back to article Amazon: Kindle 2 to sell internationally

Amazon has confirmed that the Kindle 2 will be launched internationally - at some, unannounced point. Amazon_Kindle_2_003 Amazon's Kindle 2: coming to the UK... er... at some point A spokesperson for the online retailer told Register Hardware today that it has inked plans to sell the device outside of North America. “The …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I would buy one if.

    They ditched the keyboard and filled the available space with screen, in this day and age there is just no excuse for such a clunky design. Come on guys get your act together, it’s a book reader; fill the available space with the book not with stupid little keys.

    Added a backlight, I like to read in bed and having a backlight means the other half can sleep while I read, if I want to read with the light on I will read a paperback.

  2. Piggy and Tazzy

    How much?

    At £240, it's still too bloody expensive.

  3. Thomas

    @AC

    A backlight wouldn't allow you to read it in bed unless you were positioned behind the screen and adept at mirror reading. It's not an LCD display.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Price

    So, £360 then.

    They should make a version without the 3g features, and drop the price. I'm sure part of the price goes to subsidising the mobile carrier for the kindles network connection.

    It'd be way easier to sell internationally then as well.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    define "internationally"?

    is it really "internationally" or just for few "selected" countries. (as with all online movies, books and games).

    if they would really make it internationally available (and let us worry about the internet connect), then I am willing to import it. I would be far more convenient then my current library, plus my hands won't hurt as much when I look something up while standing.

  6. Mage Silver badge

    Features

    it uses opaque reflective very slow but ZERO power to maintain eInk display technology.

    Inherently a touch onscreen keypad would take about 1s to appear and vanish and can't be animated.

    Inherently you can't have a backlight, each dot is solid ball or cylinder that is half white, half black and physically rotated by a voltage pulse lasting nearly 0.5 to 1 second, hence slow response time.

    It does mean zero consumption while reading.

    They are constrained also by standard eInk display sizes.

    I think they could do a better keyboard with rectangular staggered columns and more height for display if a taller one becomes available.

    The Sony book with identical screen does have an LED front light option for the dark. I've played with the Sony model which has nicer styling. The Sony is also a 2nd class MP3 player.

    The Rex illiad is also same screen tech, but with WiFi and Touch Screen annotation options (too expensive.

    It needs WiFi and connection to PC for up/down-load as well as 3G.

    These are all still to expensive

  7. Martin
    Thumb Down

    ...and boy, is it UUUUGGGLLEEEEEE !!!

    I'll keep my Sony Reader.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wishlist

    I do read eBooks, used to use my old Dell Axim, now on my phone which is not ideal.

    What I would love to see is a device with 2 e-ink screens side by side like the pages of a real book. The screens should fill as much of the front of the device as possible and it should close like a real book.

    I know a backlight won't work but a small 'pop-out'? lamp near the top would be useful.

    And yeah, dump the 3G!

  9. Frank

    Free-Read Free-ebooks

    I installed the free Mobipocket reader on my Eee 901 and get my books from the Gutenberg Project. These are old, out of copyright books but there are thousands of them and the cost is zero !

    http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/default.asp?Language=EN

    http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

    Until they make a cheap reader and until e-books are easily available at a low price, I'll stick to reserving books at the library for my newer reading material.

  10. James Pickett (Jp)

    @ AC (Price)

    Totally agree. So long as it could download in the background, wouldn't GPRS save costs without hampering the user experience?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Larger screen

    You can get a larger screen, but not in the kindle. the iRex digital reader 1000 has a 10 inch screen - just don't ask the price! (700 euro). There is also a chinese firm that has a 10 inch screen model on its books but no price or availability as yet.

    As Thomas said it would be rather useless having a backlight because the base of the display is a metal plate.

  12. Sandra Greer
    Happy

    Love it anyway

    The new one looks much easier to use - mine is always turning pages since the buttons climb up the sides and there isn't much space to just pick it up.

    The way you read it in bed is use a small booklight and change the typeface to Large, so you don't use enough light to disturb the other half. It is much less tiring as you don't raise your arm to turn pages, and it is so light.

    The network connection is one way for Amazon to hold the rights to market the e-books. However, you can get other ones on your PC and load them also. It just takes a bit more work, which most people avoid. Plus the publishers provide the media to Amazon so as to collect royalties.

    Yes, I have a nice little library of French classics from the Gutenberg Project and other resources.

    Much less clutter in my already book-filled flat, too.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Dumb, dumb world . . . of Malcom Gladwell

    Props to Amazon for promoting their shiny new toy alongside the analog version of a book whose author has been thourougly eviscerated by Mr. Orlowski.

    If you want to learn about outliers, get a stats book!

    PH - an outlier in many ways.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    @Thomas

    You telling me it is not possible to develop a means of lighting these displays from behind?

  15. netean
    Thumb Down

    i just don't see the point

    Expensive

    DRM laden - I can't just give a friend my book when I'm done reading it - nor can I take it down the oxfam bookshop!

    Requires power to charge or use

    Requires book manufacturers to supply content (FFS make it cheaper than a real book it surely costs them a lot less to produce)

    what about when the machine dies, how do I get my paid for books off the device?

    £240 that would buy me a lot of real books.

    I'm sure ebooks will have their place eventually, but real books seem much more versatile to me.

  16. Andrew Baines Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Not until they're in colour

    My wife reads a couple of books per week, but she'd never think of buying one of these - too easy to break, and too expensive.

    However, she has to carry a couple of hefty text books around with her. Lots of essential colour pictures. She'd pay a lot if they would just release a colour ebook thingy.

  17. James Dunmore
    Stop

    How much !

    It's clearly a book version of the iPod - but it'll never take off in the same way - sorry, but you can't replace a good book - there is something great about holding a book, etc. and at that price, it'll never prove to be cost effective.

    Plus most people read on the bus/train/beach/plane - sort of places you don't want to be holding £200+in public view

  18. RW
    IT Angle

    Does it handle "complex scripts"?

    If it doesn't handle the scripts with elaborate layout rules (Thai, Burmese, Arabic, Devanagari, and many others) it has to be classified as a fail. Ditto complex syllabaries like the Ethiopic.

    And what happens if you drop it in the bathtub? A book will end up slightly worse for the wear, but still readable. In fact, what happens if you drop it on or into anything?

  19. Bad Beaver
    Thumb Down

    Tell them

    that they can keep their expensive, ugly bundle of DRM-laden mediocrity for themselves.

  20. joe K
    Thumb Down

    Non stop fussing

    If some of you had your way we'd still be using scrolls of parchment. Why would anyone insist on "...a device with 2 e-ink screens side by side like the pages of a real book...." like it will magically make the whole reading experience better. That would simply be a complete waste.

  21. Thomas

    @AC

    Nope, as Mage says, eInk displays make each and every pixel either a solid white or a solid black. So they reflect light just like real paper and don't let light through from behind just like real paper. The advantage over LCD — besides the massive power savings for static displays — is that the contrast ratio is very close to real ink on real paper. Quite probably a front light would work, albeit with the uneven distribution of light that they tend to have.

    However, I'm not familiar with any eInk technology that involves physical rotation, I think most use electrophoresis.

  22. Stewart Midwinter
    Thumb Down

    not in Canada

    I wrote Amazon.ca yesterday to ask when the Kindle would be available in Canada and they provided the following bullshit answer:

    "At this time, Amazon.com is unable to offer the Amazon Kindle and associated digital content from the Kindle Store to our international customers due to import/export laws and other restrictions. Whispernet, which allows users to take advantage of Kindle's wireless features, is currently available only in the United States."

    What, there is no CDMA network outside the US? Someone please educate Amazon about the existence of Telus and Bell, both of which operate CDMA networks. As for laws restricting content, how is it that Sony is able to sell its reader in Canada?

    No, the real reason that the Kindle is only available in the US is that Amazon is too lazy to actually get out and make deals with other cellular providers. No wonder American industry is collapsing... they don't think there's a world outside their own borders (even though this thing is probably made in China).

  23. T Wright

    Kindleless

    I would certainly consider one of these as I miss my ebook reader with the e-ink display already as I managed to lean over it last week and crack the front. It didn't take much I assure you. To all those who have not used one regularly they don't know what they're talking about. I've read my Apollo (version of the chinese jinke reader) in low light conditions, on the train, anywhere without the eye strain of an LCD panel. 6 weeks between battery charges, fitted nicely in my coat pocket better than a fat paperback, lighter and with 100 books to choose from on an SD card.

    Bad points, when it did break it broke proper ! You need to be careful or have insurance (I didn't). Adobe Acrobat files were just too annoying to read. Just like a web page on a mobile phone is in my opinion. Would have been nicer to have more books formatted better for the 6 inch screen. txt & rtf files were best of a bad lot for formatting (obviously).

    I say who needs the wi-fi connection & DRM. It takes two seconds to copy a document from the PC.

    Also the delay in page turning is not so annoying once your used to it, it's not that slow.

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