Amazon announces new Kindle with lower price points
OK so this is relatively old news by now but just in case you’ve been under a rock for the last few days (I might as well have been given how much time I’ve been spending with Starcraft 2), you might want to know that Amazon announced a new version of the Kindle late last week at a new low price point of $189. Amazon also announced a non-3G version of the Kindle with Wi-Fi connectivity only for a new low price of $139 – further escalating the eReader price war that began several months ago with Barnes and Nobles and Borders.
The next generation Kindle has the following new features and enhancements:
- New E-Ink display featuring 50 percent better contrast than competing eReaders
- Amazon’s proprietary waveform and font technology makes page turns faster and fonts sharper. Amazon claims page turns are now 20 percent faster.
- 21 percent smaller form factor while preserving the 6 inch reading space
- Weighs 15 percent less at 8.7 oz and measures 1/3 of an inch thin
- Twice the amount of storage which means you’ll be able to carry approximately 3500 books
- Up to one month of battery with wireless turned off. 10 days of power if wireless is turned on.
- Quieter page turn buttons
- Improved PDF reader
- New experimental WebKit-based browser
- New Lighted Leather Cover
- New Voice Guide
While the enhanced features sound great, what really is important here is the new price point for the Kindle. With the 3G+Wi-Fi version coming at $189 and the Wi-Fi version a mere $139, the eReader might reach out to the masses at large. Of course those of you looking for far more functionality will probably opt for the Apple iPad, but for those of you that simply want to read a good book here or there, the Kindle becomes a very attractive and affordable option.
Pre-ordering for both the 3G+WiFi and Wi-Fi model is now available at Amazon.com.
