I’m thinking I really shouldn’t get caught up in the whole Kindle hoopla, but a Sex and the City quote comes to mind:
“You’re driving down the road. You see a sign. It says ‘two-headed snake.’ You have to pull over.”
So I suppose you can say that Kindle is a two-headed snake. I can’t help but gawk at it in amazement that a product this hideous can actually come out in The Age of the iPod or maybe that the product even came out. C’mon – even the Zune wasn’t this ugly.
Ok I’m a proud owner of several iPods and an iPhone but those choices weren’t based on blind fanaticism to Anything Apple. So please. It’s not about Apple. And I do understand that companies are trying hard to come up with a unique product that Isn’t An iPod but I’m not sure when “unique” became synonymous to fugly.
Ok let’s not judge the book by its cover (hehe) and judge the Kindle by its features.
The Smoothspan blog argues that $400 is a reasonable cost of entry considering there are no wifi connect charges via Spring EVDO which the device comes bundled with. “Not so with the iPhone/Touch,” he added.
I’m not even sure what the point of comparison is here. Ok fine, your Kindle will have free wireless connection but to do what? So you can download more books at $9.99 a pop, or subscribe to blogs at 99 cents (I believe is the price). Guess what else you can access with Amazon’s Whispernet? Nothing else, really. Just Amazon’s wireless store (read: walled garden).
Ok, so I pay an extra $20/month for my UNLIMITED plan with AT&T. With that $20/month I can access all the information the world wide web has to offer not to mention my e-mail and Google maps and all the Safari-based apps and I don’t have to pay to read a blog or access the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal.
For those who say that the iPhone’s screen is too small for comfortable content reading, have you seen the Safari-based web applications developed for the iPhone? Have you seen the Facebook app for the iPhone? How about the NYTimes River? Even mobile banking is a joy with Wells Fargo’s iPhone optimized website!
A Real QWERTY keyboard – As opposed to the iPhone’s QWERTY keyboard? You’re kidding, right?
Ok, I can read in bright daylight. Yes! That feature is worth $400 plus $9.99 for each title!
What web browser?? Oh. The one that lets you access Wikipedia and nothing else? (Did I totally misunderstand this feature? I watched the Kindle video over and over again and read the product sheet and couldn’t see anything else…)
Oh wait. You can read your Microsoft Word document there too! You can e-mail it to your Kindle account…and FOR JUST A SMALL CHARGE, Amazon will convert it for you. O.M.G. Microsoft Word Document!!! I am gonna go order one right now!!!
It has a larger screen than the iPhone. Yes, that one it does have. It’s the size of my kitchen wall phone and looks like it too.
Ok, it’s not as sexy as the iPhone. Yes, that’s true…but see, it’s not about the sexy. The device doesn’t have to be always sexy as in the case of the iPod or the iPhone. But does it really have to be so ugly?
November 25, 2007 at 1:52 pm |
radio stations on the iphone or ipod, http://iradioapp.com my fav new app
September 18, 2008 at 3:45 pm |
I have found a very cool website http://www.radiotagr.com
You hear a song on the radio. You wonder, “Who’s the artist?”, “What’s the name of that song?”
RadioTAGr tells you! You can see what is currently playing on the radio from your phone (mobile device) …
And SO COOL … you can save (TAG) the song into your RadioTAGr account !
Later you can buy it from iTunes or just remember your tune (-:
I think you should check it out….
April 15, 2009 at 10:46 am |
The topic is quite trendy on the Internet at the moment. What do you pay the most attention to when choosing what to write about?