Kindle 2 shipping now
By Nilay Patel 
posted Feb 22nd 2009 3:32PM
posted Feb 22nd 2009 3:32PM
[Thanks, Parker]
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Amazon is really hitting off with this thing..I bet they will have a 3d version in the future..
3D on the Kindle would be completely and utterly useless.
Yuck. Such a horrible price for something so limited. That's the cost of like 36 books! I'll stick with my UMPC which isn't a one-trick pony
Yes! Seriously looking forward to this doodad.
same here. Still no email tho'...
Kindle bores the crap out of me.
I comment, however.
Will you please pour me some tea dear?
certainly sir/madam
A dull gadget is always made more fun with a nice cup of Assam, Darjeeling or Lapsang Souchong if one's feeling adventurous!
Thank you love.
@ Tohe & Oli
get a room you 2 love birds.
/me hold out a cup.
Please sir, a little tea for the poor?
@Ellianth:
Get back in your cage!
So, is the Kindle 2 like a pop-up book with pretty pictures and sound effects?
Just checked - not shipped yet. "Shipping soon, expected deliver date: Feb 25"
Patience is one of the more difficult virtues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-nuXlW0ZbA
'All you need is just a little patience'
Come on people $360 for a book reader? Whatever happened to EYES? Call me old fashioned if I want to just OPEN a book and read it and when I finish it to open ANOTHER book.
Well, if you're traveling, this is a simple solution to having to carry hundreds of books with you. Sometimes, practicality is better than the real thing, friend.
But the way I see it is there are two types of trips : tourism and business. Both suggest that you wouldn't need hundreds of books to carry around. Just 2 or 3 maybe.
Weight of average Book: ~3 lbs.
Weight of Kindle: 10.3 oz.
Storage Capacity of Kindle: ~200 books.
Weight of 200 books: ~600 lbs
Weight of Kindle and 200 e-books: 10.3 oz.
Explain the problem with this device to me again, please.
Think about the Internet, then think about all the blogs, forum posts and your engadget comment. Then think about reading all that everywhere. That's basically what a device like the Kindle enables you to do in a much more usable way than LCD-backlit devices such as laptops and smartphones.
If you don't even try a Kindle screen to read text to experience text on a sunlight readable e-ink screen, then you can have no idea what it's about. It's basically an Internet-connected piece of paper.
Kindle 2 requires EYES 1.0
the kindle must be popular with the middle-aged, middle class lame-ohs. if i walked around with that on campus as opposed to my tablet pc people would look at me weird. seriously, this product is dumb.
You care about being looked at weird? I'll second Farris' post above.
Your campus is dumb.
At least if people at your campus can't understand that carrying one touchscreen E-ink reader would be tons of times better than carrying hundreds of books on all your subjects, and that correcting, proof-reading, commenting, finding stuff for your dissertation using a touch-screen wacom E-ink device and collaborating with other students all over the world like that is tons of times better than carrying a stupid iphone which basically is an oversized mobile phone with crappy applications that nobody uses and a locked down itunes store for crappy expensive commercial music.
...and people don't 'look at you weird' for carrying around 'tablet PC'?
I'm sixteen and I ordered one. Been waiting for the Kindle 2 for a good year. I'm hardly middle-aged by that definition, and I wouldn't consider myself lame, nor would the majority of my classmates (I'm trying to be as humble as possible here).
why the heck would i want to learn anatomy in black and white?! and art history?! tell me that!
It's for recreational reading, not for reading of textbooks. Novels and non-fiction.
If you walked around with this device on campus, you'd be declared king of the nerds. Really, why is it called a Kindle, anyway. It definitely sounds nerdy. You can't view photos, play video, play games or listen to any decent music. All you can do with it is READ. This is the new millenium. This Kindle device is for the wannabe pseudo-intellectuals. Oh, look at me, I'm actually reading on a paper-free device. Really, who cares. Everyone else will be grooving and reading with their iPhones or iPod Touchs.
Needless to say, this a niche of a niche product. Amazon will be lucky to sell a few hundred thousand units at $360. Netbook PC or Kindle? I'm almost certain people would go for the netbook.
But maybe you could get yourself more clever friends and girls.
Why is there such a fuss over a large, ugly, white block that reads black and white text.
Who cares? This thing looks like it's from 1980. You wouldn't think that there would be such a hype over a thing that reads e-books. Am I the only one who isn't exactly "wowed" by this brick?
I don't understand how so many people can seriously think that design is important. I care about features, usabillity about 10000x more than I care about looks of a piece of plastic consumer electronics.
And if you think an E-Ink screen is ugly, then that is obviously cause you have never seen one. E-Ink is like the Ferrari of electronic screens, it is sublimely awesome to look at.
couldn't agree more Charbax,
but your forgetting that many readers of Engadget are slaves of that certain fruit company which puts design over functionality, thus the lame comments.
Amir, I thought that most of the users on this website dedicate themselves to bashing that certain fruit company.
iQueedfed, we just have a natural tendency towards controversy- logic hardly plays a role.
I suppose this "fruit" company you are all referring to would be Apple. I don't own a single Apple product so I guess that theory is out the window.
Oh! Your tablet PC is so cool!
And since when is being nerdy on a college campus a BAD thing?
I have had a Kindle 1 for over a year now, and it is a great device.
I use it daily to read. For those who would disdain this, the Internet is not a place to boast of your Ludditery. You might as well argue that you should give up your cell phone, after all, a good old twisted pair phone is reliable and if you want to make a call, it is right there.
I was simply stating that you would think they would make it look a little better. I guess I am the only one who thinks that the kindle falls a little short of something that could be considered "breakthrough" technology.
I just got an email that mine shipped as well.
lucky, still waiting for mine to ship but I don't have the Kindle 1 priority.
Since when does Amazon ship USPS?
Under the standard shipping method you have the option to ship to a PO Box.
the thing is useful and awesome.... the only downside being the price... it would be a sellout if its priced around $175-$200.. might have to wait it out... damn!
it did sell out before.
Kindle 1s will be well within that price range in a couple of weeks on Ebay as Kindle 2 buyers pass along their original Kindles.
ur not the only one. needs a color screen
Sweet my order is locked in, not shipped, but about to since I can't change it.
Due on the 26th.
I should have Kindle 1 (no idea how one confirms it), and I ordered on launch day. My shipping date is March 2.
Charged the card and changed to shipping soon!
Can't wait til Tuesday!
agreed. the device's usefulness and appeal is undeniable but, at $360, it's overpriced.
it's simply too limited to justify it's exorbitant cost which is compounded by all the books you'll be adding to it. as much as i love to read there's a practical, smarter side of me that just knows better. for what they're asking you might as well throw in an extra hundred towards an entire desktop/laptop. (at least that pays for itself in less than a year.)
I'm curious to know if you'd rather buy a Kindle at, say, $99. But then be faced with a monthly surcharge of $49 for the wireless access (EVDO, if I recall). PLUS having to pay for the books.
I wouldn't mind the lower up front costs at all. Alot more people would buy in at that rate. But after one year of "membership" you'd have paid out about $700 -- and the ongoing charges continue to climb.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the $360 a one-time charge? Buy books, yeah -- that balances out whichever plan you choose -- but in these terms, $360 becomes more of a bargain.
If they came out with a cheaper Kindle that doesn't have the wireless features and is $99 I would buy it, I'd probably just fill it up with a bunch of public domain book I got for free anyway.
@Meta: Obviously you wouldn't be their target market, so that's another reason for them to not make such as device.
If you love to read, and you read a LOT like I do... there is nothing like a Kindle. My old one goes to my sister as soon as the new one arrives. Those of you who do not get it... just shut up and don't buy it. I'm too busy reading to listen.
Pricing aside, I for one think Amazon's getting it right with the Kindle 2. I'm not planning on getting one, but I think my wife, who's an avid reader, should get one. From the reading that I've done on it, I love that there's no sync'ing needed to a computer, you wake up in the morning and all your newspaper and blog updates have already been wirelessly downloaded via the 3G network. And as I understand it, you don't need to sign a wireless contract, and you're not paying for any air time, provided it's related to browsing and/or the downloading of purchased material.
For those of you who say you would rather read an e-book on your PDA or laptop, you're missing the beauty of the Kindle, for many more reasons than just the ink. Consider form factor, battery life, weight, convenience of not having to sync to a computer, readability in direct sunlight, convenience of not requiring wi-fi connectivity for browsing/purchasing, convenience of sixty second book downloads, and I'm sure I'm overlooking others...
So if you're not an avid reader, and/or can't justify the cost, fair enough, the Kindle may not for you. But otherwise, I think Amazon's got something here...
Dork factor is off the chain on this one...
I look forward to the international release. I wonder what they'll do with the EVDO - Can they switch a module and make it HSDPA? Or preferably just pull the damn thing out and let us sync books to it through the PC or a card ;P
You can sync using a PC. I ordered the Kindle 2 even though I live in Europe (having a relative ship it to me). Even without the wireless connectivity, it's worth it to me because shipping English books to Switzerland takes a good two weeks and costs shittons. The Kindle 2 will not only save me money, but will allow me to receive books instantly. That justifies it's price tag for me.
I fail to see how so many people have an issue with the device. The majority who show disdain for the Kindle are those that aren't interested in reading to begin with.
I've had a Kindle 1 for about 6 months now, and have read about 70 books on it. Because of the reduced price on books, I have probably saved about $100 overall, and that is including the cost of the device. That is across just six months!
Beyond the savings (and anyone that does read a lot will see the savings on books exceeding the cost of the device) I have also found a bunch of great books and great authors that I would have never found had I been stuck with books of the dead tree variety. Having access to the store anywhere and the ability to read samples of every single book is priceless.
I am 25 years old, so I am another person who isn't at the middle-aged mark yet, and I have no idea what I would do without the Kindle. I would have to go back to going to the book store weekly, spending hours finding things that look interesting, and ending up with more books than I need simply because I'm not sure what I will want to read when I finish my current book.
Before the detractors continue to bash the device, try it out. If you are a reader and do not enjoy the device, then your comments are valid, but if you aren't a reader to begin with, stop attempting to validate your illiteracy.
Unless you're constantly reading new releases, I think you're kidding yourself that this thing saves you money.
1) Library is free
2) Half.com/Amazon.com have thousands of books used for way cheaper than the Kindle prices.
I pre-ordered it, then canceled the order and got a netbook instead.
There are plenty of e-book readers for WinXP, or OS X, or Linux (right now I use Adobe Digital Editions & E-reader)
Plus I get the functionality of a 10" netbook running XP (or OS X if I choose)
At $99, sure...
Okay, but what kinda battery life do you get on it? And is it usable outside in daylight?
Should be here tuesday :)
Only downside is couple of the newspapers that they have advertised are missing few things, specifically the Investors Business Daily and New York Times.
For all those eager shoppers in Europe who do not want to wait until Kindle 2 finally becomes available, check out US Unlocked. This forwarding service offers very cheap shipping to Europe. If you apply for their US Unlocked Card, you actually get a US billing address as well, so you can shop on any American website.
I ordered mine about a week back and my birthday is the 24th. So far my expected date is the 26th, and I'd be extremely excited to find out that I would be getting it a bit early, instead.
If you dont care about wifi, you can get the also amazing Sony PRS-505 for 100$ less than the kindle. It play PDF better and its more compatible with the free content you can find over the internet. Not everyone wanna pay 10$ per book.
The Kindle can read all that free content too. You just have to convert it to a compatible format. But there is a quick and easy trick to that: Just download the Mobipocket reader software and upload your books into that. They're automatically converted to Mobi, which is one of the formats the Kindle reads. Then all you have to do is upload them via USB, just as you would with the Sony.
It also might be worth mentioning that the Kindle 2 has a significant advantage over the PRS505 when it comes to rendering images.
Oh, and 10 Dollars is the average for New Best Sellers. The overall average book price is much lower.
I got my shipment confirmation too, looks like mine was shipped UPS with a GUARANTEED arrival date of Febraury 24th which is 2 days before I was supposed to receive it on the 26th.
My order is marked shipped also. Wasn't supposed to ship till march. Nice. I wonder how many they are shipping in this first batch? Seems quite impressive. Must have been some production schedule.
Poot. I'm still not marked shipped... and I am a K1 owner and they said I'd get it quickly cause of that... :-( When did you guys order? Novemeber??
I think Amazon played all the K1 owners with the bogus "first to ship" offer. The K2 will be my first Kindle. I ordered the day it was announced a few weeks ago and selected the free shipping. My order shipped out yesterday as well via USPS (really FedEx SmartPost).
I own a Kindle 1 and ordered the Kindle 2 as soon as the site went live to order. Mine still says "Items shipping soon."
What's up with that?
I'm always surprised when people compare the Kindle negatively to PCs or PDAs for reading. The difference in battery life is immense. I can't imagine being on a long flight, for instance, and depending on my Palm's or laptop's battery holding out so that I can finish my reading. When I went to London for two weeks for a class, I brought both my Kindle and my new ASUS. The ASUS' battery was always running down when I was in the middle of working on things. I barely had to charge the Kindle the whole time I was there. The Kindle is also much easier to carry around. The whole two weeks, I was able to carry around all of my research for my paper on the Kindle and read whenever I had a minute. I simply converted all of the articles I was using and put them on the Kindle. Then, when I was ready to write my paper, I downloaded all of the passages I'd marked. I was able to carry what would have been piles of articles around with me with no additional weight. And think of all of the trees that were saved...
Woo! I woke to a "your order has shipped" email from Amazon, and a welcome message from Kindle support. I'm excited!
if you don't mind me asking.. when did you place your order? my order status is still the same (ordered on feb 9)? thanks for any info to quell my kindle excitment
Ahhhh, mine shipped!
Just got my shipping confirmation. I ordered on the day it was announced and chose next day shipping.
Can't wait...
I ordered mine on Friday (Feb 20th around 4pm) and woke to an email stating that my Kindle has Shipped! WOOT! WOOT!
just got my shipping confirmation
I ordered mine yesterday and it shipped today!