Amazon Introducing New Kindle In August

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John_Keck

Limp Gawd
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Amazon.com is rumored to be releasing a new version of the Kindle e-book reader in August. The device will be thinner and have a more responsive screen with a sharper image. It will not have a colored or touch-screen display.
The Kindle uses a black-and-white screen that mimics the appearance of paper. The new version will have sharper contrast that makes e-books look more like real books, the people familiar with the product said. The delay during page turns also will be shortened.
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Better image quality? Awesome, my mom has one and it looks good, so better is hard to believe. Faster page turning? Yeah...now I might have to get one. As long as they release it in the DX size, so I can rotate it to view 2 pages at once to like a real book I will most likely get one. Also it needs to be the international version so I can do the whole wireless download thing. Too lazy to connect a USB cable for a new book.

Make it so!
 
You'd think they would offer a color display if they want to compete.
 
Galvin said:
You'd think they would offer a color display if they want to compete.
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I have a sony reader, and would argue this point, the e-ink screens are easier on battery life, and are MUCH easier to read in the sun. Mine is used for 3 hours a day on the bus, and is almost exactly the same as a paper book ie no headaches or eyestrain.

I still don't think the whole ipad/ereader thing makes since because of that.
 
Galvin said:
You'd think they would offer a color display if they want to compete.
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I can understand where you're coming from to a point but, aside from comics/magazines, where do you really see color in books? All of the recreational fiction/non-fiction books I read lack photos. That's not to say color wouldn't be useful in expanding the quality of the content displayed/available for the Kindle, but that I don't think it's a big deal for most users.
 
Galvin said:
You'd think they would offer a color display if they want to compete.
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Meh I am a nook owner and prefer it to the kindle but I don't think the touch screen is a HUGE deal. Its nice but wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.
 
I read sony ereaders on several sites are hard to read in the sun. which version do you have?

i am hoping for asus 900 or 950 or dr950 whatever it is lol. large screen i hope is cheaper. amazon has too high of pricing.
 
Galvin said:
You'd think they would offer a color display if they want to compete.
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They're not aiming to compete against the iPad and an LCD would murder the battery life vs eInk. The color eInk screens that a few tech reporters have seen aren't able to produce acceptable color quality yet. Pixel Qi's screen might be an option but since it hasn't been released in any consumer product we don't know how good the low power mode they claim to be similar to eInk is in terms of power consumption. Amazon is also probably reluctant to risk an untested technology on their flagship product.

Instead they appear to have taken the safe route and are just using the next generation monochrome eInk screen.
 
jroe52 said:
I read sony ereaders on several sites are hard to read in the sun. which version do you have?

i am hoping for asus 900 or 950 or dr950 whatever it is lol. large screen i hope is cheaper. amazon has too high of pricing.
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IIRC the problem is that the touchscreen in their touch models is glossy.
 
There are also a few e-ink readers (including some batches of Sony units) that had a poor display that wouldn't work right when the sun is shining on it. On those bad units, flipping the page would cause some areas to be very washed out (sometimes to the point of being unreadable).
 
GuruX said:
There are also a few e-ink readers (including some batches of Sony units) that had a poor display that wouldn't work right when the sun is shining on it. On those bad units, flipping the page would cause some areas to be very washed out (sometimes to the point of being unreadable).
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I've read that alot on kindleboards and it's typically referred to as 'sunfade'. Good thing is it's, like you said, a defect and the few times I've read about a person with that problem Amazon replaces it no problem. One thing I do love about the Kindle is from all I've read, Amazon has excellent customer service.
 
If the price is still ridiculous, then this is almost a pointless update.

They need to put something out that is sub $100.
 
Yeah colour doesn't really makes sense on an e-reader. The whole point to e-ink is that it is easier on the eyes, no glaring backlight to strain them. If you want to read comic books then get something else.
 
Bgrngod said:
If the price is still ridiculous, then this is almost a pointless update.

They need to put something out that is sub $100.
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I don't understand why people complain $250 is too much for this. Do you all not realize how much you get for that $250? If there were a Kindle that just used Wi-fi and had no cell-wireless, then maybe. I have a Kindle2 and the ability to download books anywhere I go, is amazing. I was showing my Kindle off at Christmas and was able to download several books to show to the family, all while out in the sticks of Idaho where only dial-up is available.

The Cellphone wireless is a huge plus to the Kindle that none of the other e-readers can compete with.

Also, their customer service is the absolute best :eek:
 
The price of the unit itself is fine. Its the price of the books that is rediculous. $40 for a hardbound version of a book or $38 for the ebook. $14.99 for a paper back, $14.92 for the ebook version. That makes zero sense.

I bought an O'Reilly's programming book for my ipod Touch for $4.99. The paperback is usually $30. Thats more reasonable of what ebooks should be priced at.

I googled "why ebooks expensive" a month ago or so and found MANY threads with people asking why this ebook model is so skewed. MPAA and RIAA have nothing on these guys.
 
The Kindle is dead. Long live the Kindle.

I hope Bezos and crew figure this out and fast...
 
What westrock said. They didn't have to print it or ship it, and yet half the time it's almost the same price.

For me... I don't care about wifi or 3g or whatever, I'm fine if I have to plug it in. I just want color eink, and to be able to read what I want. Would be nice if you could somehow put in books you already have on hand and not rebuy them on the ebook but I doubt it.
 
Printing is a minimal fraction of the total cost of a book. For an HC it's ~$2. For a mass market paperback (the $8 kind) it's around $.50. Of the 40-50% of the list price of a book that goes to a publisher 8-15% goes towards royalties; most of the rest ends up covering editing, marketing, developing new talent (an authors first book is almost universally a loss), losses from new authors who turn out to be major duds, the occasional huge loss from an expected best seller that flops, losses from print books that are sent to retail but don't sell (these are are physically destroyed or sold at deep discounts from cover price with the store keeping every penny of the sale), etc.
 
DanNeely said:
Printing is a minimal fraction of the total cost of a book. For an HC it's ~$2. For a mass market paperback (the $8 kind) it's around $.50.
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Are you referring to the material goods of printing or the whole shebang thats involved in "printing". Paying for the materials to make physical books. Storing physical books at a distributer. Shipping physical books to a customers wherehouse. Shipping physical books to individual storefronts. Having physical books stocked to physical shelves. Paying physical employees to run physical store to sell physical books?

All that[/]b only costs $2? Freeing up all that overhead can only lower the cost of a $50 by $2?
 
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