Truth be told, I love my Amazon Kindle. I use it nearly everyday. I thought the idea of an ebook was going to be a gimmick, and it was, but it was a very successful gimmick. The Amazon Kindle got me to read more and spend more on written material than I have in a very long time. Now, the rumor mill has gotten its hands on the Kindle and the news is great.

The Kindle 2 is rumored to be released this month on February 24th. The unit should release at a price-point similar to the previous model: $359. The redesign is nice. Gone is the weird angular body and protruding page buttons. In their place are a nice, rounded shell and carefully placed and recessed paging buttons. The handy e-ink screen is still their, as is the handy keyboard. The menu / thumbwheel combo have been replace by a joystick and menu button.

Now, my problem is that the original Kindle was so well designed that I have little reason, at this point, to upgrade. Unless there is some spectacular "one more thing" that Amazon has planned, the upgrade is mostly a facelift. The official news should hit the nets this week, and we will see if there is more to this new Kindle than meets the eye.

via MobileRead