Technology websites this week have been heralding news on the forthcoming Kindle Tablet from Amazon, rumoured to be released in November. The reports hint at a totally new device, to be sold alongside Amazon’s existing Kindle e-reader, but with the added functionality of a tablet including other apps and web use.
Writing on TechCrunch, tech journalist MG Siegler described the device as being closer to Apple’s iPad and Blackberry’s Playbook rather than the existing Kindle. “The device is a 7-inch tablet with a capacitive touch screen. It is multi-touch, but from what I saw, I believe the reports that it relies on a two-finger multi-touch (instead of 10-finger, like the iPad uses) are accurate,” he says.
What’s of most interest to crime fiction readers, however, is a report from Digitimes that Amazon’s Kindle Tablet may get its screen from E Ink Holdings, the company that supplies the exitsing e-ink screens for the current Kindle. This suggests that Amazon could be working on a tablet more suited to the digital reading experience than the iPad offers.
Of course, Amazon is well positioned to launch a tablet device. Anyone who has used a Kindle will know just how easy it is to find and download new books, and how effective the reading experience can be on an e-ink device. And while the Kindle App leaves much to be desired on the iPad, you can bank on Amazon refining the reading experience for its own tablet device.
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