This is Garrett Murray's Maniacal Rage

For the first time in my life, I’m not horribly upset that a product I just bought recently might soon be replaced by a newer and flashier model: Leaked photos of the supposed Amazon Kindle 2. Now, of course, these might not be real, but let’s assume they are.

The single biggest issue for the Kindle, sales-wise (aside from the whole “Are e-books as readable?” thing) has been the design of the device itself. People think it looks ugly, outdated and cheap. And when you’re about to pay over $300 for something, that’s a problem. What Amazon needs is for people to be able to touch one before buying it because those fears really do go away as soon as you use it for a few minutes.

The Kindle may be a bit ugly, and it may look outdated, but it was clearly thoughtfully designed to be a great reading device. Little touches like the keyboard buttons requiring harder presses so you can hold the device by the bottom without accidentally pressing a key, the tapered shape and the placement of the next and previous page buttons were all very well thought out and they work quite well in use.

The new version, at least by the photos, looks like it may have replaced some of these thoughts with a sexier design. The problem is, this is supposed to make you feel like you’re reading a book. You shouldn’t even NOTICE the device after a few minutes if it works well, and with my Kindle I don’t. It fades into the background right away because it’s very easy to use and comfortable in the hand. I think Amazon is hoping to sell more devices by prettying up the design, but they’re gambling with usability and long-term enjoyment.

What Amazon should have done was get the Kindle into stores like Best Buy and Circuit City and such. Let people get their hands on it, look at the screen, page around and play. I never would have bought the Kindle before I played with Brian’s at a conference, but two minutes after setting it down I was sold.

I also did a Qwick Review of the Amazon Kindle back in July.