Amazon’s Kindle brought the eBook to the masses, and with the Kindle 2, they’re hoping an evolution of the design will help even more people discover the convenience of digital reading.
At just over 1/3 of an inch thick, and weighing in at just 10.2 ounces, it’s much smaller and lighter than you would expect, and with free 3G wireless connectivity, you can enjoy a book whenever and wherever you happen to be.
The Kindle 2 also features a new display that can show up to 16 shades of gray, 25% longer battery life, enough storage for 1,500 books, 20% faster page turns, and even a new text-to-speech feature that reads your content to you if you’re feeling particularly lazy.
Since just about every blog in existence has already profiled and reviewed the Kindle 2, I thought I’d just gather together a few of their thoughts so that you can see what everyone thinks of this device:
Engadget: “It really does feel great in hand. The brushed metal back is great, the device is incredibly light and comfortable to hold, and the keyboard is fairly usable. We’re not convinced the five-way joystick is the best they possible could’ve worked into this space- a d-pad seems much more logical – but it’s responsive and comfortable enough to twiddle with for what it is.”
Gizmodo: “The overall handfeel is a lot nicer. While part of me loves the snowspeeder original, this just feels better in your hand, and it obviously looks a lot slicker. Though at the same time, that iPod-like slickness is a bit less daring than the original.”
CrunchGear: “The difference in size is absolutely the most striking aspect of the new Kindle. Text-to-Speech is cool, but this is day and night when it comes to size.”
Ars Technica: “Overall, I have to say that the Kindle 2 is a far superior device to the first iteration, and really shows an attention to detail that, based on the earlier device, it wasn’t clear that Amazon had in it. More significantly, perhaps, is the fact that the company has clearly made sensible fixes to many of the problems, which demonstrates a clear commitment to listening to its customers. The changes give me hope that, when the hardware’s ready, the remaining issues (primarily the keyboard and the small screen) will be fixed. It makes me anxious to see what’s in store for Kindle 3.”
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With the Kindle, Amazon hopes to revolutionize (and digitize) the book.
