Report: Not one, but several Kindle successors in the works! - Page 2

TheJohnNewton · 08-25-2008, 02:48 PM

Wake me when an actual new model is available for purchase. Until then I won't be sweating much just laughing at all the speculation. Besides, while a new model with different features, aimed at a different audience, could make sense as an addition, I don't know what they could do to the current model that would warrant an upgrade.

exreader · 08-25-2008, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJohnNewton

Wake me when an actual new model is available for purchase. Until then I won't be sweating much just laughing at all the speculation. Besides, while a new model with different features, aimed at a different audience, could make sense as an addition, I don't know what they could do to the current model that would warrant an upgrade.

the large model astak will likely be on the market long before kindle 2 comes out. that looks interesting, esp if it can handle pdfs WELL. and i mean VERY WELL. 8x11. mmm. likely, they won't be the only ones. pity it can't handle mobipocket, but it CAN html. goody

i would like to see at LEAST 16 greyscales for a kindle 2, faster refresh/page turning rates, like pretty fast. as i recall, with my college texts, as now with references for work, i want to be looking at multiple places and flip around FAST. ebooks are great for linear reading, but well, even with bookmarks, well, not so much the flipping about.

so yes, me too. wake me when there is product on the shelves. a design on paper means nothing. a prototype for demo maybe... but what's it going to be? 6 months? a year. no hurry.

exreader

RWood · 08-25-2008, 10:45 PM

For those of us that received a BA rather than a BS degree in college, there were many trade paperbacks of the classics that we had to read. Over one-half of the basic course requirements I had are currently available free from the MobileRead download area. Several of the 500 and 600 level classes I took are also completely represented in the download section. Most of the supplementary texts for the history courses were in the public domain then. (The goal was for reading of contemporary texts to the period you were studying.) All of these books were text only, often with no illustration even on the cover.

I never wrote in my books, I still don’t write in books.

For the liberal art courses an electronic book like reader would be a boon. Replacing first year lit course books alone should more than pay for the unit.

soilwork · 08-26-2008, 03:09 AM

I come across this (yet another) article about new Kindle.
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thre...omes_kind.html

Some points that I noticed while browsing are:
- Bigger screen
- Improved user interface
- Better design (designed by frogdesign)
- Cheaper price (249~299$)

The article says,

Quote:

I’m told the price of the new model will come down to $299 or maybe $249.

I am not sure how much I should believe the expected price since it is hard to imagine charging lower price for bigger screen.

Alexander Turcic · 08-26-2008, 07:06 AM

Ahh, the BusinessWeek article is quite revealing (if what it says is true). With a bigger screen at a lower price - yum!!

pilotbob · 08-26-2008, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Ahh, the BusinessWeek article is quite revealing (if what it says is true). With a bigger screen at a lower price - yum!!

That's not how I read it. He was talking about the new model to replace the current one being cheaper. Of course it doesn't take Carnac to make a prediction that tech will get smaller and cheaper as time goes by now does it.

BOb

Liviu_5 · 08-26-2008, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soilwork

I come across this (yet another) article about new Kindle.

The comments there offer several extra links of interest including about the performance of NYT on the Kindle
Excellent find

Alexander Turcic · 08-26-2008, 01:35 PM

Our friends from Engadget is pointing out an amusing fact (from the BusinessWeek article above):

Quote:

Interestingly, Kindle 2.0's design is being lead by a designer hired from the powerhouse shop, Frog Design. A group which just happened to give the Kindle a very public and very critical tongue lashing at its November 2007 launch. We guess this squeaky wheel received its oil in the form of a giant cash payment.

Click here for frog design's take on the current Kindle. I guess we can take everything negative they guys have to say to get an idea how Kindle 2.0 might differ.

questionfear · 08-26-2008, 04:27 PM

Agreed that liberal arts students could really benefit from ebook texts. I majored in philosophy, and often we had to pay $50-60 for course packs that were just photocopied and bound articles. Essentially we paid for the mass production. If they could have been distributed as a flash drive then we could have been charged a fraction of that and everyone could still take their ridiculous profits.

exreader · 08-26-2008, 09:28 PM

i saw a blurb about a $100 off a kindle now, if you sign up for [their] visa card... dumpage of stock? mmm.

now, here's the thing. they are claiming in some articles *better* screen. okay. better how? 8 or 16 graylevels would be INTERESTING.

larger would also be nice.

but right now, update the OS, and give me hierarchies. it's easy. it's natural. do it amazon! do it now! i want more features. now. it's been 9++ months. gimme!

also, with the lowered prices, and effective probably lowered prices... what does that say to folx that want to sell their current hardware and upgrade? can you say "boned"? i knew you could. oddly enough, in the iPhone arena, the original iPhones are command VERY good prices. in some cases, i think some folx are willing to trade 1:1. nice.

i don't think i'd sell Kindle 1.0 for less than $150, and well, that's what it's going to take when the time comes. i'd rather have several devices, and be able to loan it out, than simply take a beating on resale.

exreader

Slow_hand · 08-28-2008, 05:48 PM

Interesting that no one has mentioned an 8-1/2 x 11" screen would be ideal for PDF. Most PDF's are formatted for this size and would not have to be reformatted at all. I believe Amazon is going to this size in response to complaints about PDF's on the kindle.

All university Libraries are going to electronic resources, ebooks and ejournals, which are in PDF. You would be shocked at the extent ejournals have already replaced the paper versions. Students researching papers could ideally download what they need, for free, and make annotations on this type of device. If the new device had access to textbooks it could fill a niche, especially if supported by the universities.

And no, reading off a LCD screen is not the same as reading off an E-Ink screen, despite what laptoppers and Ipodders say, most of whom have never seen E-ink. Many of the students I work with hate extensive reading off a PC/laptop monitor. A lot of them just print the PDF and read it. E-ink is far superior to LCD as far as text goes. I await the next generation to see if graphics are improved.

DaleDe · 08-28-2008, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slow_hand

Interesting that no one has mentioned an 8-1/2 x 11" screen would be ideal for PDF. Most PDF's are formatted for this size and would not have to be reformatted at all. I believe Amazon is going to this size in response to complaints about PDF's on the kindle.

All university Libraries are going to electronic resources, ebooks and ejournals, which are in PDF. You would be shocked at the extent ejournals have already replaced the paper versions. Students researching papers could ideally download what they need, for free, and make annotations on this type of device. If the new device had access to textbooks it could fill a niche, especially if supported by the universities.

And no, reading off a LCD screen is not the same as reading off an E-Ink screen, despite what laptoppers and Ipodders say, most of whom have never seen E-ink. Many of the students I work with hate extensive reading off a PC/laptop monitor. A lot of them just print the PDF and read it. E-ink is far superior to LCD as far as text goes. I await the next generation to see if graphics are improved.

A screen this big does not exist in E-Ink. The biggest screen on the drawing board is 9.7" diagonal which is way smaller than the screen you want which would be about 15" diagonal and after the case dimensions were added the unit would be too big to carry conveniently.

RickyMaveety · 08-28-2008, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Ok... if you bought all the books from Amazon, then you can just download them again. Amazon pays for this via Wispernet. (Yes it is pretty trivial when you consider the size of an ebook.) You would need to register you new Kindle to your account. You can download the books from the Kindle itself using the Content Manager. Or, you can go online to the "manage my Kindle" page and have the books sent to the Kindle.

If they are books you didn't buy from Amazon, I assume you have them backed up yourself, on your PC. In that case, just connect to your PC with USB and copy the files over.

Hope this answered your questions.

BOb

I've even backed up those books I did buy from Amazon. When and if I upgrade to the next generation of Kindle, I plan to register the new device and then simply copy all my books from my PC to my new Kindle.

Dylrob · 08-28-2008, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

A screen this big does not exist in E-Ink. The biggest screen on the drawing board is 9.7" diagonal which is way smaller than the screen you want which would be about 15" diagonal and after the case dimensions were added the unit would be too big to carry conveniently.

At least with a conventional display. Now it could be a whole different story once someone devises a considerably scaled up version of the Readius. (To me it's not a question of "if", but rather "when")

JSWolf · 08-28-2008, 08:58 PM

If you are seriously waiting for a Kindle with a bigger screen to come out this year, dream on. It won't happen till next year, Summer at best we think. Just look at all the devices announced with 9.7" screens. They were supposed to come out this year. They won't be. Nor will any new Kindle with a large screen. So if you want to wait, feel free. But just don't be disseminated that if it does come out that it won't be this year.

If you wait, you could be waiting almost a year if speculations are true. In this case the speculations on when the 9.7" screen are due are more in line with reality then any new Kindle with a larger screen due out this year.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Free Report (Kindle) - Economic Report of the President	koland	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	5	02-13-2010 12:07 PM
Report Federal Pork, Win a Kindle (Wired)	Donnageddon	Amazon Kindle	2	07-24-2009 12:12 PM
Amazon Kindle not coming to Germany any time soon, says report	Alexander Turcic	News	64	07-01-2009 03:48 PM
Report: A Kindle for college kids?	Madam Broshkina	Amazon Kindle	26	02-22-2009 02:48 AM
Government US Copyright Office: Report on Orphan Works. US Copyright Office. PDF	Nate the great	Other Books	0	01-03-2008 07:16 PM

08-25-2008, 02:48 PM	#16
TheJohnNewton Addict Posts: 256 Karma: 144599 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Boox Nova 2	Wake me when an actual new model is available for purchase. Until then I won't be sweating much just laughing at all the speculation. Besides, while a new model with different features, aimed at a different audience, could make sense as an addition, I don't know what they could do to the current model that would warrant an upgrade.

08-25-2008, 10:45 PM	#18
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	For those of us that received a BA rather than a BS degree in college, there were many trade paperbacks of the classics that we had to read. Over one-half of the basic course requirements I had are currently available free from the MobileRead download area. Several of the 500 and 600 level classes I took are also completely represented in the download section. Most of the supplementary texts for the history courses were in the public domain then. (The goal was for reading of contemporary texts to the period you were studying.) All of these books were text only, often with no illustration even on the cover. I never wrote in my books, I still don’t write in books. For the liberal art courses an electronic book like reader would be a boon. Replacing first year lit course books alone should more than pay for the unit.

08-26-2008, 07:06 AM	#20
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,171 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Ahh, the BusinessWeek article is quite revealing (if what it says is true). With a bigger screen at a lower price - yum!!

08-26-2008, 04:27 PM	#24
questionfear Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 1516 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Amazon Kindle 3	Agreed that liberal arts students could really benefit from ebook texts. I majored in philosophy, and often we had to pay $50-60 for course packs that were just photocopied and bound articles. Essentially we paid for the mass production. If they could have been distributed as a flash drive then we could have been charged a fraction of that and everyone could still take their ridiculous profits.

08-26-2008, 09:28 PM	#25
exreader exanimate ex post facto Posts: 55 Karma: 30 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Kindle	i saw a blurb about a $100 off a kindle now, if you sign up for [their] visa card... dumpage of stock? mmm. now, here's the thing. they are claiming in some articles better screen. okay. better how? 8 or 16 graylevels would be INTERESTING. larger would also be nice. but right now, update the OS, and give me hierarchies. it's easy. it's natural. do it amazon! do it now! i want more features. now. it's been 9++ months. gimme! also, with the lowered prices, and effective probably lowered prices... what does that say to folx that want to sell their current hardware and upgrade? can you say "boned"? i knew you could. oddly enough, in the iPhone arena, the original iPhones are command VERY good prices. in some cases, i think some folx are willing to trade 1:1. nice. i don't think i'd sell Kindle 1.0 for less than $150, and well, that's what it's going to take when the time comes. i'd rather have several devices, and be able to loan it out, than simply take a beating on resale. exreader

08-28-2008, 05:48 PM	#26
Slow_hand Groupie Posts: 190 Karma: 326 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Baltimore Device: Amazon Kindle 2	Interesting that no one has mentioned an 8-1/2 x 11" screen would be ideal for PDF. Most PDF's are formatted for this size and would not have to be reformatted at all. I believe Amazon is going to this size in response to complaints about PDF's on the kindle. All university Libraries are going to electronic resources, ebooks and ejournals, which are in PDF. You would be shocked at the extent ejournals have already replaced the paper versions. Students researching papers could ideally download what they need, for free, and make annotations on this type of device. If the new device had access to textbooks it could fill a niche, especially if supported by the universities. And no, reading off a LCD screen is not the same as reading off an E-Ink screen, despite what laptoppers and Ipodders say, most of whom have never seen E-ink. Many of the students I work with hate extensive reading off a PC/laptop monitor. A lot of them just print the PDF and read it. E-ink is far superior to LCD as far as text goes. I await the next generation to see if graphics are improved.

08-28-2008, 08:58 PM	#30
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,235 Karma: 145488788 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	If you are seriously waiting for a Kindle with a bigger screen to come out this year, dream on. It won't happen till next year, Summer at best we think. Just look at all the devices announced with 9.7" screens. They were supposed to come out this year. They won't be. Nor will any new Kindle with a large screen. So if you want to wait, feel free. But just don't be disseminated that if it does come out that it won't be this year. If you wait, you could be waiting almost a year if speculations are true. In this case the speculations on when the 9.7" screen are due are more in line with reality then any new Kindle with a larger screen due out this year.