Review: Amazon Kindle Touch

Good day all, It’s the Angry Systems Administrator with a review of the Kindle Touch. As you know, a few weeks ago I posted a question on whether or not I should buy one. A little over a week ago I announced that I had “Pushed the button” and ordered one.

The Kindle I ordered, the Kindle Touch, arrived last week and I am surprisingly happy with it. In fact, the Angry Webmaster has been “borrowing”, (Another term would be stealing), it and he has also decided to order one. Until it arrives, he has been using the Kindle Desktop app on his computer.

The unit is WiFi only. I didn’t see a need to get the 3G version. I also spent a little more to keep Amazon’s ads off the screen saver. The kindle weighs about the same as a paperback and quite a bit less than a hardcover. I’ve ordered a few books, and since they are so much cheaper, (in most cases), than the paperback or hardcover versions, I’ve saved a bundle. (Several were free, while the standard version, a physical book, may cost over $20)

I also ordered a cover for it and I consider that to be an excellent investment. The screen is unprotected otherwise, and I would just as soon not have to worry about damaging it. (I also bought the 2 year warranty) My one complaint to date is being able to change out the battery. While the kindle can run for weeks on a single charge, you can’t switch it out when it fails due to age or heavy use. Also it recharges only by USB cable, (Provided), although you can buy an adapter for it so that it will charge off a standard outlet.

Sitting down and actually using it took a bit of getting used to. There is no manual included in the box. It’s actually in the kindle its self, which sort of defeats the purpose. I went online and found the manual and downloaded it. That’s how I figured out how to turn it on and actually use it. 🙂

The reading surface is clear and I didn’t have to adjust the font size at all. I just received the cover for the Kindle so I’m still getting used to reading with it on. Combined, the Kindle and the cover are slightly bigger than a paperback, but smaller than a trade sized book.

There is a web browser in it, but I don’t really like it. Since the screen is in black and white, graphics don’t really work very well. It’s also slow to paint. However, since I bought this to read with, not surfing the web, I don’t have any real issue with it.

Amazon has a page for Kindle owners where they can manage their books. You can use this to download the books again or even remove them. However, if you do that you WILL have to buy them again. It’s just like taking a book and throwing it in the trash. If you want it again, you have to pay for it. I did delete a few books I “bought” to see how it worked, but since they were free reordering them won’t be an issue.

All in all I am very satisfied with my new Kindle. I haven’t ordered any computer manuals yet since they aren’t that much cheaper than the physical ones, but I do expect to in the future. Since this was the main reason I bought it, I expect I’ll be ordering a few in the coming weeks. I just need to see which ones will work for me.

So, do I recommend the Kindle? I would say, Emphatically YES! Now I have not looked into the Kindle Fire so I can’t say if I would buy it or not. From what I can see of the Fire, it’s more of a tablet than an Ereader.

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I hope my review will assist you in deciding on buying a kindle.

Thank you

~The Angry Systems Administrator~