A Kindle with color touchscreen and GPS in India? High Hopes!

I am an unabashed fan of Amazon’s Kindle: partly because we in India are still far way off from seeing our first Kindle, partially because it cuts out a lot nonsense.

Photo: Amazon Kindle 2

Nonsense includes having to visit bookshops (travel time, bus fare), waiting for newspaper delivery (someone flicks if I wake up late; delivery boy bunks during rains..) and ordering books which turn up tattered. No. Kindle is the way to go.

Though I would be one of the first to lay my hands on a Kindle when it comes to India – it will – I would still appreciate a lot of knick-knacks that Amazon can build into the Kindle. To start with, a touch screen will be very useful. All advanced digital gadgets with a display come with a touchscreen these days. There is no reason why the Kindle should not come with a touch screen.

Kindle’s current array of buttons is clunky and unaesthetic to say that least. Though the Kindle 2 has more recessed and unobtrusive buttons, it still looks more like a child assembled the buttons on the Kindle. Come on, dont say you couldn’t have designed it better. If there are updates to the Kindle before a touch screen becomes standard issue, a cleaner keypad will be greatly appreciated.

I also demand a color screen for the Kindle. (Anyone here ever seen a purportedly-modern product with a black & white screen?) Amazon claims its screen can display 16 shades of grey in the Kindle 2, while its earlier model could show only 4. That’s better, but not enough. If I’m planning to browse through magazines and newspapers on the Kindle, I insist on seeing them in colour. Mass production has meant that color screens cost little extra, though it may cost more for Amazon since downloading color pages will use more data. But this is not reason enough to deny us a colour screen Kindle.

Though you can read ebooks and newspapers on Kindle anywhere, the Kindle will be a great help for the travelling reader. For this reason alone, Amazon should consider fixing a GPS on the Kindle, with assorted maps etc, so that location-finding and tracking can go into the Kindle. As costs come down and GPS satellite navigation becomes cheaper and cheaper, Amazon will be able to improve the Kindle with GPS and maps, without increasing the cost. Let’s not forget that Amazon managed to keep the price of the Kindle 2 unchanged, while making the upgrade. It can do so again.

Who will bring the Kindle to India? Amazon has not started selling the Kindle anywhere outside the US so far. The first stops for the Amazon salesman outside the US will be, obviously Europe, Canada and Japan. There is a reason to it. The Kindle communicates through EVDO wireless technology based on CDMA, which is prevalent in these countries. EVDO, which is a 3G technology, has made just a patchy entry into India. BSNL an MTNL, the two government owned telecom companies, are the only ones to have 3G spectrum so far. BSNL has started EVDO services on a limited scale in several cities in India, but these are still at a pilot stage.

EVDO, and thereby the “environment requirements” for wireless products like the Kindle in India will become a reality only after 3G is rolled out by private telecom operators. As of now, the 3G spectrum auction process is itself mired in legal disputes and bureaucratic hurdles. All telecom operators are looking forward to the launch of 3G services in India.

My wish is that private telecom operators like Reliance Communications and Tata Indicom get 3G spectrum and roll out EVDO services at the earliest. Apart from being able to access data at speeds up to 3 mbps on mobile phones and laptops, EVDO will also enable the entry of products like the Kindle. And I’m looking forward to the days when I can read Times of India on the Kindle, flipping the pages on its color touch screen, accessing pages through wireless EVDO and finding direction with the built-in GPS.