Amazon Kindle 2: New Wireless Reading Device

There's been a lot of anticipation about what Amazon would do for an encore to its much-hyped e-book reader, the Kindle, and now that it's finally here we can say that the Kindle 2 is about what we expected it to be.

Talk of it being a huge leap forward or going from generation one to generation five in one fell swoop was really, well, just talk. In reality, the Kindle 2 is a nice upgrade over the original Kindle; yes, it leaves off a couple of key items--most importantly removable memory and a protective carrying case--but it makes up for it with a slicker design, improved performance, increased internal memory, built-in speakers, and a new feature, Text-to-Speech audio reading.

The Kindle 2 does away with almost every awkward convention introduced in the original version. The device is now cleanly laid out, very much shaped like a large iPhone; a big rectangle with rounded edges. The keyboard has gone from that unnatural, slanted arrangement to a standard, familiar keyboard layout, and the keys are now small and round instead of rectangular pellets.

The next / previous buttons occupy a very similar location, but are much smaller (as opposed to taking up the entire side of the device), so the threat of constantly hitting them is noticeably alleviated. They've also been stiffened up, so even if you do accidentally brush past one of them, it takes a little more effort to engage.

We like the new navigation, but it's not as speedy for jumping through lists -- which is how a lot of the Kindle's menus are presented. Instead of smoothly sweeping up and down, you have to notch, notch, notch till you get where you're going.

Along the side on the upper right is a volume rocker, and down along the bottom is a microUSB port. The back is now flat and smooth bushed aluminum, with a set of stereo speakers along the bottom, and a strip of gray rubber up top. Up on the top of the unit is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a slider power / sleep switch.

The screen itself is looks somewhat clearer than the original version, helped largely by the fact that the e-ink display can now show up to 16 shades of gray as opposed to the previous four. You can definitely see those differences in font smoothing and on images (which, incidentally, you can now zoom in on).

Additionally, Amazon says the new screen refreshes 20 percent faster, and in our tests, that seems to be true -- though it's more noticeable in cursor movements and text display rather than full page turns. That faster refresh means the Kindle 2 gets one step closer to acting less like a static page, and more like a slow computer; and it's an improvement, without question.

When you step back and take a look at the device, it's clear that the most notable changes have come in the form of hardware tweaks. Besides the text-to-speech function, there's not much you can do on the new Kindle that you couldn't do on the old one. Books still cost just as much to download, and you still have largely the same set of options when you get them on the device.

The buy-in for the unit itself is $359 -- and everything you put on it is going to cost you a little bit more. After a while, that can start to add up, and we're not convinced it makes sense for just anyone. Ultimately, it boils down to a question of needs, because -- like the first Kindle -- the Kindle 2 doesn't represent such a sea change in technology that we think everyone should run out and buy it.

A lot of people are fond of calling the device an "iPod for books" as if that's just what most people want or require, and we're not so sure of that. Still, the Kindle 2 delivers an enjoyable experience with noticeable leaps in usability, and big leaps in industrial design. If you travel lightly, are a voracious reader, and absolutely love gadgets, you'll probably get this device. Is that everyone? No... but it's a lot of people we know.

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