Timing is Everything

in

I love my Kindle. When I got it years back it was a revelation. I had never much thought of myself as a reader but the Kindle taught me that I love reading--I just didn't much care for books (sorry, booklovers.) While there are definitely some things I miss about paper books, like being able to easily flip back and refer to previous pages, by and large I think the Kindle is a brilliantly-designed device and I love reading on it. Here are just a few of the reasons why:

  • It's comfortable in one hand, and it doesn't matter which hand

  • It's the same size regardless of what you're reading--no more giant new-release hardcovers weighing you down

  • It eliminates the awkwardness of holding a lopsided book when you're just starting or just finishing

  • It's immersive. Experientially it's not a 'device' at all; it's a book. If I did my reading on an iPad I'd be endlessly distracted. The Kindle only does reading, and I love that about it because reading demands focus

  • The battery lasts so long it hardly feels like a piece of technology at all

There is one thing that I really don't like though, and it's the low battery notification. The battery lasts for weeks, so I rarely think about charging it. I am also rarely on a screen that displays battery life--I'm just reading away and when you're reading, all you see is the book text. So the only time I think to charge it is when I see this note pop up, and every time I see it I groan:

Problem is I get this message when the Kindle is very close to dying. So in that moment (which is usually in bed) I have to decide whether to keep reading and hope it doesn't die, or get out of bed to get the charger and plug it in. Given the long battery life I'd love to get this message when I have a few days of reading left, so I can choose when to charge it.

It's clear so much thought was put into the design of this product; I wonder if when designing this warning, they considered what it would be like to receive it?