After our first look and unboxing of the Kindle 2, we've now spent over two weeks with the device, using it both in intensive "I have to figure it all out for the review" mode, regular home usage mode, and even mini-vacation mode. We've tested shopping in the Kindle store via the Kindle 2, browsing the web with the experimental basic web browser, reading multiple books and periodicals on the device, viewing images on the Kindle, writing via the integrated notes feature, as well as listening to music, podcasts, and audiobooks both via the experimental MP3 playback and via the Audible support. We've even tried out some of the undocumented features and a few of the hacks available online (like the one pictured above via which the default sleep mode screensaver images were replaced with images of our choosing). What we've discovered throughout our tests is a very powerful and useful device that nevertheless may be priced a bit too high for most to consider making the switch away from traditional books and periodicals. This first part of our two-part review focuses on the physical characteristics and controls of the device, while the second part of the review will focus on actual performance.

The body and build

The Kindle 2 feels very solid, but is also exceptionally light, weighing only 10.2 ounces. It measures 8 inches x 5.3 inches x 0.36 inches, which is approximately the size of a typical DVD case, although much thinner and about a fourth an inch taller. The white plastic front face of the Kindle 2 has a matte finish with a nice feel that avoids feeling either too plasticky or too rubbery. This finish also adds a nice grip to the device, so that the border around the e-paper screen on the Kindle, which several people have criticized as wasted space, actually allows the Kindle 2 to be held quite naturally in a variety of different ways with minimal effort. The back of the device is a sturdy brushed aluminum that lacks some of the grip of the white plastic used on the front of the device, but in exchange adds a firm structural backing to the device that undoubtedly adds to the solid feeling of this new Kindle. The top inch or so of the back of the device is no longer aluminum, but a light grey plastic that feels slightly rubbery, but very close to the texture of the front of the device.

Over the past two weeks, I have managed to accidently drop the Kindle 2 from about table height onto hardwood floor five times. I've also thrown it onto my desk, slid it across the dining room table, thrown it in the glove compartment of my car, and tossed it into my laptop bag with other various gadgets with no protective case multiple times. So far, the Kindle 2 has survived my rough treatment with only a few slight, light scratches against the grain of the brushed aluminum on the back. I haven't been intentionally trying to harm the device, but after the first accidental drop, I stopped treating the Kindle with that gingerly new gadget treatment, and started instead to treat it much more the way I treat actual books.

The screen

The screen on the Kindle 2 is your typical e-ink screen. It looks like newsprint or the slightly grey-green tinted paper that is found in some paperbacks. It has a matte finish that is in no way reflective except when a very bright light source is shining directly into the screen, at which point you will notice no real bright reflection pointing back at you, but rather a slight dispersed bit of light as you're most likely used to seeing reflected on some less glossy magazines. Holding the Kindle at a slight angle does away with this slight reflection and makes the text on the Kindle extremely crisp and clear for reading. If you've never used an e-ink display before, you'll be surprised by how much it behaves like actual paper. It loves light, and is perfect for taking a whole library of reading to very sunny places like the beach. There is no backlighting, or in fact any sort of lighting, with the e-ink screen. It is designed to function as paper and it does, with the notable exception of a quick flash of "ink" across the screen as you turn the page.

The screen in the 2nd generation Kindle measures 3.5 inches x 4.75 inches, displays sixteen shades of grey at a resolution of 600 x 800 pixels, and manages to turn the pages faster than the previous generation e-ink screens. On my first generation Sony Portable Reader, I had become accustomed to reading the last line or two of a page while clicking the next page button, so that I would finish just in time for the screen to refresh. On the Kindle 2, I'm much more naturally clicking to turn the page on the last few words. It's also a brighter overall "piece of e-paper" than the first generation screen that I had been used to using on my first generation Sony Portable Reader. There have been some complaints as of late about the new font-smoothing on the new Kindle making some smaller fonts appear too washed out and light, but as it only occurs with small fonts and the Kindle has the ability to toggle to larger-sized fonts it's something that I have not yet noticed in my testing except when browsing some websites with small fonts in the experimental web browser. This is not a problem with the Kindle's screen, however, but rather a software problem, and is something that Amazon should be able to fix with a firmware update, should the complaints continue.

Also, unlike the screens on your computer and cellphone, the Kindle's e-paper screen, like actual paper, can be touched by clean hands without leaving smudges and marks. The feeling of the screen is a bit smoother than the feeling of the white face of the device, but you can hold the device with your fingers touching the screen or read along with your finger underlining the text as you go, if that is your habit, without leaving big smudges that you must then read through or obsessively wipe away.

 

Figure 1: Actual-size 600 x 800 animated GIF screenshot of the changing font sizes available on the Kindle 2

 

The keyboard

The keyboard on the Kindle 2 looks to be greatly improved from the split keyboard design of the first generation Kindle, although I never actually used the keyboard on the original Kindle the one time I held one. Each key on the QWERTY keyboard is a small circle with a slightly raised middle portion that makes for easy enough typing with ones thumbs. You have to push down with a little bit of force to achieve a click. This prevents accidental key entry when picking up the Kindle by grabbing it over the keys, but it also means that you need the Kindle firmly cradled between your fingers and your thumb for thumb-typing, or lying firmly flat on a table or desk for those who prefer index-finger typing when using diminutive keyboards. Two-handed touch-typing is not at all possible on the small keyboard, however, people who are adept at using the keyboard on their BalckBerry or Palm Treo will find the experience of using the Kindle 2's keyboard familiar, albeit a bit wider and more spread out. Also, many of the symbols that we're used to typing by hitting Shift + a number key are hidden behind the SYM key along with the comma. 

Despite the slight learning curve of getting used to these firm keys, the keyboard is one of the key parts of the Kindle 2 that sets it apart from other e-ink devices. By simply using the 5-way controller to move the cursor into the page you are currently reading, you can begin to type, and whatever you type is added as a text note that shows up as highlighted superscript number in the text next to wherever your cursor was in the text. Selecting that number displays the written note, and hitting the return key (a bent arrow) opens the note up for further editing.  All notes that you make are saved to a My Clippings.txt file that you can later edit and save to your computer over USB. This file is also where any clippings, bookmarks, or highlighted text are stored and it is backed up via the Sprint 3G Whispernet connection to Amazon's servers. This way, if you remove an Amazon-purchased item from the device and later reload it on the device, it returns with all your highlights, bookmarks, and notes. In short, thanks to the Kindle 2's keyboard and note-taking capabilities, it's relatively easy to get into the habit of keeping a reading journal that not only goes along with everything that you're reading, but which is the equivalent of notes written in the margins of actual books thanks to the way that the Kindle 2 adds them all as footnotes. 

The keyboard is also the way to search the Kindle 2. You can selectively search through all your items (including your books, all your periodicals, all your personal docs, and your My Clippings.txt file), the Amazon Kindle store, Google, or Wikipedia from anywhere on the device by simply hitting the return key (a hooked arrow) to bring up a search box and toggling through the options using the five-way control stick before typing in your search term.

Additionally, there are several undocumented features and shortcuts that are only available via the keyboard. You can take screenshots by hitting ALT + SHIFT (which is an up arrow) + G. You can start or stop the text-to-speech feature by hitting SHIFT + SYM, and pause the text-to-speech or any other audio playback by hitting the space bar. When using the experimental MP3 playback feature, ALT + F skips to the next available. ALT + SHIFT + M launches an undocumented game of Minesweeper on the Kindle 2. ALT + B adds a bookmark to the location where you are currently reading. Hitting ALT + B on an already bookmarked page removes the bookmark. Hitting ALT + SHIFT + 1 puts the space between lines at its smallest and ALT + SHIFT + 0 at its largest, with 2-9 offering degrees between the two extremes. The Aa font key brings up a menu via which you can switch between the six different font sizes, turn text to speech on, off, or pause it, adjust the speech rate of the text-to-speech from slower to default to faster, or choose between a male or female voice.

 

Figure 2 & Figure 3: Screenshot of note-taking and special character menu and screenshot of the control diagram from the Kindle 2 User's Guide

 

The controls

Besides the numerous keyboard-based commands, the Kindle 2 has other controls (see Figure 3 above), including a Next Page key on either side of the device, a Prev Page button on the left, a Home button on the right, and a Menu and Back button above and below (respectively) the 5-way controller. Also, along the right side of the device near the top, there are volume up and down keys for adjusting the volume during audio playback.

The 5-way controller functions like a mouse for navigating your cursor up, down, left, and right through the text. Pushing down on the 5-way acts as a mouse-click / selection for clicking on links or beginning and ending selection of a highlighted section. Moving the 5-way controller so that the cursor is either on a highlighted portion of text or on the superscript number corresponding to one of your notes and hitting the DEL key on the keyboard deletes the note / highlight. When reading newspapers or magazines, moving the 5-way to the left or the right skips ahead to the previous or next article, and clicking on the 5-way brings up a section list or article list via which you can skip past articles that don't interest you, to ones that you want to read. As with the keys on the keyboard, all these front-facing controls on the Kindle 2 require a certain modicum of force before they will click, and so hitting a control unintentionally is an infrequent thing, even when picking up the Kindle from the side, and in any instances where you do accidently click something, the Back button is there to save the day. Also, if you happen to click the Next Page button before you're really ready to move on, simply keep the button pressed and release it when you are ready to go to the next page.

In addition to these front-facing buttons. the Kindle 2 has a sliding switch on the top of the device next to the headphone jack that is the Kindle's multifunctional power switch. Sliding this switch quickly to the right and back again both turns the device on or puts it into sleep mode, wherein none of the keys will function and the screen will refresh with a "screensaver" picture of one famous author or another to let you know the device is in sleep mode. Sliding the switch quickly to the right and back again also wakes the device from this sleep mode. Additionally, sliding to the right and holding it for about 5-10 seconds while the device is in sleep mode turns the screen off completely and fully turns the device off so that the wireless connection will not be working. Sliding the switch to the right and holding for a longer amount of time (about 15 seconds) and then sliding this switch quickly to the right and back again will actually reboot the Kindle 2, which is something that you may have to do from time to time if the device ever freezes or if the experimental web browser stops responding properly.

Ports

The Kindle 2 is designed so that one doesn't necessarily ever have to plug it into a computer, and because of that, there are only two ports on the device. A stereo headphone jack sits on the top of the device next to the power switch, so that you can plug in headphones for listening to MP3s, audio books, or the new text-to-speech feature of the Kindle 2. If you don't have any headphones handy, the Kindle does come equipped with two speakers position on the bottom two corners of the back of the device. The speakers aren't going to challenge any high-end audio devices for acoustics, but they are adequate and avoid sounding tinny for being small speakers. 

At the bottom of the device is a micro-USB port via which the Kindle 2 can either be plugged into your computer via the included micro-USB to USB cable for both charging of the battery and data transfer. Amazon also includes a small white power plug with a single USB port, so that you can charge the Kindle 2 by plugging directly into a wall socket. The Kindle 2 achieves a full charge from no charge in about 3 hours. To see some pictures of these ports and the included power adapter and micro-USB to USB cable, see our Kindle 2 unboxing and first impressions post.

Besides these two ports, there are two small slits along the left side of the device that are used for attaching peripherals like Amazon's case for the Kindle 2, which is available separately for $29.99.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this review where we'll shift gears from examining the physical characteristics and controls of the device to examining the overall performance and functionality of the Kindle 2.