Either it was an impressive feat of engineering, or the software was written so poorly it took six months to fix it, or what they were intending all along. They get to double dip (GEORGE!) the same product. They got a boost of sales at launch, were expecting a downturn, and now they can say 85% better battery life, the New Kindle. It's all a marketing ploy in my opinion.
@daftrok: Yeah, that large an increase seems only possible if there were major inefficiencies to start with. At least it's still free for people who bought it earlier.
@Segador: Yep. Generally that is part of the early adopter tax. But on the bright side you got to read lots of books on a device that's a good deal more convenient than paper. I'm still happy with my gen1 Kindle. I don't really care about the PDF so much since most of my PDFs are formatted for letter/A4 and wouldn't work well on a small screen. Reflowable text works fine but then it also converts fine. Lots of readers can list PDF support as a feature. That doesn't mean it works well. I'm going to wait to upgrade until either my Kindle breaks or some great new screen tech comes out.
Guy sounds like a douche, a cunning and clever douche but one nonetheless. You can't realistically expect companies to pay for your own carelessness. That drop test is not an explicit guarantee that the Kindle can survive those kind of falls. It's a demonstration that it has a decent potential durability, not an invitation to treat your device carelessly. Unless Amazon actually explicitly guarantees that it should always survive those kind of falls that letter has no basis.
Amazon are pretty weak for giving into it but I recognise how much hassle these things are. The problem is because they gave in to this they've opened the door to all sorts of other idiots who'll look to make a quick buck off them.
Guys an idiot for dropping his gadget bag, an even bigger one for expecting Amazon to compensate him for his stupidity. #kindle2
Interesting. A little legal jargon added in there and you can play the lawyer game.
It's cheaper for Amazon to settle then to go through litigation with this guy. Sure he might have to equally pay his lawyers but if he is willing enough to pull up the law information on this then I'm guessing he's willing to follow through with his claims to sue. Amazon pays their lawyers a lot more dough and so $400 is a drop in the bucket for them to get this guy off of their backs.
As far as common sense goes I think most of us know not to drop our electronics on the ground. As this guy stated he merely dropped his bag from 2 feet in the air. If you take Amazon's word for it then your device wouldn't have been broken.
I drop my bag on the carpet and my laptop doesn't get broken. it's not like I'm slamming it 10 feet off the ground with ninja force. I'd expect the kindle to be able to handle a small drop like that, especially if their advertising gives me the idea that it can handle that.
We all pick our battles. It just so happens that $400 was important to this man and Amazon didn't want to hassle with it. Some people who are more loaded would have just went out and bought another Kindle with 0 questions asked.
@Branden Silva:
Actually it's more expensive to settle most of the time. Generally most legal battles end with the loser paying the winners legal fees. Amazon could have easily thrashed his claim in court and he'd be the one left out of pocket. It is significantly less hassle to settle but the problem is that it leaves others to take advantage of the fact that they let it slide.
Amazons "word" or that drop test is not an explicit guarantee, it's merely a demo that it has a reasonable level of durability. Also the conditions of his drop and Amazons demonstrated durability test are quite different.
The main thing being that it was in a bag. What I imagine happened is when he dropped his bag something in the bag impacted the screen. I don't think Amazons promise of reasonable durability covers stuff like that happening. #kindle2
As a current law student, he acted well within his rights under California's laws, and I don't see anything wrong with what he did. He is a model citizen of why people need to stay informed about their rights as a consumer so they are not taken advantaged of by multinational corporations.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. However, the way I understand it is that if you file a suit under the consumer protection act, the company must either respond in some time frame or you win by default. You can also claim treble damages which is 3X damages. The cost of getting a lawyer to write a letter of response is probably most of the $200 if not $400. It is also less than the $1200 he could get with no response.
IMHO, asking for the extra $200 was kind of a douchey move and really over-valued the "diminution of utility and value of the device as well as of the e-books I have purchased for that device." This is what it looks like when someone figures out how to work (cheat) the system.
As a kindle 1 owner, I have a few things to say.
First, I think the Kindle 1 is superior to Kindle 2.
Second, the Nook is nice, and should the time come, I will consider buying one, depending on how the price drops, and book availability.
also, the ereader magic price is $200. Companies need to realize this.
The nook site doesn't say one way or the other, but from what I can see, it doesn't have a browser like the Kindle. That's lame. Hopefully the wi-fi is there to prepare for a future browser-containing update. I'll wait for that.
Memory expansion - meh, Kindle 1 had it - nobody used it.
Color screen and touch controls - cute, but waste of battery power - why not keep the controls simple and hopefully more rugged?
AT&T Advantage - please, I am laughing so hard my iPhone is digging into my side.
WiFi - that would be good, though I don't think the lack really hurts the Kindle. I don't really like E-Ink for web surfing, so can't really care, though since Nook has crappy AT&T WiFi matters more.
Replaceable battery - would like that, though Apple seems to be leading a trend in the opposite direction.
Direct PDF - THAT would be nice - a clear advantage there. But no word docs, and Kindle can do PDF, just clunkier.
Sharing books and note sync - clear advantage here, though probably not game changers for most people.
The biggest thing is that the Nook is the only other e-reader that is tied to a decent selection of new books - really this is the Kindle service's first real competitor. #nook
@Canoehead: Actually a lot of people used the Kindle 1 memory expansion because the on board memory was so small. If it had been 2GB I likely wouldn't have bothered. I don't listen to music or audio books on the Kindle. Books are pretty small usually. #nook
@Sir Gibler: I can think of a number of reasons.
1) It makes this seem less biased (it's really not, but some people might note that it's worse in some categories, so it must not be biased)
2) Those features are essential to both devices, and to leave them out would make it seem incomplete (eg. battery life)
3) The feature is really so unimportant, that no one's going to care that the Nook doesn't have it (eg. .doc capabilities) #nook
I did it all for the Nook, c'mon
The Nook, c'mon
So you can take that Kindle
And stick it up your.. yeah!
Stick it up your.. yeah!
Stick it up your.. yeah!
Stick it up your #nook
To be fair, Kindle came out first. B&N just took what the Kindle had, and added what it didn't have. They act like theirs is better (which it may actually be), but Amazon has been in the market first/longer.
(A side note: Notice how they compare themselves to the Kindle? That's what everyone will compare their ebook reader to. Same principle happened with iPhone and other smartphones). #nook
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/24/09
10/21/09
Amazon are pretty weak for giving into it but I recognise how much hassle these things are. The problem is because they gave in to this they've opened the door to all sorts of other idiots who'll look to make a quick buck off them.
Guys an idiot for dropping his gadget bag, an even bigger one for expecting Amazon to compensate him for his stupidity. #kindle2
10/21/09
It's cheaper for Amazon to settle then to go through litigation with this guy. Sure he might have to equally pay his lawyers but if he is willing enough to pull up the law information on this then I'm guessing he's willing to follow through with his claims to sue. Amazon pays their lawyers a lot more dough and so $400 is a drop in the bucket for them to get this guy off of their backs.
As far as common sense goes I think most of us know not to drop our electronics on the ground. As this guy stated he merely dropped his bag from 2 feet in the air. If you take Amazon's word for it then your device wouldn't have been broken.
I drop my bag on the carpet and my laptop doesn't get broken. it's not like I'm slamming it 10 feet off the ground with ninja force. I'd expect the kindle to be able to handle a small drop like that, especially if their advertising gives me the idea that it can handle that.
We all pick our battles. It just so happens that $400 was important to this man and Amazon didn't want to hassle with it. Some people who are more loaded would have just went out and bought another Kindle with 0 questions asked.
10/21/09
Actually it's more expensive to settle most of the time. Generally most legal battles end with the loser paying the winners legal fees. Amazon could have easily thrashed his claim in court and he'd be the one left out of pocket. It is significantly less hassle to settle but the problem is that it leaves others to take advantage of the fact that they let it slide.
Amazons "word" or that drop test is not an explicit guarantee, it's merely a demo that it has a reasonable level of durability. Also the conditions of his drop and Amazons demonstrated durability test are quite different.
The main thing being that it was in a bag. What I imagine happened is when he dropped his bag something in the bag impacted the screen. I don't think Amazons promise of reasonable durability covers stuff like that happening. #kindle2
10/20/09
Congrats to him. #kindle2
10/20/09
IMHO, asking for the extra $200 was kind of a douchey move and really over-valued the "diminution of utility and value of the device as well as of the e-books I have purchased for that device." This is what it looks like when someone figures out how to work (cheat) the system.
10/20/09
That's something I might be interested in, as this does look pretty nice. I like the Kindle also, but this is pretty sleek... #nook
10/20/09
First, I think the Kindle 1 is superior to Kindle 2.
Second, the Nook is nice, and should the time come, I will consider buying one, depending on how the price drops, and book availability.
also, the ereader magic price is $200. Companies need to realize this.
10/20/09
$200 Would seal the deal for me. Maybe next year. #nook
10/20/09
10/20/09
Don't hold your breath. Being connected to the web or any network eats the battery in these things. It isn't worth it. #nook
10/20/09
Color screen and touch controls - cute, but waste of battery power - why not keep the controls simple and hopefully more rugged?
AT&T Advantage - please, I am laughing so hard my iPhone is digging into my side.
WiFi - that would be good, though I don't think the lack really hurts the Kindle. I don't really like E-Ink for web surfing, so can't really care, though since Nook has crappy AT&T WiFi matters more.
Replaceable battery - would like that, though Apple seems to be leading a trend in the opposite direction.
Direct PDF - THAT would be nice - a clear advantage there. But no word docs, and Kindle can do PDF, just clunkier.
Sharing books and note sync - clear advantage here, though probably not game changers for most people.
The biggest thing is that the Nook is the only other e-reader that is tied to a decent selection of new books - really this is the Kindle service's first real competitor. #nook
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
10/20/09
1) It makes this seem less biased (it's really not, but some people might note that it's worse in some categories, so it must not be biased)
2) Those features are essential to both devices, and to leave them out would make it seem incomplete (eg. battery life)
3) The feature is really so unimportant, that no one's going to care that the Nook doesn't have it (eg. .doc capabilities) #nook
10/20/09
The Nook, c'mon
So you can take that Kindle
And stick it up your.. yeah!
Stick it up your.. yeah!
Stick it up your.. yeah!
Stick it up your #nook
10/20/09
(A side note: Notice how they compare themselves to the Kindle? That's what everyone will compare their ebook reader to. Same principle happened with iPhone and other smartphones). #nook