Kindle 2 - The Re-Kindling

AngelHedgie

So, if you didn't know, Amazon has announced the second generation of their e-book offering.



Many of the flaws of the first gen Kindle seem to be addressed with the new model. The new version is significantly slimmer (it's thinner than an iPhone!):


Storage and battery life have been beefed up. Also, Kindle accounts will go machine-agnostic on the new version - you can stop reading at one point on one Kindle, and then resume at that point on another. (Edit: Whispersync, the feature mentioned previously, has been added to the first-generation Kindles today.) The new Kindle also has a speech synthesizer, allowing those with poor eyesight (and the just lazy) to have the text read back to them.

They ship on the 24th, with preorders available now. Kindle 1 owners who order by tonight will receive priority in the waiting list.

Engadget's blogging of the Kindle 2 press conference.

Engadget hands-on impressions.

OremLK

Awesome. It appears the early leaked photos were actually pretty accurate. One of the big complaints about the first device was that it was difficult to find a spot to hold the device where you weren't in danger of bumping the next page button--it appears that has been remedied.

I may be one of the few people who actually liked how the original version looked--this one looks like a giant iPod. Not bad, and it being slimmer is nice, but the old form factor was more unique and less wannabe-Apple.

Raiden333

I am completely sold. Going to pre-order it as soon as my paycheck clears.

Moe Fwacky

There's already a Kindle thread
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=60365