

Amazon has just announced their fourth generation of Kindle products alongside the immensely attractive Kindle Fire tablet.

Available in the United States (only, sadly, at least for now,) on November 21st, the new Touch line of Kindles has an IR-based multi-touch screen as the name implies. Gone is the physical keyboard of old.

It weighs in at 7.5 ounces (213 grams) and is smaller than the Kindle 3, measuring 6.8″ x 4.7″ x 0.40″.



Storage is generous for an eReader, with 4 gigs of on-device, and about 3 gigs of that is available for user-content. However, you also gain access to unlimited storage on Amazon’s Cloud Storage service. This is easily accessible with the included wifi or the optional 3G support.

Battery life sounds comparable to previous versions of the Kindle; they cite 2 months with wireless turned off, based on half an hour of daily reading. Leave the wireless on and they claim it’ll STILL last 6 weeks. True battery life will vary with the way you use it, of course.

One fascinating little change is found in the branding of the device. A close look at the image above shows a prominent “Kindle” label. Compare this to the Kindle 3 branding, which read Amazon Kindle. It’s clear that Kindle is becoming a powerhouse of a brand to the point where they no longer feel the need to bolster it with the Amazon name.

Pricing is incredibly aggressive on the Kindle Touch. With ads (or Special Offers, I should say,) the Kindle Touch will cost $99, finally hitting the magical price point below $100. The Kindle Touch 3G with ads will go for $149. If you want to eliminate the ads, they’ll be $139 and $189 respectively.

For more on Amazon’s new Kindle line, including an even cheaper, non-Touch Kindle at only $79(!), check out Sarah Kimmel’s coverage.

And if you want to go ahead and pre-order a Kindle Touch you can do it here!

So will you be upgrading from the Kindle 3 (or earlier) to the new 4th generation eReaders, or is the Fire more your style? Better pre-order soon, then let us know in the comments!