Amazon has released three different Kindle models today at a press conference in New York! Two of the models were Touchscreen, which we have covered in detail. The other new device they offered was a new generation model for only $79.00 with Special Offers and $109 without Special Offers.
The new Kindle 4th generation has a six inch e-ink display with a resolution of 600×600 pixels and 167 ppi, 16-level gray scale. It has 2 GB of internal memory to store your books, music, and audiobooks. Battery lasts for about 4 weeks and takes 4 hours to fully charge your device.
This model is WIFI only which helps keep the costs down and supports Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP formats.
Amazon has completely done away with the physical keyboard which helps lower the total cost of the item and most people did not fully use it, anyway. This new hardware allows for more fluid navigation in the menus and turning pages in books.
Kindle recently implemented Library Lending which can be delivered to your device fairly intuitively. We have made a full tutorial that teaches you how to load in your library books HERE.
If you have had a Kindle before, this is the upgraded model. Most of the core features you have come to love are evident in this edition. Social Networking, Whispernet, custom fonts, margins, and everything else to help you tailor your book experience.
Offering a tremendously low cost device is one of the best things Amazon could have done. I can feel their competition starting to scramble right now.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.