We’ve come to part 5 of my kindle review and we’re going to talk about some challenges I’ve met since I was introduced to this baby. If you want to read about the first four (4) parts of this review, here are the links: part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.
ISSUES
Aah. You knew there would be some or even a couple such as:
- Charger Adapters Not Included – Kindles do not come with wall chargers. A bit of a putout, really, considering how useful it is to a traveling reader like me. I know that these can be bought separately; somehow I would have wanted that it was there in the first place.
- Trickle Charge Not Working – As per Amazon, Kindles can be charged through the USB and this is called “trickle charging”. A portion of current passes through the micro USB cable thereby charging your Kindle. However, this didn’t work for the Kindle Touch (KT). It worked out okay though with the Kindle. I don’t know if it’s because my KT is fairly new and it has yet to “settle”. Most forums advised to wait it out ‘til a few weeks hence and check again if it works or not. Others also say that loading books will likewise contribute to the draining of battery. Wanted to take their word for it, but I thought it would be better if I get an adapter. And since I didn’t want to shell out $14.99 for just a generic adapter that I can get locally, I decided to buy an imitation charger for ipods. Yeah, I’m a cheapskate. Haha. Surprise, surprise (or not really), it works. My sister even charged her ipod touch and her bf’s ipod shuffle using that one and it works just fine.
UPDATE: After using the KT for over 2 months now, I’d say the trickle charge is working just fine. Though it might not charge your unit as much as you expected it too if you’re also loading a lot of books into the device while charging your unit at the same time.
- Battery Status Indicator – Now this is a part that confuses me even until now. When charging, the light indicator at the bottom will turn amber and green when the kindle is fully charged. So if it is already fully charged, you’d expect for the Battery Status Indicator (top right portion of the menu bar) to be at 100%. However, that’s not the case. The KT’s battery indicator is only at 96% or something; making me think that the KT is defective (though it really isn’t). Sigh. Methinks this could be remedied with a firmware upgrade.
UPDATE: With the software update on _____, this problem has already been resolved with the battery icon showing a full charge when it is 100% fully charged.
- Ghosting – Ghosting is defined the “residue” of the e-ink whenever the page refreshes. By design, the Kindle only makes a “full refresh” every six pages, so in the interim, a bit of e-ink is “left behind” thereby causing slightly discernable letters from the previous pages viewed. This is not too much of an issue for me but it might be for others.
- KT has no physical buttons for reading. That, for me, is the biggest drawback since I was quite used to reading through the Kindle using the physical buttons. I would hold the Kindle with my left hand and that same hand would be able to go between pages. And I miss that. With the KT, you have to press the left side of the screen when you want to move to the previous page and the center area if you want to move forward. While that’s really not a problem, I find the physical side buttons much easier to use (or maybe it’s just me. Haha)
Perfect little gadget that Kindle Touch is, there are still plenty of rooms for improvement. Plenty of opportunities for Amazon and like-minded companies to improve on their designs and create the best products for us readers. That’s why tomorrow I’m going to let you take a peek at my wishlist for the next Kindle upgrade (some I have “gathered” from the best features of other e-readers).
——————————————-
Images © The Traveling Reader, 2012.
