiful.

The metal strip.

1.  At the spine, at the bottom and at the top, there are two more of the tiny metal screws.
2. The top of the strip has a power slider button and a charging indicator.
3. Right next to it, to the right, are slots for the two types of memory cards the Touch supports.
4. At the top right edge of the strip we have a stylus. The ease with which you can pull it out and the smooth click at the very end of putting it in are both a joy.
5. The metal strip runs along the side and to the bottom – shiny and barren.
6. The bottom next to the spine has one of those anchors for wrist loops and a reset button you’d need a hair pin for. 
7. Then there’s a power plug-in and a USB port.
8. Towards the right of the bottom is a headphone jack and at the very end is a volume control – again soft and metallic.
9. The power slider, the stylus, and one edge of the volume control have bumps you can feel on your finger.

The way the Sony Reader nestles in your hand is perfect. It’s the smallest of the three despite having the same size screen and it feels almost as light as the Kindle.

A 9 to 9.5 on 10.

The Nook’s Design and Looks

The Nook is pretty and plasticky at the same time.

1. The front has a white border that’s glossy – except where the page turn buttons are.
2. There’s a light gray ‘nook’ at the top and a light gray ‘Barnes&Noble’ at the bottom.
3. In between the white border and the dual screens is a blackish grey strip that frames the screens.
4. There’s a n button centered in between the two screens with no tactile feedback.
5. The page turn buttons make a bit too much noise – even more if you push hard or quick. They do have tiny bumps to guide your fingers.
6. The eInk screen has a white, white background. One of the best around – a bit better than Kindle and Sony Touch.
7. The eInk is dark and bolded throughout – it’s a crisp, clear reading experience.
8.  The LCD screen is terrible as the touch layer slightly distorts the already shabby screen.
9. The eInk screen is recessed and the LCD screen is under a glass surface.

The back and sides of the Nook.

1. While the front is pretty the back and sides disappoint.
2. The back is greyish plastic – the sort of color a certain critic claimed eInk screens were.
3. The back cover loudly snaps off to reveal a very pretty black plastic back with a million tiny little screws (well, 9 to be precise).
4. There’s an out-of-place microSD card slot and a drab grey battery held down by an almost tiny screw.
5. The sides are wholly unremarkable – almost ugly.
6. A metallic on/off switch at the top - Slightly raised so you can feel your way around.
7. A headphone jack and stereo speakers below.

The Nook is a bit too heavy – do test it out in person. It does feel good to the touch – just a bit tiring. The front is pretty and wish they’d gone with black for the sides and back.

An 8 if you ignore the back. Perhaps even an 8.5 if you like having the bright color screen smiling back at you occasionally.

Design and Looks of the Amazon Kindle 2

The Kindle 2 is painfully simplistic with a brushed aluminium back to sex it up. Being entirely white in front is a bit boring and might even detract from the screen contrast.

1. There’s an eInk screen that’s the focus of the top 4/5ths of the front.
2. The eInk screen is a bit recessed and quite white. The eInk is dark and clear but not bolded so contrast is not as good as Nook.
3. It is surrounded by a white border and at the bottom by a physical keyboard.
4. Tiny little keys with tinier letters – devilishly difficult to press and a full qwerty.
5. Next Page and Previous Page buttons on the left edge – right where your thumb would fall.
6. Home and Next Page buttons on the right edge – where your other thumb would fall. They click pretty loud.
7. Lower on the right edge are menu and back buttons separated by something Amazon calls a 5-way controller. These thankfully are a bit less loud.
8. It’s hard to describe moving the cursor with the little joystick – however, it’s almost fun. It would be better placed next to the keyboard (like on a certain Mirasol prototype ).

That brings us to the sides and back.

1. The Kindle 2 has a brushed aluminium back that’s just beautiful.
2. It has an ‘amazon kindle’ where the aluminium ends at the top and a FCC compliance message at the bottom.
3. Stereo Speakers that just fit in perfectly with perforations in the aluminium.
4. Close to the top the aluminium strangely ends and there is some sort of plastic.
5. The top edge has a slightly thicker portion/edge with a headphone jack and a power slider.
6. The right edge has a volume control button that’s quite good.
7. The bottom edge has a USB port and a charging indicator light.    
8. The side and bottom edges are half white/half aluminium and the top edge (and the upper 1/5th of the side edges)  is half white/half grey plastic.

What’s the rating? Well, we’ve been together too long .

The Conclusion

On Looks – The round definitely goes to the Sony Reader Touch.

On Design – The Kindle is the easiest and most intuitive to use.

Filed under: thoughts Tagged: | ebook reader design, ereader design