Kindle Touch launched in UK

Posted on 28 Mar 2012 at 10:28, by Gareth Halfacree

Amazon has confirmed that it is finally bringing its flagship Kindle Touch eReader to the UK - although there's still no news on its cut-price tablet, the Kindle Fire.

Designed as a higher-priced alternative to its current-generation Kindle, the Kindle Touch - as the name suggests - boasts a touch-screen interface rather than the buttons of its predecessor. It's something Amazon's rivals, including Sony, have been offering for some time but which the company has been slow to provide for non-US customers.

"We've seen great excitement over our new line of Kindle eReaders and we're thrilled to be able to offer Kindle Touch 3G to customers worldwide", claimed Dave Limp, vice president of Amazon's Kindle division. "With our new touch technology and a unique combination of features you won’t find anywhere else – Text-to-Speech and our new technologies EasyReach and X-ray – we’ve made it easier than ever to read and explore Kindle with one hand."

Exclusive to the Touch model, the Kindle's EasyReach and X-ray features provide tap-to-turn functionality and the ability to extract all passages across a book which mention a particular idea, character, place or topic with a single tap - and also pulls in information from websites including Wikipedia and Shelfari - the virtual bookshelf that to date doesn't import UK Amazon puchases.

The base Kindle Touch is available to pre-order now priced at £109, while the Kindle Touch 3G - which adds an always-on free world-wide 3G mobile broadband connection, is priced at £169. That's a hefty price hike for those who can't be bothered to plan ahead or find a hotspot. Both models are due to launch in the UK on the 27th of April.

While there's still no sign of Amazon bringing its cut-price Android-powered Kindle Fire tablet to the UK, there are hints that a new model is on the way: CENS reports that Taiwanese suppliers are being asked to provide high-resolution displays for three new tablet models, including an 8.9in with a 1920x1200 resolution display.