Customer Reviews on Amazon.com

1. 204 of 223 people found this review helpful

   By ericnau on Amazon.com 7 November, 2010

   Kindle is Great, but Ebooks are a Disappointment

   I love my Kindle, I really do. The device is fantastic, and would itself deserve five stars. However, a Kindle is entirely reliant upon the ebooks sold by Amazon, which seem to be unanimously plagued by errors. Of all the books I've purchased for my Kindle, all of them have numerous typos, misspelled words, formatting errors, etc. and some don't come with covers, chapters, or page-breaks. Kindle ebooks are simply not of a quality that you would find on the shelves at your local bookstore or library; some of these ebooks are actually older than revisions currently in print! The time and effort devoted to edit, proofread, and format paper books is just not afforded to ebooks, it would seem.
   
   Overall, these errors and poor formatting distract from the content of the books, and lead to a less enjoyable reading experience (the opposite of what I would have expected from a Kindle). Plus, it's frustrating to know that you spent money on a defective product.
   
   I would not buy a Kindle knowing what I know about ebooks today. And this saddens me; Kindle has so much potential, but Amazon needs to demand that the publishers increase the quality of their ebook versions, and provide a method by which customers can leave reviews specifically on Kindle-edition books, rather than a book title in general.
2. 197 of 217 people found this review helpful

   By DISAPPOINTED on Amazon.com 8 September, 2010

   SURPRISINGLY BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE!

   I purchased the Kindly 3. Excitedly, I ordered it a month in advance and it finally arrived on Aug. 31st. I previously owned the kindle 2, and the Kindly 3 is a nice improvement. The smaller form factor, the snappier page turns and the improved contrast are all touted features, and they are all true.
   
   Unfortunately, after a few days of playing with the kindle 3, downloading a couple of books, and reading, it began resetting itself every 5 minutes. The battery would run down in less than 12 hours (likely due to the frequent resets), and more importantly, it was really annoying to be abruptly stopped mid sentence, when the kindle decided to reset itself.
   
   I called customer service The first person I spoke to, transferred me to a "kindle specialist" after hearing the problem. The specialist stated that he wanted me to plug in my kindle into the wall outlet, and he would update it overnight, to correct the resetting issue. He also stated he would call me at 7 PM the next day. At 745 PM, the next day, I had not received a phone call. Thus, I called kindle support, and again the first person I spoke to, transferred me to another "kindle specialist" after placing me on hold for 10 minutes. The next kindle specialist stated that the update was not done the night before, but would be done the following night. He had no explanation as to why the first specialist did not contact me as he stated he would. Thus, after 2 days of awaiting the wireless update which would solve the problem of the kindle resetting every 5 minutes, the update was complete, and the the kindle 3 continued to reset it self. So, again, another missed follow up by kindle support, who stated they would call me back the next day, and to no avail, no follow up. Thus, again, for the 3rd day in a row, I called kindle support, let history repeat itself, and was transferred to yet another kindle specialist. He stated that a few kindles were reported to have the same problem. Whereas, some (on this forum) were replaced, they were unwilling to replace my kindle until I suffered through yet another update. I was to wait yet, another day, until they sent another wireless update, and see if it solved the problem. I will know the results tomorrow.
   
   What a true disappointment. For a company that prides itself on great customer service, this has been an eye opening experience. I hope that my kindle is fixed by tomorrow, and if not, I hope that Amazon.com has the decency to replace it. Up until now, this has been a terrible customer experience. I just wanted to share my story with you all, and let you know that if your kindle is resetting itself, it is a real problem which the engineers have acknowledged, and you should call customer support and ask for a replacement, and not let them keep telling you that you will need an update. Maybe, the next update will work for me, but 50 hours later, 3 phone calls later, 2 missed follow-ups later, and 6 customer support individuals later and I still have a kindle 3 that is at this point non-functional. Maybe, just maybe, if I wait, 1 day later, it will suddenly work!
3. 102 of 113 people found this review helpful

   By Virginia Young on Amazon.com 2 September, 2010

   New button set-up leads to painful hand cramps

   I have a well loved K2. I have had it since it was released last March and have convinced 30+ people on the DC metro to buy one. I eagerly ordered a new K3 the day it was announced. I was quite excited for my new Kindle.
   
   The good: I really like the improvements to the screen. Letters are much darker compared to K2. It also works great in the sunlight. My original US-only K2 has problems in sunlight where it cannot configure letters (fixed in global K2).
   
   The bad: I DESPISE the new buttons. It is impossible to hold the K3 and change pages one-handed. When I try one-handed, my hand CRAMPS which never happened in the 15 months I had my K2. You have to hold your thumb straight up (like in the photo), have the K3 base resting in the middle of your palm, or in a weird contorted manner similar to holding a cup where your thumb joint changes the page. All 3 options are very uncomfortable. The buttons are WAY too small and too close to the edge of the device. It they were larger like the K2 it wouldn't be so uncomfortable.
   
   The joystick improvement needed to be slightly larger and thicker to work well. I small fingers and do not consistently hit the right button.
   
   I can imagine that for people that are disabled or have arthritis, the K3 is almost unusable as it's causing cramping in a 27 yr old. I am convinced the K2 was such a success before because it appealed to such people.
   
   I will stick to my K2 thank you. Now if I could get a K2 with a K3 screen, I'd be thrilled. In the mean-time, get a refurbished K2, it's a better user experience.
4. 67 of 73 people found this review helpful

   By BrianSF on Amazon.com 23 September, 2010

   Nice device.... bad WiFi implementation

   I have a Kindle 2. Love it. Just got a Kindle 3 (WiFi+3G). WiFi doesn't work. I have an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station at home. I've connected dozens of devices to it via Wifi -- no problems. The Kindle 3 won't connect. It usually doesn't even see it. When it does and I try to connect, it doesn't work. I called Support, and after a few minutes the support person said that there are some routers the Kindle 3 apparently doesn't work with, including the AEBS apparently. I also can't connect via WiFi using a public access point in a library. I'm astonished that Amazon would sell a product with such wonky WiFi implementation. Telling me that my AP won't work with it.... that's just crazy. I know I have 3G connectivity (I guess I'm lucky I didn't buy the WiFi only model). But it has WiFI.... it should work. It looks like my nifty new Kindle 3 is going back. If you rely on WiFi, take note that the Kindle 3's WiFI implementation might not work for you.
5. 66 of 76 people found this review helpful

   By zemes on Amazon.com 20 September, 2010

   Such poor user interface

   The display itself is great to look at. This is the strongest aspect of the e-paper technology, but is not a contribution by Amazon. Amazon did make a huge commitment to is Kindle content, both in terms of the its scope and convenience. These are probably the only notable advantages.
   
   User interface. Are you kidding? I never used Kindle I and Kindle II, but the user interface of the Kindle III is so primitive. Navigation through a book is the worst part. I think it only works for reading novels which you rarely go back and forth to precise locations for referencing or cross checking. For text books and references, this is nonsense. They've got to have touchscreen, or if not, some kind of a touchpad you can move the cursor around. They also need much better software to handle content navigation. Frankly, Kindle's navigation goes back to the pre-mouse computer age, a shockingly primitive rendering.
   
   There are other annoyances, but not nearly as depressing. For example, I don't understand why Kindle would switch to rotating screen savers after some idle time. I think this indicates a misunderstanding of their own technology. Because e-paper uses the so-called bistable technology which allows displaying a static page with zero power consumption, it offers a unique opportunity to have a e-reader that stays put like a piece of real paper. This is something that iPad simply cannot do because it uses the power-consuming LCD display. Yet, Amazon squanders this unique opportunity for some useless screen savers. I would very much prefer the e-reader to stay on the page I'm reading until I change it. Again, this would not be important for people who read novels or bestsellers as they would be constantly moving forward, but when you use references or books for study, you would find it quite important. Each time when I go back to Kindle, it would have switched to a screensaver and requires me to turn it on again manually. If doing this had some utility, I would be willingly complying, but in the case of e-paper technology, I just can't help but feeling foolish. What a waste of a good opportunity to really differentiate. And the stupid screensaver feature is not even user adjustable (at least I could not find a way to do it).
   
   The bottom line: if you just read novels which require very simple navigation (i.e., turning pages sequentially), Kindle is great. If you would like to read anything as a reference which needs quick, flexible and precise navigation, forget it.
6. 17 of 18 people found this review helpful

   By Dana D. Crum on Amazon.com 2 January, 2011

   Great concept, poor quality: Better without a case

   Update 2/6/11: So kindle #2 eventually rebooted out of its coma after being left charging for an hour.
   
   Amazon's customer service was very diligent about calling me back.
   
   I decided to try my experiment of taking the kindle out of it's case and seeing if it improved it's function. I tried it for a week and it didn't require a reboot since. Ever a skeptic, I then put it back in the case (because I like having a case to protect it and it makes holding it easier) and 3 hours later...frozen. Took it out of the case and it has now been working for a month without a reboot.
   
   The moral of the story is that I really like the kindle. I just subscribed to the New England Journal of Medicine on it (I'm a physician) and I love it! However, it is kind of sad that you can't put it in a case (using the holes built into the side for such a purpose.) Speaks poorly for its construction. But I am happy it is working.
   
   ******First review*************
   
   My husband bought me a kindle 3 for Christmas. At first I was very excited because it made reading while breastfeeding my newborn super-easy. I loved the concept. The books were easy to download and I connected to wireless easily.
   
   The first night I had it, it kept freezing. Most of the time it wouldn't wake up after I left it alone for a few minutes (and I had charged it for the entire day). Sometimes it would hard reboot itself and sometimes I would have to sit there and hold the power button until it did. It would sometimes get stuck right there on the page I was reading and then it seemed it would only come back to life when it wanted to. All the time when it came back up to the home screen, it would have lost all of my progress in the book I was reading and I would have to sit there and flip through the book to get back to where I was. 50% of the time it would freeze up again when I was trying to get to the place where I left off.
   
   Usage continued like this for a few days (I used it less and less each day because it was so frustrating!). I tried leaving it plugged in for a long time, but that didn't help. Finally when I picked it up on 12/30, it had kicked the bucket totally because the screen had part of a picture and part lines.
   
   I called amazon.com and they were very helpful. They listened to all of the stuff I had tried (basically all the suggestions on the website) and offered to replace the kindle since it seemed to have finally died. They next day air shipped it and I received it at 11am the next morning (and I called at 5pm). They emailed me shipping labels to send the old one back.
   
   I charged the new kindle and got all of my books out of archives. At first it seemed a bit better. It didn't freeze as much, though it did freeze once or twice on the first day. After that, similar problems began cropping up. It would freeze and need a hard reboot about 4-5 times per day (using for about 2 hours total). However it has not frozen while on a book page yet, only while in sleep mode.
   
   Today I went to wake the kindle up and it was frozen, only it wouldn't hard reboot. I tried charging it for 5 min and then trying again as the website suggests and nothing happened. I finally called amazon again and they had me plug it in to try and get a full charge and they will call me back in a few hours. Well, while writing this review, the thing has hard rebooted at least 3 times without me touching it.
   
   I'm actually wondering if it could have something to do with the case that my husband got me. It is a leather case that hooks into the side of the kindle (made for kindle), but the kindle seems to crash less when its out of the case. If so, that doesn't speak well for its construction!
   
   I'll update this review when I hear back from amazon. I was planning on buying my husband his own kindle, but after my experience here, I think I need to wait until amazon figures out why they are crashing so much. (As an aside, my sister and brother-in-law were visiting for the holidays and they brought their older generation kindles. They reported that their kindles had crashed maybe once or twice in the year that they've had them. They also had them in similar leather cases.)
7. 24 of 27 people found this review helpful

   By AV on Amazon.com 18 October, 2010

   Freeze and reboot - real spoiler

   The kindle worked fine for first 1-2 weeks. Very impressive and fun to work, amazed how much I was reading and enjoying reading on this beautiful piece of hardware/software; Sometimes I had to reboot the kindle as normal wake up operation did not work but it happened about 3-4 times a week, so I did not bother( as reading was a real pleasure on my new kindle, nothing could have made me think that anything can be "ever ever" wrong with my kindle). At that time - Ask me for the review I will give 6 stars(though amazon allows only five)
   
   But in its 3rd week , the freezes and reboots have increased to the extent , that I am in fix whether I should go ahead and return and buy an ipad OR have it exchanged for another kindle (hoping the kindle I received is one off thing - an excpetion). I am disappointed that is the reason for two stars only.
   
   It is really fun device as long as it works. I am trying to contact the returns department to return the current device. Hoping to hear that the problems I encountered is an exception and the replacement unit will be a trouble free - "Fun to read device".
   
   Will update, keeping my fingers crossed ( hoping I can come back and give much better rating) .
8. 31 of 36 people found this review helpful

   By bluemoon on Amazon.com 30 August, 2010

   Korean Fonts, Text-to-Speech, Freeze

   Updated: Amazon clearly states that "Kindle can now display Cyrillic (such as Russian), Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Korean characters" Obviously, Amazon promised Korean character display, but didn't deliver.
   Korean fonts look hideously childish. I read most my books in English, but my wife reads Korean books.
   Hopefully, Amazon will come up with fix with software updates. By the way, Korean has only 24 basic letters. I don't think it's that difficult to make it work.
   I turned on Text-to-Speech function, and male voice kept on freezing. I switched to female voice and it worked. There must be a bug with male voice.
   Also, Kindle 3 freezes time to time. I know I am not seeing some illusions, because Kindle 2 wasn't behaving like this.
   Amazon engineers should fix these problems and I am sure they will address these issues on next software updates. However, clearly, Amazon rushed it. Until then, it's 2 star. Without these problems, Kindle takes the cake easily and deserves 5 star.
9. 13 of 14 people found this review helpful

   By Judy Smith on Amazon.com 14 November, 2010

   Love my kindle... but not this new generation

   I love my Kindle 2 - it is reliable, a great reading device - never had a lick of trouble with it. I was tempted, however, by the added contrast and new form factor offered by the Kindle 3. It is a little better contrast, and the smaller size feels good in the hands, but I tell you, it is unreliable and I've gone back to carrying BOTH kindles (since the Kindle 3 dies all the time)
   
   I was told that the problem was my software, it is an old version. I just got my replacement kindle 3 days ago - and it shipped with the "bad" software too. I've just gone through the update process, and I seriously hope this time the kindle will be reliable. So far, I'm still a skeptic.
   
   If you've got a Kindle 2 - don't waste the money on the upgrade... Like any major upgrade, the first one out of the gate seems a little buggy. I'd wait for the next model.
10. 9 of 9 people found this review helpful

    By John F. Sullivan on Amazon.com 21 November, 2010

    Great system for frequent travelers if it worked

    The Good:
    I travel a lot. Space and weight are two very important to me. I like to read. Often the room between the seats on planes are too close for me to read a full sized magazine. The Kindle lets me take lots of books and reference material that I would otherwise leave at home.
    For instance, I have a first aid book that I take with me on the Kindle now. I hope never to have to use it, but it's nice to have. I also carry some reference books on the software that I use for consulting.
    Battery life is great, it works as an e-reader. I had a little problem with the software and reboots, but the Kindle support was really good.
    I opted for the wireless only Kindle. I don't need to synch very often, so I didn't feel the need for the 3G option. My thought is that I will replace this device in two or three years. I know that Amazon will be around, so I feel my investment in books will still be good.
    The size and weight are near perfect, the ability to change font sizes is great. The ability to forget about the delivery mechanism and just read is great. The screen contrast is wonderful, the brighter the room the better.
    The software is mature, stable and very usable. Easy to upgrade if needed. Great to be able to read your list from multiple devices without missing a beat.
    I didn't want to spend a thousand dollars on an iPad that will be outdated in a year or two. The price is just right for a device that fills a need that may change in a year or two. It could be that in two years they will have fold out screens for cell phones large enough to allow you to really read books on.
    Amazon Customer service is quick, easy to get hold of and is very helpful.
    
    The Bad:
    Not rugged enough for anything but bedside reading.
    I've replaced my original because it kept rebooting. Turns out that any pressure on diagonal corners causes the device to reboot. Amazon first suggested a software update, easy to do. Problem not resolved. Called them again, they quickly replaced the unit. I received what was obivously a 'factory refurbished' unit. Put it in the Kindle cover after resynching, and the rebooting started. I powered the device totally off, closed the Kindle cover, put the Kindle on my desk and watched it turn on and reboot. Normally after the reboot, you have lost your place in the book(s) you were reading.
    
    This is a great system if they get the hardware issues resolved.