the Kindle 2 was shipped yesterday. in today's New York Times, David Pogue fairly examines this next generation Kindle, dubbing it "Kindle 1.1. " Says Pogue, "The Kindle is the most successful electronic book-reading tablet so far, but that’s not saying much; Silicon Valley is littered with the corpses of e-book reader projects." Not envisioning the ebook as the replacement for the book, Pogue identifies the Kindle and its brethren as just another tool for reading with the Kindle bringing the ebook one step closer to making it a pleasurable experience.

Jeff Bezos has made the rounds, pushing the Kindle 2. for a couple of laughs, take a look at his immensely awkward appearance on "The Daily Show" and the resulting spoof on the Bezos maniacal laugh.

last week, i borrowed the old school Kindle and read Susan Elizabeth Phillips "What I did for Love." i figured the only way i could truly experience the Kindle was to read a book cover to cover, so to speak. i am pleased that this latest versionimpoved on some of the annoyances: slow page turning, overly large buttons that resulted in accidental page turning, and a somewhat weighty device. holding the Kindle is rather awkward and i noticed very early that reading for more than 30 minutes resulted in cramped hands if it wasn't resting on a table or countertop. the E Ink is pretty amazing in appearance, very similar to the look of a mass market paperback. the downloading is phenominal , less than 30 seconds. but at $359, the Kindle feels cheap (though i haven't held the latest). it feels like a child's plaything and it's just not pretty to look at. as a recent convert to the 2nd generation iphone, a device that is certainly not perfect but beautifully combines form and function, i can't help but think that Jeff Bezos and the Amazon crew could have pushed a little harder in product development to release a device that feels more luxurious. it's a quibble, to be sure, but at that kind of price tag, i want to be happy with my purchase.

(via Shelf Awareness)