Palm User Doesn’t See Use for Kindle

Let me start by saying that I like Palm products – I had a Palm Tungsten E2 for a while and loved it. However, I eventually got a BlackBerry, and the Palm went unused.

That being said, there’s a post on PalmAddicts that I don’t agree with that talks about how they use their Palm to get in some reading while waiting in line. They say,

What I have found myself doing lately is borrowing or buying a paper book and then download the ebook from either the local library or the huge New York Public Library or Queensborough Public Library systems. I’ll read the physical book at home but then if I am out and got some time I’ll pick up where I left off on my Centro.

That sounds like an interesting plan, but I don’t see how that’s any different from doing the same with your Kindle. They do point out that they would sometimes leave their house without their Palm before they got the Palm Centro (Palm device + phone), but I never leave my house without my Kindle. I also couldn’t imagine reading a novel on the tiny Centro screen. I have a hard time reading my Google Reader stuff on my BlackBerry’s screen, and it’s not much smaller than the Centro’s screen.

I can appreciate people trying to consolidate their electronic gadgets, however sometimes a dedicated device is necessary. I wouldn’t replace my 6 megapixel digital camera with my tiny BlackBerry cameraphone, so why would I replace my Kindle (a dedicated reading device) with my tiny phone screen?

My one other gripe with the post is their use of multiple book sources. With the Kindle, you could read it at home and out in the world – no need to find your place in the e-book when you’ve been reading the paper book and vice versa. With the focus of the article being on productivity (getting reading done while waiting in line), isn’t it a little counter intuitive to manage your reading this way?