A little bit better: Amazon Kindle 2
I just came across the new Amazon Kindle 2. I know, the first pictures leaked a couple of weeks ago, but it seems I’m not so up to date with the world of gadgets anymore…
Anyway, you can see below a couple of pictures with the old and new Kindle side by side. Let’s take a moment and compare them.
The pictures came from Boy Genius Report, just to give them the well deserved credit.
I admit that i was always more of a Sony reader fan than Amazon’s Kindle. Now, that i have a look at the picture above, i can’t say the new Kindle is very good looking. I still like the Sony better, but that’s just a matter of taste.
The new Kindle seems better built than the old one though, with a more ergonomic keyboard and better positioned side buttons (the old model received lots of criticism here). From the picture, it also seems a little bigger, but the specs tell us that both models are almost the same size, with the new Kindle being a little thinner.
As far as the features go, the new Kindle does not seem to bring any significant new things. One needed feature was added though: The Kindle can now be recharged via mini USB, as the old model required the usage of its own special AC adapter for this. More news are yet to come.
For now, we have no idea when will this new Kindle be launched, how much will it cost (the old one is 359$ and we don’t expect the new one to be more expensive) and if it will have touchscreen functions as the new incoming Sony reader model will (more about this in tomorrow’s post). But, considering the amount of success the current Amazon Kindle has had, we’re sure the new model, that will be after all a little better, will also be very well received by the US market. And, who knows, maybe this time Amazon will launch European and Asian models as well.
I think that the Kindle is a neat idea, but I still prefer real books.
I hope there will be European version…
I think the kindle will find itself amongst an emerging market full of eBook enthusiasts. I’ve found recently more and more of my friends are buying eBooks from iTunes rather than buying the actual book.
There are some downfalls of course… if the narrator is just bad there is nothing you can really do about it.. lol.
-Jason
I like the idea of the kindle and I think it will makes it more accessible including people having a wider a range of topics at their finger tips but unfortunately it is not available in England and I would have thought it would have been a lot more expensive than for the us.
I think this is really great but as you say Nathan you cant beat a real book!
I’m glad after visiting your blog:) Admirable information about new Kindle. It’s looking very stylish in the above picture.
Wow, i never heard of this one before… I love this neat design. After reading your post I realize I am not at all up to date on all these things, there are so much new project I never heard about… :-0
Just came across your blog on Google. Interesting post, you bring up a few good things to think about. Good luck with the blog.
I travel a great deal and love the idea of having a reader to take with me. I am looking at the Sony vs Kindle but can’t see to find any comments from anyone about functionality to do things like highlight sections or making notes in margins. Am I the only one who loves making my books look well used?