So color us impressed by Amazon’s Kindle 2, officially announced today after weeks of speculation and flat-out, cat-out-of-the-bag spoilers. The first design was great in concept but not too easy on the eyes. Kudos to Amazon to making its second-generation something that would make even Apple jealous. Here are the highlights:

• Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
• Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
• Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
• Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
• Improved Display: Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images
• Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging
• More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books
• Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns
• Read-to-Me: With the new Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you
• Large Selection: Over 230,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available
• Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise

What MDIAG! loves most about it is its durability, most likely due to its light, slim profile, as demonstrated in this video. A drop of 30 inches would survive being pulled off of the table by my toddler, but we’d like to see if it can resist the slobbering bite of a teething infant. Somehow, we doubt it, but that’s what we get for leaving a $350 gadget in the line of fire.

As Darth Vader once said: “Impressive”. On our wishlist – we want to be able to view content in color (hello Marvel Digital Comics!) and have the ability to use the 3G network to add RSS feeds from any blog, not just the ones Amazon partners with. Still, we’d love to have one of these.

Source: Kindle 2: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)