Amazon’s new Kindle is the first ebook reader that has a credible chance of cracking the mass market. Smaller, cheaper, faster and better connected than its predecessor, the new Kindle is to the old what the paperback is to the hardback, and on Friday it’s finally officially available in the UK. Prices start at an affordable £109.
It’s worth getting some criticisms of this excellent device out of the way first, however: the open ePub reading format is not supported, so you’re tied into the Amazon ecosystem (which is not too bad a place to be, by the way). The screen isn’t in colour, either, and design-wise this, like the iPad, is a device that needs a cover to protect it from the real world. Unfortunately that will set you back nearly £50 and effectively doubles the width of the device
