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Amazon Kindle Touch belongs to the four new versions of Kindles which were presented by Amazon company on the 28th of September 2011. Amazon Kindle Touch will be offered only in the U.S., and in general looks like a younger model, but equipped with a touch-screen, so its price is somewhat higher – $99 on special offer (in idle mode, this “economy” version will display promotional screensavers) and $139 without it. This reader will be available for purchasing from November 21 but it’s possible to pre-order it already if you navigate to the official website of the Amazon company. The reading device is only $20 more expensive than the basic version of Kindle, but in return you get a touch-screen display, support for audio and a few additional features, including X-ray (X-ray beam) – a function which allows to find in a book all the pages with information you are interested in (location, historical figures, characters, ideas, etc.). In Amazon Kindle Touch the physical buttons are not available. Therefore, turning the pages, searching for information, work with a dictionary, note-taking, and access to the menu – all this is done by means of a touch-screen. So, it’s possible to use a virtual keyboard which you will see on the Kindle Touch screen every time you need it.

Analogue of Kindle Touch has 3G-module and is called Amazon Kindle Touch 3G. This device, among other things, will allow using mobile connection at no charge, but only in 100 countries, where there are appropriate agreements with mobile operators. Free access will enable a user to download new content from the website of Amazon company. This new device will be on sale from the 21th of November 2011 and its cost will be $149 (on special offer, and also in the U.S.).
Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G are bigger and heavier than the basic version of Kindle, but their batteries retain charge twice better. 6″ E Ink display and possibility of connecting by means of Wi-Fi is available in Kindle Touch. Proprietary waveform and font technology allowed optimizing the Kindle’s display. Due to the display features there is no glare, so it’s possible to read even in sunlight. The Kindle team, while developing Kindle Touch’s design, was aiming at creating a real book-looking device, so that the users could read, forgetting that they use technical device, not a paper publication. Holding Kindle Touch a user is able to flip the pages, like in a physical book. So, the gadget is very easy-to-use and convenient, as its design is ergonomic. Moreover, Kindle Touch is quite light – its weight is just 213 grams (7.5 ounces). That’s why the device is called “pocket-sized”. As turning the real pages is not necessary thanks to Kindle’s touch-screen, a user will not have feeling of being tired. One more advantage of Amazon Kindle Touch is that the device doesn’t get hot when you use it. So, the duration of continuous reading is long. By the way, the hardware of Amazon Kindle Touch is made very well, and the processing is quick. There is also a possibility to transfer mp3 files to Kindle Touch for playing as background music, while reading.

The users of Kindle Touch have an opportunity to customize font (eight variants) and text sizes how they wish with just the push of a button. It prevents the eyes tiring. There are three font styles in Kindle Touch as well which are optimized and hand-tuned for satisfying the readers’ demands efficiently. The device offers full image and photo zoom for comfortable watching. As Kindle Touch supports the display of non-Latin characters, it’s possible to read books and documents in Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Japanese, Korean, and Cyrillic (such as Russian) characters.

Kindle Touch has 600*800 pixel resolution, 167 ppi, and 16-level grayscale. The size of the device in inches is 6.8″ x 4.7″ x 0.40″ or 172 mm x 120 mm x 10.1 mm. As the garget is wireless and a computer is not demanded for content downloading, there are no system requirements. Kindle Touch has 4 GB internal memory from which about 3GB can be used for downloading an owner’s content. It’s enough for 3000 books. Free Cloud storage is available for all Amazon content absolutely for free. It means that the lack of space is not a problem any more. If you read not more than half an hour every day, a single charge of the Kindle Touch’s battery will be enough for about two months device’s use with wireless off. Battery will retain charge up to six weeks if wireless is always on. Battery life of Amazon Kindle Touch depends on the use of WI-FI, including shopping the Kindle Store, the web surfing, and downloading content. Four hours are necessary for full charging the battery with the help of the included USB 2.0 cable (micro-B connector). In this case a connection to a computer is required. U.S. power adapter have to be bought separately.

Kindle Touch can be connected if there are public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security. Password authentication is demanded. But the device does not support WPA and WPA2 secured networks which are grounded on the use of 802.1X authentication methods. Connection with ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks is also impossible. The garget is equipped with rear mounted speakers and 3.5 mm stereo audio jack. Kindle Touch supports such formats as TXT, Kindle (AZW), unprotected MOBI, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), PRC, MP3, PDF natively; PNG, JPEG, DOC, HTML, GIF, DOCX, BMP through conversion. There is the included Quick Start Guide and Kindle User’s Guide, which is pre-installed on reading device already. Complete set of Amazon Kindle Touch includes Kindle wireless e-reader, USB 2.0 cable, Quick Start Guide. Power adapter should be bought separately. The device has one year limited warranty and guaranteed service. U.S. customers have an opportunity to purchase 2-year Protection Plan separately. It’s the additional option for Amazon company’s customers.