Video review: New Kindle is the best yet, despite some minor flaws

The new, third-generation Amazon Kindle e-book reader, which begins shipping today at a price of $189, is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. And that's just fine with me.

Despite huge changes in the e-book reader market since the first Kindle debuted in 2007, Amazon has stayed the course with each iteration of its flagship model. It's generally eschewed bells and whistles like a beefed-up browser (Kindle's remains low-key, still under a tag of "Experimental"), a built-in reading light (though one is built into a new, optional $60 case we show in the video: The New Kindle), and features like book lending. Instead, the company has stayed focused on steadily improving the basics of e-book reading, like providing the crispest type and the snappiest screen refreshes when you turn the page.

The newest Kindle, then, again noticeably improves both contrast and page speed over its predecessor—though our initial tests can't yet verify that the contrast is 50 percent better and page turns are 15 percent faster, as Amazon claims. We also can't confirm claims that the new version has even longer battery life—up to a month with the wireless mode off.

The new version is also about 15 percent lighter than the second-generation Kindle, and about 25 percent lighter than the rival Nook e-book reader from Barnes & Noble, which has the same-sized screen. Amazon has also made the overall size, or "footprint," of the new Kindle around 20 per cent smaller, while retaining the same 6-inch screen size. There's a small price for that in navigation, however: The top row of the device's keyboard has been removed, and you need to select page numbers using a virtual menu.

Other enhancements to this new Kindle include the ability to select not just type sizes (which are the same as on the second-generation Kindle) but the typeface (regular, condensed, or sans serif styles). You can also adjust how closely the lines are spaced, and the number of words on each.

I have a few other navigation quibbles with the new Kindle, beyond its trimmed keyboard. The five-way Kindle joystick is gone, replaced by a small touchpad with very narrow—too narrow, I find—clickbars around it. There are now bars to return to a previous page on both sides of the Kindle, which is a nice addition. But I find all the turn bars are very narrow, and they turn in an outward direction, rather than in, which increases the likelihood of inadvertent page turns when handling the device.

In addition to holding the price of the regular Kindle, with its access to the AT&T 3G network, to the same $189 as its predecessor, Amazon also added a new Wi-Fi-only version for $139. That just happens to be $10 less than the Wi-Fi-only version of the rival Nook e-book reader that Barnes & Noble began selling a few months back. (Amazon also added Wi-Fi to the 3G Kindle as well, again to match the capabilities of the 3G Nook and to allow speedier connections, especially when using that "Experimental" browser.)

Bottom line: The third-generation Kindle isn't perfect, especially for navigation, but that's true of every e-book reader on the market. Based on our initial tests, we believe this newest iteration of the device takes what was a fine e-book reader and makes it even better, in ways (such as its light weight and high-contrast type) that competitors will have trouble matching.

Next month, we'll add the new Kindle, and a host of other models, including a new version of the jumbo Kindle DX, to our e-book reader Ratings, available to subscribers.

—Paul Reynolds