Amazon Kindle: Leet Gadget of 2008

Gadgets | December 10th, 2008 by Staggs

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Not too often do we hear of a product that sounds damn near perfect with respect to execution and that “leet” factor we look for. Not too often does such a product come from an Internet company. We’re talking about the Kindle, the digital book and reading assistant from Amazon.com.

What Is the Amazon Kindle?

This gadget knows one thing, and only one thing: It is a device that allows its users to purchase books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs, and easily read them. It is a mobile library of 190,000 books (as boasted by Amazon) that is competitively unmatched by other devices.

Back in the 90′s there was a craze about eBooks. If you had bought one of these simple display devices, you had to buy an electronic version of your favorite books, and sync it up to your computer (after downloading and installing drivers) for your eBook device. If anybody knows hassles, the mother of hassles was syncing anything to a computer – it used to be slow and probably screwed something else up as well. After hopefully getting through that stage, you then had the device to bring around with you to read your book anywhere. Back then the eBooks were heavy, the battery life wasn’t great, and it wasn’t as convenient as people had hoped. At this point, I’d rather just carry my paper-version books.

The Amazon Kindle revisits the eBook-era with a ton of punch and an execution that the past had never dreamed of. Taking a look at some of its features, the Kindle lacks nothing. It is in no way short on features:

New Releases and Best Sellers are $9.99. You save about 50% from buying a paper version of the same book online or in a store.
Wireless delivery: The Amazon Kindle uses Sprint EVDO-technology, the same Internet connection cell-phones use, so you don’t need to search for WiFi hot spots.
Wireless Purchase and Download: Using the same wireless connection, you can also purchase books, wherever there is wireless service, through an online Kindle store, and download them without having to even sync the device to a computer.
Holds over 200 books at any time with only 256mb memory. You can register and download a book purchase on up to six Kindle devices (provided they belong to same Amazon.com account) as many times as you need.
Upgradeable memory through an SD-card input. You can have up to 4Gb of memory. Estimating, you can probably hold well over a thousand books on 4Gb. I don’t think anyone will ever fill this device up.
Can also store documents, and pictures such as Word, and Excel documents, and JPG and GIF pictures (among others, too).
Audiobooks are also available through Audible.com and wirelessly available to the Kindle.
Not a typical display: The device uses E-Ink technology thats difficult to explain, but it uses natural light to reflect white just like paper would. Downside here, you still need a light source to read!
Battery lasts for up to a week of usage because the E-Ink technology uses very little power.
190,000+ books to download. You can download a book as many times as you want to your Kindle. So… if you ever do run out of room, you can delete a book and always re-download it later.
“QWERTY” keyboard allows you to easily search through the books, online store, use its dictionary application, among a lot of other uses.

Amazon’s Kindle has so many features it would be too much to read about. The technology behind this device is all there, available to any avid reader for a fantastic experience. The device itself is thin, and lightweight. Its easier to carry this than it is to carry a bulky book, unlike older eBook devices.

With everything good, there must be some downside, right? One of my gripes with the Amazon Kindle is its more expensive price of $359.00. If I didn’t know any better, this price automatically turns off many people, such as myself. Personally, I’d rather buy another Xbox 360 for a price like this.

If you’re clearly an avid reader, or if you’re just attracted to this product and simply have to have it, the Kindle is aimed at you. While I personally can’t justify the high price, I am jealous that I don’t have one! If the price ever falls below $180, maybe I will justify the purchase. Until then, I’ll hold off on this.

Today a lot of gadgets go too far in terms of reaching a plethora of features such as wireless television or playing games on tiny cell phones, etc. Does anyone really need a 134-widget multi-tool, honestly? The Amazon Kindle, in contrast, focuses on its main service while giving users a plethora of supplemental tools that don’t make it a ridiculous, over-bloated gadget that you’ll stuff in your closet, or lose. You’ll want to use everything this gadget has to offer while you are reading your books, or looking for new books to read (especially since it has a nice, ergonomic “QWERTY” keyboard).

The Amazon Kindle is a gadget that other companies should look at. They designed a phenomenal user experience and smashing product that others should follow suit. The fantastic service this product does to its users is what we want to see in other devices, which is why we are giving it our very first “Leet Gadget of 08″ award. Its very prestigious.