Amazon Gives Sneak Peek of Upcoming Kindle Update

Posted 02/08/2011 at 6:09am | by Paul Lilly

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Amazon isn't ready to say exactly when it will push out its 3.1 update for the Kindle, but the company couldn't hold back revealing what's in store. Among the upcoming feature enhancements are real page numbers that match the page numbers in printed books. This will make it easier to reference and cite passages, as well as read alongside others, whether you're part of a book club or it's required reading for a class. It's a neat addition, but far from the only one.

Also on tap is a Public Notes feature. This will let Kindle users choose to make their books notes and highlights available for others to see. It's a social networking element of sorts and you'll be able to view the Public Notes of people you follow, track your own reading activities, and more.

Then there's a Before You Go feature that will let you immediately rate a book, share a message, get personalized recommendations on what to read next, or see more books by the same author as soon as you reach the end of a book.

And finally, Amazon is introducing a new newspaper and magazine layout designed to "give you a quick snapshot of the news and helps you decide what you want to read first."

If you own a latest generation Kindle, you can try out an Early Preview of the 3.1 update by downloading it from here. Otherwise, you'll receive the update via Wi-Fi in the coming days.