The
Kindle 2's only been
in our hot little hands for a few hours, but the screwdriver-happy scamps at iFixit couldn't resist -- they've already ripped theirs into its many component pieces. Interestingly, the teardown revealed an empty space for a SIM card slot, which might indicate Amazon's got firmer plans for the Kindle's international debut than they were willing to
talk about at the launch. Don't get too excited for any
VAIO P-style SIM-slot hacks, though, since the US edition of the reader only has a CDMA radio for Whispernet in it. Oh well, it's gotta happen sometime -- for now we're off to find a screen protector, since the teardown also revealed that the E-Ink screen doesn't have anything over it at all.
posted Feb 24th 2009 7:01PM
A sim slot? Unexpected much?
im wondering who cares?
That would make the Kindle one hell of a big handset to hold up to your face. Add a SIM card and a color screen and the Kindle would make one heck of a internet browsing device.
There's indeed a missing SIM holder below the WWAN card - which means a GSM/UMTS version of the Kindle is planned!
But that's a standard mini-PCIe WWAN (EVDO) card - beyond adding the SIM holder, you'd just have to swap the EVDO card for EDGE/HSDPA card. Then you's have to hack the firmware to use the card - that's the hard part :)
But I wonder - perhaps one could scope the AT commands being sent to the EVDO card, then insert the card into a PC and send the same AT commands for unlimited (free) data...
Who wants to buy me a Kindle so I can hack it?
The president of Amazon was at the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Monday and there he mentioned that the Kindle2 is somewhat of a "full fledged 3G phone" as far as I understood it. Check out the episode at thedailyshow.com for proof.
Yeah, and Stewart echoed my sentiments when the guy told him the price *without* books. I'll stick to buying a paperback or two each month. Maybe in a few years I will have spent enough to equal the cost of just the player itself.
that sure would make for an unattractive phone! but a cool e-book reader
Foreign Markets.
The Kindle looks so damn cool, but it is completely useless outside of the USA because of this Whispernet thingie. So, some 3G connectivity aint a bad idea for elsewhere.
It IS 3G.... it just only works with Sprint's service as that's who they made the deal with.
So basically they just need ot negotiate with other carrriers.
GO SPRINT!!!! (I love my $5 unlimited data)
They are really getting some shit done. Palm Pre exclusive (Right?) and now the Kindle?
Sprint gets a +1
@erb, Palm Pre exclusive right? Yeah, wrong! Dont worry, Sprint will find some way to gimp the hell out of it before they release it like they do to everything else. So, you want to your use devices built in GPS chip? Well, that'll be 5.99 per month for the right to do so! MUHAHAHAH! You wanna install third party applications? WELCOME TO THE APP STORE!
This is great!
Global Kindle = actually using it in other countries, having a long-lasting companion for the bus and train in terms of both content and battery, using it as a travel guide and getting required materials on the go (need a hindi phrase-book? 3G here we come!). Its got a lot more potenial than a 3G phone that dies in a day and will kill you with roaming charges (and there are hardly any 3G prepaids).
Am I the only one who thinks the kindle's technology has barely advanced. Surely a foldable/colorized/touchscreen/ultra thin/A4 sized version should have been possible by now considering how long we have been hearing about E-ink. Oh well.
Sure... if you're okay with low resolution. The trouble with the color and roll up technology at present is that they both independently lower the DPI of the screen.
Also it seems that color reduces the screen's contrast as well. And depending on the type of touch screen technology used, so might that.
For the same reasons we've heard about LCD screens for so long and they're not foldable... it's the same backplane. PlasticLogic does have a flexible one, but only flexible so it's robust. Not flexible as in rollable. Their device is letter sized though. On the color, it's coming, e-Ink has shown it at a number of conferences, but no word on commercial availability. Considering it was almost 10 years before the first monochrome consumer displays were made (after EInk invented theirs) I wouldn't hold my breath for color, it'll probably still be a couple years.
@Rich
There are two types of flexible eInk displays. There is the Plastic Logic technology, which as you said can bend but not roll, but has close to the same resolution as the rigid screens. Then there is the Polymer Vision technology (used in the "Readius"), which can roll, but isn't as high of a resolution.
Rich, there is a color e-ink display in the wild. Google the Fujitsu reader. I saw a vid of it next to a Sony Reader... the refresh on it is horrible!!!
The head of Amazon said that the Kindle had the same cellular capabilities of a 3G phone, which is true since the Kindle connects to Sprint's EVDO network. Unfortunately, there are only a small handful of companies that use EVDO, while most of the world uses GSM/WCDMA/HSPA.
I was much more amused at how Jon Stewart was completely floored when he heard the Kindle2's $360 pricetag. When you add the $10 per book, he'd clearly lost a lot of interest for the device.
Damn, meant to reply to meist3r.
Looks more like SD card slot to me... Ain't a sim card slot usually smaller than that?
The outline is for the *socket* - not the card. What gives it away is the layout of the 6 pins. Six is the correct number for a sim, but not enough for SD. Also, the two rows of contacts fit a sim, but SD cards use only one row.
Here's the socket that's supposed to fit in there:
http://www.made-in-china.com/image/2f0j00yvqQIbZahroLM/SIM-Card-Socket-SIM0424-.jpg
I'd buy this if it worked with iTunes
Why? Apple doesn't sell books, and the Kindle is not exactly a good MP3 player. If it's just about giving money to Apple, why don't you just donate it to Steve?
Same thing I thought. SIM slot? Perhaps. SD card slot? Seems even more feasible. Why is it a given that this is a SIM card space???
The outline being the exact size and shape as a SIM card maybe?
if it has e-ink displays then why exactly is it so expensive?
Because eInk is currently very expensive. Even though eInk is supposedly it is easier to produce than LCD, it doesn't have the production volume.
They sold 500K kindle 1's though, how big a production is enough?
I'm talking about millions upon millions of screens produced annually. Even including other devices that use eInk off of the same production lines, such as the Sony Reader, it doesn't come anywhere close to LCD numbers.
Nice, I've been waiting for a 3G "unlocked" Kindle so I can use it in my home country. By that time, I think the color e-ink displays will be out in public for mass production.
Well, it makes sense. I mean, you know, since if you want to expand outside of the US you have to use a Global standard.
Beautiful, just imagine a Kindle with a prepaid SIM for trips abroad : )
very nice
Kindle 3G - Coming soon...
The Kindle you've been waiting for.
Doesn't look anything like a sim slot to me, for one, the contacts are at the side with the cut - the wrong side, and the geometry is all wrong. Looks to be more congruent with a SD slot, if anything. Being that it is CDMA only, perhaps a RU-IM card for Int'l roaming?
Does no one else see Labia in that logo? oofff.
That's definitely NOT a SIM card slot you've got pictured there. It's much too large. Just take a look at the picture at step 7 in the read link and compare it to the guy's thumb. It looks to be the size of an SD card, whereas a SIM card is about the size of a microSD card.
http://www.oreillynet.com/wireless/2003/09/11/graphics/Nokia3650_back.jpg
Size and shape comparison, SD = MMC size wise
As others have said before, it doesn't really look like a standard sim card slot. For one, the contacts are near the slotted end. On a standard SIM card, they're on the other end of the card. Also, SIM cards have 2 rows of 3 contacts. This only has one row of 3 contacts. Looks a little fat to be a SIM card slot as well.
Amazon Kindle 2 + Amazon supply chain + Sim card slot = Global customers.
Unlike music and videos, books will not have the issue of DRM or any of that crap. Amazon as it is ships paperback books internationally. Plonk the same idea in digital form, and amazon can start selling ebooks to customers globally.
And knowing Amazon's expertise in shipping and logistics, there's no reason why they cant sell the Kindle globally online.
But if, its not a SIM card, then it will be a memory card slot
thus, Kindle 2 + Sim card slot = Swappable ebooks.
Like you lend books to your friends, you can also lend your friends your memory card with your purchased ebooks!
lets see.!
You realize they had an SD slot in the Kindle 1 and intentionally removed it for the Kindle 2 right? Somehow I doubt they are planning to put it back in cuz no one cares that there isn't a card slot anymore. I have one and the 1.4GB of user storage is something like 2000 books. I use my iPod for mp3 and audio book so.....
Also, if you bothered do a little research before running your mouth bhushir, you'd know that eBooks purchased from amazon DO in fact have DRM on them. That's why they use the AZW format instead of the PRC format that is used by free book stuff. And I don't think Amazon would like the idea of you lending your books to someone else. If I can lend you the book (and it's unprotected) you can just make a copy. Which is a little different than lending a hard copy. No offense dude, but you REALLY sound like an idiot on this one.