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The news with my comments.

Say Hello to The New Kindle

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines (Very nice.)

Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback (Very nice.)

Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots (Isn’t really news. 3G is faster, but the v1 wireless was plenty fast for downloading ebooks.)

Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required (Isn’t really news.)

Improved Display: Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images (Nice.)

Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging (Very nice.)

More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books (Meh. Storage was fine on v1.)

Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns (Woohoo! The best reason to buy or upgrade in my opinion.)

Read-to-Me: With the new Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you (Good idea. But, the voice hurts like nails on a chalkboard. That said, I will be interested to see how this improves over time.)

Large Selection: Over 230,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available (Isn’t really news.)

Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise (Isn’t really news.)

They left out one other new feature:

Integrated power and USB: You can now use a single cord to charge your Kindle from a power outlet or connect it to a USB port for charging and file transfer. (Nice.)

Overall, a solid evolutionary upgrade for the Kindle. But, I think price will still be the deciding factor for many people.

The Kindle is still $360, which is pricey. But, you now have to shell out another $30 for a case if you want one, where v1 came with a (crappy) case. (This is taking a page from Apple’s iPod playbook.) So, a Kindle with case is now $390. That’s steep and will hinder mass adoption. I think it will be v3 or v4 before the Kindle gets cheap enough to go truly mass.