Amazon is hosting a media shindig on Sept. 6, where it's widely expected to announce new Kindle devices. While a new Kindle Fire tablet seems like a sure bet, book lovers are hoping for a new e-ink Kindle e-reader with an anti-glare that's easy on the eyes and isn't interrupted every time someone replies to a Facebook post.

Odds are, there's one on the way.

The Kindle Touch e-reader, which was last refreshed in November 2011, is unavailable on Amazon's Kindle Store. That's a strong signal a replacement is on the horizon.

But if a new device is to top Barnes & Noble's stellar Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight that shipped in April 2012, it's going to need several new features.

Light It Up ———–

It's time for Amazon to embrace illumination. Amazon loves to promote the Kindle's glare-free e-ink screen. But what the Kindle did for reading in broad daylight, the Nook Simple Touch with its built-in GlowLight did for reading in the dark.

The Kindle Fire's glowing LCD screen is hard on the eyes at night, and offers none of the anti-glare protection during the daytime Amazon touts in Kindle ads. Clip-on-light accessory lights are a sorry alternative to a front-lit, back-lit or side-lit e-ink reader. Late-night readers need a device with an evenly lit screen and a battery that lasts more than a few hours. (Sorry, Kindle Fire, you die too quickly.)

Colorize ——–

Consumers have been lulled into believing that e-readers need to be grayscale for anti-glare to work. Color is for tablets like the Kindle Fire and iPad. But color e-ink is a reality, and Amazon's recent push into graphic novels could benefit from it.

Amazon could introduce its own color e-ink system or license Qualcomm's Mirasol color e-ink technology. No matter how the online retailer goes about getting the technology on its screens, it's time a major player went color.

Push to Turn ————

Using a finger swipe to turn a page is the natural progression from the world of physical books. But there are all sorts of reasons to skip touchscreen e-readers. First, they're much more expensive – the Kindle Touch is $20 more than the base Kindle. Plus, too many readers have been frustrated by picking up their e-readers or simply shifting in their seat only to find that an errant hand gesture has sent them hundreds of pages from where they meant to be.

Amazon had a great solution: page-forward and back buttons located on the left and right of the screen on the front of the bezel. But in last year's model it moved the buttons to the edge of the bezel, which made them much more awkward to use. The Kindle DX still has the old-style page-turning buttons, but at almost $400 it's not even worth considering as a contender in the market. The Nook has buttons on the bezel and it's a far better page turning experience. Either bring back the old on-the-bezel buttons or find a better solution. Fumbling to turn the page, or doing so inadvertently, slows down the reading process.

Make It Handy ————-

An e-reader is not a tablet. A tablet is meant to be rotated and can rest on a table or lap. An e-reader needs to be comfortable to hold in the same position, relatively close to the face, for hours on end. For readers with a voracious appetite for e-books, the more comfortable an e-reader is, the better. It needs to be light and easy to grip. To that end, the Kindle ships with a tacky, rubber-like backing that keeps the device from slipping out of reader's hands. That seemed perfect until the Nook hit the scene.

The center of the Nook's backside is concave and adds an extra level of grip. In addition to giving readers a bit more to hold on to, the concave back also feels more comfortable. The Kindle doesn't necessarily need the same concave solution, but an ergonomic form factor seems like a natural fit.

Support ePub ————

The current Kindles do not support the free and open ePub format, which is mainly used for books that have entered the public domain and by authors who want to distribute their works for free. You can get ePub books on a Kindle, you just have to download a third-party conversion app to do it.

This is ridiculous. It's not like Amazon would be losing money by supporting a format for books that are free anyway. Even Apple, the poster child for closed gardens, supports ePub. Amazon should follow suit.

3G Everything ————-

Amazon recently made news by adding a 50MB per month cap to the 3G access on its Kindles. This cap does not apply to books purchased from the Amazon Kindle store. Rather, it's intended to deter users from abusing the on-board browser.

But if you've used the browser, you'll know it's a slow and largely unnavigable experience not worth abusing, certainly not to the tune of 50MB. It's not why people buy Kindles with 3G. They do it so they can purchase books on the go and use Whispersync, Amazon's over-the-air sync feature that keeps your place in a book on all your Kindle devices and Kindle apps. So why not have it on all the Kindles?

The cost difference between current Kindle Touch e-readers with and without 3G is $50. Adding 3G access to all Kindles would streamline the SKUs and give the Kindle a leg up on the competition. Plus, access everywhere would equal more books sold. More income, better inventory management, and the ability to boast Amazon books anywhere – that seems worth eating $50 on Amazon's part.

Even if Amazon has to lower the 3G data cap to 20MB for network access that has nothing to do with purchasing or syncing books, so be it. It's not like we're using that browser in the first place. That's why we have smartphones.