Wait...How do I turn this thing on???

I had a rough start with this little device, as at first, I couldn’t figure out how to turn the thing on. After a slightly embarrassing tutorial from Arnie (it was ridiculously easy after he pointed out the switch), I had it figured out. I had heard from several co-workers how awesome the kindle is, so I was excited to give it a try. Unfortunately though, the rest of my experience with it followed suit with my frustration in the beginning.

I, like several other cohort members, own an iphone and absolutely love it. Which means…I wanted so badly for the kindle’s screen to be a touch screen! I poked at it multiple times, forgetting that nothing was going to happen, regardless of my persistence. That was a major disappointment to me, as I feel like not having a touch screen just made everything more difficult. I was expecting to be able to turn the page with the swipe of my finger, but instead I had to try to figure out the buttons on the sides. It took me a pretty long time to get the hang of this, and I ended up on the wrong “page” multiple times. That’s pretty frustrating when you’re trying to read the instruction manual. The keyboard was hard for me to use, because my thumbs didn’t meet in the middle of it. I had to put the kindle down on my lap to type anything, instead of doing so while the device was in my hand, like with my iphone. Instead of being able to use my finger to highlight, I had to use buttons, and so on and so on.

I’ve been considering an e-reader for a while, because as a teacher it would be nice to have access to all of the books I need without lugging around a giant bag. Some of the features on this device aren’t really classroom- friendly, though. There are no page numbers, so it would be hard to direct the kids to a certain place for close reading (broken!). Also, I had a hard time figuring out how to highlight or add a note (again, I felt ridiculous when I finally figured it out, because it’s pretty easy), and when I did highlight, it was very hard for me to see. I felt like there was very little contrast between what was highlighted and what was regular text. While carrying the kindle isn’t going to break my back, if it doesn’t serve the purpose I need it to, its lightness and portability are irrelevant.

There are certain things I enjoy about reading and going to bookstores. One of those things is browsing through my favorite section and looking at the covers of different books. With the kindle, I wasn’t enticed by any of the covers, as they were flat black and white. (I really liked the “e-ink” in other regards though, since I have very bad eyes, and usually can’t look at an electronic screen for long periods of time without irritation and discomfort. I also liked that I could make the font bigger to ease the strain on my eyes, but I digress…) I also like to relax and sit on the couch with a book in my hand, and my finger perched between my current page and the next one, ready to turn. The kindle is light, but it felt HUGE in my hands (I can’t explain this. I know it’s small, but it just felt so big), and there was no sense of excitement with my finger poised for the next page.

Usually when I read, I lose myself in another world. Using the kindle made me feel like I had wandered into a world in which I didn’t belong. I think a touch screen and a more user friendly, intuitive interface are musts for me in an e-reader. Maybe I will have better luck with the nook. From what I understand, it has both of those things. Until then though, I think I’ll lug around my paperbacks.