Amazon Kindle 3G Reading Devices Review

The Kindle's hard-rubber backing is also a vast improvement over the slick (and extremely droppable) backing of previous versions. I had that happen a few times with my Kindle 2. This time, the Previous Page and Next Page navigation buttons are on both the left and right sides of the device. Its predecessor only offered both on the left hand side of device, with the lone presence of the Page Down button on the right situated just below a clumsily placed Home button.

The Kindle 3 is a handsome device, and it looks even better when scaled down in size. On the new Kindle, that means the removal of the Kindle's top numbers row on the keyboard.

My only real complaint is the placement of the on/off slider on the Kindle's bottom spine. The first time I accidentally set off "sleep" mode I thought my Kindle was malfunctioning.

Amazon's bold claim that the latest generation Kindle is equipped with a much faster page refresh rate isn't balderdash, and neither is the equally daring assertion of a new and improved contrast ratio. If this is your first Kindle, you'll never know the difference.

In comparison, the old Kindle's resolution looks washed out.