Critical design changes make the Amazon Kindle 2 more appealing than the preceding model -- but while Amazon has succeeded in enhancing its e-book reader, it has done little to advance the device to the next stage.
The first-generation
Kindle weighed 10.3 ounces and offered a
paperlike E-Ink display that keeps eyestrain at bay (as compared with the backlit displays of cell phones and other mobile devices). The first Kindle was readable in sunlight; it also offered long battery life and allowed you to look up words on the fly, as well as to take notes and highlight passages at will.
The Kindle 2 retains all of those capabilities, in a slimmer form (it's 0.36 inch thin). I appreciated the thinner profile: The new device felt better in my hands, and I could see that it would be easier to pack alongside the other devices in my gear bag. At just 10.2 ounces, the device's weight is virtually the same as before.
Enhanced E-Ink screen
The 600-by-800-pixel-resolution screen is the same size, measuring 6 inches; but now, packing the latest E-Ink technology, it gives you 16 shades of gray versus the four shades available on the original Kindle.
The improved screen technology is somewhat noticeable on text -- I found text on the Kindle 2 slightly crisper and clearly tighter, with less inklike bleed-in to the virtual page behind it. But the real difference was evident in images, which had far greater gradations. The background of the screen itself has changed, too: Before, the screen appeared to have a slight texture, almost like newspaper, but now the surface is completely smooth. As for the purported speed boost (pages supposedly turn 20 percent faster), I can't say I noticed more than a subtle difference between Kindle 1 and Kindle 2 in turning pages. (I was not using identical content, though. When PC World receives a review unit, I plan to put the Kindle 2 through more detailed comparisions.)
Design changes
Aside from the screen, the Kindle 2 packs a slew of design changes. The power switch moves to a more convenient location at the top of the unit (previously it was on the back -- an awful place for a power switch). But the handy wireless off switch, which was also on the back of the first Kindle, is gone; now you must turn off the wireless radio in the Home menu (annoying for us frequent fliers who will do so far too often). The volume buttons are no longer on the bottom of the device; instead, the rocker switch is at the right spine.
The navigation keys have been completely redone, too. At left are Previous and Next buttons, with the former half the length of the latter; at right are a Home button and another Next button. The Next button ran the length of my thumb, and it was comfortably situated in relation to where my hands rested while holding the device at its midsection.
