Is the Kindle 2 truly a next generation Kindle device? Unfortunately, I’d say the Kindle 2 is far from being a next generation Kindle. After reviewing all of the new features and its redesign, I would find it very hard for any existing Kindle 1 owner to justify paying another $359 to purchase the new Kindle 2. The cost of the Kindle 2 remains the same as the original Kindle at $359, with no discount announced for Kindle 1 owners. The features of the new Kindle are just not that exciting to a fan of the first Kindle. However, don’t get me wrong, I still love the Kindle, and for those who do not have any Kindle, I do highly recommend the Kindle 2. So in short my recommentation would be not to upgrade, but I would continue to recommend the Kindle as an excellent electronic gadget, especially for any avid reader or lover of books. I’ve had my Kindle 1 for about 5 months now and I’d say without a doubt it was my best purchase of 2008.

Here is a summary of the new features of the Kindle 2 and how they compare with the Kindle 1:

• The Kindle 2 is thinner, coming in at just over 1/3 of an inch in thickness.
• A bit lighter, Kindle 1 is 10.3 ounces, Kindle 2 is 10.2 ounces.
• Improved display, Kindle 2 features 16 shades of gray instead of the 4 supported by Kindle 1.
• Longer battery life, 25% longer battery life. It’s always nice to have a longer battery life, but battery life was something that was very good even with the Kindle 1. I would be surprised if there were any battery life complaints from the Kindle 1.
• 20% faster page turns. For me this isn’t too exciting. I never had a problem with the speed of Kindle 1 page turns. They’ve always been relatively quick.
• New text-to-speech feature allows Kindle to read any book in a semi-robotic voice. Depending on the quality of the voice, this might be useful for listening to books while driving.
• Increased internal memory size. The internal memory size increases from 250M to 2GB. However this comes at the expense of the expandable SD memory that the Kindle 1 supported. You can no longer expand the memory or use SD cards with the Kindle 2.
• Bigger dictionary vocabulary. The Kindle 2 has a built-in 250,000 word dictionary. I’ve never really used the built-in dictionary, so this is another upgrade that I don’t find too exciting.
• Better navigation featuring a 5-way joystick and redesigned page turn buttons that are less prone to accidental hits. However, I have to say, although I’ve read the complaints about page turn button size and placement in quite a few places, I personally never had any problems with the buttons on the Kindle 1.
• WhisperSync, allows you to sync bookmarks from one Kindle to another Kindle.
• Built-in speakers. This is a good addition, allowing you to listen to the new text-to-speech feature, or MP3s that you upload without requiring headphones.

One more thing that you do not get with the new Kindle 2 is the nice leather binder that was packaged with the Kindle 1. This was a nice case that you could leave the Kindle in while reading from it. It provided a nice, professional look to the Kindle and also protected it. I suppose now Amazon wants you to buy the binder as an accessory.

Overall, I was dissappointed with this new Kindle. I think that there are alot of things Amazon could have done to really make this a true next generation Kindle. Perhaps in a future post, I will expand on what I would have liked to see in a new Kindle.