In addition to the Kindle Fire tablet, Amazon also updated its original e-book reader Kindle lineup. To make Kindle more affordable, Amazon lowered the price of 6-inch Kindle to $79. Mind you, this comes with Special Offers which means you’ll see sponsored screensavers and special offers on the Kindle. Rest of the Kindle features remain the same.

More interestingly, Amazon introduced a touch version of Kindle in both Wi-Fi and 3G versions. Aptly named as Kindle Touch, this reader is basically the same 6-inch version but with touchscreen support and double the storage space (4GB).

The Kindle Touch Wi-Fi will sell for $99 whereas the Kindle Touch 3G will go for $149. Both models will be available from November 21.

Kindle
Kindle Touch Wi-Fi
Kindle Touch 3G

Just like Amazon did for their Wi-Fi-only Kindle model, they’ve reduced the price of the entry-level Kindle 3G, but with a catch. The new Kindle 3G with Special Offers can save an extra $50 if you’re willing to watch few ads and screensavers on the Kindle 3G, which can be suited to your tastes and interests.

As like other Kindle 3G models, a user will get a global 3G coverage with no monthly contracts or fees.

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Americans have a new e-book reader option to choose from – the iriver Story HD. Uniqueness of this product is the tight integration with Google’s open eBooks platform that will allow users to buy over thousands of books or read over 3 million Google eBooks for free.

iriver HD is a lightweight e-book reader that features a full QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi and a 6-inch e-ink display.

The reader is set to arrive on July 17 at Target carrying a price tag of $139.99.

[Via Google Blog]

Amazon today announced a new Kindle DX at a lower price. The new Kindle DX will retail for $379 as compared to previous price of $489 and will feature similar sized 9.7-inch screen but with a 50 percent higher contrast. Better contrast means consumer will be able to enjoy clear text and improved readability under sunlight. Additionally, new Kindle will come in graphite enclosure along with the free 3G service, better known as WhisperSync.

Kindle DX can be pre-ordered today and will ship from July 7.

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In an attempt to wade competition from other e-book readers and tablets, Amazon has announced a price cut to its Kindle device. The Kindle now sells for $189 from the original price of $259 and comes with free 3G service, allowing users to download books anywhere on-the-go as well as surf the internet.

Kindle features a 6-inch e-ink display that gives excellent readability under direct sunlight, text-to-speech, PDF support and more.

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Press Release

DR-570 is not the only e-book reader Asus is working on. Asus confirmed to Register Hardware today about two more reader models. First is a 5.7-inch DR-750 model that is similar to DR-570 but sports a monochrome display, although it’s not clear if it will be an e-ink or OLED. The next model is DR-950, a 9-inch model that will have an e-ink touchscreen display supporting a resolution of 1024×768 pixels.

The common features amongst all three models are 4GB internal storage, 3.5mm audio jack, text-to-speech, dictionary, handwriting recognition, browser, 3G, Wi-Fi, PDF, ePub support and SD expandable memory slot.

Someone attempted a brave move by capturing supposedly secret UI presentation of the Zii Mediabook, which we told you yesterday. Though it’s difficult to tell if the Mediabook is powered by Android, the UI does emphasize on three areas – Explore, Experience and Engage, hinting a user will get a lot of interactivity options while reading a book. As far as other things are concerned, the Zii Mediabook seems to have a full touchscreen display and a front facing camera mostly to carry out video calls.

[Via Epizenter]

The e-book reader market is about to get hotter as Creative has announced their entry by showing a working prototype at an AGM held in Singapore. Unlike most of the e-book readers in the market, Creative’s attempt will be very different as its e-book reader will do more than books. Tentatively named as MediaBook, the device will run on Zii technology and support multimedia content playback, in short making it work as a larger sized PMP. Other features include an unspecified touchscreen display, text-to-speech function, social networking sites support and SD memory card slot.

The release date is not known but Singapore will be the first ones to receive it since Creative already churns out educational devices for the country.

PS: Pictured above is not the actual product.

[Via Epizenter]

Keeping its weird name debate aside, bookseller Barnes & Noble announced its Nook e-book reader yesterday. Nook has been priced as same as Kindle ($259) but scores on a lot of fronts than Amazon’s offering. The most visible change is the integration of two screens – e-ink display for reading and a color touchscreen flick through the book titles.

Internally, there’s 3G powered by AT&T and Wi-Fi, PDF files support, LendMe technology that allows user to lend their books to friends for up to 14 days at a time and Reading Now feature that makes reading possible on different devices than Nook.

There’s 2GB internal memory capable of holding up to 1500 books or pop in a 16GB microSD card to hold up to 17,500 books.

Nook will start retailing from late November but B&N is taking pre-orders now with an incentive of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point to first 10,000 pre-bookers.

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Barnes & Noble will be making their e-book reader official today but WSJ who got an early sneak peek shares some details. The B&N reader that was spied last week will be called as Nook and will go head to head with Kindle in terms of pricing, which means around $259. The e-book reader has a 6-inch e-ink display along with a full color touchscreen display beneath it and a new feature of lending e-books to friends. We don’t know how the lending feature works but it sounds interesting.

[Via Engadget]