Speed Test: Kindle vs. Kindle 2

[ Music ] ^M00:00:06 >> Brian Tong: What's up Prizefight fans? I am joined by Mr. Tom Merritt. What's up? It's a little different here today - >> Tom Merritt: Yep. White guy. >> Brian: We're going to do speed tests with the Amazon Kindle first gen versus the new, sexy Kindle 2. Now this is not going to be totally scientific; it's kind of informal, as if we're sitting next to each other, because we are, literally, but we really want to test a few things. We want to test age refresh speed, we want to test how fast they wake up from their sleep mode, and finally we're going to test how long it takes to download the same book. So, I figure we should just jump right into this thing to get it started? >> Tom: Yeah, I mean it's kind of all about style with these two, so find out, is it just style or is there something better in the new one? >> Brian: Ok, so the first test we're going to do is page refresh speed; we're on the same page, are you ready to do this? >> Tom: Ready to go. >> Brian: So are you ready? >> Tom: I'm ready. >> Brian: Ok, let's do this. On "Go". >> Alright. >> Brian and Tom, in unison: One, two, three, go. >> Tom: Close. Let's do another one. >> Brian: It was about the same, let's do a few more. >> Brian and Tom, in unison: One, two, three, go. >> Brian: There you go again. >> Tom: Yeah, it's pretty dead on. >> Brian: And let's try it one more time. >> Brian and Tom, in unison: One, two, three, go. >> Brian: Wow, ok. >> Tom: Not much difference there. >> Brian: No. >> Tom: Those are pretty dead on. >> Brian: I don't think anyone would be able to notice is. >> Tom: Yeah. Any difference is probably caused by us just being a little fraction of a second off. >> Brian: You were a little behind. >> Tom: Plus it's easier to hit the next page on that because you can't not hit the next page on that one. >> Brian: Yeah, you just tap it a little and it'll change. Ok, the next test we're going to do is waking these Kindles up from sleep. We're going to first put them to sleep and then see how fast they actually wake up. So are you ready for this one? >> Tom: Let's put them to sleep. >> Brian: They're a little different. >> Tom: Yeah >> Brian: I have to press two keys to get mine to sleep; you just have to flip a switch. >> Tom: Yeah, there's this switch up at the top; it's also the power switch on this one. >> Brian: Ok, let's try this one, ok? >> Brian and Tom, in unison: One, two, three, go. >> Tom: Faster. >> Brian: Ok, yours was definitely faster. >> Tom: Faster wake up. >> Brian: Let's just try one more time. >> Tom: Yeah, let's put it to sleep again. And that's harder, too, because you've got to press the double buttons. >> Brian: Ok, here we go, ready? >> Brian and Tom, in unison: One, two, three, go. >> Tom: Definitely faster on the wake up. >> Brian: Ok, so, clearly, that one was like twice as fast as that one. >> Tom: Yeah, there was a difference there. >> Brian: So waking up from sleep mode, we're going to give the edge to Kindle 2. >> Tom: Now, for the next one, we're going to buy a book, but I need to swap it out, because both these are mine. That'd be kind of weird - so we've got to have two different accounts. This one's Molly Wood's. >> Brian: What we're going to do is find the same book on both Kindles. We're going to bring in our stopwatch to help us time which Kindle will actually download the book faster. Ok, so we happened to stumble across a book called Boiling Point from Tom Merritt. >> Tom: What? What a fortunate stumble. >> Brian: Yeah, for both of us. So we're going to click to buy on go, right? >> Tom: Yep. >> Brian: Ok, let's do this. >> Brian and Tom, in unison: One, two, three, go. >> Brian: Ok, it's thinking. >> Tom: Oh, it's thanking Molly for her purchase. >> Brian: It's thanking me for a purchase and it's going to actually tell us when the product's actually downloaded; we'll see kind of a cue on both of these. So we're just going to wait to see whose finishes first . . . >> Brian: Is this a long book? >> Tom: It's a couple [inaudible] pages. >> Brian: Mine's finished! >> Tom: You are done. I'm still going. >> Brian: Still going? >> Tom: Done! >> Brian: So we're all done, let's take a look at the stopwatches. I was surprised! >> Tom: Yeah. Which one's mine here? This one? Ok. >> Brian: So I came in at 24:47. >> Tom: 28:67. So pretty much 29 seconds - not that far behind, but you'd think this one would be faster. >> Brian: You would think. This is just one test; we're not going to buy 5 books here, but 4 seconds is not too much difference, but at least in this test, the original Kindle came out on top. >> Tom: Yeah, it could be due to a lot of things. It could be due to what server that one was connected to or the way this one was connecting from just a couple inches away, could be different, who knows. >> Brian: But ultimately, in this Prizefight, it's pretty much with three rounds a tie, because the first one they were even, the second round we gave the Kindle 2, and the third round, the edge was given to the Kindle. So you know, there you go. >> Tom: You know who wins? >> Brian: Who? >> Tom: The reader. >> Brian: [laughter] Stupid. Alright guys, thanks for watching. Come back for another Prizefight. Tom, you know how we end this one, right? >> Tom: Oh yeah. >> Tom and Brian, in unison: Woo-wow! [crashing noise] ^M00:04:10 [ Music ]