History of Kindle
5 Generations of Kindle
The Amazon Kindle is a series of e-book readers produced by Amazon.com. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to download, browse, shop and read e-books, newspapers, magazines and blogs. The Kindle name was devised by Michael Cronan. Cronan and his partner, Karin Hibma suggested Kindle, which means to light a fire. The original Kindle was introduced in 2007. But Kindle has evolved, and the range now includes devices with keyboards, devices with touch sensitive screens, a tablet computer with a reader app and a color display and a low-priced model with an on-screen keyboard. There has been five generations of Kindles, with improvements and changes made.
Kindle First GenerationAmazon released the Kindle First Generation on November 19, 2007, for $399. It is the only Kindle with expandable memory, via an SD card slot. The device is 6 inch tall with 4-level gray-scale display, with 250 MB of internal memory, which can hold approximately 200 non-illustrated titles. Kindle First Generation was not sold outside the United States.The device remained out of stock for five months until late April 2008.
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Kindle Second GenerationOn February 10, 2009, Amazon announced the Kindle 2. The Kindle 2 features a text-to-speech option to read the text aloud, and 2 GB of internal memory of which 1.4 GB is user-accessible. Kindle 2 can holds about 1500 non-illustrated books. Unlike the Kindle First Generation, Kindle 2 does not have a slot for SD memory cards and it is slimmer than the original Kindle.
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Kindle Third GenerationAmazon announced Kindle 3 on July 28, 2010. Kindle Keyboard. The Kindle Keyboard is available in two versions. One is the Kindle Wi-Fi, which connects to the Internet exclusively via Wi-Fi networks. The other version includes both 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity. The built-in free 3G connectivity uses the same wireless signals that cell phones use, allowing it to download and purchase content from any location with cell service. The third-generation Kindle is 0.5 inches shorter and 0.5 inches narrower than the Kindle 2.
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Kindle Fourth GenerationAmazon announced the fourth generation Kindle on September 28, 2011. The fourth generation Kindle features a slight reduction in weight and size as well as nine hard keys, a cursor pad, an on-screen rather than physical keyboard, a flash storage capacity of 2GB, and an estimated one month battery life. Via 3G the device is able to connect to the Kindle Store, download books and periodicals, and access Wikipedia.
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Kindle Fifth GenerationAmazon announced Kindle 5 on September 6, 2012. The new Kindle has a black case, better contrast, and hand-tuned fonts. It is claimed to also have 15% faster page loads. It is the lightest and thinnest Kindle ever produced at 5.98 oz.
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