Kindle Touch and Touch 3G premium readers – prices, release date and features

It’s surely a hot day in Kindle territory, as Amazon announced a couple of hours ago that the Kindle Touch will be released on November 21 for as low as $99.

The Touch is the future premium e-reader from Amazon and the name says it all- it’s based on touch input. The physical keyboard beneath the screen disappeared and all your browsing and strutting through your library will be done using an IR touch system, just like the one you have on the Nook Color and Kobo reader.

As a consequence, the reader is slimmer and lighter, and the entire interface has been redesigned for touch input. The Touch will weigh 7.5 ounces, being almost 10% lighter than the previous entry. The screen will use the newest type of E ink, which will allow you to read outside or indoor equally comfortable. Hmm, what else? Ah, you’ll be able to store around 3.000 books and you can always borrow some more from your local library over WiFi.

The delivery time for a book is about 60 seconds and Amazon also offers cloud services, so you don’t have to worry if you loose your Touch - just connect to your account and re-download for free all your books. Amazon claims that their library contains affordable books, as 800.000 titles are priced at 9.99 bucks or less, and you also have access to thousands of books for free, which are now public domain. Also, if you’re not in the mood for reading, you can use the Voice to Text feature and instruct the device to narrate you the book.

The new touch capable screen of the Kindle Touch offers easier access to your books

The battery should last for up to 2 months on a single charge, but that’s if you don’t turn WiFi on at all, but you’ll get a solid 1 month of autonomy even if reading half an hour every day and using the WiFi module. Amazon offers the WiFi only version for $99, but you’ll have to tolerate all the ads and pop ups from a bunch of selected partners for that, just as it happened with the previous Kindle.

The ads free version will cost you $139, while the 3G enabled version (which comes with free world wide roaming, by the way), will go for 149 bucks. It all sounds dandy, that’s for sure, but smile like you mean it only if you’re from the US, as the offer is available only there. Shipping starts November 21st, but you can pre order even today.

Tags: Amazon Kindle, ebook reader

Last updated: March 27, 2012 | Published: September 28th, 2011 | Add the first comment!