Lately, I've been reading a lot of the technical documentation online . The problem with Online documentation though, is that you usually  have to be in front of a computer  to read it or download and print the available pdf version for offline reading.

Printing 200 pages of documentation for a one-time read seems like a waste to me, and doing it multiple times would feel downright criminal. Reading stuff on my phone is nice, but only for a small amount of text at a time.

I did some research on ebook readers and found lots of praise for the Kindle 3's pdf support, and since it cost roughly the equivalent of 3 technical books, I thought getting a Kindle was a no-lose situation. I went ahead ordered one, and loaded a bunch of pdfs once it arrived.

..then I started to feel not quite so brilliant, here's why:

1.  There is no way to reliably convert pdfs into the native format that the kindle uses
2.  You need magnifying glasses to read pdfs on a 6 inch kindle
3.  You can use the in built zoom feature, BUT, and this is a big but, you can only zoom to 150, 200 or 300%..I think something around 120% would have solved my problems nicely
4.  I now have to hold the kindle in landscape orientation to read pdfs, which presents a whole different set of issues

My thoughts on the kindle as a whole. Now bear in mind that I have only had the device for a little over 2 weeks, so I may still be unaware of how to use it correctly.First the pros:

• You can literally carry your entire library around
• I have had to charge the Kindle a grand total of 2 times in 2 weeks!!
• The kindle has no glare whatsoever. It really does look like paper
• With tons of free books available on the internet, the kindle quickly pays for itself
• I like the experimental features eg Web browser and MP3 player .  The Web browser is especially useful as an RSS reader.

Now for the Cons:

• Would it kill Amzon to support the open epub book format?
• I can't stand the way the screen flickers when you turn a page. Makes me long for the iPad's page turn animation.
• Why can't I zoom the page by an arbitrary factor...Say 102% ?
• This is not really about the Kindle, but why the heck are Kindle cases so expensive?

All in all,  I was a little disappointed the first few days, when reading pdfs did not work out as well as I had hoped, but I have since found a treasure trove of free books in native kindle format, and I am now pretty happy with my purchase.