The
Amazon Kindle 2 cover is a lot better than I'd expected after last year's included cover that helped us drop our Kindles though there was no warranty protection for accidents.
The Kindle forums have included questions on how to use the hinged cover without scratching the Kindle. A few have found the hooks unpleasant in concept, but I like their protection, especially after the Kindle 1 cover -- and I've had no problem with scratching of the Kindle. But since others have, I've made a photo guide to using the locking/unlocking mechanism.
UPDATE 8/30/09 - There are a few who have reported problems with the Kindle shell "cracking." Many of us have had the Kindle 2's for 7 months with no signs of that happening. A
poll at Kindleboards shows 136 of 139 participating members saying they've had no problems while 3 reported they had the cracking problem.
An obvious way for it to happen is if you open the book from the back. You'd need to force it quite a bit to do that at all (not realizing why there was resistance) and that would make the hinge hooks act as levers and cause cracking of the Kindle. I almost did that once, in a dark place but I didn't force it. The design should have prevented opening it from the back then. Customer "TAS" at the Amazon forums
recommends a way to prevent accidental forced-opening from the back.
The jacket opens like a book.
I fold the front cover back if using it with the Kindle and I sometimes prop it against something when eating, even at cafes.
Notice it has a clean floating look. The cover is thin, light, and flexible, though padded and solid.
This shows the look of an e-Ink page for a periodical, using the new bottom status navigation bar. When reading it, I don't think about the unit unless I want to type a search to remind myself who a named character or participant is.
We are now able to choose the distance between lines (using Shift-Alt-{1-9}. The default is '3' -- and anything above that will increase the distance between the lines.
USING THE HINGES TO FASTEN/REMOVE the Kindle
The first item is the lower hook. It's curved downward and some have worried that theirs was "bent" or defective -- but it's curved down in order to hold the Kindle more securely.
The Kindle should be angled to match the direction of the hook or clip, whether you're locking your Kindle in place or removing it. It's also easier if you have the front cover folded behind the back cover and are matching the connectors that way, since you can then see what you're doing more easily.
The Kindle's angled in and connected and then... the top of the unit is moved to the left toward the hinge, to connect the top.
The top hook will not be aligned with the slot. That's because in order to hold the Kindle in place, it needs to be higher once connected.
If you just press the Kindle lightly against the hook, it'll slide down and then the Kindle will snap into place and be locked in.
Someone posted that the M-Edge's hinge wasn't as easy to snap in on her model. In that case, slide the top hook down just a bit so it can be inserted into the
Kindle slot. (Do the same to release the top connector later.)
And that should do it!
So, since the end result of the activity above should be a focus on reading, I'll end with a shot of the screen only, to give an idea of what the e-Ink technology is like, for those who don't yet have a Kindle or a Sony e-reader.
The cover did have a strong unpleasant odor the first week but it was gone after a week. I spent the first day airing it by a window.
I particularly like that it's very light, covers the Kindle well and looks like no more than a notebook (good theft avoidance).
Periscope's Lighted Folio, upgraded for the Kindle 2. I think of it more as a lighted portable desktop :-)
Sony PRS-505 and Kindle-2 gray screens
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M-Edge Platform cover
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