Amazon Kindle 2 e-books its way to BGR
Yes, people. You’re looking at the first shots of Amazon’s Kindle 2. The follow-up to their popular e-book reader. Our ninja sent us a ton of shots, and we have to admit, they look pretty good. The unit didn’t go down too much in size which is unfortunate, but then again, you want something pretty large so it’s comfortable to read on. He says that the unit is a little wider and a little longer, but it should help those that thought the first unit was a little too awkwardly-shaped. What’s even better is that with the new unit, while holding it, you won’t accidentally flip the page like the old one. Hit the jump for the rest!
As far as buttons go, on the right side, the bottoms from top to bottom are: Home, Next Page, Menu, a joystick, and Undo. On the left side, there’s Previous, Page, and Next Page. We’re told the buttons are significantly smaller to avoid accidental page turning. The joystick takes the place of the scroll wheel and it “takes a little getting used to.” As far as the redesigned keyboard… it “has a good layout, but lettering on the keys could be darker.” Continuing our tour around the unit, next to the sliding sleep button, there’s the headphone jack, and on the right side edge you’ve got the volume up/down buttons. What’s interesting (and you can see this in the photos) is that the backside of the unit is mostly metal with the speakers at the bottom pf the back. One more plus? They’ve finally ditched their own charger. The Kindle 2 is able to be charged with a miniUSB cable.
Our ninja didn’t have a pocket ruler, but he said that the size of the display is approximately the exact same as the original Kindle even though at first glance it looks a little smaller. What might be a little troublesome is the fact that the battery does not look to be user-accessible, and there’s no more SD card slot. In the top left corner of the device, it gives you a display of how much memory is left, and our guy’s unit showed 1403 MB. Lastly, it still uses EV-DO for downloads, and it comes with a leather pouch as opposed to the binder-style piece of nonsense that would constantly let the unit fall out. All in all, the unit is thinner, has a slightly heavier feel, and it feels much sturdier. Mr. Badass Ninja doesn’t like the metal back, and he’s not convinced on the joystick yet. That’s all for now, folks! Thank our ninja in the comments, and let us know what you think. Shots are of course in the world-famous BGR gallery
Thanks, BCU1!
Click on over to our Amazon Kindle 2 gallery!
I bought one last year for my Mom who’s 80 and she LOVES IT! She calls and brags about it all the time. This is an awesome device.
Any idea on a release date?
I think that the first one looks better. Having said that, I just want it to come to Australia.
These photos are fake, my friends. This is not what mavericks do, we will change this device.
Kindle 2 will not ship like this, will it? With the new Sony PRS-700 coming out in November ‘08 with a touchscreen (sans ridiculous Blackberry-styled keyboard) and LED lights for reading in the dark, I can’t believe Amazon would even think of releasing version 2 with only new button locations and a bigger case.
I don’t own any type of ebook reader at the moment so I’m not biased. I can say, however, that the new Kindle design actually looks like a step backward. The original design has its flaws, but it definitely looks way cooler than these pictures of Kindle 2.
Amazon has a super impressive list of titles at 190,000, and the wireless download is very cool. Even so, based on these pictures of Kindle 2 it appears it’s not worth waiting for it. I’ll be buying a PRS-700.
I think that the pictures were fake and they were animated. but the only real picture was the back of an Ipod with fake speakers. FAKE
I’m holding out for the next gen ebook reader. Lets face it, the technology my friends, just isn’t here yet, especially at $349! Geez! I need to scribble and takes notes on my ereader before I can replace paper. Who doesn’t scribble, circle, or underline their pages?!
I’ve been anxiously awaiting the new Kindle, mostly hoping to see it at a more reasonable price point, and interested in the improvements they might make. I have to say this is pretty disappointing – rounded corners and bubbly keys don’t make me swoon. It looks like an old Toaster Mac.
I fully expect the e-reader revolution to take over the world, but only when the price is right. I’d like to save $10 per book and avoid printing out blogs & articles to read on paper, but it’s not worth $350. And the extra Kindle perks aren’t enough either.
One other thing – does this one actually do anything the first one didn’t? Doesn’t look like it.
If this is fake anyways they could have made it a bit cooler!
I’m looking forward to this coming out.
What a beautiful piece of machinery.
I’ve held the new kindle. It’s very comfortable and much sleeker than the original.
I am amazed by the number of comments denigrating the device’s appearance.
Few intelligent people will consider the appearance a main priority (I do like the new appearance – a big improvement over the original).
It appears more ergonomic. The stated improved sturdiness is a big plus.
I definitely dislike lack of SD card support.
I’m guessing the joystick can be used to scroll.
The price seems quite reasonable. The technology is impressive (although it could always be improved).
As for scribbling, etc: I sometimes scribble, circle, etc when reading educational material. While reading fiction (which will be my primary use), I rarely do any of these.
I think one’s perspective reflects the intended uses.
In terms of replacing textbooks – it’s not there yet. However, it seems quite suitable for recreational and news reading.
So.. without the SD slot when the memory is full you have to ditch something you have stored?
We own two Kindles and love them. They do exactly what they are supposed to- store lots of books and allow you to easily read them. They are not pocket PC’s or tablets or cell phones or music players -they can store and play MP3 files but that’s why I have an iPod. For those who need to make comments or notes or highlights in their books they allow that, but not as easily as a paper book. I would not trade our Kindles for anything like the alleged v2.0 shown here.
I find it hard to believe that a new Kindle will lack either an user replaceable battery or a SD card capability.
Christy- If you delete a book purchased from Amazon from your Kindle there is still a copy permanently stored in the “cloud” at Amazon, available for redownloading (free) to your Kindle. One of the nice features. Books downloaded from other sources, need to be backed up on your computer just as you would other important files.
The only reason you should need an SD card is if you have a ton of books or you want to load audiobooks. I use my SD card for my audiobooks, which take up a ton of memory on the Kindle.
Is the new browser going to support Russian fonts? If not, that’s just suck! I can’t brows any of Cyrillic sites. Kindle blows. Why give asses to the Internet if the browser supports only English? Sony is not perfect either. You spend hundreds of dollars and then hours of life to convert your favorite books that don’t even exist online.
If you want to surf the Web, buy a computer! The Kindle is an eBOOK READER, period! Web browsing IS NOT it’s primary function. Nor is listening to music or making French toast. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
I have both, Sony and Kindle btw. If Amazon gave users internet browsing capabilities, it should at least properly render foreign fonts. I am sure you would be upset if you were Russian-speaking person and found that you can’t read Russian books on your e-reader.
I would have researched it before hand to find out if it supported another language. Case in point: My wife is Korean. I know the Kindle doesn’t support Hangul, so I’m researching other ebook readers by Astak and a few others. While they support Korean text, the problem is, where can I get books in Hangul? If I was in Korea, it would be easy. But it’s very difficult here. So the bottom line is, I’m not going to invest $$$ for something that won’t do or support what I want it to.
I just received a Kindle v1 (?) for Christmas. I found the weight, ergonomics, and button layout to be great. It feels good in your hand, and while the included binder could use improvement, it forces you to remember there’s something precious inside the binder. I don’t picture myself falling asleep with the Kindle in my bed, but that’s honestly more of a choice I’m okay with. I obviously haven’t read a great deal on it yet, but I could see myself doing so. With that said, I would like to see the following improvements:
- Free support for newspapers, blogs that are already free. Paying $14.00 per month for the New York Times, when I can already get it for free on my iPhone is counter productive.
- Textbooks. This could revolutionize school, and I hope the publishers get on board.
- Color. I realize this is a technology issue, not Amazon saying “read black and white peons!” Perhaps something similar to what Sony discovered with Organic LED (OLED), without the Light Emitting Diode (LED) part of it. If color and backlights are married forever, then perhaps ebooks and color need to stay separated. I hope the technology gets there and fast. I’m a junior in college, and would love to witness this change first hand of textbooks and color.
- Editing/highlighting function. I don’t think a touch screen is a do or die feature, but some sort of highlighting, and catalog of that highlighting could do it for me.
- Content. I’m okay with the Kindle being unique to Amazon, and my Amazon Kindle purchases only being useful on this device and stored on their website. However, I’d like to publish (steal) my own book and load it on the Kindle with simple logical ease of use. Comparatively, a friend can give me a song on a disk/USB drive, and I can load it on my computer, to my iPod/iPhone. I want that same functionality. I can create my own music and save it as a .mp3. I want that same functionality.
Just the possibilities to me are very exciting. Imagine the content that could be made available with just the simple changes?
All-in-all, after my long post, according to these photos, this new Kindle doesn’t address any of my demands for the new Kindle. The button layout was not, and is not the problem. It’s just a matter of getting used to. If you’re a lefty, and are used to reading a book from the back cover, you don’t whine and complain. You just open the front cover and adapt. If I know I’m going to accidentally turn the page by placing my hand directly over the button, I won’t rest it there.
The WiFi/connectivity is not the problem. The Kindle was never intended to be a mixed use device that a user would take out to check e-mail, surf the web, and read a Stephen King novel. You’re just supposed to read the Stephen King novel. You wouldn’t surf the web in any current bound book, and that’s the logic. I get it. I agree. Could those demands eventually be merged? Unless the technology of screens takes a drastic turn away from backlight displays, I simply don’t think so.
Where the FUCK is the new Kindle?
S’all I gots to say ’bout that.