Kindle 3 - New and Improved

I bought my Kindle 2 with Global Wireless July 1st. And on August 27th, Amazon.com released a new and improved Kindle, the Kindle 3. Just my luck.

You may not follow technology trends, so you may not be familiar with the Kindle e-reader, made and sold by Amazon.com. So far, it is the best selling e-reader device on the market. It uses e-ink display technology, which is low power, gray, and very crisp and easy on the eyes. I've discovered that I read faster on the Kindle than paper books. If you do follow technology trends and have chosen to ignore the e-reader segment, then it's time to sit up and pay attention.

The Kindle 3


The new Kindle 3 is improved over the Kindle 2 I own.

1. Display: While the display on the Kindle 3 is the same 6" diagonal, the e-ink display is better with a much improved contrast ratio. Text and images look better. Always a plus.

2. Page Turns: I don't mind the brief flicker when pages turn on my Kindle. On the Kindle 3, pages turn faster.

3. Size of Kindle. Even though the diagonal screen size remains 6", Amazon managed to make the Kindle a little smaller.

4. Battery Life: My Kindle 2 has a rated battery life of "up to 2 weeks", while the Kindle 3 has a rated battery life of "up to 30 days." I've easily managed at least 10 days on my Kindle using Whispersync sporadically. 30 days sounds very believable to me.

5. Keyboard: The built in keyboard remains on the Kindle 3, although the dedicated row of number keys had to be sacrificed.

6. Color: The Kindle 2 is white, the Kindle 3 is dark gray. Makes sense to me.

7. Navigation: I'm referring to the 5-way stick on the Kindle 2, this fragile piece was replaced on the Kindle 3 with a navigation pad. Much more durable and an improvement.

8. Connectivity/Price: Whispersync is what Amazon calls the wireless access to the ATT cellular network. This remains the same on the standard Kindle 3. But wait, Amazon now sells a less expensive Kindle 3 without the ATT modem, but instead with a WiFi modem. Kindle 3 $189, Kindle 3 WiFi $139. Smart move Amazon.

There are other changes made to the Kindle 3, but I'll let you discover those on your own. All in all, Amazon has made a lot of nice incremental improvements to the Kindle e-reader. Enough to justify purchasing a Kindle 3 if you don't own a Kindle. And probably enough to justify replacing your older Kindle if it's more than a year old.

Now how cool is that?