Amazon Kindle, Take 2

As I wrote a couple months ago, Dave was kind enough to get me an Amazon Kindle for my birthday. I am still in love with it, it is my little friend, my treat at the end of the day, my favorite toy. I don’t miss paper books at all, I prefer this one after all. And I have actually found very few flaws in it – this is an “A” product right out of the gate.

So imagine my surprise a couple weeks ago when Amazon announced their second version is up for sale! I was dying of curiosity to see what changes have been made, I only had one or two minor quibbles, the most significant being the buttons on each side of the device, which are large enough that you can’t hold it very well by the sides, and you can’t hand it to someone without them turning the page accidentally.

The new version corrects this design flaw, the buttons appear to be smaller. But the other improvements are all icing on a tasty cake! Page turns are faster. The grayscale is much better on the new one, so images look better and the text is generally sharper. The battery lasts longer, there is storage for 1,500 books, instead of 200. It is ½ the depth of an already thin device (although the weight is about the same). And apparently it can read to you.

The price stayed the same at $360, but there is even more bang for your buck. If you’ve been contemplating it, allow me to push you over the edge…