Amazon Kindle: meet Amazon's e-book reader

Oh, come now, like you thought the world's largest book retailer (online) -- which just started peddling digital video under the Unbox brand -- wasn't going to go head to head with Sony's Reader on an e-book device and service? Say hello to the Amazon Kindle, their take on a book reader device that comes equipped with a 6-inch 800 x 600 display (which we can only assume is e-ink), 256MB internal storage, smallish two-thumb keyboard cursor bar, scroll wheel, standard mini USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack, SD slot, and get this: EV-DO data! (Don't believe us? The spec sheet is after the break. Why do you think it was in the FCC?) The user manual also outlines the Kindle Store on Amazon (though doesn't spec out too many details), but we're a little less concerned with how we're getting these supposed e-books right now, and a little more curious about the price and launch. C'mon Amazon, we've got the dirt, now how's about you fill in the details?

[hesh @ Sep 11th 2006 12:04PM]

This thing looks like its from the 80's and should have Texas Instruments on it.

[icetraxx @ Nov 19th 2007 11:39AM]

That is insulting to Texas Instruments and my TI-83 calculator.

[Michael @ Sep 11th 2006 12:20PM]

I just hope it works with content that is not from Amazon. Most of these have been crippled with DRM. I'm OK if it supports DRM, but I'd want it to also support non-DRM stuff.

[Kailie @ Dec 7th 2007 1:38PM]

It doesn't. It only reads DRM signed content from amazon

[Dan S @ Sep 11th 2006 12:21PM]

If Amazon began offering all of their books for this reader at a significant discount (say 3 to 5 dollars - no manufacturing costs, no shipping costs) I'd buy one (or a compatible reader) as soon as they offer it.

[Russ @ Sep 11th 2006 12:24PM]

Who knew Tandy was still around?

[Director59 @ Dec 3rd 2007 12:51AM]

Yeah, but can it play Pong?

[NYCPublisher @ Sep 11th 2006 12:30PM]

Too bad Amazon doesn't have books (except for the same public domain titles everyone has)..They have publishers books. Only the smallest part of any book is the printing and binding, the same real costs of overhead and royalties (for author and agent) will still drive ebooks prices too high.

[Russ @ Sep 11th 2006 12:33PM]

Does it come with a deal on a dot matrix printer?

[The Incredible Hulk @ Sep 11th 2006 12:48PM]

Hulk love 80's!!! Hulk buy to play missile command!!

[CommanderROR @ Sep 11th 2006 1:05PM]

The device looks ugly as hell, but it does have a lot of appeal...getting digital content should not be a big problem if Amazon is involved...

[Dalene @ Sep 11th 2006 1:11PM]

Ditto on ugly as hell. Yuk. I'll be waiting for something a little slicker looking but it is potentially a good idea. It depends on how unlimited the ebook selection is, and the pricing of the service.

[Wonderboy @ Sep 11th 2006 1:32PM]

Is this proof of Amazon trying to help the environment? It looks like they've recycled the plastic from ancient PCs. Then again, even if that's the case, there's still no excuse for this thing being so dang hideous.

[zenprime @ Sep 11th 2006 1:40PM]

This is proof that someone at amazon had a camera that could take pictures from the future in the 80's, but it 80fieded whatever it saw...

[Buh @ Sep 11th 2006 1:54PM]

Youse guys are just judging a ebook reader by its cover.

[=[`] @ Sep 11th 2006 1:57PM]

shenanigans.
there's no way anybody could release anything as fugly as that in this decade...

[macona @ Sep 11th 2006 2:21PM]

Looks like something out of Buck Rodgers (TV) or Dr. Who...

[chris @ Sep 11th 2006 3:30PM]

NYCPublisher,

Amazon owns Mobipocket so they're probably looking to protect that business. There are some books on there that look to be self-published or at least from non-mainstream publishers. I'm sure part of their future plans involve becoming a publisher.

I'm guessing they make the same amount whether they sell the item electronic or physical. Since Sony's reader will lock you into their drm format Amazon need to do this to sell their drm format.

[DonGeronimo @ Sep 11th 2006 3:42PM]

I think this product qualifies as "Engadget's Most Laughable Product Of The Year", it looks like something my high schools science lab would have owned about fifteen years ago. I would be embarrassed to be seen in public with this joke...........

[Zach @ Sep 11th 2006 3:43PM]

I can't remember ever having seen such an ugly device. I like the idea of ebooks and hence just hope that this is not the final design.

[SubGenius @ Sep 11th 2006 4:03PM]

Wanna bet that Apple will unveil their own eBook a few days after Amazon releases theirs. Apple's will be all screen, no buttons, thin and integrate with iTunes eBook store. Apple's device will display any PDF, text or image file.

[David @ Feb 7th 2007 2:46PM]

Yes and if Apple releases an eBook reader it will also cost at least 3 to 4 times what other eBook readers cost (to maintain Apple's self percieved brand value). You will only be able to use it with a single computer and let's not forget all content will be digital rights managed so no sharing.

[Armchair Anarchist @ Sep 11th 2006 5:03PM]

Following the READ link through, it looks as if somebody got pissed about the leak and demanded the stuff be taken down...

Sure, so it's not too pretty, but if it performs well, it'll sell - that's where all the others have fallen down. And once someone has a decent viable system that does the job on the market, there will be a slew of prettified equivalents in no time. Bring it on...I love my books, but the things are a b*gger to carry. I need an eBook.

[ImageMaker @ Sep 11th 2006 5:52PM]

How not-ugly can it be? Look at the dimensions; it's about the size of a 150 page paperback, yet it has to have a screen big enough to read on (800x600, vertical format, should just about do it). With electrophoretic display (yes, that's e-ink), it should have excellent battery life as long as you aren't also playing audio continously; storing to flash takes power, but reading it takes little more than reading an EPROM.

It'd be disappointing to see e-books pick up where DVDs have been heading in terms of lock-in, but it's not too unexpected; the manufacturers have forgotten what Gillette knew 80 years ago: you make your money on the consumables, not on the holder.

[Ken Moore @ Sep 11th 2006 5:54PM]

Prototypes often lack the final "fit and finish" of a cool industrial design with top-notch materials, colors and styling, and there's surely a separate team working on how to make this product look sexy. When they put it all together you'll likely see something that makes your privates hum.

[Adam @ Sep 11th 2006 6:06PM]

I find it interesting and amusing that so many folks are focused on the aesthetics of this device. Undoubtedly the same people who buy iPods because "they're so cute!" or "so tOtAlLy CoOl!" even at twice the price and half the functionality of "uglier" portable music players.

Actually, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at folks' ongoing obsession with style over substance. Sure explains a lot of the crap we have in popular culture, though.

[adele grossman @ May 3rd 2008 4:58PM]

Right on Adam!! Those who worry about style over substance surround us on a daily basis. What difference does it make what it looks like....it's the concept I find so appealing!!

[Michael @ Sep 11th 2006 7:21PM]

It's been removed from the FCC site, replaced with the following letter:

To Whom It May Concern:
We would like to request the following application to be dismissed due to problems with confidential exhibits listed on the website and updated exhibits the applicant wishes to provide in place of exhibits that have been submitted
for this filing.

[k @ Sep 11th 2006 7:34PM]

Well, here's the biggest problem... it's too fking small. 6 inch screen? Nein.

That's not even paperback sized. Now, if they got rid of the utterly pointless keyboard, shrunk the other buttons and expanded screen to take up pretty much the whole front side (more like an 8" diag), we'd have something.

It looks thin enough, and I'd like the design assuming my above comments were taken into account. The wedge shape seems reasonably natural and the rubberized back looks smart too.

Of course, my true wishlist includes bookmarking and highlighting functions via touch or pen input and ideally handwriting recognition (even a la palm's old graffiti) for entering search strings and adding annotation. I write in the margins of my books (some of them) and want to do the same on my ebooks.

And I absolutely do not care if it plays mp3s, radio, or anything else, that's what my iPod is for.

I expect I won't enjoy the current generation of eBook readers any more than I enjoyed the last, to my dismay.

[fuzzyweapon @ Sep 6th 2007 3:50PM]

If you want something that has handwriting recognition, iRex's iLiad has it right now. It's really nice. I really want one, but the problem is it is way too pricy. I wish these companies would release these in different packages, like I don't want to have to listen to audio. That's what I bought my MP3 player for. I wouldn't use it and use up my battery anyways...and other features like that...or even for the super lowtech, no mp3, no wi-fi. Some people hate this, but if I can't get stuff wirelessly with bluetooth from my compy, why do I care about buying them straight off the web?

[Mike @ Sep 11th 2006 9:20PM]

Scoff all you want, but this appeals to me. In fact, part of my attraction is its ugliness: Who will wanna steal this from me (granted, perhaps only the biggest cabal of dork thieves would steal any sort of e-book, regardless of its aesthetics)? It sort of employs bowling shoe design for functional electronics.

The second half of my attraction is that I've been wanting to buy a portable word processor because the Internet is horribly distracting for me and I get nothing done. I'm a weak, weak man, I know.

Anyhow the only thing that's seemed to fit the bill was the Alphasmart Neo, but if this thing lasts awhile on the its battery, does more, and is at least somewhit similiarly priced I'm down to buy one.

[Microkid @ Dec 4th 2007 7:06AM]

If the internet is too distracting for you, just unplug the cable man!

[evo @ Sep 11th 2006 9:46PM]

IMO, single-screen ebook readers are doomed to fail because they can't approach the common person's experience of reading a physical book--we rely tremendously on the ability to look forward and backward to surrounding content, and to "page" instead of "scroll" through a book. If Amazon really wanted to succeed, they make it look and act like a book: foldable, with two screens, and a great interface that resembles something other than a browser.

[Macandron @ Nov 19th 2007 4:56PM]

I agree. I've also envisioned the "real" ebooks as such that simulate as well as possible reading a real book. This means closing it and opening to see the next page, and possibly a discreet sound playing that sounds like a page turning.

However, what I'd like to see is a dictionary function embedded, turning the page you're viewing into hypertext. That way you could tap on a word whose meaning you don't know and it would either pop up a definition of the word, or, with a Wi-Fi connection, you could go to a Wikipedia article on the word. Great for learning while reading. I'm not a native English speaker but love to read in English so I want to learn the meaning of every new word I encounter. I'm sure other people would find this useful as well - for research, for news, for entertainment.

[da5d @ Nov 20th 2007 11:32PM]

Totally. I hate some of the new sports cars. I would much prefer a horseless carriage. My DVD player in my car plays clip clop sounds.

[NeoPULSE @ Jun 29th 2008 2:21AM]

I totally agree. Turning page back and forth, multiple pages, searching rapidly into another chapter, is part of reading. Reading a book it's like hunting sometimes, not like eating. News reading, may be like consuming, but art literature reading, studying reading, educational reading, has much of hunting. Multiple pages browsing tabs, marking and taking notes auto indexing them, margin or between lines notes, highlighting, sharing clips and comments, sending paragraphs clips with bibliographic informations. That is what I imagine in a great e-book reader. The last 2 things I have imagined will make viral marketing so natural that nobody could stop the very good ones from reaching bestsellers lists instantly.

[Scooter @ Sep 12th 2006 1:10AM]

To answer Adam, worried about obsession with style over substance, consider the sheer lack of funtional ergonimic design in this slab of plastic.
iPod has won so many fans because designers obsessed not just about the outward shape, but also the interface/usability of that machine.
This ebook reader looks so poorly designed on the outside that it raises a very real fear that the interface will be similarly crippled: it really is valid to judge an ebook by its cover.

That said, I doubt this is the final version and may be a dummy slipped in for the FCC filing.
Note the ventilation holes on the back, which suggests this has an LCD (heat-generating) screen and not a (relatively cold) e-ink display. If so, it'll gobble batteries for breakfast and burn students' eyes out. Another flop in waiting, perhaps. I hope not: such devices are the future and we sorely need a good portable digital reader. For now Sony's has the lead.

[spacemarmot @ Sep 12th 2006 2:06AM]

No, Sony does not have the lead. Philips has the lead:

http://www.irextechnologies.com/

[Cain @ May 30th 2008 6:35PM]

Nice... but $700US??? I dont think so Lucy!!! IO can but a full featured laoptop for that much cut the price to $150 and I'll consider it...

[hobgoblin @ Sep 12th 2006 2:10AM]

ugh, whats with the feature overload?!

i want a e-ink system thats just a screen, a page flipper (that scroller looks just dumb where its located, no way i would be able to use it if holding the device with my right hand only), a memory card slot and a usb port.

these pda's in drag can take a vacation.

and if they want them to have cellular linkup, trow in bluetooth support.

[John T @ Sep 12th 2006 3:02AM]

Don't juudge an e-book by its lack of color correction:

http://teraspect.com/kindle1.jpg
http://teraspect.com/kindle1b.jpg

Black Rendition
http://teraspect.com/kindle2.jpg

[Alexandermann @ Sep 12th 2006 8:20AM]

Come on, this must be a hoax...

[Michael @ Sep 12th 2006 10:08AM]

It's white and it's real. I've seen it, touched it, played with it. And it's very cool.

[notNYCPublisher @ Sep 12th 2006 10:24AM]

@NYCPublisher - PPB is, generally speaking, the largest part of the cost of publishing a book. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding your point.

Royalties are a considerably smaller part of the equation (if we're talking average author), and often authors don't even earn back their advance in royalties.

What do you include in "overhead"?

[Cade @ Sep 12th 2006 10:34AM]

Why does the ebook reader need speakers?

[Darrell Mayeda @ Sep 12th 2006 3:45PM]

It doesn't look all that hot but what counts is how it performs. I know we could use something low cost but with a bulk option for textbooks for our school kids. The cost might be lower than a physical book. right now it's "only four or five students per textbook" I'm not familiar with DRM but I hope that doesn't mean that more "open" formats like Adobe or microsoft's ereader won't work on it. I have a number of books. I bought from Amazon using microsoft's reader format. Too many format's may kill the market.

[nonobj @ Sep 12th 2006 3:52PM]

I think it looks incredibly functionally beautiful. Scooter you comments suggest someone who knows little about what actually is ergonomic versus what looks ergonomic. Hands actually create right angles and flat surfaces -- ever thought why it's easy to hold a book as opposed to a football? I think it suggests a folded book form, and depending on choice of materials, I would guess the photos are probably very deceiving.

This looks like a very functional device -- in many respects.

As for the vents. eInk screens don't require cooling and I doubt it is for the CPU. Audio books, podcasts and even text to speech could be very useful for certain people/use cases.

[Joe Dumas @ Sep 12th 2006 5:58PM]

I am on my third Rocket/RCA ebook and virtually never use anything else for recreational reading. Why? I can convert almost any file format to .rb, it is easy on the eyes, holds over 100 full length novels (great for road warriors), but it is truly UGLY and therefore did not sell well. The 5 1/2" diagonal screen works very well with a vaiety of fonts and the availability of content is excellent since i can convert .doc, .txt, .lit, html, etc.. In fact, the only format that does not convet really well is .pdf.

Having said all of that, I would only buy an ebook reader that did not lock me into a proprietary format.

[Leigh @ Sep 13th 2006 2:46PM]

Why doesn't Apple make an ibook? I betcha it would rock

[glad @ Nov 20th 2007 4:09PM]

Simple - book readers are just not large selling consumer items and has anyone seen someone using one on a train, plane or automobile ( passenger), I haven't and probably never will. I have to admit the humor for this product has been amazing, I can't remember so many jokes hurled at a product since the sinclair C5!!