. This 6-inch e-reader touts a bodacious 1024 x 768 resolution, which contributes to an even better contrast ratio than on Amazon's E Ink slate, while software optimizations between now and release are expected to make the Story HD the fastest-refreshing device of its kind. The display itself is built by LG Display and is accompanied by a Freescale Cortex A8 CPU, 2GB of onboard storage, and an SDHC card-reading slot. Sun rays are, as expected, absolutely no problem and we have to admit that on first sight we thought the device had a sticker affixed to its front -- its that good at reproducing printed materials. Physically, it seems to have been constructed with the third-gen Kindle as its dimensional blueprint, albeit with quite a different control scheme. The hand-built proto unit we played with wasn't really ready to have its ergonomics judged properly, but iriver has plenty of time until the expected May launch to iron out any kinks. Content distribution partnerships have already been sewn up for the US, so now it's just a matter of patience until we get our e-reading on in gorgeous XGA resolution. Video hands-on after the break.
We knew that Amazon
was making a killing with its $139 third-generation Kindles, but since the retailer doesn’t discuss Kindle sales numbers, it’s always been unclear just how well it’s doing.Now it looks like the Kindle is set to surpass 8 million units sold this year, 60 percent more than many analyst predictions, two people familiar with Amazon’s sales projections tell Bloomberg. If true, it tells us that consumers are far more interested in standalone ereaders than analysts expect.
Analysts at Citigroup, Barclays Capital, BGC Partners and others previously projected that Amazon would sell around 5 million units this year.
The 8 million number is particularly impressive in the face of competition from the iPad, which has shipped more than 7.5 million units since it was released in April. In comparison, Amazon sold 2.4 million Kindles in 2009.
Ever since the newer Kindles were announced, it seemed clear that Amazon had finally reached a price point that would drive mass consumer adoption. Amazon announced in August that it was the best-selling Kindle ever. Given how difficult it was to find the new Kindle in stock once it finally started shipping, it almost seemed as if Amazon couldn’t make enough of them to satisfy demand. The company also cited the device as a key element in its revenue and profit gains this past quarter.
But as great as its Kindle sales are, Amazon still seems more interested in pursuing the proliferation of the Kindle platform. The company recently showed off Kindle for Web, a web-based interface for reading ebooks meant to compete with Google’s recently announced foray into ebooks. With web interfaces, ebooks can be read on any device with an internet connection — no app, or Kindle, necessary.
Internet retailer Amazon is denying that pro-WikiLeaks hackers were responsible for the failure of its websites in several European countries.
Amazon sites were offline for about half an hour in Britain, France, Germany and other countries late Sunday, leading to speculation they could have been targeted by online "hacktivists."
But Amazon said Monday that the problem "was due to hardware failure in our European data center network" and not a hacker attack.
A loose-knit group activists who use the name "Anonymous" has launched attacks on companies that have cut ties to secret-spilling site WikiLeaks, including Visa, MasterCard and PayPal.
But they said last week that Amazon was too big a target to bring down.
. Amazon's Kindle isn't only the best selling electronic reading device out there, but its new $139 WiFi version is the fastest-selling yet. And then there's the Barnes & Noble's Nook, which is an equally capable competitor, especially with recent firmware updates. Oh, and don't forget about the $140 Kobo. Yep, Sony had some serious work to do and its cheapest option – the $179.99 Pocket Edition -- does differentiate in some striking ways. The aluminum reader has been upgraded with a new 5-inch E Ink Pearl display and now has an extremely responsive touchscreen for navigating through books / menus. The updates certainly have put Sony back into the final four, but there's a few lacking features that just keep it from going all the way. You'll want to hit the break to find out just what we're talking about in our full review of this little guy.Look and feel
After you get over the petiteness of the device, the impressive feel is the second thing you'll notice. The aluminum clad reader feels incredibly solid, and its plastic edges seem to give it a bit of protection. Of course, if you're the type that uses and abuses products, the Kindle's plastic body will probably wear better over time – honestly, we'd worry if the Pocket Edition were to accidentally fall off a table onto a hard surface, we'd stay cool if it were the Kindle or the Nook. Ports-wise, Sony's kept the Reader fairly bare – there's a mini USB jack on the bottom edge, a power switch along the top and a stylus ejects from the right side. You have to step up to Sony's Touch or Daily Editions to get the SD card, MemoryStick and 3.5mm headphone jacks.
Touchscreen and E Ink performance
As we said in our original hands-on, the touchscreen is very responsive; very light swipes on the smooth screen is all it takes to turn the page and a light tap on books is plenty to make selections. The stylus we mentioned before is obviously meant for taking notes within a book, or in our case, doodling in the Handwriting application. Pen input is also very responsive, but the E Ink causes there to be a slight delay between pen strokes and the actual inking.
There's really no surprises when it comes to the performance of the 5-inch 800 x 600-resolution, 16-level gray scale E Ink Pearl display -- it's comparable to the what we've seen from other e-readers that sport E Ink's latest. The page turns are faster than the previous generation (and the Nook), but in our side-by-side comparison with the new Kindle, Amazon's solution was a hair faster to turn pages in most cases. In all honesty, the difference is really minimal, and not enough of a reason to pick one over the other. Still there's a short flicker when you turn pages, and as expected, the display is quite crisp and readable indoors and out.
Book buying and reading experience
While we're on the topic of Sony's Reader Store, we feel compelled to do some slight comparison in terms of selection. Amazon claims it has over 700,000 e-books, newspapers and magazines in its Kindle Store. While Sony does have access to millions of books with Google Book integration, it only has 200,000 paid titles. Still, we had no problem finding some bestsellers including Sarah Silverman's "The Bedwetter" and Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom: A Novel." However, you could say Sony makes up for that selection with its "openness" / wider range of e-book formats, including ePub, PDF, BBeB Book, Text and RTF.
In terms of actually reading on the device, we genuinely have no complaints. Turning pages by swiping is a very enjoyable experience, and the main menu is exceedingly intuitive. Covers are displayed in the Books area and jumping to a page within a book is easy – you can use the toggle to move quickly through pages or input the page number with a soft number pad. Double tapping on a word reveals its definition, and you've got a choice of ten different language dictionaries. While there's no physical keyboard to search a word, an on-screen keyboard pops up when you select search. Some may find the font on the smaller screen to be a bit frustrating, but you can also choose from six font sizes.
In terms of battery life, we can't say we read enough in the last week to test the 10,000 page turns per charge claim, but our device is hovering around the 75 percent mark and we've had it powered on for at least a week and have used it to read a good chunk of "S*it My Dad Days."
Wrap-up
) with a slimmer, lighter form factor, plus a bumped refresh rate for its E Ink screen. Best of all, the WiFi only and 3G readers have newly lowered prices (though they're still not exactly bargain basement level). We've spent the past few days putting the tinier Kindle through the paces to see just how much Amazon's improved it. Though the market is increasingly flooded with cheap readers, the Kindle is arguably still the leading name in the field, and Amazon is already touting the third model as its bestselling ever -- even though there are still no sales figures to be had. So, is this the best Kindle ever? Read on to find out.Look and feel
The new Kindle looks... well, exactly like the Kindle 2 in many respects. The form factor itself is pretty much unchanged, which isn't a bad thing. While we had a fondness for the original's somewhat crazy sense of style, the second and third iterations are far more streamlined. The 6-inch E Ink screen is the same size as the previous model, though Amazon says it's got a faster refresh rate and better contrast ratio (more on that below). The 21 percent decrease in size and 15 percent reduction in weight shows. The new Kindle is seriously light, and it's certainly now approaching the size of a mass market paperback -- and, in our opinion, as long as we don't lose screen real estate, the smaller and more portable, the better. Amazon's rubberized the back of the device and that, coupled with the downsizing, makes it extremely comfortable to hold in your hand.
In plenty of ways that matter, however, Amazon's made tweaks. First off, the company has ditched the top row of keys for numbers, obviously because of the smaller amount of space the device is working with. This isn't necessarily a good thing, but it's not really bad, either -- for instance, when entering a password into the experimental web browser, it took a minute for us to realize that what we were looking for wasn't there -- and that the numbers are now housed in the symbol menu. Regardless, it's so minor that most new users will never notice the disappearance. The rocker has been changed so that it's now almost completely flush with the face of the device, which is an improvement for stowing it away, and gives it a nicer overall look. In use, it does take some adjustment getting used to it, but it's much smoother than the previous iteration and seems to be a good update. Amazon's also rather inexplicably moved the sliding power button from the top left of the device to the bottom of the unit, along with the volume button and the headphone jack. Honestly, these decisions probably make no real difference and are just minor things to adjust to -- though the headphone jack makes more sense in its new placement.
in many respects. The form factor itself is pretty much unchanged, which isn't a bad thing. While we had a fondness for the original's somewhat crazy sense of style, the second and third iterations are far more streamlined. The 6-inch E Ink screen is the same size as the previous model, though Amazon says it's got a faster refresh rate and better contrast ratio (more on that below). The 21 percent decrease in size and 15 percent reduction in weight shows. The new Kindle is seriously light, and it's certainly now approaching the size of a mass market paperback -- and, in our opinion, as long as we don't lose screen real estate, the smaller and more portable, the better. Amazon's rubberized the back of the device and that, coupled with the downsizing, makes it extremely comfortable to hold in your hand.In plenty of ways that matter, however, Amazon's made tweaks. First off, the company has ditched the top row of keys for numbers, obviously because of the smaller amount of space the device is working with. This isn't necessarily a good thing, but it's not really bad, either -- for instance, when entering a password into the experimental web browser, it took a minute for us to realize that what we were looking for wasn't there -- and that the numbers are now housed in the symbol menu. Regardless, it's so minor that most new users will never notice the disappearance. The rocker has been changed so that it's now almost completely flush with the face of the device, which is an improvement for stowing it away, and gives it a nicer overall look. In use, it does take some adjustment getting used to it, but it's much smoother than the previous iteration and seems to be a good update. Amazon's also rather inexplicably moved the sliding power button from the top left of the device to the bottom of the unit, along with the volume button and the headphone jack. Honestly, these decisions probably make no real difference and are just minor things to adjust to -- though the headphone jack makes more sense in its new placement.
The side buttons on both sides of the device have changed, too, and this is one update we're not that keen on. They feel a bit 'mushier' now, and if you're not looking (as we're often not when reading), it's easy to miss the keys. While the bottom forward arrowed buttons have been enlarged, the back arrows are now smaller -- a feature we agree with, but, as we said, overall, we're not a fan of how easily you can miss the buttons completely when trying to press them. Still, this is definitely the sleekest Kindle yet, and we seriously love the look graphite gray review unit we were provided with.
Other key changes Amazon's made to the Kindle include the doublling of storage up to 4GB from 2GB, and the company also claims to have doubled the battery life from two weeks to four (that's with the wireless off, of course). With the new capacity you can squeeze around 3,500 books onto one of these now, and while we did not test Amazon's battery life claim (because we haven't had it nearly long enough), trust us when we say the battery should rarely be an issue with one of these.
Performance and reading experience
What can we say? It reads just like a Kindle. Yes, the page refresh is slightly faster, but it's barely perceptible in comparison with the Kindle 2, and it's still a very E Ink experience... probably because of the E Ink screen. What is noticeably awesomer is the contrast ratio... this thing is incredibly sharp, and we suspect that it boasts the same quality E Ink screen that the newest DX packs, as that one also impressed us. Honestly, we still find E Ink to be rather frustrating to deal with at times -- mostly because of the refresh rate -- though this is the best Kindle reading experience yet.
There are a few other notable new features -- mostly that new, experimental Webkit browser. In our experience with it, it's called experimental for a reason, and we can't really imaging using it on a regular basis, but we do get a kick out of seeing the internet in glorious grayscale. The 3G browsing experience is (as expected) somewhat noticeably slower than the WiFi one, and while it's obviously in its infancy, we suspect Amazon will continue to improve the browser, and it far exceeds the previous one in terms of quality. Other additions include native support for PDF files, which some people will certainly be very happy about, though there is no support for the EPUB format.
Wrap up
There are a few other notable new features -- mostly that new, experimental Webkit browser. In our experience with it, it's called experimental for a reason, and we can't really imaging using it on a regular basis, but we do get a kick out of seeing the internet in glorious grayscale. The 3G browsing experience is (as expected) somewhat noticeably slower than the WiFi one, and while it's obviously in its infancy, we suspect Amazon will continue to improve the browser, and it far exceeds the previous one in terms of quality. Other additions include native support for PDF files, which some people will certainly be very happy about, though there is no support for the EPUB format.
Wrap up
Amazon obviously thinks that it's got a good thing going for itself, and has made very few other changes. The new Kindle is extremely iterative, though we can get behind most of the updates its made. What's clear, however, is that if you're looking for a standalone e-reader (i.e., a portable replacement for physical books), this is the go-to, standard-setting device. While Barnes and Noble's Nook is probably its main competitor, Amazon's got the name in this category, and the new Kindle is lighter and thinner. Amazon's worked out enough of the kinks that its third gen device seems pulled together well enough to seriously start appealing to an even wider audience than previously. The two models -- a WiFi only version for $139 and a WiFi / 3G model for $189 -- are competitively priced for the high quality of the device. At the end of the day, there are two paths a consumer can go down when buying a new reading device: the standalone reader or the do-it-all unit which also reads books. In the standalone category, the Kindle is probably the one to beat, and its support for the platform with apps for many devices are certainly helping it to flourish. We are still, however, not at all assured that the standalone path is the one most consumers will ultimately traverse.
is probably its main competitor, Amazon's got the name in this category, and the new Kindle is lighter and thinner. Amazon's worked out enough of the kinks that its third gen device seems pulled together well enough to seriously start appealing to an even wider audience than previously. The two models -- a WiFi only version for $139 and a WiFi / 3G model for $189 -- are competitively priced for the high quality of the device. At the end of the day, there are two paths a consumer can go down when buying a new reading device: the standalone reader or the do-it-all unit which also reads books. In the standalone category, the Kindle is probably the one to beat, and its support for the platform with apps for many devices are certainly helping it to flourish. We are still, however, not at all assured that the standalone path is the one most consumers will ultimately traverse.
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
The introduction of the third generation Kindle has reignites the debate over the role of dedicated vs. converged devices. Five years ago, device segmentation was easy: phones made calls, music players played music and cameras took pictures. Even two years ago, integrated devices remained differentiated from standalone devices that provided greater features and capabilities. But some now feel the market for dedicated e-book readers like the Kindle and Nook will soon disappear, subsumed by devices like tablets and smartphones capable of delivering e-books along with other content, applications and services.
has reignites the debate over the role of dedicated vs. converged devices. Five years ago, device segmentation was easy: phones made calls, music players played music and cameras took pictures. Even two years ago, integrated devices remained differentiated from standalone devices that provided greater features and capabilities. But some now feel the market for dedicated e-book readers like the Kindle and Nook will soon disappear, subsumed by devices like tablets and smartphones capable of delivering e-books along with other content, applications and services.It certainly feels to some degree that converged functionality is replacing the standalone and dedicated device. Look at the state-of-the-art iPod touch today and the state-of-the-art iPod of just three years ago. Compare the camera on your phone to the point and shoot digital of just four years ago. The argument seems strong for converged rather than dedicated and standalone devices.
I think the reality is a little more complicated.
Despite recent advances of converged device capabilities, consumers will likely remain interested in optimized devices for two major reasons:
Optimized Experiences. Dedicated devices deliver an optimized experience. Even as that camera on your phone gets better, the features on that point and shoot evolve as well. In the case of media players it's one thing to listen to music on your phone at the gym, but it's another to have your entire music, video and photo collection to use on a plane from New York to Tokyo. In the case of e-book readers, they're lighter than tablet devices, offer the best battery life, and their black and white, outdoor viewable screens are a feature -- not the negative they would be on a tablet that would also be used for content creation, games, and video playback.
By making the Kindle software experience available on iOS, Android, and other mobile platforms, the Kindle can be a broad experience for consumers. |
Lower Costs. The cost of dedicated devices keep dropping even as their features become optimized. I doubt that a $399 Kindle (the price at introduction) could keep pace with an iPad today. But a $139 Kindle that's likely to hit $99 sooner than later will be able to hold its own. Likewise, low-cost media players, cameras and game machines will still be able to attract vertical users who may not be interested or care about additional features and will instead focus on buying the optimized experiences they're interested in at lower prices.
In the case of Amazon, I think it's wise to purse the dual strategy the company seems to be embracing. First, create and extend a good platform for e-books and their ecosystem: store, reading experience, price and content selection. By making the Kindle software experience available on iOS, Android, and other mobile platforms, the Kindle can be a broad experience for consumers. At the same time, providing a dedicated, optimized reader at low cost makes the platform available to those unwilling or unable to embrace the higher price of converged devicestablets carry. The key will be keeping the device optimized and ignoring the impulse to add secondary features that are likely to go ignored and unused in order to keep driving price points down.
This is the age of multiple device with overlapping functions. While some devices such as smartphones will continue to grow in importance and ubiquity, one device will not rule them all anytime soon.
Just over a year ago, we reviewed Amazon's jumbo-sized Kindle, the Kindle DX. And just a few weeks ago, Amazon outed a new, $379 Graphite gray version of the DX. This time, it's got the new Pearl display from E Ink, which supposedly boasts a much higher contrast ratio and a faster page refresh rate over its predecessor. Other than that, you're looking at pretty much the same unit as before, and if you like a large e-reader, that's probably a good thing. Read on for our full impressions of the device.
Look and feel
Yes, the new Kindle DX, like its predecessor, feels rather giant in comparison to most readers. That said, in our several weeks with the device, we grew accustomed to its size pretty easily and found it to be a more enjoyable reading experience than with many smaller readers. If you think of it as the difference between reading a cozy, convenient paperback and a large, stately hardback edition, you'll about have the feel of the size and weight difference. The DX feels heavier than the Kindle 2 or the Nook but light in comparison to its overall size, and while you will inevitably hold this reader with both hands, we'll go on record as saying that's how we hold most books -- even small ones -- anyway.
. And just a few weeks ago, Amazon outed a new, $379 Graphite gray version of the DX. This time, it's got the new Pearl display from E Ink, which supposedly boasts a much higher contrast ratio and a faster page refresh rate over its predecessor. Other than that, you're looking at pretty much the same unit as before, and if you like a large e-reader, that's probably a good thing. Read on for our full impressions of the device. Look and feel
Physically, not much has changed. The Kindle DX's new shell of gray is pretty appealing, and we definitely prefer it to the white housing of other Kindles. As an added bonus, it seems to boost the contrast ratio on the 9.7-inch screen quite a bit (more on the reading experience in a moment). Like the previous DX, the Graphite version is just about a third of an inch thick, weighs nearly 19 ounces (that's over double the Kindle 2), and stores 3,500 books -- just like the other Kindles. The DX's keyboard is unchanged from the original model and, in our opinions, still pretty abysmal. It is simply not very usable and delivers an awkward, uncomfortable typing experience. The unit is simply too wide, and the layout of the keys too cramped to get much done with it. That said, it's a minor complaint as we've never done a lot of typing with our readers anyways, so we'll be just as happy to never really use this keyboard anyway.
The other physical features -- the rocker and the three buttons (page turn arrows and Home) are exactly the same as on every recent Kindle. The brushed aluminum back feels nice in the hand, with a slight texture to it which makes gripping the device with one hand possible (if not totally comfortable).
Performance and reading experience
and a first gen Kindle). The new DX has -- by a good margin -- the best contrast ratio of all those devices. This screen is downright crisp; in fact, it might be a bit too crisp for our tastes, mostly because we're so used to looking at cheaply printed books and less attractive E Ink displays. In that way, the DX is a big step forward: it achieves exactly what it claims. The refresh rate on this big boy is improved, too -- but then, where could it have gone but up? E Ink refresh rates simply cannot compete with LCDs or physical books. Our own experience also found that the refresh rate of the Nook (with its latest software update) is now about on par with this new Kindle refresh rate, so it's fair to say that some of the competition is catching up. Regardless, with this unit, we felt enough latency in the refresh rate to be bothered by it, but e-reader enthusiasts or people who really need to travel with an arsenal or reading material are probably more than willing to let that slide in the face of the other advantages.
One problem that was evident in the first generation Kindle DX persists in this model: the orientation sensor is a bit nuts. While reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in bed, almost any time we adjusted ourselves we found the sensor turning to landscape mode. Then again, when we wanted the sensor to kick in, it would do so only about 60 percent of the time, and again you'll see the effects of slow page refresh times of E Ink. Now, you can lock the orientation sensor and pretty much never encounter this issue again (we can't ever really imagine needing to read a text-based book with adjustable font sizes in landscape mode, after all), but it seemed worth mentioning given it goes unchanged since the previous version.
The battery on this thing is what we'd call decent -- it takes quite a while to get a full charge, and lasts about a week of regular use. Amazon says you'll squeeze two weeks out of it with the wireless off, and while we didn't put that to the test, we found the battery life was, as expected, far better with the wireless turned off. You're not going to get the same type of battery life you see out of smaller devices, but for one of this type, it's pretty solid.
Wrap up
Let's be honest -- you saw this one coming, didn't you? Today Amazon is introducing a new reading device for e-book aficionados dubbed simply... the Kindle
. The new handheld -- slated to be released on August 27th -- is 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the previous model, has a 20 percent faster refresh rate on its E Ink (yep, still E Ink) screen, and will now come in two colors (graphite, like its big brother the DX, and the original white). In addition to the color changes, there will be two radio configurations available: a $139 WiFi only version, and a $189 3G version (utilizing AT&T's network, just like the last model). The screen will remain the same 6-inch size as the last two Kindles, though the company claims page turns are faster and contrast is improved. The internal storage on the device has been cranked to 4GB, and the battery life is now rated at a month with no wireless, and 10 days with wireless switched on. The company also announced plans for a UK-localized version at £109 and £149, respectively, as well as a UK e-book store. Along with the big changes, there have been minor tweaks as well -- the keyboard and five-way controls have been streamlined and altered slightly. The rocker is now more compact and flush with the device, and the side buttons have been modified in length to emphasize the forward paddles, while the back buttons have been downsized. Software wise, there are some interesting new features, the most notable being the inclusion of an "experimental" Webkit-based browser. If you're expecting future iterations to go even bolder with their multimedia capabilities, we kindly direct you to some choice quotes by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, care of WSJ: "For the vast majority of books, adding video and animation is not going to be helpful. It is distracting rather than enhancing. You are not going to improve Hemingway by adding video snippets," adding later, "there are going to be 100 companies making LCD [screen] tablets... why would we want to be 101? I like building a purpose-built reading device. I think that is where we can make a real contribution."
We had a chance to play with the device for a short while during a meeting with the company, and we can report that the Kindle is still very much the reading device you know and love (or hate, depending on your preferences). The build quality and materials used did seem slightly more polished than the previous version, and we really liked the new, more subtle rocker. We can also attest to screen refreshes and overall navigation feeling noticeably more responsive and snappy compared with the previous generation. Amazon was showing off a jacket accessory which will be made available at launch that includes a small, pull-out light for late-night reading sessions. We're sure it will please a lot of folks eager to keep their partners undisturbed while they tear through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
. We'll have a full review as soon as we can get our hands on the device, but for now, check out all the details in the video and PR after the break, and feast your eyes on the handful of press shots in the gallery below.