Matt’s Desk: Editor’s Blog

On my personal list of the best new gadgets of the past five years, Amazon’s Kindle is unquestionably near the top. Though it wasn’t the first eReader available, it was the first to blend a usable form factor, acceptable title selection, and no-PC-required content distribution in a way that made it a viable choice for avid readers. 

Quite honestly, I love the thing.

But as smitten as I am with the Kindle (specifically the Kindle 2), I’m becoming an increasingly harsh critic of its ecosystem. And if Amazon wants Kindle to become the phenomenon it deserves to be, two changes must be made. 

Problem 1: Kindle Book Prices

The idea of being able to download and begin reading a book in seconds for a reasonable price is an attractive one, even for casual readers.  And this was the promise made when Amazon began shipping the original Kindle in 2007. 

Over the past two years, however, the $9.99 price ceiling has begun to shatter. 

This week has seen the announcement of two upcoming rivals to the Amazon Kindle: The Barnes & Noble nook and the lesser-known Spring Design Alex. In addition to their running a version of Google’s excellent Android OS, each of the upcoming devices also includes a color touchscreen below the requisite E-Ink display. Since this development is happening in more than one place at one time, it’s obvious the powers-that-be believe users are itching for a touchscreen interface in addition to the E-Ink display on their eBook readers. 

But are they right?

There’s no doubt that E-Ink has its limitations; no color, no backlight option, slow refresh rates, relatively low resolution. But E-Ink is meant to mimic text on the printed page, not LCD monitors or smartphones – that’s the whole point. With the exception of the slow refresh rate, these limitations are not problems E-Ink users are demanding be solved. Color might be nice, but as part of the E-Ink experience, not as a battery draining, bulk-increasing add-on.

The cramming-in of a color touchscreen on each of these new readers seems ultimately meaningless to the eBook experience.  It’s the E-Ink display that makes an eBook reader an eBook reader. This move seems like nothing more than an attempt to climb onboard the Kindle bandwagon without actually making a better reader, and perhaps even making it worse.  You can see folks sitting around a table arguing, “well, yeah, but ours’ll have a touchscreen!”  What’s next?  GPS for geotagging where you were when you read page 329?  A front-facing camera to photograph your response to the tear jerking end of chapter 21?

I’m a true-blue eBook fan.  My Kindle goes where I go.  I use it every day and the thing is just awesome.  But what would make the Kindle better has nothing to do with flipping through tiny, bright book covers or having color menu buttons. I want faster page turns, more storage for books, documents or music, and a keyboard that doesn’t feel like barely-glued-in-place Chicklets. 

If the E-Ink displays of the new readers are no better than that of the Kindle, I don’t really see them as a threat. And threatening competition is what keeps things improving for us, the consumers.  I was hoping B&N (in particular) really had something amazing up its sleeve, but it seems like the same ol’ metoo mentality wrapped in the cynical notion that as long as something has a touchscreen, people will want it more, regardless of its utility.  Maybe they’re right. 

I just hope next year’s 4th Gen iPhone doesn’t come with a 4mm high E-Ink strip below its OLED touchscreen for “reading books.”  That’ll be the last straw.

</rant>

-M

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I’ve been using Windows Live Writer for well over a year on my office PC, but when it comes to posting to this blog or the Pocket PC Central News Center from my MacBook, I usually stick to the WordPress web interface. I just haven’t been able to find blogging software for the Mac that comes anywhere close to the ease of use Live Writer offers — not by a long shot.

This is odd, too, because software for the Mac is usually top notch, so much so that I don’t miss my PC for a moment; and with blogging being so pervasive, I’m surprised by the lack of easy to use, no-brainer blogging applications for the platform.

I’ve tried several of the Mac solutions – Ecto, MacJournal, MarsEdit — and each leaves me wanting. Does anyone have a better suggestion?

I would love to hear it.

-M

In a move that seems nothing short of madness, it looks as though Microsoft is planning to sell Windows 7 for a higher price than its current OS, Windows Vista. 

According to CNet, Darrel Ward, a Dell marketing executive, stated that the average price of Win7 retail licenses “are more expensive than they were for Vista.” What?!

Excitement for Windows 7 – due in large part to the myriad complaints (valid and trumped-up) directed at Vista – is pretty significant.  I had thought Microsoft would charge less for 7 in the hopes of bolstering the excitement, clearing Vista off its radar as quickly as possible.

But if this report is true and Windows 7 will cost more, it will keep a certain number of people from adopting the new operating system.  Mr. Ward thinks “it’s naive to believe that you can increase your prices . and then still see a stronger swell than if you held prices flat or even lowered them.”

Uhhh. You think? 

Windows 7 is great; I’ve been using it for months and continue to be impressed.  But if Microsoft wants to push Win7, they need to wise up and offer it for not just less than Vista, with deep discounts. 

I’m oozing with all sorts of gadget love, so while it’s true that I spend a great deal of time dealing with Windows-based devices (Vista PCs, Pocket PCs, Windows Mobile Smartphones, etc.), I’m also a fan of Apple’s offerings.  I own an iPod – two actually – and there are many things I like about the Mac OS and the iPhone. 

ATTN: Apple fanboys: I’ll soon be criticizing Apple, so take a deep breath and save your snarky comments for those who find them witty.

Okay, where was I… oh yes.  I am a fan of Apple.  My newest iPod, the iPod touch, lacks many of the PIM features found on the iPhone, a fact which I accepted when I forked over my $400 in September.  I was willing to live with the lack of an e-mail client or a maps app because, as much as I disagreed with the decision, the touch wasn’t being being sold as a device to address these needs; that was the iPhone’s domain – or at least so said Apple at the time.  I made peace with this self-imposed limitation and went about the business of enjoying my iPod – until yesterday.  During his Macworld 2008 keynote speech, Steve Jobs announced a software update to the iPod touch, one consisting of… wait for it… an e-mail client, a mapping utility, a notepad, and weather and stocks apps.  Hurray!  I couldn’t wait to start using the new software. 

Then Mr. Jobs announced that iPod touch units sold after his keynote would include the updated applications right out of the box and would be sold at the same price.  Still smiling. 

Then the final point: oh, by the way, if you already own an iPod touch, this added software will cost $20.

I laughed out loud (literally), thinking this was a joke.  I was mistaken. 

Essentially Mr. Jobs announced was this: those who purchased the touch when it was untested and new (a.k.a. those who helped finance current production) would be forced to pay a fee to use the updated version of the software, but new buyers would have these applications free of charge.  If the price of the iPod touch went up by $20 after the speech, and we current users were asked to pay to play, I’d have no complaint, but why should two people who buy the same generation of a product at two different times for the same price be expected to enjoy different software unless one pays more as a fee?  If the new software is worth $20, why hasn’t the price of the touch increased? 

This makes little sense unless you account for rank arrogance, the only part of the Apple equation that keeps me, by and large, a Microsoft user.

As I said before, I’m a gadget lover, so I was very tempted to shell out the additional $20 for the new software.  I was one click away from making the purchase, actually.  But I couldn’t.  I won’t.  I’m saying no. I can’t reward this short-sighted arrogance.  

The $20 isn’t the point; I’m sure the software is worth that, and perhaps more – but if I’m expected to pay extra for a now-standard feature, I’ll never know.

One of the questions that came into the Pocket PC Central Help Center this morning got me thinking.  Why have so many Windows Mobile device manufacturers stopped including 3.5mm audio jacks on their Windows Mobile PDA phone and smartphones?  One of the selling points of Windows Mobile devices is their ability to act as digital audio, or MP3, players (and thanks to new high-capacity SDHC cards, quite roomy ones at that), but if you don’t include a standard audio out jack it’s a hassle, not the no-brainer experience it should be. 

The e-mail was from Gene, a gentleman with a new AT&T Tilt.  He wants to connect it to the AUX-in port in his car, but because of the unit’s hybrid charge\sync\audio miniUSB port, he can’t connect the Tilt to the car stereo.  There is a solution, but it requires an 11-pin miniUSB to 3.5mm audio adapter.  Why should this man, who spent hundreds of dollars on an otherwise top-of-the-line handheld, need to buy an adapter to do something as simple as plug in a set of headphones or an audio patch cable? 

HTC (of which I am a huge fan, by the way) is the worst offender in this area, but they’re not alone.  Motorola and Pantech also omit the standard audio jack, and I wish they’d reconsider.  It’s time to bring back the audio jack. 

Do you agree with me?  Disagree with me?  Let me know.

M.N.

Each time I sit down to write a tutorial on how to use a Windows Mobile device as a portable audio player, I run into a wall – a stubborn, inflexible wall which is aggravating to no end.  This wall is called Windows Media Player.

The wall has two bricks: Windows Media Player and Windows Media Player Mobile.  Getting the two programs to talk to each other, or more specifically using the former to create and sync content and playlists with the latter, is beyond annoying; it’s downright embarrassing.  iTunes – and even RealPlayer (if properly installed without the bloat) and Rhapsody – do a much better job of managing audio on a portable player than WMP could ever hope to (as currently designed).  Why does Microsoft make an activity as simple as listening to music on a WM device so complicated and inelegant?

But, I’m not giving up .  I’m going to begin work on a tutorial that addresses how to use a Windows Mobile device as a portable audio player – I’m just going to skip the Windows Media players altogether.  I’m going with one of the excellent third-party applications like PocketMusic or Pocket Player 3.  Yeah, you’ll have to pay for these applications, but in the end, you’ll be glad you did.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on such a piece.

M.N.