Renewing my Kindle

Friday, June 19, 2015

I’ve bought my first Kindle back in 2011, during my internship in San Francisco. I knew I wanted to get back into reading and the advances of eInk as well as the convenience of being to carry hundreds of books in such a small device made it incredibly attractive for me.

I’ve been really happy with my Kindle 3G - the last generation sporting the physical keyboard. It’s travelled with me from the US, back to Europe, and all around the world (from sandy beaches in the Caribbean, to family trips through France, and beyond.)

Recently, I’ve noticed that after 4-5 years, the e-ink started fading away, and the device got slower. So I’ve had my eyes on the latest Paperwhite and Voyage for a while. Last year, when Amazon updated their Kindles I got a strong itch to upgrade. However, as my former colleagues at Realmac got theirs, I managed to hold off.

Fast forward to this week when, with the announcement of a new Kindle Paperwhite upgrade, including Goodreads integration (a service I’ve been using more and more in the past 2 years), the new Bookerly font, and a much higher pixel density (300DPI), I couldn’t resist and had to preorder it.

I’ve got a long list of books to read: fiction, non-fiction, business, self-help, and I’m also excited about the idea of connecting the articles I’ve saved from Pocket, and send them to my new dedicated e-Ink device.

We’re technologists, gadget geeks, and we tend upgrade our gear regularly. For some of the most hardcore of us, it’s a yearly iPhone upgrade. Me? I try to stay a bit more moderate and upgrade when I feel it’s a bit more needed or when I’ve really got a lot of value out of my prized possession. Not on a yearly basis, but every few years when it’s more justifiable. The new Kindle is definitely a (very) nice to have over a need to have, but the devices are not really that expensive anymore and I know it’ll be put to good use.

So long Kindle! You’ve been a great friend: now it’s time to make space to the new addition to the family!

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