Source: Xinhua

02-10-2009 08:53

Special Report:   Tech Max

SAN FRANCISCO,Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Amazon.com Inc on Monday introduced a new version of its popular Kindle electronic book reader with added features such as a slim design, longer battery life and larger memory.

Amazon.com founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos holds the new Kindle 2 electronic reader at a news conference in New York where the device was introduced, February 9, 2009. Online retailer Amazon.com Inc unveiled the latest incarnation of its digital book reader, the Kindle, on Monday in a slimmer version with more storage and a feature that reads text aloud to users. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Amazon.com founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff
Bezos holds the new Kindle 2 electronic reader at a
news conference in New York where the device was 
introduced, February 9, 2009. Online retailer Amazon.
com Inc unveiled the latest incarnation of its digital
book reader, the Kindle, on Monday in a slimmer version
with more storage and a feature that reads text aloud
to users. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

The Seattle-based online retailer said the new Kindle 2 has the same price tag of 359 U.S. dollars and will ship on Feb. 24.

Just 0.36 inches (9 millimeters) thin, Kindle 2 is about half the thickness of the old version and weighs lighter than a typical paperback.

The battery life is 25 percent longer than the first Kindle, enabling customers to read for four to five days on one charge with wireless connection on and for over two weeks with wireless turned off.

With a memory of 2 gigabytes, Kindle 2 can hold more than 1,500books, compared with 200 with the original Kindle.

It also offers a read-to-me feature that converts contents on a page to spoken words for customers to listen. They can choose to be read to by male or female voices and can also choose the speed to suit their listening preference.

"Kindle 2 is everything customers tell us they love about the original Kindle, only thinner, faster, crisper, with longer battery life, and capable of holding hundreds more books," Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon, said in a statement.

"If you want, Kindle 2 will even read to you -- something new we added that a book could never do," he added.