In a review in the New York Times's Personal Tech column last week, David Pogue called Amazon.com's Kindle "an e-book reader that just may catch on."
Among negatives, the Kindle has a look with "all the design panache of
a Commodore 64"; the huge previous- and next-page clickers are easy to
hit by mistake; and there is no forward button.
Among the many more positives: "astonishing e-ink technology" with no
backlight, glare or eyestrain; free wireless cellular broadband service
allowing easy downloading and a "crude" web browser; 90,000 available
titles and aiming for "every printed book on the earth"; automatic
backup on amazon.com; and pricing that puts e-books at less than half
the cost of printed books.
Pogue imagined a situation in which "someone mentions a great book--any
book. You whip out the Kindle, download the book in 60 seconds and
start reading it."
His game wrapup: "So if the Kindle isn't a home run, it's at least an
exciting triple. It gets the important things right: the reading
experience, the ruggedness, the super-simple software setup. And that
wireless instant download--wow.
"Even though most people will prefer the feel, the cost and the
simplicity of a paper book, the Kindle is by far the most successful
stab yet at taking reading material into the digital age.
"No, it's not the last word in book reading. But once its price comes
down and its design gets sleeker, the Kindle may be the beginning of a
great new chapter."