Amazon held a press conference today announcing the next generation of their Kindle e-reader. The buzz has been building the last two months, with leaked images and speculations appearing on almost any blog, website or twitter feed that follows the tech gadget and publishing industry.
Improved E Ink Display
One of the biggest improvements in the new Kindle is the inclusion of Epson and E Ink’s new Broadsheet microchip technology. This new chip breaks the screen up into 16 separate, smaller screens that can be updated in parallel. The end result is a faster refresh and a more agile reaction speed for looking up words or zooming in on a page.
The new chip also gave a higher resolution, with 16 shades of grey for clearer text and sharper images. Even though the Kindle 2 isn’t the first e-reader to use the Broadsheet chip (the Sony PRS-700, released last fall also uses it), it’s inclusion is a huge benefit to Kindle fans.
Dimensions and Design
This new e-reader is slimmer and more compact than the competition. It’s thinner than a pencil, and measures up to less than .36 inches. Like the iPhone and iPod the device is all enclosed, with no screws or hinges in sight. Some user testimonials that were displayed during the launch said that it was more comfortable than the first Kindle, and easier to hold and carry.
They’ve also made some improvements on the interface, including a 5-way controller that acts like a mini joystick. This makes it a breeze to access the many menus on the device, cutting down on extra buttons that aren’t really necessary. All of the design features from the first Kindle are still available, including book searching and adding notes to pages.
Hard Drive Size and Text to Speech
The hard drive is a huge change, with over 700x the size than the original Kindle’s capacity. It also has 25% longer battery life than the first generation, allowing you to read for days on end without recharging. The page turns are much faster and changes to a shade of grey when flipping a page, rather than a black screen. The actual resolution is clearer and sharper, with 16 shades of grey for clearer text and sharper images.
The real big improvement is the text to speak capabilities of the e-reader. That’s right– you no longer have to spend extra money to get an audio book for when you’re on that long commute to and from work. The Kindle has this built right in, and from what we’ve heard it works very nicely and very easily, and is supported for any e-book you happen to buy for the Kindle 2.
Wireless Access
Like the first Kindle the second generation also has Wireless access right out of the box. And it uses Sprint’s 3G network, so there is no need to ever search for a signal or to connect to the internet. It’s always on, always connected, and you don’t have to pay for access.
The main point of the wireless connection is allowing users to buy books on the fly no matter where they’re at, and they don’t have to be connected to a PC to do it. This connection free approach has really given the Kindle an edge over the competition, and the fact that it wirelessly grabs newspapers, magazines and blogs that you subscribe to is the extra icing on the cake.
A new huge benefit of the WhisperNet service (as Amazon likes to call it) is the wireless syncing between the first Kindle, the new Kindle and wireless devices in the future. Earlier last week an announcement was made from Amazon, saying that they plan to offer Kindle book format support to various cellphones and wireless devices like the iPhone and iPod touch. The syncing feature would allow you access to the books you bought on *any* device you own, even saving the current page you’re reading.
Another big benefit is the Wikipedia access, allowing you to look up any article you’re reading on Wikipedia for more information. Since it’s always on and always connected, you can get Wikipedia articles anywhere at any time.
A King with Every Kindle
Another big announcement that was leaked first thing in the morning was that the master of horror himself, Stephen King, wrote a novella exclusively for Kindle 2 users. The novella is called Ur, and the Kindle plays a huge part in the plot. For his writerly chops Steven King was given his own Kindle 2. He went on to gush about the Kindle and his love for the e-reader, and then to joke that his personal Kindle was actually pink.
This is no surprise, since King himself had launched an e-book he sold online way back in 2000, called Riding the Bullet. So his embrace of the brave new world of e-books and e-book publishing is almost second nature to him.
His endorsement could be a huge boon for the second Kindle, already riding on the wave of the Oprah endorsement in November. If Amazon can keep getting literary celebrities to back this device, it really could end up being the iPod for the e-book market.
The Future of E-books
The Kindle 2 is poised to take the e-book market by storm, making 2009 the year of the e-book. As of last year the Kindle accounted for 10% of the sales on Amazon’s bookstore. With the push of celebrity endorsements and a host of killer features, these sales should increase dramatically in 2009.
We’ve noted before that the future of newspapers and magazines will be with electronic paper, and that e-readers will most likely be a cost effective replacement to expensive print runs. The Kindle 1 and 2 have methods set up for subscribing easily to magazines and newspapers, making it a profitable alternative to posting newspaper articles to websites.
As for book publishing, the tide is already turning in the favor of e-books and e-readers. E-books are growing at a steady pace even in the bad economic environment, and with Amazon making it extremely simple and cost effective to order a book on the Kindle we will see more and more sales of e-books and fewer sales of the print counterparts. After all, an e-book is far cheaper than a print book, and you can get it in your hands and read it in seconds whether you’re on a plane, on a train, or sitting at home and relaxing.
Pricing and Shipment
You can pre-order a Kindle 2 right now for $359. The actual shipping date is February 24th, and they’re shipped on a first come, first serve basis with one exception. If you already own a Kindle 1, you will be put first on the order queue. If you’ve ordered a Kindle 1 and have not received it yet, your order will be upgraded to a Kindle 2 free of charge, you don’t even have to do anything.
By Paul Jessup
amazon, e-ink, e-reader, kindle
This device is quite a beauty! This is another great leap for electronic paper technologies. 2009 should be a good year!