Amazon Kindle2 US & International Wireless Reader

The Amazon Kindle 2 is now US and International Wireless in over 100 countries around the globe. With this new technology you can get books delivered to you whether at home or abroad in Paris or Mumbai in less than 60 seconds. Kindle utilises the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so you never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi Hotspot. Unlike cell phones there are no monthly wireless bills and yearly contracts. There is no software to install and no syncing required. The US and International Wireless Kindle cost $279.00 and is the same as the Kindle2 (US Wireless) in every way. You can pre-order your International Wireless Kindle from today October 8th, 2009. The Kindle will be released on October 19th, 2009.

For the first time, you can get books delivered wirelessly while you're traveling internationally. If you are out of wireless coverage, you can download books to your PC or Mac and transfer via USB to your Kindle. Wireless download times can vary based on 3G or EDGE/GPRS coverage, signal strength, and file size. See wireless coverage map for availability.

No need to judge a book by it's cover, Kindle ets you download and read the beginning of books for free. Sample a new author or book-if you like what you read, simply buy and download the whole book with 1-Click, right from your Kindle, and continue reading. Sample length will vary by book.

1. Sleek and Trim

2. Improved Ergonomics - Easy to hold and use as a book

3. New 5-way controller - enabling precise on-screen navigation

4. Simple to use - no computer required

5. Download more that 50,000 audio titles from Audible.com

6. Search - Kindle 2 wireless reader makes it easy to search within a book, across your library, in the Kindle Store or even the Web.

7. Wireless access to Wikipedia

8. Built -in Dictionary with Instant Look up

9. Easily take your personal documents with you - eliminating the need to print.

10. Full image Zoom - images and photos display crisply.

11. Bookmarks and Annotations - you can add annotations to text, just like you
might write in the margins of a book.

12. Faster page turns.

These are just some of Kindle 2 wireless reader new features.

I have TWO Sony PRS-505 readers and a Cybook Gen 3 and you would think I would have enough ebook readers. However, being addicted to gadgets AND being addicted to books makes for a deadly combo... so you would be wrong.

I love my Sony Reader. However, the Sony reader is lacking in one very important department -- available content. Unfortunately, there is no reader that has access to the sheer volume of material as the Kindle. The Sony bookstore is ok but the amount of content available in the store is a fraction compared to Amazon.com. In addition, the prices for books are often more expensive -- particularly new releases. While Sony does support other formats, those non-Sony-specific formats will often not display properly (line breaks in weird places, pagination messed up etc) so that it really interferes with your concentration.

I would have to say in terms of actual "reading" experience -- the tactile feel of the readers and the comfort of holding the device and moving around throughout the book -- Sony still has the Kindle 2 beat (though the Kindle 2 wireless reader is a vast improvement over the Kindle 1). However, those considerations will have to take lower priority until Sony takes the issues with their bookstore and reader software (how you get books onto the Sony device) seriously.

So if I had to rank the eBook readers at this point, the nod goes to Amazon. We'll see how Sony Responds!

The Amazon Kindle Store has over 285,000 books that you can search and shop wirelessly right from your kindle, so you can click and buy your purchases and start reading immediately. If you're out of wireless coverage like travelling overseas, you can download your books to PC or MAC and transfer via USB to you Kindle 2 wireless reader. The kindle bookstore consist of biographies, magazines, newspapers, blogs, classics, thrillers, investment guides or sci- fi. 109 out of 112 books currently on the New York times Bestseller list is also available and and most new releases cost $9.99 and many more books for less.

If you own a IPhone it is the perfect companion for your Kindle 2 wireless reader. To read kindle books on your IPhone or IPod touch, simply download the free Kindle for IPhone application.

As one of the original Kindle's wireless reader biggest fans and an owner for over a year, I can speak to the Kindle from two perspectives--the benefits of owning a Kindle, and Kindle 2 improvements (as I've now had it for half a day)

The benefits of owning a Kindle (these do not change)

- Absolutely, Jeff Bezos is right that the Kindle 'disappears' as you read it...as I read other reviews (and non-user critiques) about the Kindle, this point is often lost. Once you have the Kindle in your hands, you forget everything and become immersed in the content of what you're reading. Isn't that really the whole point?

- I read more now that I have my Kindle, 10 years out of college than I did when I was in school, and I really enjoy it. Books look a lot less intimidating when they aren't sitting on your bookshelf and 3 inches thick. I recently finished Team of Rivals, and I am sure that if I had to read it in book form, I would never have gotten through it because it would have felt so intimidating.

- Heft and weight is a complete non-issue with the Kindle. I like to read in odd positions (in bed, on the couch, on a plane, poolside, shifting around in a lounge chair) and I've always had trouble with real books because unless you are in the absolute middle of the book, it always is weighted to one side or another and frankly, my arm and pinkie finger gets tired holding it up. The Kindle is balanced and portable, and entirely usable in any situation.

- I can be in the middle of a lot of different books at once...not much more to say here. You never run out of space on the Kindle, and though it may be a little bit hard to maneuver around a lot of books in your library, it's still better to have access to all your books at any time.

- I now read newspapers. I always found physical newspapers to be clumsy and take up too much space to actually subscribe to. They are great for short content pieces, but terrible for reading in transit because the pages are so big. I also read some articles on my BlackBerry, but find myself scrolling a lot and waiting a long time for page loads. On the Kindle, you have wireless delivery, easy navigation, no ads, no need to flip to page D17 and find the place where you left off. You also have a searchable/annoted/bookmarked archive of all your newspaper articles if you ever need to find something again.

- All of these things can probably be accomplished with any eBook reader. The difference with the Kindle is that you have wireless delivery of content. This means, literally, that I can be sitting on the plane, start talking about what good books the guy sitting next to me has read recently, look it up on my Kindle, read the reviews and download it before the rest of the passengers have boarded and the plane doors close. This has happened.

- My biggest complaint, which I'm sure will be addressed in due course is that the entire wireless benefit does not exist outside of the US. I have taken my Kindle to Canada, Mexico and China, and I found that I had to (gasp), decide what I wanted to have on my Kindle before I left the US. Foreign language support would also be a plus, but again, I see why this might come later.

Now, onto improvements with the Kindle 2 wireless reader

- There are the obvious ones: sleeker look and feel (it feels solid in your hands), sharper screen, no longer accidentally depressing the next page button by accident and having to find your place in the book again...you can read about these from various sources)

- The 5-way button, though a bit small, allows you to select left and right, and not just up and down like the original version. This is very helpful when you want to select and highlight.

- There are now two layers of interaction...before when you were reading a paper, you could only go back to the previous screen to select the next article. Now, there is an option at the bottom of the screen to skip to the next article when you tire of the current one.

- Page loads are much faster. I can feel that the delay between pages is much less. Only issue is I need to recalibrate now--in general, I try to anticipate how much time it will take the next page to load, and when I'm two lines from the bottom, I would hit the next page button. Now I need to push the button later.

- Text to speech is cloogey, but fun. I'm not sure how useful this will end up being. I tried to have the voice read the user's manual to me and it paused at commas and periods, but skipped right over hard returns. It also scrolled the page as it was reading, so if you are trying learn English and don't mind developing a metallic accent, it could really help. :-) You can also choose, male/female and speed. I think this could be a nice feature, though probably won't be using it all the time.

- Managing your books is much easier. It's easy to see what is in your archive and re-download onto the Kindle. Also easy to delete and manage your books. That 5-way button is magical...though a bit unintuitive--you need to train yourself to think that there might be something useful if you scroll to the right.

- Dictionary is improved. Now you can highlight a word and it automatically gives you a definition at the bottom of the screen. It also lets you look up words (that are not in the text), which is an improvement since the last version.

I'm sure there are still a bunch of things that I haven't yet discovered about the Kindle 2 wireless reader. I don't really bookmark/annotate/highlight that much, but for those who do, I think this has also been improved upon.

Overall, the Kindle is an amazing product. It did the basics well in the original model, the Kindle 2 has improved on a lot of dimensions, and I look forward to seeing what new bells and whistles are still to come.

If you are considering buying one, and need to see before you order, find someone in your city who has one and can show you. There is now a special board for this on Amazon. Kindle owners (at least this one), are always happy to talk about it, and you will be delighted with the screen and the possibilities in such a compact package.