I am a frequent traveler which means I spend a lot of time reading either in airports, airplanes, and hotels. This means that I have to carry around a lot of books and magazines with me while I travel which was definitely the case during my recent trip to Hong Kong. Now that I am back in the US, I decided to make the decision and go ahead and buy an Amazon Kindle:

I had seen the Kindle advertised on Amazon.com before and thought it looked interesting but really didn’t put much thought into purchasing one. Now that I have purchased one and have been using it the past few weeks I am definitely glad I bought one.

What is A Kindle?

For those that don’t know, the Amazon Kindle is a wireless E-Reading device that has totally changed the way I read. From the Kindle you can search through the tens of thousands of books offered through Amazon.com and then download the books you purchase through the wireless Internet (Whispernet) that is included with the device:

The wireless Internet included with the Kindle is not WiFi based, but is instead cell phone based through the Sprint network. So where ever you can get a Sprint cell phone signal you will be able to view the Amazon site and download books. The downloading of books usually takes less then a minute and the books are usually significantly cheaper then their paper counterparts. For example a new release book usually costs around $20 to $25. On the Kindle the new releases mostly go for $9.99 or less. Older books can be routinely found on the Kindle for less then $5 with other books going for less then a dollar and some even for free.

Screen Quality

However, the big question on everyone’s mind is probably how does the screen look? The problem with past E-Readers was that they didn’t look as good as reading a book. Let me tell you that reading the Kindle is in fact as easy on the eyes as reading an actual book. The Kindle does not use an LCD screen, instead it uses electronic ink to write its pages. This electronic ink looks just like real ink in a book. I have had no issues spending long hours reading the Kindle. The only differences between the Kindle and reading a book is that when you turn the page on the Kindle there is a flash that occurs that resets the ink for the next page, which you will eventually get used to. I don’t even notice it any more.

The Kindle’s screen is also able to support graphics and pictures as well. Since the screen uses electronic ink none of the graphics or pictures are in color however. It is even possible to upload pictures into the Kindle for people to view. For being in black and white the pictures do look good, but I would not recommend using the Kindle as a primary device to store and view images however. Overall though I was entirely impressed by how easy the screen was to read over long hours and that is what is ultimately important with buying an e-reading device.

Battery Power

For anyone concerned about battery power, the Kindle’s battery if the Whispernet service is turned off lasts for over a week. If the Whispernet is left on the battery lasts about 2-3 days. Most travelers will not be away from a power source for over a week. If you are traveling away from a power source for over a week then simply buy a back up battery. The batteries are small and lightweight like the Kindle itself. For example I have taken my Kindle on multi-day hikes with no issues with battery power.

Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions

Another interesting feature of the Kindle is that it does more then just download books, it also allows you to subscribe to newspapers and magazines as well:

Amazon currently offers most of the top newspapers and magazines available such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, The Atlantic, Newsweek, etc. However the Amazon Kindle does not have a subscription service for Korean newspapers. I would love to be able to subscribe to some of the Korean English language dailies on my Kindle but so far the newspapers are limited to the US and Britain. I’m sure as the popularity of the device increases eventually more International newspapers will be available. The price for subscribing to these newspapers and magazines is usually less then $2 a month.

E-mail & Blogging

The Kindle also allows you to subscribe to blogs as well. For example every morning all the updated postings to Slate.com are wirelessly sent to my Kindle for me to read while eating breakfast:

There are literally hundreds of top blogs that can be subscribed to through the Kindle. Most of the blogs that you can subscribe to cost .99 per month. If you are not willing to pay the .99 cents for wireless download of your favorite newspapers, magazine, and blogs then you can always just go and read them on the Kindle’s free wireless Internet.

Yes that is right, the Internet on the Amazon Kindle is free. However, like any wireless Internet there is a load time while browsing through sites and usually these sites are not organized for easy reading like they are on the downloaded versions available for the Kindle. So instead of reading a webpage full of advertisements slowing your Internet load time, the downloaded subscriptions have no ads and are organized with each article one after the other and load they load up instantaneously when clicked on. This is why I pay .99 cents a month to have Slate downloaded every morning on to my Kindle instead of navigating through its webpage.

If you are wondering, yest the ROK Drop can be viewed on the Kindle as well:

The ROK Drop actually loads up fairly fast on the Kindle because I have a fairly simple webpage template and few ads on the site. Other favorite Korea blogs such as the Marmot’s Hole can also be viewed fairly well on the Kindle’s web browser as well:

So it is definitely a handy tool to be able to keep up on all my favorite Korea blogs. It is even possible to leave comments on these sites though of course it is much slower to do so compared to a home computer keyboard. However, the keyboard on the Kindle is much better then trying to type with a PDA or cell phone thus making commenting on blogs much easier compared to other mobile devices. Besides commenting you can check your e-mail with the Kindle as well. I was able to get G-Mail to load up with no issues on the Kindle, but for whatever reason Yahoo Mail would not load up probably because its site is not configurable with the Kindle yet. I expect this will eventually change as well as the popularity of the device increases.

However it is important to remember that the Amazon Kindle is primarily an E-Reading device and not a web browser. That is why Amazon says very little about the free wireless Internet available with the Kindle when promoting it. In fact it is called an “Experimental Web Browser” on the Kindle. Before I even bought my Kindle I had no idea how good this wireless Internet service is because of how little Amazon markets its web browsing capability. It was definitely an added bonus when I bought the device to get this service, especially since it is free.

GPS and Mapping Capabilities

Another interesting feature of the Kindle is that it has GPS capability through Google Maps. It no where near has the capability of an actual GPS device but it is handy if you just want to get a rough idea where you are at. The Kindle also has quick links to be able to locate nearby restaurants and gas stations that are registered on Google Maps. This is just another one of these additional features that I was once again quite surprised with.

Military Applications of the Kindle

Another feature I found particularly handy was the ability to email Word documents or PDF’s to Amazon and have them convert those files into files that can be read on the Kindle. For those in the military like myself this is actually a handy feature because I have emailed PDF files of Army Field Manuals to Amazon and usually within two days they wirelessly send the Kindle file of that Army FM to my Kindle:

This has instantly reduced the amount of manuals I need to keep along with making them instantly accessible where ever I go. Hopefully in the future Amazon starts uploading all the Army FM’s into the Kindle inventory so I don’t have to bother emailing them to Amazon to convert in the first place. Also by Amazon making the FM’s available on their Kindle webpage it would also mean that the Table of Contents of the FM’s would be hyperlinked. Currently by me having to use the document conversion service that means that the Table of Contents of the FM’s are not hyperlinked. By not having hyperlinks in the Table of Contents it takes more time to go to the part of the manual I want to read.

I’m sure the people at Amazon behind the creation of the Kindle probably had no idea their device could possibly have military applications but it in fact does.  Hopefully they take advantage of this fact and make Army FM’s available for download.

Outdoor Activities

Besides the military applications, another way of taking advantage of the document conversion feature of the Kindle I have found is to transfer PDF files of hiking guides to my Kindle. I do this by taking various PDF files of various hikes from sites like Backpacker.com and then have them converted into files for my Kindle. So when I go hiking the directions, maps, and information are all on my Kindle. It is too easy. Another side benefit of this is that if someone wants to send you a file to read for work for example, they can just e-mail it to your Kindle e-mail address and you can read the file straight from your Kindle, even while camping.

What if I Lose My Kindle?

I haven’t had any issues yet with losing my Kindle yet (knock on wood), but let us suppose that I lose my Kindle while hiking, does that mean all the books I purchased and saved on the Kindle are lost? No it doesn’t because everything I buy for the Kindle is backed up on my own personal website on Amazon.com. If I lose my Kindle I can simply hook up a USB cable and redownload all the material I bought before from Amazon that is saved on the site.

The Future of Travel Guidebooks?

Since the Amazon Kindle has such incredible capabilities, something I have begun to think about is if the Kindle could be the future of travel guidebooks? I believe it is. Right now the device is still in its infancy because it was released less then a year ago. However, there are travel guides starting to be written for the Kindle. For example there is a travel guide for Hawaii that can be downloaded for $1.99 that covers all of the Hawaiian Islands:

This guidebook is not as good as a Lonely Planet book yet, but is still a good informational text on Hawaii and costs less then $2. Compare that to the paperback version of Lonely Planet Hawaii that costs $14.95 before shipping on Amazon.com and usually over $20 in an actual bookstore. So far Lonely Planet does not offer Kindle versions of their guidebooks; if they did I would be the first to purchase them. There are also currently no Korea guidebooks available either on the Kindle. On Amazon’s website they have a link that allows users to request that a publisher make certain books available on the Kindle. I have done this with multiple Lonely Planet books, but so far none are available on the Kindle. Could this be because Lonely Planet is reluctant to embrace such an innovative new media?

I really believe that the travel industry instead of avoiding new media like the Kindle it should be embracing this technology. It is important to remember that the Kindle will not put guidebook writers out of a job. I’m sure guidebook writers do the job they do because they love to travel and share their experiences so readers can have a quality experience in the area they are traveling to. However, due to the nature of paper guidebooks, they are often out of date and impossible to update without reprinting an entire book. On the Kindle any updates of the books can be done instantly because of the digital format of the book. Theoretically no travel guidebook should be out of date when someone purchases it on the Kindle if the guidebook company such as Lonely Planet is continuously updating their digital copy of the book.

Additionally the guidebook industry should think of the cost savings of not having to ship bulky books around the world to sell if it can be done wirelessly over the Kindle, not to mention the money saved not having to put ink on paper. Besides these cost savings think of as well the environmental impacts of not having to use so much paper and the carbon emissions saved not shipping heavy books around the world for sale. You throw in the GPS and mapping capabilities of the Kindle and I really think travel guidebooks can really become even more useful if the full capabilities of the Kindle are utilized.

Is the Price of the Kindle Worth It?

Currently I believe the biggest draw back of the Kindle is the price. Really the only thing I can see someone arguing is the cost. The Amazon Kindle currently costs $359 on Amazon. This is quite expensive for many people, but if you read a lot like I do it is a bargain considering how much you save on purchasing books on a Kindle compared to buying the paper version. Plus the Internet on the Kindle is free. Because of this I canceled my own cell phone Internet service that was costing me $15 extra every month on my phone bill. Just the saving of the $15 a month on my cell phone bill will save me $180 over the course of a year. Over two years the savings pays for the Kindle itself, much less the savings in books and other reading material on the Kindle. Depending on how you plan on using the Kindle it definitely is worth the $359 investment.

Conclusion

Overall I believe the positives of the Kindle outweigh the negatives and yes their are negatives. For example the current look of the Kindle is not all that inspiring. Also their are a few annoying design problems such as the next page button being too large and easily being pressed which inadvertently causes the page to turn. Most curious is why the power button is on the back side of the Kindle instead of the front where it would be much easier to access. Finally it is a bit annoying having to change settings on the web browser for the Amazon to be able to load up certain sites that use a lot of bandwidth. However, none of the negatives of the device have prevented me from enjoying the use of this device. I do hope thought that the next generation of the Kindle will correct most of these annoying design issues.

Ultimately, despite some of the negatives of the Kindle, it makes both economic and a convenient answer for people who read a lot. Best of all, for frequent travelers like myself it is extremely convenient due to its small and compact size that fits easily in any small carry on bag. The convenience is only increased considering the weight and space saved from the hundreds of books that can be saved on one Kindle memory chip.

I have seen the future of E-reading and it is without a doubt the Amazon Kindle.