Kindle 2 news info I haven't seen mentioned prominently

[artsandhistoryfan]

I came here late as I was away and then caught up a bit with the news articles.
"New" EDITS*   Will add news that might be of interest but not worth a separate thread/topic...

NEW
1.  KINDLE WHISPERNET is now available in ALL 50 states and in many more rural areas.
      This is mentioned on the Amazon Kindle 2 page.
        See the coverage map now, it says.
          http://www.showmycoverage.com/mycoverage.jsp?id=A102ZON

2.  "Looking for the first reference of a character in your book? Simply type in the name and search.
     You can extend your search to..."
         That's also from the Amazon pages.

     We asked for this.  I need it often.  This localized search will make it faster and more appropriate.

3.  VIDEO of first 10 minutes of the announcement
    http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/jeff-bezos-introduction-to-the-kindle-2-2009029/

4.  DEMO of text to speech
    http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/kindle-2-text-to-speech-demonstration-2009029/

    Stilted, electronic-style speech but the words are pronounced clearly and accurately
      by a choice of female or male voice. 

5.    2 holes on its right edge are there so that the Kindle 2 can
      "snap into" many 3rd party cases.

      I don't think the vendors had seen that aspect yet, as they have quickly put up new cases that don't mention this.

*NEW EDITS: (new items added)
6.   Scott A. Garretson said on the Amazon forums that there is now the following feature:
  "Clip This Article - makes a copy of the entire article and adds it to your 'My Clippings' file.
     (only available on the periodical/blog menu)"

7.  Scott adds that the page-turn bars "now pivot from the outside edge inwards"
      What one article said was that as a result you can pick the Kindle2 up by these turn-page areas and yet not have the page suddenly 'turn' ...     That is mildly major  :-)

8.  Power switch differences:  (from the manual)
     Putting to sleep:   slide and release the power switch
     Shutting off:  slide the power switch and hold for about 4 seconds until screen blanks
     Turning on the Kindle2:  slide and release the power switch again.

     If the Kindle freezes:   Resetting is done by DISCONNECTING the Kindle from any power
       source (opposite of Kindle1) and then sliding and holding the power switch for 15 seconds
       before releasing.  (I'd prefer that to the paper clip thing and taking off the back.)

    (Most have read that Whispernet is now turned Off and On in the Home menu - no hard switch.)

9.  WashPost interview with Stephen King about his new Kindle book and about his thoughts on the Kindle itself.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/09/AR2009020901367.html

10.  In an interview with he Guardian at http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8350348
 they describe Jeff Bezos saying:
    "We can't make this device less expensive," he said. "It has this sophisticated EV-DO wireless radio,  has the most sophisticated electronic paper display, (and) a very fast processor. It's just not possible  to make this device less expensive."

   That is in response to the lower price so many pundits insist on while never seeming to realize that the Kindle has 24/7 wireless capability from almost anywhere in the U.S.   He also mentions Amazon's focus on reading, of course.

11.  I  want to add LSbookends' alert re the manual section on mp3s (and formerly random playing)
      "When you select "Play MP3" from the Experimental page, each of the songs will play in the order they were added to your Kindle."
      (This is a very nice change or addition.)

12.  Mary McManus noted that
       K2 owners can now highlight across pages
      The dictionary lookup now includes a search for a word not on the current book page.


OTHER THOUGHTS
A.  I like that the cursor can be put on a word and we get the dictionary lookup much more easily.
     Also, that we cursor to a link and get linked to it without more pop-up windows and choices

B.  The 16 shades of grey are important to me because photographs then actually look like photographs, and will be important for things like travel guides or learning guides with illustrations.

C. 
*******
Mine was purchased in August.  So, if it FAILS before next August, it is waranteed and then I might well  get a Kindle2 at that point.
*******

D. 
***
If Bezos had announced a $100 discount to Kindle 1 pioneers who helped him market this, I might have sprung for that.

   Then I'd sell mine at a good discount to others who would be happy with the Kindle 1 as I have been
but who wouldn't be interested in $360 for the new one.
***

   Any reaction to some of this?   The video pages mentioned in the beginning say they'll post more about the conference if there is interest in that.

   

[Ann in Arlington]

4.
***
If Bezos had announced a $100 discount to Kindle 1 pioneers who helped him market this, I might have sprung for that.
***

Yes. . . that would make it a much tougher decision. . . . .

Ann

[Luvmy4brats]

I just looked at the expanded coverage and am happy. It shows that my mom should be getting coverage now. She checked and she's not getting it yet, but hopefully soon.

I like the limited search and the dictionary interface is an improvement. I use it quite often and like that you can search just one word and not get the pop-up.

I also like that I can charge via usb and not have to worry about another charger

I will miss my silver bar though.

[sebat]

Does any one know if that expanded coverage is good for K1 or just K2?  Isn't the G3 an upgrade from what we have now? 

Better Whispernet coverage could cause me to upgrade. 

[VMars]

Ooooh!  Love that I can search for a character!! That will be very useful....

[artsandhistoryfan]

Does any one know if that expanded coverage is good for K1 or just K2?  Isn't the G3 an upgrade from what we have now? 

Better Whispernet coverage could cause me to upgrade. 

sebat,
  That's a really good point.  The expanded coverage would apply to all Kindle users UNLESS the modem put into Kindle 2 is different but they have not said that anywhere.

   That coverage map is for everyone, from what I remember.  Must go try it...

   Yep - it's for all Kindle users.   Hooray !

[L.Canton]

1.  KINDLE WHISPERNET is now available in ALL 50 states and in many more rural areas.
      This is mentioned on the Amazon Kindle 2 page.
        See the coverage map now, it says.
          http://www.showmycoverage.com/mycoverage.jsp?id=A102ZON

I'm looking forward to the extended coverage. I'm often on business trips, and some of them have extended outside the Kindle's coverage zones.

[ScottBooks]

San Juan, Puerto Rico appears to have excellent coverage.

[Meemo]

3. 
*******
Mine was purchased in August.  So, if it FAILS before next August, it is waranteed and then I would get a Kindle2 at that point.
*******

Mine was purchased in August as well, my daughter's in September, my husband's in November.  I was wondering about this - with 3 of them, there's a reasonably good chance that one will fail before the warranty is up.  Wondering what we'd get.  I'd think that if one kicked the bucket tomorrow, I'd probably get a refurbed K1.  If it were November, though, they might be out of the refurbs & it could be a K2.  Will be interesting to see what happens.  

[sjc]

artsandhistoryfan:
My whole take on all things K2 is that it is sleek, modern, many pros such as text to speech for the visually impaired and commuters, great grayscale, and the list goes on...etc...THAT BEING SAID:

I apologize, but I can't get past the no SD card or the NON-replacable battery.

The masses haven't been able to sway me since the announcement.  Therefore, it's K1 for me.  No money incentive will do. 

1.  I want my own complete Library and if that "Library" goes beyond 1500 books (K2) then I will sorely miss the SD option.  I don't want
    to have to remove and re-download to compensate for the lack of expansion.

2.  Battery:  I don't like the powers that be having control over the situation.  I like knowing that I have a spare battery at my disposal at
    anytime I so choose.

Other things:  folders/organization...no increase in the time for the auto page turn.

I wish all K2 users well...maybe K3 for me; until then, I'm happy with K1.  Enjoy.

[Mom of 4]

2.  "Looking for the first reference of a character in your book? Simply type in the name and search.
     You can extend your search to..."
         That's also from the Amazon pages.

     We asked for this.  I need it often.  This localized search will make it faster and more appropriate.

How is this different from the original search function?

[pidgeon92]

1.  I want my own complete Library and if that "Library" goes beyond 1500 books (K2) then I will sorely miss the SD option.  I don't want
    to have to remove and re-download to compensate for the lack of expansion.

Now that I'm using Calibre to sort and store my ebooks on my computer, I am not concerned about the lack of space. Calibre makes it very easy to transfer books to the device. Besides, with the lack of a folders, I wouldn't want 1,500 books on my Kindle anyhow.

[ScottBooks]

How is this different from the original search function?

Your first search is limited to the book you are reading.

[Luvmy4brats]

artsandhistoryfan:
My whole take on all things K2 is that it is sleek, modern, many pros such as text to speech for the visually impaired and commuters, great grayscale, and the list goes on...etc...THAT BEING SAID:

I apologize, but I can't get past the no SD card or the NON-replacable battery.

The masses haven't been able to sway me since the announcement.  Therefore, it's K1 for me.  No money incentive will do. 

1.  I want my own complete Library and if that "Library" goes beyond 1500 books (K2) then I will sorely miss the SD option.  I don't want
    to have to remove and re-download to compensate for the lack of expansion.

2.  Battery:  I don't like the powers that be having control over the situation.  I like knowing that I have a spare battery at my disposal at
    anytime I so choose.

Other things:  folders/organization...no increase in the time for the auto page turn.

I wish all K2 users well...maybe K3 for me; until then, I'm happy with K1.  Enjoy.

I got past the lack of SD card and battery real quick. Yesterday, I thought it would be a deal breaker for me, but once I saw it in action, I was a goner. I have an ipod, so the battery isn't a big deal to me. Being able to charge via USB also makes it less of a big deal. The SD card I discovered that even with my 30+ pages of books, samples and documents, and my 4 CDs of music, I still hadn't come close to using 1.5 GB. I had tons of room left on my 2GB SD card. I figure I'm safe. I've got an external hard drive if I need it, but can't see that happening and Amazon keeps all of my books purchased from them. It will take me a LONG time to fill up 1.4 GB with personal files and books purchased/downloaded from other sites.

I'm still getting past the wasted space on the k2. The upside to it is that it will show more of my skin when I get one (hurry up DecalGirl!)

Most importantly, it will still fit in my Vera. If it didn't, there's no way I would have gotten it.

[ak rain]

do you have to charge up by USB to computer? I would like to charge to wall plug.
Sylvia

[jmiked]

I also like that I can charge via usb and not have to worry about another charger

It may not charge any better from a computer USB port than the K1 did. The info shows that it still uses a "wall wart" as a power supply, using a USB cable to connect to the Kindle. The power adaptor likely furnishes far more juice than a computer USB port is able to do. The iPod recharger is a good example of this. It uses a power adaptor that charges via a USB cable, but the power adaptor charges faster than the computer USB connection does.

The way I read the spec:

"Charge Time: Fully charges in approximately 4 hours and supports charging from your computer via the included USB 2.0 cable."

is that it charges in about 4 hours from the power adaptor, and "supports" charging from a computer (just as the Kindle 1 did, which is not very well). I suspect they have changed the charger to use the USB cable in order to reduce the cable and connector count by one each to cut cost from the product.

Mike

[sjc]

Thanks all (Pigeon92, 4Brats, Scott...etc) for enlightening me.  (espeically about Calibre) Maybe someday I will convert.  I learned a lot today and had fun to boot. 

For now:  I'm signing off a K1 user...tomorrow who knows.  Goodnight.

[artsandhistoryfan]

I'm adding 'new' things not often discussed in the immediate reactions, under
"New Edits"  in the opening post.  I thought this was better than my adding new threads.

  I've added #'s 6 -9  just now in the 'new' list.

[Gary Edward]

I came here late as I was away and then caught up a bit with the news articles.
"New" EDITS*   Will add news that might be of interest but not worth a separate thread/topic...

Thanks - much appreciated.   

[stevene9]

I apologize, but I can't get past the no SD card or the NON-replacable battery.

I agree whole heartedly with sjc's remarks (much to my surprise).

[artsandhistoryfan]

. . .
For now:  I'm signing off a K1 user...tomorrow who knows.  Goodnight.

LOL!   You and I are in the same boat.

The only thing that appeals to me that I can ever remember quickly is that it makes photographs look like photographs.  VERY nice on the newspaper photos.  Darn.  I do NOT like that it's longer. 

[mwvickers]

4.
***
If Bezos had announced a $100 discount to Kindle 1 pioneers who helped him market this, I might have sprung for that.
***

Yes. . . that would make it a much tougher decision. . . . .

Ann

As I've said before, perhaps if enough Kindle 1 owners request this from Amazon then they will agree.  Couldn't hurt.

[Harvey]

Thanks for posting these, artsandhistoryfan!

I've blogged it here:

    http://www.kindleboards.com/blog/2009/02/nuggets-you-may-have-missed-from-yesterdays-kindle-2-event/

[artsandhistoryfan]

Thanks for that already-amazing blog, Harvey.

  I've added items 10-12 in case people missed any of these with all the info
in the middle of long threads. 

  Included is Bezos's explanation of why he can't make the Kindle's basic
price any smaller despite all the pressure from 'pundits' ... 

   - Andrys

[ReadnSwim]

If you go back to the K1 home page it still has the same old coverage map.  I think the K2 has a better modem.  It also uses 3G which I don't think the K1 is capable of.

I'd love to hear from people who have both and now have coverage where they didn't before