Exclusive: Amazon Kindle 2 official images + price + release date

[andrys]

Originally Posted by Alisa

... I guess if there are enough people that want to upgrade, then there may be some less expensive K1s out there on Ebay but it's not like when the PRS-505 came out. There was a new, better screen. A higher-contrast screen in addition to the new controller might tempt me, but the controller isn't quite enough.

If they had some compelling new firmware features on K2 and not K1 it would be simultaneously tempting and infuriating. Hopefully anything new they add will go to both models.

First, there's no reason why Amazon would not be using, for the Kindle 2, the new e-Ink screen (same size but with 8 levels of color, which makes quite a difference in photos and with faster refreshes so that the black or reverse-image flashes are no longer so annoying and it's faster in general). This should be good for image-loading too, which is very slow on the Kindle 1.

The 8 levels of color alone, over the Kindle 1's 4 levels will make a big difference in illustrations in books and daily newspapers.

[andrys]

Originally Posted by akira28

The Kindle 2 looks nice but there does seem to be a lot of wasted space on the sides and bottom. Surely the keyboard area could have been shrunken much more? If a device is that big the screen should be larger, no?

And what's with the $359 price tag? Technology should get cheaper as it gets more mature.

It has always-available (24/7) Sprint EVDO 3G fast wireless network at no added cost. Useable anywhere you can use a mobile phone on a Sprint network.

No monthly charges. No charges. An iPod, for access to the phone network, will cost you $40 to $60/month?

I use the web browsing capability quite a bit. That part is probably fairly costly for them.

[andrys]

Originally Posted by lovebeta

I never understand why people make SD card such a big issue. The built-in memory can hold 100+ books and that's enough for me. I think it is related to the American super-sized-everything consumerism.

Maybe it makes sense if you want to put mp3s on it. But then again, did anyone seriously use kindle as a mp3 player? audio books?

They do stress you can carry a large library around with you.

Great for reference and the ability to read the book or magazine/newspaper you'd like to at any moment when waiting somewhere.

A lot of people organize their SDs by subject matter and when you take out the SD card, you remove screenfuls of book names that can be fatiguing to go through on the 'Home' listings.

Audio books can be useful and are used by friends of mine but they take a lot of storage space. So do mp3's, relative to text books. I have a 60-gig iPod (it's old) but if I can have all I need by taking one electronic piece with me when I go out, why not?

[andrys]

Originally Posted by lovebeta

Another issue about kindle: I think Kindle will do a full-text index whenever you plug in a sd with new books. YOu battery can be depleted overnight. I am not if the software will be smart enough to identify the sd you plugged in was there before and therefore avoid doing all the indexing again. I hope not.

The Kindle 1 battery loves to be charged :-)

Unlike older forms of batteries, this one prefers to be at a high level and will cause less freezes that way. So I just plug it in each night. It can index away that way without depleting the battery.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Lilly

I myself have never used an SD card for storage on my readers. But I'm used to keeping most of my books in my computer. Even if folders were available, I would still only carry less then 30 books at a time. I rarely carry more then 30 books at a time in both readers.

Ditto.
Although, I know why people use the cards, I still don't understand why they have to do it.
IMHO it is absolutely useless in ebook reader as long as it is being used a ebook reader onlly.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by astra

Ditto.
Although, I know why people use the cards, I still don't understand why they have to do it.
IMHO it is absolutely useless in ebook reader as long as it is being used a ebook reader onlly.

Hmmm... My Cybook has 64MB internal memory. You can think that's enough, 30 books at 2MB per books.

Righ, I may want to have more than 30 books. And even if I don't, I may want to have a couple of dictionaries and some heavily illustrated books. 10-20MB per dictionary is not too much, my edition of "The Divine Comedy" is growing beyond 20MB, and the Goya etching series are also in the 10-20MB range. That's around 4 books, and they don't even have much to read!

[astra]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Hmmm... My Cybook has 64MB internal memory. You can think that's enough, 30 books at 2MB per books.

Righ, I may want to have more than 30 books. And even if I don't, I may want to have a couple of dictionaries and some heavily illustrated books. 10-20MB per dictionary is not too much, my edition of "The Divine Comedy" is growing beyond 20MB, and the Goya etching series are also in the 10-20MB range. That's around 4 books, and they don't even have much to read!

OK. 64 is a bit tight. I have around 45 books on my reader and it takes less than 50M, but don't have dictionaries. However, most of the modern readers have at least 128...probably a lot more. Hence, my comment about the cards

P.S. my ebooks are very rarely as big as 2M. Although most of are very thick books. I don't read short stories.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by astra

Ditto.
Although, I know why people use the cards, I still don't understand why they have to do it.
IMHO it is absolutely useless in ebook reader as long as it is being used a ebook reader onlly.

I don't agree... I have my entire library with me because I never know what book I want to read after finishing one.

Take last week, I finished 3 books and several short stories in between...

[astra]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I don't agree... I have my entire library with me because I never know what book I want to read after finishing one.

Take last week, I finished 3 books and several short stories in between...

How did you manage without ebook reader?
Did you always drag with you a big lorry with at least 1.000 printed books?

My reading habits didn't change since acquiring the reader. On day-to-day routine instead of having heavy hardback book, I have a light reader. When I am off on holidays, I have a light reader instead of 2-3 heavy hardbacks.

I have 45 ebooks on my reader now, because that is how many I prepared/converted books. I can delete all of them and leave 2-3?, I have 2 backups of the ebooks. One backup on my computer, another on external HD.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by astra

How did you manage without ebook reader?
Did you always drag with you a big lorry with at least 1.000 printed books?

I always put myself on a quota before ebooks... "No, no more reading today! I'll finish my book before I get home!"

Let's just say, if I have the opportunity to read, I'll read...

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by astra

my ebooks are very rarely as big as 2M.

Ebooks with embedded fonts can be that large, as can illustrated novels, but I agree than most MOBIs are significantly smaller. If the K2 does not have a SD slot, it will have 1-2 GB of internal storage. Amazon might also offer something like "cloud storage" (they are actually already a big player in that arena) for ebook collections too large for the internal memory. Even with the K1 you can hold ebooks you bought from Amazon on their servers. In that case, it does not actually require physical storage on Amazon's part, they just regenerate them as needed.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by astra

How did you manage without ebook reader?
Did you always drag with you a big lorry with at least 1.000 printed books?

Badly and with a lot of work. You had to spend hours selecting the books to bring on a trip and in spite of that you had to buy some books on the airport since none of the books you selected felt right.

So of course you want the have the functionality that makes it possible to not have to do a selection process before each trip.

[astra]

Originally Posted by tompe

You had to spend hours selecting the books to bring on a trip

Still have to do it.
2 unrelated reasons that might or might not coincide.
Reason 1.
Before I spend my money on a book, or anything else, I spend some time on research to make sure I don't feel cheated out of my money later.
Reason 2.
Any ebook requires some editing. Some ebooks require hours of editing. So, I definitely make some research before I decide whether I want to read a book or not.

So, for me, not much has changed from pbooks times, except my backup is much lighter now

[CCDMan]

And what's with the $359 price tag? Technology should get cheaper as it gets more mature.

If you were selling a product and could sell all you could make at $369, would you mark it down? Somehow, I doubt it....

I have a second one on order for my wife and eagerly await tomorrow to see if my order will be the K2. I will give the K2 to her as it will probably be a bit more user friendly, I suspect. Unless the K2 does something new that I would use and not her - seems unlikely however. I suspect that the upgrade is mainly usability and form factor, with no new features of consequence.

[lilac_jive]

I don't keep my whole library on my Reader, just mostly books I haven't read. Once a month or more I delete what I've read off of it. I don't usually reread books (too many I want to read!).