Post Published on April 6, 2011.
Last Updated on April 24, 2016 by davemackey.
I love my Kindle. Tonight I used for the first time its built-in web browsing capabilities. Wow! One of the primary uses of my computer is for reading/writing on the web – so having this capability built into the Kindle is pretty amazing…but the lack of a touch-screen / mouse device quickly became evident. I mean, its not horrible to navigate around using the controls they have set up – but for reading where I want to do highlights and so on (e.g. on the CCEL), it becomes time consuming…
A keyboard would also be nice. For reading the mouse is sufficient, but when it comes to writing, the keyboard included with the Kindle will not be enough for anything of substance.
Of course, the obvious question is – “Why not just use your computer for these tasks?” The simple answer is – “I do…but I’d rather not.” “And why not?” (yes, I am holding a conversation with myself) For me the answer revolves around my full-time vocation – as a systems administrator / developer. This involves many, many hours in front of a glowing computer screen – and sometimes my eyes bug me (even though I have 20/20 vision, they get tired)…reading the Kindle is much easier on my eyes and being able to utilize the Kindle for writing/reading tasks would be pretty awesome…
It would also be cool to create computer screens using the eInk technology, but this is a little more problematic. For example, color is oftentimes necessary in the work I do. It would be too much of a hassle to swap back and forth between eInk and color monitors – especially since I already use two monitors simultaneously continuously. The only way I can see it working is if I had two monitors using eInk and then one monitor being color, with the color being “off” by default but coming “on” with a single keystroke, allowing me to quickly utilize it whenever needed…but that is beside the point…The real point is – having a mouse would be a huge benefit for the Kindle (or a touch screen, but I find mice easier to use – maybe my fingers are just too fat but I fat-finger often!) and a keyboard is secondary but would also be nice!
They don’t have eink screens that large yet unfortunately. Check out Mirasol however – it’s an eink technology that can do 15+ fps and is color (albeit faded). That may come to a browser eventually.