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Jeff Bezos Says Amazon Will Unveil a New Kindle Next Week (the-digital-reader.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said on Monday that the next Kindle will be unveiled next week. Bezos posted on Twitter that an "all-new, top of the line Kindle is almost ready". Calling it the 8th-generation Kindle, Bezos promised to share more details next week but didn't say anything more than that. Other sources say that the new Kindle will have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity options, and come with a case which has its own battery
It will be our slimmest, lightest, most elegant Kindle we have ever made.
Just announce it when you are done... all this manufactured excitement these companies try to create is seriously annoying.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
This isn't news. Next week, when they unveil something? Then it will be "news." Currently it is "futures" not "news."
This is not an event we would be expected to be interested in attending in person, so there is no reason to treat the mere scheduling of the event as news.
Or yet another Android tablet with an LCD/TFT/IPS/light-shining display?
Where are the colour e-ink/e-paper displays?
....now that would be news......
mine went back in less than 30 days
got an HP Stream 8
Windows 10 sucks less than that Kindle OS
that's saying something
I had been getting really tired of having to run my Kindle from my car battery.
Or I guess it could have just been the car exhaust making me tired, honestly not surrr
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Are kindles still locked down against their owner, Apple-style?
If so, then... no thanks. If I buy your device, I expect it to be mine after I pay you for it. If you are going to continue being the owner of the device I just purchased, well... why would I do that, when I could instead buy a different device that'll answer to me, instead of answering to you?
Unless it makes my coffee in the morning and is great in bed at night, I'm not really interested. I have the Kindle app on my tablet already so I don't need a crippled Kindle.
It sounds like your solution may be crippled in bright sunlight. Or crippled by short battery life. It's also likely crippled by its comparative weight. You're basically giving in to all the software/licensing drawbacks of using a hardware Kindle, but getting none of the benefits.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
Yeah, I know. You grab your Kindle, remove the charging cable, step out the door, and then, quick as a flash, two weeks later, you get a low battery. Who hasn't had to put up with this. Only the other month, I was kidnapped, and when they released me a week later, my Kindle's battery was barely half full! What if my wife hadn't paid the ransom? I'd have been left with nothing to read!
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I can't remember the last time I read a book outdoors, much less tried to read one on a tablet outdoors. I much prefer to read while I'm sitting in my comfy recliner sipping on a good cup of coffee. I recharge my tablet every night and it lasts all day, but I don't read at work.
It'll probably just be another Kindle Fire...which has no benefit in sunlight.
... with my 2013 kindle paperwhite (yes, i want a light, it's easier to read at night and it's not noticeable outdoors).
How do they get people to upgrade their eink readers?
Unless he's talking about a lcd+android kindle, in which case no thanks.
I apologize for the lack of a signature.
Being an avid bookworm I cant say I like or hate the kindle one way or another. I just dont really understand them. The kindles largest competition, at least for me, is the fact that amazon sells thousands of titles I want to read for a penny plus shipping used. Why buy new when you can get a perfectly good used title from a reseller?
Sure, sure, kindles hold thousands of books, but so does my bookshelf. for my heavy duty questions theres the internet and a laptop, and titles licensed under Creative Commons fit just as well on it as they do the kindle. if i break a kindle, its going to cost about a hundred bones to replace...but if i break a used copy of Dune or leave it on a plane I can just reorder it from my phone with oneclick or finish it at the library. And if i finish a title on a flight or on a vacation I can trade it at a local book store for credit, and pick up something else Id like to read. In all seriousness: can you trade kindle books? I dont know.
Then theres the batteries and charging. I know kindle runs for quite some time on a single charge, but I've got books older than 70 years that I still thumb through with ease. Whats the total life of a kindle? Do they trade them in/up? can you swap the battery like a smoke detector? Lastly, what happens if i sell my kindle? can you sell them? do the titles transfer?
Good people go to bed earlier.
Go to the Kindle Store and try to purchase any number of books/magazines and they aren't available for any eInk Kindle, only Fire Tablets. Okay those are sort of Kindles but still means that you don't have access to Kindle content. I don't expect the thing to run apps, but to be able to read books/magazines seems like a pretty basic function of an eReader!
You mean the drawback of having a device that does a hundred things in addition to being an e-reader? You got me on the battery life because admittedly my iPad lasts only 8-10 hours before it dies. On the other hand, I tend to poop out before it does, so I don't really see what the issue is. As far as the "crippled in bright sunlight argument", I just now did a test. it's mid afternoon here in the sunny state of Texas and I took my iPad out to the back yard to see how it fares. (Believe it or not, I've never tried using my iPad in bright sunlight but I've only had it for 2.5 years so ymmv) As it turns out, with full sunlight on the screen, the ipad cranks up the brightness accordingly and I could read the text on the Kindle app just fine. So--I don't see what the issue is there. As far as the comparative weight--are you suggesting that I carry a tablet that offers full functionality AND an eReader (which is admittedly lighter) everywhere I go? Seriously, I'm fine with a few extra grams to get that full functionality.
And lest someone say I'm an Apple fanboy--I'm not. I really don't care for a lot of their stuff and although I do have an iPhone I don't have a desktop/laptop Mac and don't expect I ever well. But the iPad works really well. I also have a pretty lightweight Kindle paperwhite and find that I hardly ever pick it up because the convenience of having a tablet that "does it all" far outweighs the benefits of a dedicated eReader.
Attaching the Kindle name to crappy android tablets was the worst damage they could have possibly done to the ebook industry as a whole. Sure, the tablet had amazing specs at the time for its price point, but the ENTIRE POINT of actual ereaders is the screen. Just when people were hearing "Kindle is great for reading books", the stores are suddenly loaded with tablets and the response turns into "It's no better than my phone, I don't see what the big deal is"
Reading books on a backlit screen is murder on the eyes. I'll take E Ink any day.
Despite having several tablets and smartphones, I still use a first generation Nook to read.
I keep my Kindle in the car I drive to work everyday. When I take my sanity/lunch break I read while I eat. When the weather is nice, it's great to sit outside and enjoy reading a book. The crazy battery life is very handy as I can leave it in the car for a month at least between charges, it's one less thing to remember everyday. I can definitely see the draw of a tablet, but I also consider the Kindle to be cheap enough for a single use device.
I thought this until I got a Kindle. Not staring into a lamp and not using a computer while reading is much better. You're reading a book and looking at friendly text and nothing else. Also the battery will be as you left it even days later. E-readers have their merits. Don't scoff at them.
An Amazon shill wrote:
It's also likely crippled by its comparative weight.
So somehow carrying 2 devices is lighter than one ? Seriously dude, it's crippled? really? Grow the fuck up fan boy.
Dear AC,
When you read a book instead of just carrying it around on your person, you have to hold it. Other device(s) have no bearing on this.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
I own a Kindle paperwhite. Reads perfectly outdoors.
I haven't touched the thing in many months; Why? I don't read outdoors. It's far too bright out there for that kind of activity.
I read on my phone. In moderate lighting. And when I go to bed. When I'm done, I set the phone on its cordless charger, and nod off. I never run out of battery. And I read a *lot*.
Having said that, I'm quite curious as to what Amazon is going to announce. One thing I recall about the paperwhite is how slow it was. It actually disrupted my reading to turn a page. Glacial. Perhaps they've beaten that. Or managed color somewhichway. A full color display readable in full daylight... not so much a Kindle, but a phone or a tablet with that... I'd be interested.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
One of the dumbest things Amazon did was drop the large DX version. If they bring it back I would definitely get one.
E-ink beats a tablet display for reading any day of the week and twice on sunday. In addition, you simply can't beat the battery life.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
But if this brings down the price of the Voyager, I may very well buy one. My Kindle Keyboard is getting old... not to mention that my dog chewed it up, so it's difficult to even plug the micro-USB cord in. But I really, REALLY prefer page turn buttons to swiping (something I couldn't have imagined saying before I bought my Kindle).
#DeleteChrome
I can't remember the last time I read a book outdoors, much less tried to read one on a tablet outdoors. I much prefer to read while I'm sitting in my comfy recliner sipping on a good cup of coffee. I recharge my tablet every night and it lasts all day, but I don't read at work.
Summer is coming. Kindle e-ink variety is great by the pool while the kids splash.
There's no indication that this will be a reintroduction of e-Ink displays to the Kindle line.
This will be another Kindle Fire type device - a general use tablet running a crippled version of Android with Amazon's tracking and spying in place of Google's.
Why is FireOS crippled, exactly? It's AOSP + an Amazon app framework in place of Google's. It does the same stuff. It runs all the same software less a few Google-specific tools that require parts of the Google Framework that can't be installed without root. That means you need a third-party Youtube client (there are lots of them), have to run a browser other than Chrome (Firefox and Dolphin are better options for Android anyway) and most of the Play* apps almost no one uses won't load. Sometimes I have to download an APK from the Play Store and share it from my desktop or off my phone since it's not available on Amazon's App Store, but I also have to install apps from Amazon on Google devices from time to time.
My Fire HDX 8.9 has been a great device. It has a fantastic 2560x1440 display and a CPU that's more than powerful enough, and it weighs just a few grams more than a Nexus 7 or Shield K1. I realize the Amazon launcher isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's still Android and you can still install Nova or Go Launcher if you want, and if you don't, just appreciate the fact that 99% of the FireOS devices you'll encounter will be exactly the same as every other FireOS device, which isn't even true of Samsung or HTC devices released in the same month.
So where's the problem, exactly?
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
There's no indication that this will be a reintroduction of e-Ink displays to the Kindle line. This will be another Kindle Fire type device - a general use tablet running a crippled version of Android with Amazon's tracking and spying in place of Google's.
I don't know, "8th generation Kindle" seems to indicate the e-ink lineage. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help...
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
I was in Germany and couldn't buy content because my Kindle was "in Canada" so the title "wasn't available". I changed my Kindle to reside in Germany, and found that when I eventually returned to Canada, all my content from magazines had quietly erased itself (I think it helpfully removed old magazines... some retention setting I didn't know about). Searched through my German account, and couldn't find the old magazines to re-add them. Makes no sense.
The content is no cheaper in digital form, but it vanishes like nothing, you can't even give it away or share it (aside from their lame 3 weeks one time only thing)
These arbitrary restrictions make me prefer DRM-free sources. But the lousy PDF reading on the e-ink displays means... I barely use my Kindle at all.
Maybe the new Kindle will be one that doesn't suck.
I'd like to see a kindle that could do both e-ink and color display, with a decent keyboard. Not sure I'd buy a new one period though. I have a kindle paperwhite I REALLY like and use a lot, as well as a kindle fire I was given as a gift that I rarely turn on much less use on any sort of regular basis.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I am also a bookworm. With my wife we own thousands of books. Well, ok, not *many* thousands, but they fill about 7 full height IKEA bookcases so definitely over 1 thousand. For about half of them I have only paid little over shipping, as you say they are so cheap used. That said, after getting a Kindle 5 years ago, I immediately I increased my reading about 3-4 times. How is that? Well, I can now comfortably read in my bed before I sleep. A combination of a very light device that you can hold in one hand, does not need page turning and includes a very nice light (external, but gets power from the internal battery so you don't charge other things) makes reading a joy before you sleep. With regular books it was always a struggle (to hold, change page and have some light but not too much to wake up the wife, while tablets are really tiring at night). Also, it fits in my jacket's pocket, so it is always on me with a few hundreds of books, whenever I am waiting for something or riding the train etc I can continue reading, before the Kindle I never did that because most books do not fit in your pocket and also if you have not started a specific book you have to plan ahead choosing one to bring along. Oh, which reminds me, going on vacation I had to spend some time deciding which book to bring along, since I couldn't carry lots. If it was a bad choice, tough luck. Now I have hundreds with me. Ok, I admit I am cheating a bit, I downloaded a pirated package with several thousand books and while I do own the hard-copy versions of almost all I have transferred to the Kindle, so I feel good ethically, it is technically not allowed. But if you don't like that, you can still get access to numerous free books or buy/lend books wherever you are. And when I say wherever you are, I really mean (with the cell-enabled version) everywhere - e.g. on a beach in the aegean. In fact, I don't change my old keyboard kindle because apart from books it also has some rudimentary (due to the limited browser) global internet access for free, so when I travel and I don't have roaming data I can use my kindle. Oh, and when I pick up a regular book and run into an archaic etc word, I try to click to get the dictionary lookup! :)
As for your questions, my 5 year old kindle still holds a charge for several books (could be weeks of reading if you don't use the night light) so I'd say it is long lasting and I don't consider plugging it into my phone's charger every couple of weeks an inconvenience. I don't know how hard it would be to change the battery (it should not be very easy, as it is internal like an iphone). You can sell your kindle. First you unregister it (which will remove your DRM books), but you can leave non-DRM books. The books that you have purchased and are DRM'ed can be sent to any of your devices (it doesn't have to be a kindle, there are kindle readers for PC/Mac/Android/iOS) at any moment (wirelessly), the ones that you do not have on Amazon digital (e.g. downloads off internet, project Gutenberg etc) are just files you copy paste to your PC, your kindle etc so it's up to you to back them up and copy them to a new device. You cannot sell DRM books, they are like itunes mp3. I guess you could arrange to transfer your entire collection by giving someone your account after removing payment info, but it is not something that gets done a lot I assume
Anyway, that's my experience, Kindle has enabled me to read much much more, so it is my favorite gadget ever. I prefer it even over the Casio watch with the solar system simulator that I am wearing since 1990 (Casio Cosmo Phase for the curious). If you gave it a try it might surprise you.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
The reason I didn't get a Kindle when my Cybook Opus broke was the lack of page-turn buttons. I've used a touchscreen Kindle. It drove me nuts.
Tap for next page. No? Tap. TAP. taptaptap. Okay th- no that was TWO pages. AUGH.
I wound up getting a Boyue T61. It's got an e-ink screen with a light, page-turn buttons, and it can handle all the common ebook formats - ePub, MobiPocket, PDF, cbz/cbr, and so on.
It doesn't have the Play Store but the Amazon Appstore and the Goodereader store install, so you can even use it to read Kindle and Nook books.
Running non-reader Android apps is iffy; they usually run but an e-ink screen just isn't suitable. (Trying to watch a video is hilariously bad.)
The only downside is battery life compared to a simple e-reader. I get about a week out of it. But I wasn't able to find a plain reader that has both a light and buttons.
I find it helpful. I was pondering buying a Kindle. Now I'll wait for the new models.
I've been thinking about getting an ebook reader too but sales are plummeting and so many seem to be ok with reading text on their regular IPS tablets too.
I want to check out comic books too, I would be somewhat ok with poor colors but I want some colors, also I saw some e-ink reader/tablet which run full Android but the updates of those screens are so horrible.
All that kinda make me wonder whatever maybe I should just get a tablet anyway instead.
This doesn't mention color and I guess I'm no longer all that interested in a black and white e-ink device.
Thoughts?
Unless it makes my coffee in the morning and is great in bed at night, I'm not really interested.
So, what would tear you away from your fleshlight taped to a Mr. Coffee? We've secretly replaced your lube with Folgers. Let's see if you can tell the difference.
My paperwhite would be just the right size if it weren't for the half inch bezels. Keep the battery life, the optional backlight and the barely good enough touchscreen, and just make the screen bigger. I don't want another tablet; the only reason I have one of those is that sometimes I like to read a comic book.
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
"Staring at a lamp" vs "Staring at something reflecting a lamp" are both photons going into your eyeball. If the backlit display is too bright, turn down the brightness until it matches the ambient brightness level. In fact a simple light meter app could easily match the backlight level to the ambient reflectivity level of a white surface.
This whole notion that "emitted" photons are more energetic than bounced photons is nonsense marketing snake oil by e-ink manufacturers.
Also battery life is far more comparable than people suggest. A small 6" tablet can go about 14 hours of use (with wifi). A Kindle Voyage goes for "up to six weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 10." 6 * 7 / 2 = 21 hours. So about 50% longer which isn't anything to sneeze at but it's a bit pedantic if you can read 400 pages of books without charging for an hour or 600 pages of books. It's a lot of reading.
I have a 3 year old kindle paperwhite. Cost a 100 $. It holds more books than I can read in 6 months. The e-ink is easy on my eyes, I can read in bright sunshine or pitch blackness. The battery lasts about a week with moderate backlight use. It's thin and light enough. I'm really not sure what this new kindle could do better. Maybe get rid of the bezel, leave the screen the same size and it would be a little more pocket friendly. I honestly can't see anything that would compel me to buy a new kindle anytime soon.
E ink is not pixels. It's different. If you haven't tried it, you really just don't know. There is no refresh rate, it's drawn once.
I read outdoors a lot. If I'm reading an engineering text all day, it is a lot more pleasant if I'm out in nature somewhere. But I can't imagine sitting in the sun to do it... so any tablet works.
How is a kindle Crippled?
I have an amazon fire, asus 10" tablet and two kindles.
If i just want to read a book without distractions I grab one of the kindles (one is for tech books and the other non-tech books).
If i want to read the news, play around on the net i grab a tablet.
Kindle advantages:
size/weight
Incredible battery life, i think i charge it like once every 2-3 weeks vs charging the tablets pretty much every day.
task-focused - it is a really good reader with a nice built in dictionary
Kindle disadvantages:
Costly (the kindle and its case was close to 200 while the fire which has substantially greater functionality including a color display was $50 on black Friday.
Functionality (which should be a given considering it is sold as a book reader, not a tablet).
"Crippled" to you may be what others actually want (a dedicated book reading device tuned to read books and using e-ink which is nice on the eyes).
"pixels" isn't a refresh mechanism, it's how the image is constructed: "Pix (picture) El-ements". And E ink displays definitely draw in pixels, not in vectors or some other alternative rendering technology.
But the fact that they don't have to be continuously re-drawn is another matter.
It's the refresh rate. In fact some Eink readers have a built in light too.
Now if only there were a decent 8-10" eink reader made by a reputable company. The Kindle is great but it tops out at 6" for the new versions.
Unless it makes my coffee in the morning and is great in bed at night, I'm not really interested. I have the Kindle app on my tablet already so I don't need a crippled Kindle.
It sounds like your solution may be crippled in bright sunlight. Or crippled by short battery life. It's also likely crippled by its comparative weight. You're basically giving in to all the software/licensing drawbacks of using a hardware Kindle, but getting none of the benefits.
My thoughts exactly. I had a gen-2 kindle which was awesome for reading anywhere (indoors/outdoors), plus a battery life that would go on forever.
Then I switched to a Galaxy tablet and put the kindle app on it. It is great for browsing the internet and reading kindle books at home. But outdoors, man, that thing shines no matter how you angle it regardless of how you tune the screen down. Plus the battery is miserable compared to a real kindle.
I wish I could get a kindle with e-ink, as big as a galaxy tab 10, and with support for chrome. I can live with a B&W internet.
Also battery life is far more comparable than people suggest. A small 6" tablet can go about 14 hours of use (with wifi). A Kindle Voyage goes for "up to six weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 10." 6 * 7 / 2 = 21 hours. So about 50% longer which isn't anything to sneeze at but it's a bit pedantic if you can read 400 pages of books without charging for an hour or 600 pages of books. It's a lot of reading.
This.
Unless you only read in a dark environment, you usually can go with the light setting at 0. Even at night, a nightlight will provide more than enough light to read with the backlight off. This makes a great difference regarding battery life, even if you try to match it by lowering the tablet's display as low as possible.
As someone in the thread has pointed out, you probably haven't got a Kindle. You really should try it, it's an amazing device and you can get A LOT of reading hours without a charge. It's amazing if you travel often or find yourself without an outlet for extended periods of time.
You can sideload gapps on to any Fire tablet without root.
Stare directly at a full moon then stare directly at the sun and come back and tell me that there is no difference between the two.
That's true, but not enough of the Google Framework runs to make all of Google's apps work. Youtube and most of the Play* apps don't and neither will Hangouts, but Gmail and Google Voice both work fine, for example.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K