Preorders are now available for both the 3G + WiFi Kindle 3 and the much anticipated WiFi-only Kindle 3.  The improvements on both models(the only difference between the two being the exclusion of 3G coverage from the WiFi model and the lower price that that entails) are quite noticeable, if a bit less drastic than many people were likely expecting.

Here’s what we’re going to be looking at:

• Higher Contrast Display, such as has recently been seen in the Kindle DX Graphite
• Slightly Streamlined Body: 21% smaller, 17% lighter, but with no sacrifices to screen size
• Improved Battery and Main Memory Storage, which with the release of Collections a few months ago finally proves incredibly useful
• Built-in WiFi Connectivity: This is huge.  Connect and download books even in areas where reception is horrible?  You’d better believe I’ll take it
• 20% Faster Refresh Rate
• Enhanced PDF Navigation, again much like what we’ve seen in the DX
• New Kindle Software will support some international characters – Cyrillic (Russian), Chinese, Japanese and Korean

Now, I’ll freely admit that the only thing I was set to care much about was the improved screen.  And, to address that point, it looks like it will be as amazing as could be hoped for. That said, I love the body redesign.  It’s smaller, lighter, easier on the eyes, claims to have quieter page turn buttons, a more pleasantly textured backing, and has done away with the annoyingly protruding navigation stick in favor of a directional navigation pad.  If there were ever a reason not to Kindle, it’s flown right out the window.

So far all pre-orders are due to be shipped on a release date of August 27th.

As anybody who is interested can clearly see, today finds the Kindle sold out!  For some, this may be annoying since it means that you have to wait on your new eReader.  For those who’ve been following the news these last few months, however, this is simply a reinforcement of the good news we’ve been expecting for a while now.  The new and updated Kindle, with a thinner body and better screen(probably the same eInk Pearl display seen on the new Kindle DX Graphite), was announced as an August release a while back.  In the meantime we have seen refurbished Kindles going for close to $100, a major price drop on new Kindles, and a huge push in the Kindle platform across multiple platforms.  Definitely encouraging signs.

Now, will this be the much anticipated Kindle 3?  No idea.  The timing seems right in a lot of ways, but this could just as easily be a minor cosmetic update in the interests of giving Amazon(NASDAQ:AMZN) a further edge in the eBook market.  Either way, August should be a good month for fans of the device as we can be fairly sure to see something new.  Personally, all I really care about is the new screen.  That Graphite DX model is very nice to read on.

It appears that we’ll be looking at the new Kindle people have been talking about a little bit sooner than expected.  According to rumors and reports, we’re likely to be getting improvements on existing technology as well as the new and interesting.  The new version will be slimmer, which is probably the most well reported feature so far, and it will have a sharper and significantly more responsive screen that will more closely emulate the feel of reading directly off of a page.  Personally, any improvement to the reading experience is more than welcome, of course.

The unexpected feature that is, at present, merely a well-substantiated rumor, is that the new Kindle will finally be offering up the option of WiFi connectivity either in parallel with or exclusive of the existing 3G connection.  This opens up at least the possibility of having multiple pricing options depending on user requirements, since there is some evidence that plans have been made for a 3G-free model.  It also adds in a much-needed interface option for those who enjoy the Kindle device but do not have regular 3G access in their homes.  Coverage is growing all over the place, but it’s simply not quite everywhere just yet.  Even for those among us who do have the coverage, the speed boost offered by such an option will be a more than welcome advantage when it comes to web browsing and downloading.  This is to say nothing about the potential effect on price that going without 3G coverage might entail.  August is likely to be a fun month.

Tuesday, at the annual Amazon(NASDAQ: AMZN) shareholders meeting, Jeff Bezos made some comments about the state of the Kindle and what we can expect for the future.  While it may come as a surprise for some, the goal is consistency and refinement rather than revolution.  Many feel that the Kindle should be making every effort to become some sort of eInk iPad in order to survive, but Bezos emphasized the presence of the Kindle as a device for “serious readers” and insisted that this is not meant to be a multipurpose device so much as a specialty tool with a distinct purpose.  Future plans for Kindle development may include the color screen that some have been pushing for, but certainly not the next model, to judge from his comments about what a complicated technology it is to get right.  While it would, of course, be simple to make a device with a color LCD display, it would run counter to the purpose of the device; namely to create a reading device for those who love reading.

So what can we expect from the new Kindle?  It’s pure speculation, but I’d say we can look forward to a more refined UI, faster refresh rates, a lighter form, and a better screen-to-frame ratio.  Let’s not dwell on what gimmicks and alternate purposes we might want to add in and focus on what matters.  Namely, that the reading experience be as clean, immersive, and enjoyable as possible.

Kindle DX WiFi

Kindle DX was taken apart by RapidRepair.com recently. Kindle Zen took a closer look at these photos and suggested that Kindle DX’s PCB is wired for WiFi chipset and antennae. It’s quite possible that Amazon would sell WiFi Kindles in countries where it will not be able to reach an agreement with wireless operators. In the past Jesse Vincent speculated about possibility of 9.7″ Kindle based on Kindle source code and was right.

I wouldn’t hold my breath any time soon about WiFi in US version of Kindle because that would be a completely new device and Amazon has already released two during last three months. This caused some anger among Kindle 2 users who felt that their devices almost immediately became outdated when Kindle DX was released.

If any of you were wondering what new features would be included in the device that will replace Kindle 2 – watch this video.

According to Adam and his friends, Kindle 3 will boast the following features:

• Reading has never been easier – with new hardware interface you can now read entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy in under 9 hours.
• Stunning 3d visuals
• High-Definition Surround Sound Home Library ™
• High-Resolution Wide Screen
• Plays movies instead of books :)

Too bad it’s still long time until 1st of April. I couldn’t hold on to this post until the next year… :)

Amazon Kindle DX Leather Cover

I’ve decided to have another date guessing contest here on BlogKindle.com. This time it’s about guessing the release date of Amazon Kindle DX.

The rules are quite simple: pick a date and send an email to contest@blogkindle.com with the date in the subject line in the following format: MM/DD/YYYY. So 4th of July 2009 would correspond to 07/04/2009. Please be careful about the date format as I use automated means for selecting winners. This means that if you get the date right but write it wrong you can not win.

I’ll randomly choose a winner from all the people who correctly guess Kindle DX release date or among those who guess the closest.

Rather than setting a specific deadline for submissions I’ll set the following rule: winners will only be chosen from entries submitted at least 7 days before the date is officially announced. When is it going to happen? I don’t know :) But I believe it’s more fun this way. So technically it’s possible that the date would be announced 5 minutes after this post gets published and no entries would be eligible. Oh, well…

The prize would be Amazon Kindle DX Leather Cover that would go nicely with your Amazon Kindle DX once it’s released.

I’ll never use your email addresses for any other purpose than contacting the winner. People who participated in the previous contest can testify to that being true – except for the lucky winner, none ever heard from me.

If you like the idea of this contest you can help by letting other people know about it and this blog.

Remember me speculating about 9.7″ screen in Kindle 3? Well, the only difference is that it’s called Kindle DX!

Today Amazon announced availability of Kindle DX: Amazon’s 9.7″ Wireless Reading Device. It will start shipping sometime this summer and is available for pre-order now. As I’ll definitely would like to write a hands-on review of it I’m preordering one right now…

2 major differences in Kindle DX compared to Kindle 2 are: 9.7″ 16 shades of gray eInk screen that runs at 1200×824 resolution and native PDF support. Other notable new features include iPhone-like auto-rotate and  flash-memory upgraded to 3.3 gigabytes.

Kindle DX is actually much anticipated “Kindle textbook edition”. According to Wall Street Jounal Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland along with 5 other universities will start piloting Kindle DX as a universal textbook. With 4 major textbook publishers (Addison Wiley, Prentice Hall, Person and Longman) on-board long with several smaller ones it’s expected that Kindle DX will have 60% of textbooks available when it ships. Larger screen would also be a bonus to people who are used to reading regular newspapers.

Here are all features and specifications of Kindle DX that I could dig up so far:

• Size: 10.4″ x 7.2″ x 0.38″ (Kindle 2: 8″ x 5.3″ x 0.36″)
• Display: 16 shades of gray eInk 9.7″ 1200×824 pixels (Kindle 2: 6″ 800×600)
• Weight: 18.9oz (Kindle 2: 10.2oz)
• Storage: 3.3GB (Kindle 2: 1.4GB)
• Battery life: 4 days with 3G modem on, 2 weeks with modem off (really it’s limited just by the number of page turns). This is pretty much the same as Kindle 2
• Connectivity: 3G wireless modem, USB 2.0 port and 3.5mm audio jack

Jesse Vincent who spends a lot of his time hacking Kindle 2 and digging around it’s source code has discovered something potentially interesting:

from rcS.d/S05video_primary_init:

_PANEL_SIZE_6_0_INCH=6
_PANEL_SIZE_9_7_INCH=9

Does this mean that folks in lab126 are playing around with larger screens for next generation Kindle 3? Could be… There are some rumours circulating the web about next generation Amazon Kindle possibly being available this fall (holiday season 2009).

I promise to collect more rumors about Kindle 3, verify them, crosscheck and post a summary here soon enough.