Amazon Kindle and Kindle touch hands-on!

By on Sep 28, 2011 at 11:41 AM
eBooks September 28, 2011

We just spent a few minutes checking out the brand new Amazon Kindle Touch and all new Amazon Kindle, and we’re impressed. Both tablets were extremely light, though with the touch sensitivity being incredible on the Kindle touch, we could see ourselves opting for that with 3G over the regular Kindle. The backs of both are metal, like the previous Kindle, and the readability is fantastic on the E Ink displays, even with the touch capability on the Kindle touch. While the prices of both are insanely attractive, Amazon revealed to us that these prices are for the special offers versions of the Kindle devices, and that the non-special offer Kindles will be $109 and $139, respectively. Even still, the prices that Amazon is delivering these products for is incredible, and the new Nook just got a whole lot less attractive. Hit the gallery for all of our photos.

P.S. Which way are you leaning? Touch or no touch?

Tags:
, , , ,
51 Comments

Related Articles

  • http://twitter.com/dustbeta Dustin Schultz

    Touch is lame.  I do not want a fingerprint pad.  I want a screen free of debris.  Looks like Kindle is going in a bad direction with Touch and even worse, Android.

    • Anonymous

      my best friend’s mom makes 77 USD an hour on the computer. she has been out of job for 9 months but last month her check was 7487 USD just working on the computer for a few hours. read about it and get started following the first step “Online Income Solution” , here flaturl.com/of

      • TOMMMMMM

        Maybe she should get a real job.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Umairmuhammadalikhan-Umairkhan/100000724275502 Umairmuhammadalikhan Umairkhan

        BlowJob

      • numetheus

        Maybe you should realize it isn’t a real person. Bot’s don’t care about getting a real job.

    • numetheus

      if it has the same texture as the current kindle devices without a glossy screen then it isn’t going to be a problem. I can touch my Kindle screen all day and I won’t see smudges.

    • Cer

      I agree. Touch is fine to get rid of the mostly wasted space and weight taken up by the keyboard, but they should have kept the page turning buttons in the bezel.

  • mikeru22

    Where’s the keyboard on the new Kindle…and how well does it perform on the Kindle Touch?

    • http://twitter.com/generosity9 Britain Demmick

      Onscreen keyboard. It performs pretty well, some of the demo videos show it being used.

  • MacGoo

    What is the difference between the new Kindle and the Kindle touch – they look VERY similar. And with no physical keyboard on the Kindle, it looks like BOTH sport touch screens. True?

    • androidnorm

      Macgoo is that what steve jobs leaves on your face after you buy one of his products and he’s done screwing you?

      • MacGoo

        What a well-phrased rebuttal (I didn’t even know I was making an argument)! I appreciate your candor, as it well illustrates the level of credence I should lend your opinion in the future!

      • numetheus

        LOL Your name is Apple semen!

      • MacGoo

        Due to your comment, my faith in humanity is now restored. I always suspected that the majority of the population were giggle-prone 12 year olds at heart. Although I would have expected you to use a more crude term for semen – bonus points for using the proper scientific term.

      • MacGoo

        For the record (because androidnorm seems to be either blind or have nymphomaniacal tendencies that prevent him from seeing past the possible sexual innuendo of a sitation) MacGoo (like my avatar) is a combination of Mac and Google, promoting the platform agnosticism that I choose to represent. Sorry, I know I’m feeding the trolls, but I wanted to clarify that for the 3 people that seem to think playground abusive humor is preferable to reasoned discussion.

      • Chevalia

        Thank you…..I was starting to think only adolescent goofs commented in BGR. Cheers sir Goo

      • MacGoo

        Thanks – I just recently started reading BGR after having so many other tech blogs quote them as sources for breaking info. Unfortunately the same prepubescent kids that drive me nuts when I try to play Halo online seem to have beat me here.

    • helmingstay

      Keyboard on non-touch is operated by rocker-pad (as per Ars review).  Booh.

      • MacGoo

        This is the answer I was looking for – many thanks. And I wholeheartedly agree: Booh. This seems custom-made to push people towards the Kindle Touch.

    • http://twitter.com/generosity9 Britain Demmick

      No, the basic Kindle does not support touch. It has a 5-directional button at the bottom instead of a speaker.

  • mikeru22

    I see there’s a touchscreen keyboard on the Kindle Touch

  • http://twitter.com/ahow628 ahow628

    I’m going to go with the Arrested Development answer here: No touching!

    • Anonymous

      It ain’t easy being white.

  • Anonymous

    The sponsored ads that come with the ereaders, kills it for me (i’m not paying extra to have them removed).  They should have announced the real prices and then mentioned the cheaper versions with ads after the fact.  I know they mentioned it, but they definitely buried this in the press release.

    • http://twitter.com/ahow628 ahow628

      The ads only display on the screensaver and in the homescreen (where you select which book from your library you are going to read). There are no ads as you actually read.

      • Anonymous

        I actually prefer the ads over seeing Emily Dickinson’s ugly mug over and over again.

      • http://twitter.com/generosity9 Britain Demmick

        Agree. The ads are designed to look ‘nice’ and ‘elegant’ not annoying like billboards or TV ads… And people just don’t seem to get it… ****NO ads while reading!****

  • Applesucks

    Bgr can you try putting fpse on that thing real quick and see how it runs playstation games?

  • Bradk

    Touch screen is great for occasional browsing. The old kindle without touch is like browsing without a mouse. 

  • James

    I love my 3rd generation kindle and wouldn’t swap it for a non e-ink device for reading.  Whilst I think these look like a great upgrade for new users, it isn’t quite enough to sway me for the time being.  I hope that Amazon stay with the e-ink love and give us a colour e-ink device next year!

  • Jim Morris

    Let’s just completely rip off the Nook SimpleTouch and sell it cheaper!

    • http://twitter.com/generosity9 Britain Demmick

      Are you offended? Don’t be ridiculous. The original Kindle was released 2 years before the original Nook, so who ripped off who? Most companies are not like Apple – suing every company they possibly can who comes out with a similar product. Amazon is the most popular e reader by far because it has the best combination of user experience, ecosystem, and price.

  • Anonymous

    Now I just hope Barnes & Noble announce a similar set… not only is lack of competition bad (the low-priced Nooks are One of the main reasons the Fire even exists), but I like rooting for the underdog and, currently, B&N is that underdog.

  • Anonymous

    I ordered the no-touch version. I hold my Kindle with one hand frequently when I read, and I would find the touch screen version really annoying. Not to mention how much cheaper it is.

  • http://www.shggucheng.com Import

    Why not touch? Touch pads are easy to play with, just like iPad

    • Anonymous

      Because it’s for reading, not using apps.

      • numetheus

        I would rather not have to think about what tiny button to press while reading and just click the left or right hand sides of the screen. Feels more natural than a tiny button. You touch the pages of your book to flip it no?

      • Cer

        Think about what tiny button to press? When you read, your hand rests on the bezel, with your thumb over the “next page” button. When you come to the end of the page, you press down. Simple and easy.

        Amazon should have kept the page turning buttons while also implementing touch.

      • holycalamity

        But there are reader apps on tablet devices, yet the touch function isn’t a problem. If Kidle Touch is anything like, say, the Kindle app on touch screen devices, then incidental touches won’t affect your experience. 

  • Men

    Battery life…. bet the iPad 3 will be 12hours + … 
    all of these iPad (KILLERS?????) are toast..

  • Crob

    NO TOUCH.  This device is strictly for reading.  With my current kindle i always touch the screen while holding it when reading.  plus, this new kindle is smaller and lighter than the touch one.

  • Mark

    Touch.  Just ordered it. Coworker has the Nook and the surface is pretty resilient to finger prints, hope the same holds true with the Kindle.
    With 3-5 delivery, they reported: “Estimated delivery: Nov. 30, 2011 – Dec. 5, 2011″ Appears they’re already backed up a few days.

  • Aravinthan

    How come Boy genius got the May report wrong?

    This tablet is code named “otter” and uses TI OMAP processor

  • Anonymous

    False title. You didn’t actually touch it, they just showed it to you. You did the same thing with the TMo SGS2 at the launch event

  • Anonymous

    mу bеst friеnd’s mоm mаkes seventy bucks аn hоur оn thе cоmputer. Shе hаs bеen оut оf jоb fоr nine mоnths but lаst mоnth hеr chеck wаs seven thousand dollars just wоrking оn thе cоmputer fоr а fеw hоurs Rеad аbout it hеre CashSharp.com

  • Jon

    I love my Kindles (I’ve got the first and third gens). Unfortunately, it appears as though this new design changes the placement of the page turning buttons to the sides and bottom of the device; that sucks. That basically means if I want to continue to use my thumbs to turn the pages, well, I can’t.

    • Tommy

      Tbh the nook does have that advantage. They have the little side paddles to use to turn the pages forward and back. Kindle is great, but I think there could have been better features in the kindle without copying the nook too much. By that, I mean they copied the same size, shape, and single home-key button on the bottom. The only thing that does lack are the forward/backpage paddles.

      Kindle copies nook, Samsung copies apple. Just because the other company copies their idea doesn’t mean it’s better. There has to be something BETTER than the other about it.

      • http://twitter.com/generosity9 Britain Demmick

        It’s not that clear cut. The new Kindles look very much like the old Kindles. Since the original Kindle came out 2 years before the Nook, they didn’t copy the Nook on their design. And I don’t think the Kindle Touch has a home button – that is a speaker at the bottom, not a button.

        And Samsung copying Apple? That remains to be decided. Even if they were influenced by the iPad’s look, Samsung has been using nearly that exact same design in their devices for many years (digital picture frames, and others).  So perhaps Apple copied Samsung’s design and applied it to the tablet device.

  • Mrtdubb

    “…we could see ourselves opting for that with 3G over the regular Kindle.” Why?

  • http://www.incbeat.com David Moore

    Still need to do more research on this. I love the idea of the Touch and having 3G is crucial. 

    • http://twitter.com/generosity9 Britain Demmick

      Be aware that reportedly, Amazon is not including browsing in the free, unlimited 3g, as they did and still do with the Kindle Keyboard. You will still need wifi to browse the internet.

blog comments powered by Disqus