we get it... daily
February 11, 2009
And they still don't get it...
We think there's a lot of nifty stuff out there for the iPhone, it's the hardware itself we can't get behind. Seriously, having to carry around a charging cord for a combination phone and music player because we drain the battery every a couple of times a day isn't a price we'll pay to have fifty different "choose a restaurant" or "play fart noises" applications at our fingertips. Nope, not even for the app that turns it into a flashlight. (We're not making this up.)
So we laugh twice as hard when someone tells us that the
iPhone is now a
"Kindle Killer."
Seriously, the Kindle isn't a computer, it isn't a phone or a music player and can't really be compared to any of those. You have to compare it to a book.
| Feature | Book | Computer | iPhone | Kindle |
| Access to Content | Just a second, have to open it. | A few minutes while I boot or return from standby | "Just a sec, have to find the icon from all these others" | A few seconds while it comes back from sleep |
| Reading Clarity | Pretty much perfect. If it's too dark I turn on a light | Not really possible in direct sunlight | Similar problems in direct sunlight, seriously small screen | Same as book, paperback sized screen, and it's even more readable in direct sunlight |
| Reading Time | Until you fall asleep | Typically two or three hours on a laptop, if you adjust the power settings | "Do you have someplace I can plug this in to recharge." | Two weeks on a charge |
| Wireless Internet Access Everywhere | Huh? | Yeah, if I've bought a plan from a cell phone provider. | "Sure, it's expensive, but kind of slow if I can't find someone to steal wi-fi from. And I'm still looking for someplace to plug this in..." | Slow, but free. Yeah, free. |
| Content | Pretty much everything, provided you're at a bookstore and its in stock | Um, yeah, let me get back to you on that... | "Pretty sure it's going to be on iTunes someday, and it's going to be awesome." | Amazon. Never out of stock. Shop on the Kindle, books delivered directly to your Kindle over the free wireless. And you can mail yourself Word and PDF files for reading as well, they just show up in your list (remember the free wireless?) Honestly, reading PDF and Word books is probably going to work for the others as well. Oh yeah, subscriptions to newspapers and magazines too. |
Books still win on most fronts, with the exception of things like search, annotation (yeah you can write in a book), and that whole weight thing (seriously, carrying 40 books with you on a flight is going to cost you $80 these days for the extra bag.) Frankly it's that last bit that works for us.
| Sure we're gadget geeks, nowhere near normal, but we're amazed at how many non-computer people are buying these things. It's a weird product done right. |
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