Pros: It's pretty lightweight. It has 16GB of memory (half as much as my iPhone ::coughcough::). It fits in my hands fairly well, though I notice the edges are pretty sharp when I hold the Kindle certain ways. The screen is very vibrant. I love that the samples of the books are several chapters! LOVE!♥ I ordered a bluetooth keyboard/case combo for blogging purposes while I'm away. I'm hopeful some of you readers will follow along. The pictures I post during the trip will have to be crappy iPhone pictures because I will end up having to go through so many channels to load the picture to the image host, grab the link, make a blog post, add the image. . . Well, I just went off on a tangent.
Cons: The edges are pretty sharp. I haven't figured out a way to download pdfs directly to the Kindle from the internet. From google searching, it seems the only way to do this is by transferring the file from a computer to the kindle via USB. The Prime subscription starts as soon as you register your kindle. I don't have a reliable wifi connection and I purposely didn't register for Prime because I wasn't going to be able to take advantage of the trial. I wanted to wait until next year (possibly late spring) to activate the Prime free trial before dropping $79 a year on it. That's a big con in my book. The Amazon person I chatted with was nice enough about it and she said she passed my comments on to the marketing team to see if there was a way to delay the Prime subscription for people in the future. I can get a new free trial of Prime after 12 months. Lame, right?
Going right along with the Kindle review, I purchased and started reading through the Lonely Planet guide for Central America. There are references all throughout the book about things and then it says "click here" (to go to that page describing the thing in more detail) and doesn't take you to the right page! What gives Kindle book? I don't know if this is a Kindle issue or a lonely planet issue, but it makes me want to Hulk smash things. Here's an example:"On the Pacific coast, there is good snorkeling in the Golfo de Chiriqui 'click here' (takes you to the page before Golfo de Chiriqui is mentioned) and in the Archipielago de las Perlas 'click here.'"(takes you to two pages before the Archipielago de las Perlas is mentioned)
How annoying is that? There are times it's been off as many as five pages. (Rich country problem, I know. "Aaahhh! My brand new Kindle Fire doesn't take me to the right page electronically!") I will update more about the Lonely Planet book after my trip when I can see how accurate the information really is.
My last review of the day is of the new Vibram FiveFingers KSO Trek shoes I bought. They are pretty goofy looking considering my footwear of choice is flip flops. The shoes were really comfortable the first time I put them on. I walked the perimeter of the yard--don't judge, it's a half mile!--and walked down to the mailbox and back. The next time I wore them, my pinky toes were not having it at all. I persevered and wore them for six hours. At no point was I in pain, it was just uncomfortable. I'm really glad I wore these shoes to the gym last night. I guess I have to change the way I step off in Zumba, because I ended up with some sore spots under my big toes--almost like I'm going to get a blister. I'm not noticing the typical problems with sore calves and arches just yet, but I plan to wear these shoes every day to get used to them and break them in before the trip. I don't want to have to pack giant sneakers in my backpack, but if the Vibrams just aren't going to work, I'm not going to sacrifice my foot comfort to save weight and space.
Since I'm not going to be able to take advantage of my Prime free trial, comment or email me at ellelittleblogATgmailDOTcom letting me know if you have Prime and why you love it (or hate it). Are there any Vibram wearers out there? Is my big toe and pinky toe weirdness normal? Will it go away? Ebooks. Tell me all about your favorite books. I'll try to download a few before I head out. I'm going to be spending a lot of time on chicken buses in December. Speaking of ebooks, pretty much all the classics are free on Amazon. Grimm's Fairy Tales, Jane Eyre, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to name just a few. Go. Download. Profit.
Have an amazing day!
No comments:
Post a Comment