Melville House Publishing reports that CNet's David Carnoy alerted the world that the Facebook page for Amazon carried this announcement about the Kindle 2 though Amazon doesn't like using the numbering system.
This would be the Kindle 2 International, as the Kindle 2 U.S. has not been carried by Amazon for awhile. The Kindle 2 International has better screen contrast than the Kindle 2 U.S. model that I have and is quite close to the Kindle's screen contrast, by many reports and from my own experience with a friend's Kindle 2 bought in July.
' Black Friday Deal: This Friday, 11/26, you can get our previous generation Kindle for $89!
Our previous generation Kindle uses the old E Ink technology (the same E Ink as in the current Nook). Our all-new Kindle [the Kindle 3 {UK: K3}] uses the latest generation E Ink (Pearl) for 50% percent better contrast, and is available at the everyday low price of ...$139. '
Again, that's the Kindle 2 International that's being sold for $89, which has better screen contrast than the earlier Kindle 2 U.S. models.
I'm surprised that they have any left. However, the sale doesn't start until 9:00 AM on Black Friday, November 26 (see the link below).
It's definitely a limited quantity item.
While the $149 B&W E-Ink Nook with the same screen but NO 3G wireless (WiFi only) will sell for $99 on Black Friday (at Best Buy, I think) as will the smaller Sony without wireless, the Kindle 2 is definitely a better deal for navigational ease, free 3G cellular wireless web browser, and the Text-to-Speech capability. It doesn't have the local WiFi module but the Kindle's 3G works almost ANYwhere without your needing to find a WiFi hot spot that's also free and which doesn't require a passkey, which is why 3G models are more expensive for both the Kindle and the Nook.
The Nook will be better for those who need to get books from the public library if their library carries a good e-book selection and they are ever in stock (some are 'out' for months). The Sony is nice but very limited (no dictionary, no searches, no folders, no annotations, no wireless of any kind).
Here's the Consumer Reports video review of the current higher-priced E-Ink Nook , the Kindle 2, and the Sony.
Also, there's ABC7/Consumer Reports on 9 e-readers that include the current e-Ink nook (though with 3G, which the $99 Black Friday Nook e-Ink model doesn't have) and the Kindle 2.
Amazon always carries a flexible 1-year warranty with instant replacements if there's a problem. Their phone support for that is 866-321-8851.
IF YOU WANT TO GET THIS EARLY ON THE 26TH
LATE Thursday night, at midnight which will start Friday, November 26 --
Go to U.S. Black Friday specials page: Shortcut: http://bit.ly/blackfriday-2010
UPDATE - I said 'midnight' because many stores post their releases ahead of time. In the Comments area, amoderngirl asked about the time differences.
Since Seattle is on Pacific Standard time, one would think it would be 9:00am PST, which would be noon on Friday. Again, I think they might well post the ad earlier. It's not likely they'd make it function to take orders earlier, but I would arrive earlier than 9:00am PST on Friday to check what's showing. I'm reposting this at 2:16 pm Wednesday, for the updated information.
Kindle 3's (UK: Kindle 3's), DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
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Is that 9 am EST? PST?
ReplyDeleteamoderngirl
ReplyDeleteI didn't think of that.
Amazon is in Seattle, so their 9:00am is your NOON on the East Coast.
I suspect they'll have them on earlier though, to catch the East coast which sees 11/26 3 hours ahead of Seattle. I'd check starting early hours of Friday in case the ad is prepared for posting ahead of time.
If they do it right, it should not function for taking orders until 9am Pacific Std Time though.
" I'm surprised that they have any left."
ReplyDeleteI'm not.
They most likely kept some overstock for replacement of K2s sent in under warranty, and have reevaluated how many they need to keep for that until the warranty period runs out (or have decided to now send out K3s for those people needing a warranty replacement).
Do you know if the Kindle 2 will take the latest operating system, including support for categories and the updated browser? In other words, will it do just about everything the Kindle 3 does?
ReplyDeleteRK,
ReplyDeleteIt does v2.5.x -- I have sections on the right-hand reference column for v2.5.x that explains how to use these latest features, which include Collections (folders/categories) as well as sending highlights and a note to Facebook and Twitter.
Kindle uses Version 3. New to the Kindle 3 is the ability to enhance contrast settings when reading PDFs.
See other Kindle-3-specific features under "Kindle 3" in top part of right-hand reference column - specifically "Unsung features" and "Main features"
The WebKit type browser is new. The Kindle 2, however does a better job for now with the mobile-optimized sites whereas the Kindle 3 takes you to the normal sites but is hard to read and navigate at those and doesn't do as well on mobile-optimized sites, making the fonts too small.
Both are slow, while Kindle 3 is often somewhat faster. The Kindle 2 uses only 3G cellular type access.
I have lots of pictures of Web access under http://bit.ly/kpics taken using my Kindle 2 and older Kindle DX (not graphite).
Thanks, Andrys! I should have searched your links to the right a bit better! ;)
ReplyDeleteI have the Kindle 3 wifi-only, and cannot imagine going without a Kindle in the house. Thus, I am intrigued by the $89 Kindle 2 for back-up and 3G for international travel. Looks like it might fit my needs just fine!
R.K.
ReplyDeleteI've been told that the right-hand column is info-overload :-)
That's a great idea you have. I keep my K2 as backup but mine is the older U.S.-only 3G and its font contrast is not as good as the later K2.
Good luck on catching it early!
Also, see http://bit.ly/kdriving as that is one useful aspect of it when traveling.
Will international shipping be possible for $89 kindle?
ReplyDeleteJanez,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't know about whether they will ship the special, internationally.
I wouldn't bet on it but they haven't said one way or another.
Big thank you for fast answer!
ReplyDeletevaljavec,
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! If I'm here, I can answer pretty quickly but sometimes am away for 4-10 hours and then, not so fast to reply :-)
Andrys,
ReplyDeleteif you browse something like 'wikipedia, or 'google' through 3g, or any website otherthan amazon, in kindle 2, would you have to pay?
prabin,
ReplyDeleteEver since the Kindle 1, in 2007, the Kindle experimental browsers web-lookups are not restricted to the booksstore but only by how complex a website is and whether or not the e-Ink or your patience can tolerate it.
See the photos at my pbase site showing the 3G web browsing (no charges of any kind to access websites) on the Kindle 1, Kindle 2, DX, DXG, and Kindle 3.
One has to wonder about all the online e-reader comparisons that never mention this capability while pretending that the 3G means the same in each model. No.
Even Consumer Reports AGAIN did not mention it about a week ago (and I've commented to them about it before and they've had the grace to print it) -- are they just out of touch or do they worry that would be too big a difference for their tables or comparisons?
It does make one wonder. I expect someone to say --- it can be useful but it's slowwww or, "It's painful" which at least Wired has done.
See my guide to using the Kindle for step-by-step directions via the text version of Google maps, when lost. That is very fast -- usually a few seconds to get the driving directions.
http://bit.ly/kdriving
It's huge. You can look up things on the bus, at the park, at the beach, in some cafe or your friend's home w/o asking them for their wifi passkey.
Also see http://bit.ly/kwmobiweb
or even my guide to the differences between the WiFi-Only model and the 3G/WiFi one, at http://bit.ly/kw3gwifi.
Tip: The right-hand column of the blog has reference info.
Hope that helps!
Hello Andrys,
ReplyDeleteIf I could ask you a question, what would you say is the main difference between this $89 dollar special and the latest Kindle 3 version?
Thanks,
Mark
Greny,
ReplyDeleteSmaller, the emphasis on the screen rather than on the bezel, and the extreme clarity of the text.
I miss the number keys row that the K2 has though.