AmazonKindleTouch
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Kindle Touch updated with new UI, Whipersync for Voice and comic book navigation
Still have an old Kindle Touch sitting around? You have some new features to play with. Despite replacing it with a brighter son, Amazon is still updating its original touch sensitive e-reader -- outfitting it with a new UI, enhanced parental controls and Whispersync for Voice, which shares bookmarks between audio and text versions of the same digital tome. Amazon's improved the Kindle Touch shopping experience too, adding recommended content offers to users and remembering where they left off in a sample after they purchase the full text. Finally, the company injected the Kindle Touch with better comic and graphic novel navigation -- allowing readers to view their funnybooks panel by panel, rather than by the full page alone. The update will be delivered wirelessly, though users that fancy their USB cable can install the new features the old fashioned way. Check out Amazon's "what's new with Kindle Touch" page for a run down of the update's features.
Amazon Kindle Touch goes out of stock, sparks conspiracy theories
We hope your heart wasn't set on snagging a Kindle Touch before heading off to school this fall. Both the WiFi and 3G versions of the reader are no longer available as new devices from Amazon's US pages -- if you want one at all in the country, you'll have to swing past a retail store or scour the virtual bargain bins for used models. Suffice it to say that the timing of this vanishing act is extremely convenient in light of Amazon's special event next week, although just what it means is very much an unknown. Is there a light-up sequel on its way? A winnowing of the e-reader line to fewer models? Or just a quick inventory check? We'll have a better answer on September 6th, but the out-of-stock notice is a not-so-friendly reminder that patience is a virtue.
Amazon puts 50MB limit on 3G Kindle's 'free' experimental browser
Sad news for global freeloaders travellers looking to keep up with Gmail and Twitter on their Amazon e-reader. The online book seller has started closing in on excessive free web browsing, policing a 50MB data limit on its keyboard Kindle iterations. According to users on MobileRead, you'll still be able to browse Amazon's Kindle store and Wikipedia, but anything beyond that gets locked down. After some further investigation, it looks like Amazon added a provision outlining the data limits on its site, dated around July 1st. It stipulating that users "may be limited to 50MB of browsing over 3G per month." The data cap only applies to older Kindle versions, including the Kindle Keyboard and Kindle DX. If you've got Amazon's latest e-reader hardware, then you're not missing anything -- the free web browsing option was sidestepped on the likes of the Kindle Touch.
Kindle Touch gets early release in UK and Germany (update)
Amazon is now shipping preorders for its Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G in both the UK and Germany, a week ahead of schedule. While eager e-reader... readers in the likes of France, Italy and Spain have to wait a little longer, Germans and Brits can expect their orders to arrive starting tomorrow, with stock also available in bricks-and-mortar options including John Lewis, Dixons, Argos, Carphone Warehouse, Currys, PC World and Tesco. Alas, there's still no news of a Eurozone arrival date for the Kindle Fire. We assume our European readers are still willing to wait, right? Update: Amazon has contacted us stating that the devices have actually "started shipping to customers in France, Italy and Spain from the respective sites (Amazon.fr, .it and .es), as well as the UK and DE."
Kindle Touch update adds Europe-friendly languages, landscape mode
April 27th is nearly upon us, heralding the arrival of the Kindle Touch in Europe. Before that happens, Amazon's pushed out a software update packed with language support for the continent, landscape mode and text-to-speech, amongst others. You can manually download version 5.1.0 now or wait for the over-WiFi update in a couple of weeks. Pre-orders for the device are open as we speak, the WiFi-only model costing £109 / €129, the 3G edition costing £169 / €189.
IRL: the Kindle Touch, a repurposed Army bag and a non-user replaceable laptop battery
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Hi there, folks. It's that time of the week where we share our close and very personal experiences with various gadget paraphernalia. This week, Brian makes the switch from the Nook Simple Touch to the Kindle Touch, Ben explains why he'd rather replace his own laptop battery, thank you very much, and Don makes the case for a laptop bag that looks anything but.
Amazon Kindle Touch review
It was back in back in September that Amazon finally unveiled the Kindle Fire, its long awaited entry into the budget space. The full-color, multimedia slate hit the sweet spot, price-wise, sliding in at a hair under $200 and setting the tech world abuzz. The company made it clear, however, that it still had a horse in the standalone e-reader race -- three horses, in fact. That same event also saw the unveiling of the fourth-generation Kindle and the Kindle Touch, two new devices that take slightly different approaches to the post-keyboard world of e-readers. And, to play it safe, Amazon announced that it would be keeping the Kindle 3 around -- albeit, rebranded as the Kindle Keyboard. At $79 for the ad-supported version, the Kindle 4 carved out a whole new price point for e-readers. The Kindle Touch meanwhile, marked a belated entrance into touchscreen e-ink devices -- a market that had already been populated by several high-profile competitors: Barnes & Noble's Nook, Kobo and Sony. Why did Amazon hold off so long? According to the company, it was "waiting to get touch right." Without spoiling this review too much, there are indeed some features of this new device that suggest the wait was worth it. But are these elements enough to dethrone the Nook Simple Touch as the best devoted e-reader out there, especially given that the Nook, too, recently got a refresh of its own? Does Amazon still have what it takes to remain the clear market reader in e-books? And is the $20 premium worth the step up from the fantastically affordable fourth-gen Kindle? The answer to all of this and more can be found after the break.%Gallery-139211% %Gallery-139209%
Amazon puts the kibosh on Kindle Touch 3G's experimental browsing free ride
Back in the early '90s, a certain Mr. Vandross and Ms. Jackson serenaded us with a little ditty on the benefits of free goods. Well, it might be time they updated the track because the best things in this eReading life are no longer free over a carrier's 3G. If you happened to grow accustomed to sucking down data on your AT&T- or Sprint-enabled Kindle keyboard, we'd advise you to hold off on that newly introduced upgrade. An Amazon rep lurking the web retailer's forums this past weekend delivered the disheartening news that experimental browsing over 3G on the Kindle Touch would no longer be supported. Sure, you can still connect to WiFi and surf via the clumsy E Ink browser, but where's the on-the-go, loophole-exploiting fun in that? Bookworms with a predilection for an interwebbed free lunch should cling tightly to their outdated eReaders.
Amazon Kindle Lighted Leather Cover hands-on
It's true of other portable electronics and it applies here, too: if you own an e-reader, there's a strong argument to be made that you need a case. Sure, readers are a little more scratch-resistant than smartphones, but a little bit of backpack trauma can do some nasty things to an e-ink display. That could be Amazon's elevator pitch, anyway. Introduced at the company's launch event last week, the Kindle Lighted Leather Cover comes in various sizes, with versions for the Kindle Touch and fourth generation Kindle. We spent some hands-on time with the latter over the weekend and have to say: we're liking what we're seeing so far. Read on to find out why.%Gallery-135517%
Amazon Kindle Touch impressions (video)
One of the three major devices launched at today's Amazon event, the Kindle Touch is aimed firmly at the latest touchscreen Nook and Kobo devices. Like those readers, the new Kindle is based around an infrared touchscreen in the place of a physical keyboard, making the device a good deal smaller than the Kindle 3. The touchscreen is fairly responsive, and the thing flips through pages quickly with a swipe or a tap, refreshing about once every six pages or so, a rate about on-par with that of its chief competition. A task like performing a search on the other hand, requires a much larger screen refresh -- still, activities like these and typing are performed quite quickly for an E-Ink device. The search function itself is rather precise, letting the user locate instances of things like character names throughout a text. In all, it looks as though Amazon has produced a worthy competitor to the space-leading touch devices -- and the $99 / $149 price tags for the WiFi and 3G versions certainly don't hurt. Check out a video of the device after the break.%Gallery-135080%
