Let me start off by stating that I’m pretty much a gadget geek. Not as much as I used to be–my kids are pretty much disposing of my disposable income these days–but I love my Blackberry and I love my iPod. If I could afford it and go full-geek, I’d have one of those Archos Helmet camcorders for my bicycling excursions and also a pair of those cool 3D glasses for gaming and watching movies. But alas, I should be satisfied with what I (and my cohorts at work) have, which, fortunately enough, is an Amazon Kindle!

After three months of continuous use, I think I’ve gathered enough “casual user” experience with this ebook reader to toss about a few opinions, so I’ve listed some positives and negatives below. If you want a more detailed review check out the one over at Macintouch.com.

From where I stand–or read, in this case–I’ll submit that the Kindle represents a significant step forward in Amazon’s–and the industry’s–attempt to bring ebooks to the masses. For all intents and purposes it replaces the need for the casual reader to purchase and carry around printed books. Although it’s not without its faults, the Kindle’s positives definitely outweigh the negatives. I must not be alone in this conclusion since Amazon plans to sell $750M in Kindles by 2010.

So let’s go through the positives:

• Readability: Reading on the Kindle is as good as, if not better, than last year’s Sony Reader. Sure, you have to be in a lighted area (it doesn’t have back-lighting) but that’s no different than when reading a printed book. For those of us visually challenged–my eyesight isn’t as sharp as it once was–the font size adjustment button works wonders.
• Shopping and downloading your book: You buy your ebook through your existing Amazon one-click account, and the title is immediately downloaded to your Kindle through their included Wispernet Service. I’ve bought over 10 books this way and it’s worked flawlessly every time. There’s nothing like finishing a book while reading in bed, then browsing for another one (yes, Amazon knows exactly what I like to read), making the purchase, and then digging into another book–without moving a muscle.
• Removing books: You can take any title and remove it from your Kindle at any time. It just gets backed-up to your Amazon Digital Media account for later use. That’s pretty cool.
• Books are less expensive: Sure, they’re still probably over-priced, but they’re also generally 50% cheaper than the print version.
• You can sample before you buy: You can download the opening pages of a book before you commit to buying, which I’ve done many times.
• Amazon’s superb retail experience: As I mentioned, Amazon knows a lot about me. They know what I’ve purchased before, and they know what I like to read. I, in turn, admire their editorial and user reviews and their “You might also be interested in” recommendations. All of this makes for a pleasant and rewarding shopping experience.
• It looks cool: Yeah, it’s a gadget, but it comes with a nice little case.

There are a few negatives I should mention:

• Battery life: I generally don’t turn mine off (it goes into this screen-saver mode after a while) and the battery drains completely after a few days. Make sure you check the battery level before you take it with you during a trip. I’ve boarded a plane hoping to read my Kindle during the flight (and yeah, to also impress those around me) only to find it dead.
• Navigation: Sure, it’s easy to understand “next page” and “prev page,” but the “back” button and the menu navigation using the little thumbwheel is somewhat cumbersome. I’ve often gotten lost during the “back” button exercise or by choosing the wrong menu item due to an inadvertent click.

Not the best navigation here. Touch-screen, anyone?

• Lack of titles: There’s still a limited number of titles to choose from. Although it’s exciting to find and read a good book from a new author, it’s frustrating to find that his/her other books aren’t Kindle-ready.
• It’s expensive: $390 bucks for something that they’ll continue to make money on as I continue to purchase ebooks. Something’s embarrassingly wrong with Amazon’s short-term business model unless, of course, they’re looking to focus strictly on early adopters.
• Reading your personal documents- beware: Here at work we toss around a lot of PDFs–many of which I’d like to read on my Kindle. Just take my word for it, that’s not easily doable. Word documents work much better.

I’ve heard that you can get nickeled and dimed from Amazon’s subscription plans (magazines, newspapers, etc) but I’ve yet to try that service. Also, I have tested out their “experimental” web browser capability, but I’ll pass on criticizing it (it is labeled experimental). Since I listen to music on my iPod I’m really not interested in the Kindle’s audio capabilities. Their Wispernet service (powered by Sprint) makes transactions easy, but if you’re outside of their coverage your fun will be limited (i.e., time to pull out the USB cables).

Again, it’s not all things to all people, but I think the Kindle makes one heck of a way to read books. No more dealing with the clutter of five unfinished books on my nightstand, or worse yet–carrying around 600 pages of Alan Greenspan’s Age of Turbulence in my briefcase.

Oh, and one more thing. No more dog-eared pages–the Kindle knows what page you were on before you dozed off last night. That’s another plus.

So there you have it, I love the Kindle. It’s a great way to go–if you can afford it.

Now, on if I could only get my kid’s high school to put digital versions of their (very heavy) textbooks on these Kindles–then we’d really be on to something.