New Kindle: Better, Thinner, Still Disappointing

After much anticipation, Amazon unveiled their second go at the Kindle this morning, updating their divisive e-book reader with more memory, a new 5-way navigation controller, a better battery life and an upgraded screen (offering 16 shades of gray rather than the previous 4).

The new device is thinner (thinner than a no. 2 pencil in fact – see pic) and arguably less of an eyesore, but it’s still a few steps away from being a serious game changer. Amazon said the device will have the capacity for mobile device-to-Kindle syncing sometime in the future, but no word on when (it can sync with your first gen Kindle though, for those of you who got into that). Until then, we’re pretty content with reading on our iPhones. The Kindle 2 will begin shipping on Feb 24 and goes for the same price as the original – $359.

[via Crunch Gear]