Amazon Kindle 2 Review

Natali Del Conte takes an in-depth look at the new Kindle and compares it to the experience of using the first generation Kindle.

Amazon Kindle 2 Review Natali: Hi! I’m Natali Del Conte and this is the Product Spotlight on the Amazon Kindle 2. This was announced in February and it started shipping on the 24th. It’s significantly thinner than the original version. Amazon is claiming that it’s thinner than any 3G phone on the market. It’s not a 3G phone but it is a 3G device. Amazon claims that it can download books in less than 90 seconds and that has been my experience so far. I downloaded two books when I received the Kindle and it was shocking how fast it was. I do like the form factor a lot. It is convenient that the buttons are smaller and more strategically placed so that you don’t accidentally change a page as often as you did on the first version. I’m so not sure about the joystick though. The old controller was a scroll wheel that you move up and down on the screen. It didn’t require quite as much precision as this smaller square controller. They’ve changed the location of the power button from behind the device to on top of it. Also, there is no button to turn the wireless feature off like there was in the old Kindle; you have to do that by navigating through the menu. The Whispersync function lets you share books between your different Kindles if you have more than one. You manage that on Amazon’s website where it keeps track of all the books that you’ve purchased. You just go to the book and choose which device you want to read it on. It’s super simple. Each Kindle has its own email address. This is how you send documents to the device. Only approved users can send documents to the device. This helps to avoid any spam. You can set an approved email address on Amazon’s website under the Manage your Kindle Page. The on-board dictionary is easier to use than it was on the original version. You just mouse over a word and it automatically pops up the definition in the lower part of the screen. I also like the highlight function a lot because you can grab specific sentences easier than lines of text. I do find the page turning to be a lot faster than the previous model. I also like the screen resolution and the form factor of this Kindle. I tested out the text-to-speech function and it was pretty much what we expected, choppy and unnatural but otherwise, sufficient if you want to use it as a secondary reading tool. This Kindle does not have an expandable card slot like the original one, so you only get 2GB of memory that it comes with. I’m also not thrilled about the fact that the new Kindle doesn’t come with a case. This case is an extra $30.00 while the original Kindle is shipped with its own leather case for free. I don’t recommend throwing this around your bag or you man-purse without a case. So, factor in an extra $30.00 into the price of the device. The Amazon Kindle 2 is $359.00. It doesn’t come with any free books but the books average about 99.99 per download and of course, the 3G wireless service is free. You can buy it online at Amazon of course. That’s all for your product spotlight. I’m Natali Del Conte with CNET news and this was your in depth look at the Amazon Kindle 2.