R.I.P. Kindle

2010-05-19 2 min read Electronics Anonymous marco

The disturbing trend of electronic gadgets dying earlier in their life span continues. My Kindle gave up yesterday. I turned it on, and the e-ink display was broken, showing me weird streaks on the top right portion. It looks like blunt force, but the reader was not exposed to any force.

Well, I was kinda happy with my Kindle – loving the wireless connectivity, long battery life, and clarity of the display. I didn’t like a great many things, either – the lack of display formats (no native PDF?), the one-shop-only policy, the DRM (including remote deletion), the lack of apps, and the unusually unfortunate hardware choices (no touchscreen, terrible keyboard).

Time for a reality check. Let’s see how Amazon handles a customer whose beloved Kindle is dead. I bought it on September 4th, 2009 and it was shipped on the 7th. According to their customer support, the device is good for warranty repair until October 2010. There are companies (like iRiver) from which I won’t buy products anymore because of the terrible customer service when I needed a repair. Let’s see how Amazon handles this.

Update #1: Got a call from Amazon, they are going to ship a replacement within the day. PERFECT customer service! So far, 10/10 stars.

Update #2: Replacement shipped, sent the defective unit with the shipping label provided, and everything is good. Loading books on the Kindle is a snap, and I am absolutely, perfectly happy with Amazon customer service this time around!

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