Just weeks after lowering the price of the Kindle e-book reader from $259 to $189, Amazon has unveiled a fully revamped Kindle. It's sleeker, better looking, easier on the eyes — and starts at $139.
This new Kindle, Amazon's third generation, is smaller by 21 percent, and 15 percent lighter too. It has much improved contrast, 50 percent better than before, answering a significant complaint among dead-tree purists who compared the device's e-ink screen unfavorably to real paper. It's available in two colors: graphite and white.
To date, all Kindles have used a wireless connection to a 3G network to get books and manage subscriptions. The new ones have Wi-Fi inside, so that people at home or at a coffee shop could log on via that network instead. One Kindle still costs $189, and has both 3G wireless and Wi-Fi inside. The cheaper $139 model only connects through Wi-Fi — and only comes in graphite.
I don't know; it sounds nice (and I must say, the photo comparing them makes the Kindle 2 look positively clunky), but I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything by getting mine when I did. Now, if I were visually impaired, the new text-to-speech menus would be worth it. Of course I'd probably be getting a Kindle DX if I were having trouble seeing, too, and I don't think that feature is on the new DX. I prefer the 3G wireless (I'm rarely in a wi-fi area, except at work, and we're not supposed to use the public network for computers, etc., and I don't have one at home, so the wireless is the way to go for me. Besides, I like going onto Wikipedia at the bus stop.) The contrast might be worth it. I'd still be paying $189 for the wireless, though. It has enough space for 3500 books, but I don't see myself spending that much money. So I'm happy, but if you're looking for those new features, check out Amazon for more info.
I do think it's a step in the right direction, though, because it puts the purpose of the Kindle to be strictly an e-book reader and not some iPad wannabe.
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