Amazon, not normally known for its consumer devices, has announced the Kindle mobile e-book reader. The funniest thing so far is that Amazon’s own product rating system, whose data is suppled by customers, rates the 1 day old device at 2 and a half stars (out of five). Those aren’t exactly blazing reviews, but the bulk of the 1 star reviews are all from people who are unhappy with the high price (the unit sells for US$399). I’m not sure you can qualify a complaint about cost as a valid review, since the 25 I read were from people who wouldn’t pay the price Amazon wants for it.

Aside from all of the smoke rising from the Kindle’s release, it is a rather nifty, if ugly, device. The unit sports a 6″ 600×800 electronic paper display, a full QWERTY keyboard, measures 7.5″ x 5.3″ x 0.7″, weighs a mere 10.3 oz., and features “WhisperNET”, some kind of access to Sprint’s EVDO network. As for the ugly, you can tell that its not a symmetrical device. It has Page Up and Page Down buttons along the left side and one big Page Down button on the right. It also appears to be meant to look 3D-ish. I’m not sure I get it, but I’ll be happy to try it out when I get one.

written by Tyler Regas