Amazon Kindle Review Mashup

The Amazon Kindle, released in November 2007 has been the subject of many reviews.

Firstly let us look at some of the reviews on the Kindle product page on Amazon itself. Obviously, if someone someone browses to the Kindle product page they want to read reviews from people who have actually used the Kindle, not half baked comments from people who don't even own one.

Whilst everyone is of course entitled to their opinion, the vast majority of negative reviews on the Kindle product page are from people who haven't actually bought or even used the product. As of the 2nd of December 2007 there are 850 reviews on the Kindle product page, which is an astonishing number of reviews for such a new product. Obviously it has provoked a lot of opinion.

The majority of bad reviews are actually people who don't have a Kindle ranting about the price, the wireless coverage, DRM, supported file formats or a host of other issues. While some of these issues are important, it does not excuse the misuse of the review system.

I have just completed the onerous task of reading every one star review on Amazon.com. Out of 254 one star reviews, 251 of them are from people who haven't actually bought a Kindle. Only 3 reviews of are from people who claim to have bought a Kindle, and at least one of those is decidedly dubious.  

At the opposite end of the spectrum half of the 214 5 star reviews come from people who own a Kindle or have used one. The remainder of 5 star reviews are either from people who are yet to buy one but are impressed by its features, or from people angry at the people giving it one star without actually owning it.

Clearly one must delve into the wider Web to find unbiased reviews. There are many good reviews out now from people who have been using the Kindle for a few weeks. The best are:

CNET had a very early hands-on review and in their opinion "Amazon's Kindle is a promising evolution of the electronic book (and newspaper, and magazine)--but overpriced content could be its Achilles' heel." Read the article here.

Crunchgears' Peter Ha offers a balanced view and found that the  Kindle grew on him as he used it. In an update he concludes that, with regard to eBook readers, after ".....the Kindle everything else on the market pales in comparison." Read the full review here.

BoingBoings' Joel Johnson has an excellent early review of the Kindle, concluding that the Kindle is "....confusing, expensive....but promising." Read the review here. 

Gizmodo offer another review, concluding that the "....Kindle is a quality invention, and I can see why the first batch sold out so fast." Read the review here.

XML Aficionado, a self acknowledged gadget lover offers another excellent hands on review declaring himself "....rather impressed with this device from Amazon and look forward to reading a few books on it on my upcoming travels. There is, of course, plenty of room for feature enhancements and improvements, but it is a great first version and definitely beats the Sony Reader in just about every aspect, so it will be in my briefcase on all future trips." Read his excellent review in full here.

Robert Love offers another review of the Kindle here. He describes it as a great way to get "lots of books on a small, lightweight device that is enjoyable to read in varied environments."

What we can see from both the Amazon reviews, and the reviews from around the Web, is that the vast majority of people who actually own the Kindle love it, despite its oft discussed limitations. There is also an unmistakable trend of reviewers finding the Kindle growing on them over time.

The sales figures must surely speak for themselves. It has been out of stock since hours after its release, and will likely remain that way for weeks if not months to come.

The Kindle is available from Amazon for $399 which includes free two day shipping.