Alas, my Kindle 1.0 is now old school with the release of the Kindle 2.0. I am not disappointed, though. I never was one to worry about the style of the Kindle, the refresh rate is fine with me, and I have an 8GB SD card, which blows away the 2GB built-in memory in the Kindle 2.0.
I would like the better resolution, and the 16 shade of gray, and the slightly larger screen, but I don’t read books with many figures, and I never use my Kindle for web surfing, so I don’t feel terribly deprived. I have a modified cover that protects my Kindle, and allows me to read it comfortably without accidentally hitting buttons. But then, I can also walk and chew gum at the same time, too. I’m talented that way.
My Kindle 1.0 isn’t sexy. OK. I can live with this. I’m not sexy, either. I live in Missouri. Sexy in Missouri means something slathered in barbeque sauce.
I drive a 2002 Ford Focus, which I think is sexy, but looks like a soap bubble on wheels. All my laptops are 3+ years old, which isn’t sexy. I still find Twitter to be awkward, which is definitely not a sexy attitude. I have a calendar with cute cat pictures on my wall, don’t have a single credit card, cellphone, or frequent flier mile—so very, very unsexy. That über hip east coast intellectual reading the Kindle on the beach? That’s not me.
Owning a supposedly “sexy” Kindle 2.0 is not going to be a life changer for me, so why would I upgrade my working device for another?
I am glad that Amazon came out with a second device, as it shows the company’s commitment to the ebook industry. I was disappointed, though, that Bezos didn’t come out with support for ePub, and other formats; nor with any hint of openness about the current Kindle closed loop. International folks will also be disappointed, as no mention was made of international access. The Kindle exclusive Stephen King short story didn’t do a thing for me.
The frugality of the Kindle, 1.0 or 2.0, I’ll leave to a future writing at The Frugal Algorithm.