What's New With the Kindle 2?

Monday morning Amazon (AMZN) officially announced its second-generation ebook, the Kindle 2 (although leaked photographs of the device have been floating around the internet for some time now).

All-in-all, the new Kindle is a modest step up from the first generation, introducing nothing too radical to the design or functionality but improving the device in a variety of incremental ways.

So just what’s new and different? We’ll take you through the highlights below. If you’ve spotted any other important differences, please let us know in the comments.

• The new Kindle is slightly lighter. The first generation weighed 10.3 ounces while the second weighs only 10.2 ounces.
• It’s much less ugly. Gone is the retro look of the first generation for a curvier and more symmetrical design that (like every other mobile device hitting the market these days) borrows elements from the iPhone.
• The screen has a higher wow factor At six inches tall, it can display 16 shades of gray, and it can turn pages 20% faster.
• It can actually speak to you Amazon’s new Text-to-Speech feature will use a computerized voice to read any book to you in one of three speech rates, and in either a male or female voice.
• The new controls are better designed. Instead of a weird slider on the right-hand side that’s used to move from line to line, there’s a new 5-way joystick. The keyboard is also no longer split into two regions like those funky desktop keyboards you see at Fry’s but never buy.
• There’s been no price drop It still costs roughly the same amount ($359) but at least there’s still no monthly wireless fee for downloading books, magazines, etc.
• It can hold a much bigger library Storage has been boosted to 7x the original size, allowing the device to carry over 1,500 titles at a time.
• It downloads content just as fast. Amazon is touting 60 second downloads for books, etc. — the same rate it gave for the first Kindle.
• You can pick up your reading on a separate Kindle. I’m not sure how useful this will actually be for people, but a new feature called “Whispersync bookmarking” makes it possible to start reading a book on one Kindle then continue reading it on another, just where you left off.
• It still comes in only one color. White.

Some other important facts about the Kindle:

• Amazon has sold 230,000 Kindles to date, which makes up a whopping 10% of the total units sold by the company Apparently, there’s been some confusion. Per a comment below, “They mean that there’s 230,000 books available on the site, and that Kindle book purchases make up 10% of all book purchases. Nothing was said about actual Kindle sales numbers.”
• The new Kindle is available for pre-order now and it’ll start shipping February 24th. Owners of the previous Kindle will get prioritized shipping if they order by tonight, and anyone who has already ordered the first Kindle will automatically have their orders upgraded to the new one.
• The Kindle Store now carries 230,000 books, up from the 90,000 available when the first Kindle launched.
• 103 of the 110 New York Times best sellers are available, just a slight improvement over the 101 available at the first device’s launch.
• Jeff Bezos has talked about how Amazon is working to get the Kindle’s books on other mobile devices. No word yet on which and when, but Amazon has competition here.

Original post

Comments

[X86BSD:]

There is no mention of kindle sales numbers because it's not selling.
This is the biggest waste of money for Amazon. No one is buying this thing. It's a novelty. Especially for $359. They might as well rename it the Titanic. Amazon Kindle == FAIL.

Feb 09 01:34 PM

[Mr. Nosuch:]

My wife and I own two Kindles. If you are an avid reader, it's a great device. But I think the price point is discouraging for most people.

For active readers who travel or have a non-driving commute, it's a godsend.

Feb 09 01:58 PM

[edtheincome...:]

As an active investor, I have lot of research, reading, prospectus, reports, and newsletters to go thru. The Kindle is perfect! I brought mine on EBAY for $200.

Feb 09 02:40 PM

[raytayzmd:]

...what is often overlooked in the price analysis is that Kindle books sell considerably cheaper than paper -- not to mention savings in shipping charges...if you're an active reader you recoup your initial cost in probably less than 25 books.

Feb 09 03:29 PM

[Between The...:]

The first Kindle sold like hotcakes and was unavailable for both of the last two years' holiday shopping if one didn't order well before Dec 25. I got mine in mid-Nov, has been an excellent investment for someone who reads lots of books on the go. As raytayzmd mentioned, the books, magazines, and newspapers are cheaper than print, so you can catch up pretty fast on cost if you read a lot.

Feb 09 05:30 PM

[dingojoe:]

Based on Amazon's prices you'd break even after buying about 40 Hardcovers or about 150 paperbacks. I guess it's good for the voracious reader and/or the frequent air/train traveler. Unless you can start pirating books like you can music and video, in which case I guess it's a mixed bag for Amazon, as Kindle sales would increase and Kindle book sales crash.

Feb 09 11:36 PM

[iyamwutiam:]

I don't know about pirting books but a lot of classica and educational materials are freely available in PDF. I learned Spanish, French and statistics all from PDF. There is a ton of material. Also if you like to listen to poetry -try librivox.org - its free !
I just can't understand the mentality that if its free and doesn't come packaged in pretty box -that it somehow isn't good. I am not sure about the the kindle - but I can see the mentality - like the iPod -nothing you but a click wheel -and really Archos was miles ahread in terms of sound quality, etc. It's not like other products weren't out there comparitively better.

Guess they took a page out of microsoft -that way -poor product, better marketig and leveraging -and whaddya know -consumers loose and now pay for stuff they didn't and finally get the SQ they had in the beginning by the 'fourth' generation or later.

What a country -no wonder everyone is in debt.

Feb 10 12:40 AM

[vassar:]

Big deal - K2 has a 0.1 weight advantage over K1.

Big negative - K2 does not have SD support like the K1.

Is it true that Amazon charges one to convert files to pdf format?

Feb 10 08:31 AM

[GSlusher:]

Not necessarily. Kindle books are cheaper only when compared to full retail (that's the comparison Amazon uses to hype the Kindle) or Amazon's regular price for new books--and, sometimes, they're not even cheaper than that.

Do a bit of digging and check the prices of books from Amazon Marketplace (used or even new). They're often cheaper than the Kindle version.

Then, there's the little fact that you can't sell a Kindle book when you're through reading it. Buy a used book, read it, then sell it, even to your local used bookstore. Heck, you can even donate it and take part of the cost as a tax deduction.


On Feb 09 03:29 PM raytayzmd wrote:

> ...what is often overlooked in the price analysis is that Kindle
> books sell considerably cheaper than paper -- not to mention savings
> in shipping charges...if you're an active reader you recoup your
> initial cost in probably less than 25 books.

Feb 10 02:44 PM