Amazon Kindle 2 no longer rumored for this holiday season, according to rumor
By Laura June 
posted Nov 25th 2008 12:44PM
posted Nov 25th 2008 12:44PM
So we heard from Amazon back in August not to expect that rumored Kindle 2 anytime this year... but then there were those leaked photos of the new device, so people kind of went back to expecting it again, but, apparently we should stop doing that now (again). According to unnamed sources talking to TechCrunch, the Kindle 2, will arrive in a vaguely termed "early next quarter." The source says the device has been 'delayed' by Bezos himself, that the leaked photos we saw a while back are the real thing, and that a student version of the reader, which will ironically have a larger screen and be better than the standard one, will hit in the first half of 2009 as planned (rumored). Hard-copy of Wuthering Heights, your execution has been stayed another few months.
Maybe it's just because I have the first one, but I hope the new Kindle doesn't look like this. It's UGLY.
i concur, this one is ugly, but the original is fugly.
If the new Sony Reader PRS-700 weren't so darned fuzzy (touchscreen makes the view dim) it'd be the ultimate e-reader. That QWERTY is a real non-starter for me. Make it touchscreen & metal & I'm all over it- PRS-505-esque but w/ 100k titles.
Have you seen the review over at Gizmodo? It's pretty much what I feared with it, the screen picks up way to much glare, and really isn't going to be good for outside or high light usage. Other than that, I really like the way it looks.
Overall, I really like the thinking behind the Kindle. There would be some things that I would change, lower the price, tweak the design a little bit, but the biggest thing would be to add more books! And right now, being a law school student; I want my damn books to be e-books! I'm tired of lugging around all these damn books. If all my law school books were available for the Kindle, I would have one, or at least have on order already...
I don't need a review on Gizmodo. I played w/ one @ a Sony Style store for about 30 minutes. I have the 500 & 505. Will stick w/ those for now. 700 was just not sharp enough.
If you want books published on Kindle, tell your publishers! Trust me, Amazon would love to have every piece of printed material available for the Kindle, it's the publishers that are holding them back.
The reduced sharpness and contrast on the PRS700's screen actually relates to the diffuser used for its front light. In fact unless I'm mistaken the Sony is uses the same style of touch screen that PVI announced awhile back. These don't need the conventional light eating membrane, as they use a grid of pressure sensors beneath the screen instead.
For the people who are able to read 4 different books depending on their mood, like me, the kindle is an amazing device.
For instance, right now I'm reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and "Beloved" for school, "Dewey" and "Neuromancer" for pleasure.
And the internet is snappy! I love going on Engadget and reading the internet like a living newspaper.
I wouldn't trade the scroller for anything, I love that little LCD bar on the side.
It's really easy to type on the keyboard. The off-center space bar takes a bit of getting used to.
I'm going to love this thing for as long as it functions!
Can I get one in Liberty City?
"according to rumor"... Rumor killed by rumor now?
Not exactly.
Assuming that a rumor gives something a probability of 1/2, the killing rumor only subtracts 1/2 of probability introduced by the first rumor, meaning that you get 25% chance of Kindle 2 being out for holiday season.
I always looked at rumors as 90%, which would take it now to... 9%, which is dead to me.
Rumors have 90% probability? You haven't been reading Engadget long, have you?
I'd kindle your amazon, Laura...
watch out i think shes dating the editor
Kindle 2 is just as ugly as the first. Can a BILLION dollar company produce anything better looking than this? The buttons look like my cold medicine tablets.
Hopefully they're retooling it to make it even bigger and adding more buttons!
is anyone watching the show summer heights high?
Did anyone see the 24 special on Sunday? How about the last episode of the Simpsons?
Stargate Atlantis. what's left of it, that is.
I saw a Sony e-reader with a fake screen on display at Target and was like, "Dang, I wanted to try it out." Out of instinct, I just pressed a couple buttons and the words changed! Turns out the screen looked so crappy I just thought it was fake.
My wife has a kindle and loves it. People are expecting LCD quality of of eink, and thats not what einks about. Eink is made to replicate the look and feel of printed paper.
The kindle does have some drawbacks, like the side buttons, however overall its a great device. It could use some polishing, and the picture above is not the way to do that. I would start with a metal case like the sony, changing the size of the side buttons, and changing the back cover. Hot swapable SD cards would also be nice. The power and wireless buttons should also be moved so they can be accessed from the top while in the sleeve
They need to get rid of all that extra white space around the screen...and the keyboard could be smaller...
If the Kindle's innards were placed in a PRS-700 case, I would buy one in a moment. Amazon have a fantastic idea, but this thing looks seriously shit.
Don't worry -- the Oprah drones will still make this a best seller.
At least there's still news, er, rumor on the Kindle 2. I'm waiting to buy one, dammit.
A smaller screen would be even better, let's say 4 inch, or, what the heck, 3 inch.
Way to go Amazon.
And that requires good vision something many people lack. Even if you had good vision, a small screen would mean small fonts resulting in eye strain. Reading is suppose to be fun and relaxing, not tedious and harmful.
a smaller screen? my problem with these readers (other than price) is that the screens are already too small. these things need to get bigger if text books on these will ever be a truly viable option.
The font size can easily be adjusted.
On of the beefs about Kindle 1 is the sharp corners that irritate you after hours of use. They look to be rounding those.
Previous and next page buttons are a bit too big for me and I have to be very careful not to accidentally change pages.
The eink or virtual paper, whatever it is called, is much easier on the eyes than an LCD.
I am very happy with my Kindle. I mainly read the WSJ and lots of sci-fi on it.
What's so ironic about the student version having a larger screen and more features? Joe Paperback spends his whole time turning pages one one palm-sized block or another, students are the group who spend their time scribbling all over foot-square tomes. They're the group most likely to want one of these.
Wuthering Heights.... argh.
Damn that book was horrid, stupid high school reading list.
That said, Heathcliff was one vindictive mofo.
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Deadline: Monday, December 15th at 11:59pm
Prizes: Kindle Reader
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Other info:
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This supposed new kindle is very ugly. Uglier than the first. I hope it is just a prototype. Man it's nasty!