Amazon today unveiled the new Kindle e-reader, though it was not personally revealed by Bezos, as we heard rumored. The new device has a 6″ display like the old Kindle, but is the newer type of E-ink display found in the Kindle DX Graphite. There are other differences, but the main one would be price: the brand-new Kindle will be sold at $139 for the Wi-Fi only version, undercutting even the bare bones readers out there.
In addition to the price and screen change, the redesigned body is 21% smaller and 15% lighter, down to about 8.5oz. If their press release is to be believed, it’s also got twice the storage (4GB) and significantly improved battery life over the old Kindle.
They say they’ve updated the web browser, which is nice, I suppose, but the idea of an E-ink web browser still leaves me cold. Focus on the reading experience and leave the browsing to iPads. There is a new voice navigation option, though, which sounds handy — I look forward to barking “next page!” at my e-reader in a crowded cafe. Apparently not… although there is a microphone. I swear I saw this on the features list. Why would I make it up?
Personally, I think this is a nice little improvement. The streamlined, lighter body plus the new E-ink screen make it a legitimate step up from both the old version and other e-readers on the market. We’ll have a full review as soon as we get our hands on one.
The 3G version will sell for $189. For the UK, the prices will be £109 and £149.
Some other features we’ve noted since the announcement, that didn’t make it into the post:
The 3G/Wi-Fi version is available in white or graphite, while the Wi-Fi-only version just comes in graphite.
The Wi-Fi-only version has significantly better battery life due to the power requirements of the 3G radio. If you only turn on 3G when you need it, though, the difference should be negligible.
There are a few new font choices: a condensed version of the original “Caecelia” font, a sans-serif version, and now there is also support for Cyrillic, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Korean characters in addition to Latin and Greek scripts. Handy if those are, you know, the language you read in.
Sold.
Agree. Put me down for a pre-order at 8am tomorrow. Already promised my Kindle2 to my sister.
so where do i buy it? delivery when?
eh, and that’s in Canada, eh….
I ordered one on the 22nd July… they didn’t say it was out of stock but still haven’t delivered it. I’ve emailed them twice and their reply is:
“Due to high customer demand, we don’t have enough of Kindle on hand to immediately fulfill the large number of orders we’ve received. We’re manufacturing more Kindles and prioritizing orders on a first come, first served basis.”
Wonder if I’m getting a new one! :)
I’ll buy one of the wi-fi versions. The price is too good to beat.
Amazon has a nice combo going on there. Eventually (if that’s not what we’re seeing now) it’ll be able to hyper subsidize the hardware with e-book sale profits. Bezos is right, the Kindle is in a different product category than the tablets.
Definitely has my attention! I wonder how it will stack up to the Pandigital Novel that has a color display for both reading and web surfing. Hmmmm…
You still don’t get it, do you?
Exactly. Kindle is a tool for reading books not for being interrupted by myriad other features.
The Kindle is one of the most satisfying devices i have ever owned. It allows me to escape from the computer i sit in front of all day long. Highly recommended if you’d like to read more.
2nd
My wife swears by hers. The weight and size are spot on. Kindles like iPads are in a class by themselves.
Read http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/07/29/why-do-people-want-the-kindle-to-be-the-ipad-theyre-two-different-products-for-a-reason/ to understand.
Sure, let me know when they drop the DRM so that I actually own the content I’m “buying” from Amazon.
It’ll be down to 99 bucks by Xmas.
The DRM is easy to remove
The DRM is illegal to remove
(in most countries)
I dont see what your point is…
It’s illegal to say bad things about Kim Jon Il in N. Korea.. Does that make it right?
Child pornography is legal in Japan. Does that mean its ok?
I would hate to think that you’re the kind of person that allows governments/corporations to act as your moral compass.
So, if it was not illegal to remove the DRM, how would one do that?
http://calibre-ebook.com/ is one.
I give a crap about DRM when my sole purpose is to take personal backups of books I have legitimately bought, or to read it on OSes I use which doesn’t have a native Kindle app.
I like the black!
I will definitely get one of those too. Good price!
You guys are way off on the pricing, the 3G version is listed for $379.00
my bad, looked at the wrong device
Hopefully white is still an option. Black looks cool but I think it might be hard to read with such a dark border.
Anyway, love my Kindle 2….best device I’ve ever owned.
White seems to be an option for the 3G model, but not the graphite (black) one.
White and graphite for 3G/wifi version, graphite only for wifi only model. I ordered the graphite 3G/wifi.
For international pre-orders (at least to Finland) the graphite seems to be the only option even for 3G/wifi, for some reason.
Amazon Kindle: still does 1/10000th of what the iPad does.
But does that one thing 10000 times better.
I have a fine Henckles set of knifes, I use whichever is the best for my particular cutting need. I could have purchased an all-in-one IKEA knife that cuts everything poorly, but I chose not to.
As a happy iPad owner, I’m pleased to see the Kindle stick to the knitting here. Plenty of room in the world for different devices that do different things.
Of course, if the Kindle browser gets a Safari-like “Reader” button, stripping out all but an article’s text from the rest of a news site page, I’d be a happy Kindle owner as well.
Can you read outside in direct sunlight with it?
true, but who cares? The Kindle is a pure reading device and has never wanted to be more than that. Sure, the iPad is great, but why can’t both devices exist?
yes!
>>Amazon Kindle: still does 1/10000th of what the iPad does.
And is 5x the price. My grandmother doesnt need an ipad. She has, however expressed an interest in the kindle.
Apple iPad: still only does 1/10000th of what my laptop does.
I want a Kindle, because I want to read while I’m on the train and at home, without having to go to the library, or start a book collection which I don’t have the shelf space for. However, an iPad has nothing to offer me: I have an ipod touch, and I only use it to listen to music anyways.
I’d get a tablet with Chrome OS, though. Provided it’s at the right price.
^For ~1/3rd of the price. Math doesn’t exactly add up.
You are simple a moron. No other way to put it, sorry.
You don’t get it.
The Kindle is smaller, lighter, more readable.
That is what counts.
Right, for those of us who can read. those who need other things to entertain them buy the iPad. They need video, too much trouble to read.
Except, it’s not ALL video. How would I watch the movies I downloaded though torrents? iTunes doesn’t seem to like them.
The iPad is limited also.
And you have to pay a monthly subscription to use the ipad, before you even look at content. Every month that goes by, the Kindle is cheaper and cheaper than the ipad.
If apple made this you would have gushed all over it. “nice little improvement…” is all Amazon get.
For $139 this is a brilliant device. If you actually enjoy reading this is way better then the iPad or other multi use devices.
Sold.
I’ve been waiting long enough and the price is what I would have liked to have paid (within a couple of dollars).
Non-tech websites such as MSN covered the new Kindle much better. Techcrunch, being one of the premium members of the the Apple Fan Boys Club, cannot be expected to go beyond this. The new Kindly battery can last up to a month! Also, Amazon has launched a reading light as an addon; but I don’t think that they are pushing it; it is purposely priced high (at %59), I guess.
“You’ll be able to pick one up at your ‘local’ Amazon.com as soon as they go live.”
Nice. haha
You pick it up at their bricks and mortar retailer, Target.
They can change the price and the packaging all they want: as long as they insist on supporting only their braindead proprietary DRM encumbered format (azw) and keep refusing to add support for the open format now used by virtually everyone else (epub), I am buying neither e-reader nor e-book from them.
You’re free to do that, of course. But now that Amazon is selling more Kindle books than hardcover physical copies, don’t expect them to change their business strategy any times soon.
I wonder how much of a reason that “everyone else” is using epub is because they’re afraid of the Kindle? How many of the “everyone else” is using Adobe’s DRM for epub, as is allowed in the specification? (along with any other compatible DRM of the distributor’s choosing) This could potentially make it really frustrating for someone who is touting the joys of an open format, only to realize that since it’s left to publisher’s choice which DRM to use, any given epub reader can’t guarantee that it’ll accept any given DRM’ed epub book.
Anyway, Amazon is as likely to drop their Kindle DRM as Apple is to open-source iOS.
That’s why I am as likely to buy a Kindle as I am to buy an iPhone…
I’ll stick to open platforms with Android and Nook.
By the way, at $149 for wifi and $199 for 3G, the Barnes&Noble Nook is only $10 more expensive. That’s a 5% price difference to avoid amazon vendor lock-in. Looks like a no-brainer to me…
picture is wrong though – they say it is the same 6” screen and the device is smaller. the picture makes it look as if the device is the same but the screen is a bit bigger…
You’re right… Here’s a correct version: http://sagaciousfoo.com/misc/newkindle.jpg
that would be a little something called optical illusion.
I actually threw that pic together before I had that official comparison pic, I switched it out shortly after though. Good eye.
Color illustrations.
Nice improvements, especially in terms of battery life. My one drawback from the Kindle is the clunky physical keyboard. I’d buy in in a second if they just had a virtual keyboard.
true, keyboard sucks…..but how much do you really need to use a keyboard when reading? Remember, it is a reading device…..nothing more.
One more reason to get rid of the physical keyboard. It’s only a matter of time before these (mostly) useless features lose their dimension.
What is clunky about the keyboard? I use it all the time to add annotations to books. I prefer it much more than my iphone’ virtual keyboard. Removing kindle keyboard is something from my worst nightmare.
“my worst nightmare”…haha
Since I’m not actually a proud Kindle owner, I’ll have to take your advice. However, I do think there is room for improvement with a keyboard that occupies over a quarter of the screen at all times.
Amazon intentionally will not use touchscreen since the overlay for it causes glare in direct sunlight. They only build in features that make it more like a book.
Might want to link to the product http://www.kindle.com/ or news release http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1453463&highlight= in the story next time.
the links weren’t live when I wrote this… but they are now and I’ve added links for your convenience.
I love my nook, but am wondering if I’m missing something because the nook seems to blow the kindle out of the water based on the nook having all these things that the kindle doesn’t:
-color touchscreen
-memory storage expansion
-more than 1 million titles
-lend books to friends
-Android platform
-a physical store to take it to with problems
-only $10 more
etc, etc, etc:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/compare/index.asp
that’s really helpful–thanks for posting that! my main desire for an ereader isn’t about books (i’m an editor and read for a living, so i do very little leisure reading) but PDFs. i’m a knitter and would love to be able to load patterns i buy online *and* patterns i scan from my hard-copy library onto something super portable for vacations, trips to the knitting shop, whatever. and i like the interface on this better than the kindle. this might be a good way for me to satisfy my silly craving without plunking down the $$ for an ipad. (i have and love my iphone, but the screen is just tiny for my purposes.)
Use the Nook and you’ll see the differences. For one thing the new Kindle is 8.7 oz and the Nook is something like 12, most books are cheaper on Amazon.com than on the B&N bookstore, the Kindle screen is DRASTICALLY better (50% more contrast), the color LCD “strip” on the nook drains battery life and is distracting. The 1Mil+ books B&N mentions includes old free books. Kindle supports 2Mil+ using the same math. Overall the Kindle platform has been around for three years and that has added so much more polish to the experience as well..
Add to that webkit based browsing on the Kindle, MP3 player, etc + lower price and there is no comparison.
I don’t know ANYONE who has actually filled 4 GIGs of space with books, so the extra memory slot on the B&N is a technical “spec” advantage that in real life counts absolutely nothing.
The nook crashes every few days, needs frequent charging, and once B&N decides to exit the Nook hardware business in a few months when prices tumble some more you’ll have a brick in your hands (just like the “Cooler Reader” that recently pulled out).
Great perspective from Seth Godin on kindle… RT @ThisIsSethsBlog Seth’s Blog: Here comes the paperback Kindle… as promised http://bit.ly/bA6Mbr
So much for Border’s ereader.
@lisabee: Thanks for your thoughts as well! You bring up some interesting points. The ability to download crochet or knitting patterns to an e-reader would be a nice plus. I was considering the Pandigital Novel, because I thought it would solve all my “wants,” but after reading the reviews here, it sounds like it doesn’t really like up to expectations.
I’m still having trouble justifying the big $$$ for an iPad though.
I’m not sure I fully understand the differences between $139 Kindle and the 3G one. Could someone illuminate the differences, please?
whatup dawg. lemme break it down for ya:
3g lets you download shit on the go wherever, whenever; it don’t give a fuck. Wifi means you need a wifi network to connect to if you wanna buy books and all that.
NOW i understand…thanks Xhibit for that hilarious response.
It look much nicer, more sleak. It is, however, really going to struggle against the all singing, all dancing, iPad I would think.
Ok, I’ll adress some of your comments..
About DRM – people, have you heard of pdf?
I mean, really, who considers mp3 costs when buying an iPod or whatever? No one. People just download them. Same here with books – if THAT’S your complaint.
Kindle vs. iPad – iPad is for animated lil things, playing games and watching videos, NOT for reading. Anyone who’s a hardcore reader will understand the Kindle, anyone who’s not, won’t need one and won’t understand, why try to compare?
I don’t see a reason for the keyboard. I don’t do notes, so I was inclined to buy a cool-er (also because of issues with taxes in Brazil, where I live) that has no keyboard, just the lil arrows to browse menus and pages…
There is only ONE reason that kept me from buying a Kindle so far: Taxes. Brazil asks for 100% taxes on eletronic devices, so from 190US$, it went to 380US$, being that I make 250US$ a month, you can see how screwed brazilians are. Just thought I’d mention that *lol*
What’s also great about this new device is that it will feature international fonts! – http://blogkindle.com/2010/07/kindle-3-released/
I’m definitely tempted.
It’ll be interesting to see what other e-books are brought out in response.
The WiFi interface alone makes this a good buy. My Kindle 2nd Gen and Kindle DX get terrible service from Sprint’s network; having a WiFi option that provides better connectivity performance and more reliable service is a great step-up for Amazon.
Duh, the voice navigation is so you can read in your car without taking your hands off the wheel.
I do like the design of new Kindle and the price for Wi-Fi version is unbeatable.
Wish they went with a 7 or 8″ screen.
And B&N passive aggressively announces a $129 Nook without mentioning the Kindle in the statement in… 3… 2…
The e-reader market is so fun to watch. They keep this up though these things will cost $49-$99 by mid 2011. There is a bottom floor here they are racing towards.
Arguably though, a “single purpose” device like this needs to hit that sub-$100 price point to get true widespread adoption. Certainly the impulse buy potential for customers would go massively up at that point. Though it seems if you are hoping for mass adoption that would be best helped by getting it into major retailers, Walmart and Best Buy especially.
And of course, ebook margins are good. So an ereader company can sell at cost and still make good profits by selling books of course. Even operate at a loss on the actual ereader sale and distribution and make it up on books if they wish to be aggressive. It’s going to be interesting, it’s a cutthroat market, even with the Kindle seemingly having “won” the market, atleast for dedicated ereaders, basically before it even started.
(And I do wonder about this aggressive price point, is it in response to Apple, or Barnes&Noble? [And Sony and Borders and the rest, I suppose.] Both to an extent obviously, but the motivation behind the move is interesting.)
@Matt – That is an interesting observation. It makes me think of the price of printers now vs. the ink. The printers are incredibly cheap, considering their features, because they know you will always need to purchase ink, so that’s where they get you.
I don’t get the point about DRM and PDF? Are you saying that we shouldn’t worry about the inability to read epub because there’s pdf?
The two don’t seem really comparable. EPUB is a display neutral format like HTML, whereas PDF is aimed at presenting a page-like layout for a fixed size page.
The two don’t really fill the same niche…
BTW, anyone know what happens about non-standard fonts? E.g., what happens if I try to read one of my scientific papers, with latex mathmode in it? Can the Kindle do that?
New and improved and cheaper, I want one I just don’t know if I should go for the more expensive one… is 3G worth it? I think I will be using it at home most of the time but i dont know…
I wonder if sensors on the Ipad virtual keyboard would wear out and/or malfunction sooner as opposed to a physical keyboard that the Kindle has.
It is amazing, i love technologies age :D
technologies age?
My wife wants some kind of reader. The revamped Kindle is sounding good.
One of the questions was if you could sell or give away the “books” after you’re done.
One of the posts mentions DRM, so I guess if you could sell your books it would have to be to another Kindle owner? Or is the DRM locked to the purchaser?
If requesed,I can breakdown and engineer any technical device for techncial details.
masimshehzad.blogspot.com
So are you saying to just get the wifi w/o the 3g unless you are leaving the country? If I have a kindle and am sitting in Barnes &Noble can I still get on my Kindle to order from Amazon?The 3g would be if I’m sailing way out to sea and wanted to order is that right? What if I want to order books from another country say Amazon UK but I’m here in my house in US would they still say unavailable unless I had the 3g? Why is this 3g thing confusing me. Can someone break it down pretty please. Even though it doesn’t seem like it I do know how to read, just not comprehend so it seems. Thankx for your patience.
To: One more time,
Re your question –
WiFi is done via ‘local’ area networks only and requires a local network set up to do WiFi. Examples: in the home, the office, or at places like Starbucks or McDonalds. If you can find a ‘hotspot’ that has it, you might need to use a passkey sequence to get into it or maybe a small charge. Starbucks and McDonalds give free access. But you have to be there to get it.
3G is done with cellular or mobile networks — this type is, as with cellphones, accessible over the air almost anywhere. You can be on a bus or at the beach and it can work there.
And if your country has web-browser enabled through 3G, you’ll be able to use that feature in other countries as well.
great one..Nice post
This is out of the New Kindle User’s Guide
Voice Guide — Lets you navigate your Kindle with spoken menus, selectable items, and descriptions.