[sfernald]

Got it in the mail today and I've been able to play with it for a few hours now. I own the kindle 1 and sony 505 as well.

Here are some of my observations:

It is really thin and small, especially compared to the original kindle. I mean the old one was like a book, this one is like a pamphlet. The fit and finish is outstanding. The buttons aren't loose like the original kindle. The device is sturdy and sharp looking and feels well put together. I would say the quality closely matches something that Apple or Sony would produce. It has a strong metal backing and although I really liked the rubber backing for the original kindle, this one won't be popping out if I put too much pressure on it.

The buttons now press inward (toward the screen) rather than outward. This was really weird and I'm still adjusting to it. I'll have to retrain my hands because it is so foreign compared to my kindle. The result is no accidental presses. Also, when you set it down, no accidental presses. I can't tell you how many times, with my original kindle, the page would jump randomly when I put it down or pressed it accidentally. Buttons still big enough to press easily but not nearly as big now.

The thing is beautiful. I thought the original kindle was actually quite attractive in its own way, but this one blows it away. Much cleaner.

Screen seems better (a little maybe). Hard to tell difference from original kindle. Looks about as good as the 505 I would say.

The page changes are much faster now. It is a big improvement.

I like the little joystick. I liked the quicksilver scrollbar, but this is definitely faster and more useful. Flipping through the links in a table of contents is a little too slow for my liking. Should be better.

I redownloaded all my books from amazon.com and then I copied everything over from my original kindle documents directory. What I found then is that some of my books would not open. I had to delete them and then have them resent from amazon.com. I think you can transfer non drm files via usb, but drm files have to be transferred via amazon.com. By the way, the usb access seemed faster and files copied very fast.

The text to speech is really good. Much better than I expected. I could actually see listening to a story on a plane or something if I felt like an audio book. This will be a much praised feature of the kindle 2.

Overall, I love my new kindle 2. It is a great upgrade and I'm sure everyone will love it even more than the Kindle (which was great on its own). Keep it up Amazon!! Great job!