Great news -- the Amazon Kindle Touch is now available to buy outside the US. And the inevitable bad news? You still can't buy it in the UK.
That's right, so while customers almost everywhere else in the world -- including Togo, Suriname, Aruba and Belarus -- will be able to enjoy the touchscreen e-reader, us in Blighty will have to wait. Harrumph.
There's no official press release, but go to the US product page for the Kindle Touch and you'll have the option of choosing a country for delivery (as spotted by The eBook Reader Blog). Choose United Kingdom, however, and you'll see the message "Kindle Touch cannot be shipped to UK from Amazon.com. To purchase Kindle, please shop the Kindle product page on Amazon.co.uk". Follow the link though, and you'll land on the page for the bog-standard button-sporting £89 Kindle. No slouch, sure, but it's no Touch.
That only applies to the Wi-Fi-only Kindle Touch -- the 3G version is still exclusive to the US.
The fact Amazon hasn't sent out a press release hints that us Brits will be added later. (Other European countries like Germany, Italy and France are also excluded, though it will ship to Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovakia, so it seems there's no method to the madness.) But how much later? Come on Amazon, stop leaving us Brits out in the cold.
The Touch was announced back in September (alongside the Kindle Fire we're still waiting for), and sheds the buttons for completely touchscreen operation. We rated it an impressive four out of five in our review -- but beware, it can be a little slow and is slightly heavier than the standard Kindle.
Would you snap up a Kindle Touch? Or do you think the Kindle Fire would do the job better? Let us know over on our Facebook page, or in the comments below.
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Comments 9
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anonymous 4 February, 2012 13:29
There is method to the madness.
It is not available in countries with their own domestic Amazon Kindle stores, i.e amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.fr etc, the countries where there is no Amazon Kindle store can now order them from the US amazon.com store, like when Kindle first became available in the UK but you had to order from amazon.com and have it shipped from the US.
Thamisgith 5 February, 2012 13:27
It does look like countries with their own dedicated Kindle store are not being included in the Kindle Touch shipping destinations. Presumably you will be able to get it direct from the UK Amazon site before much longer?
However, I won't be bothering. I got the new entry level Kindle for Christmas and I love it. It is so small and light - ideal for travelling.
Prior to that, I had a Kindle 2.0 (which I did get shipped over from the States some time ago). I don't mind that the new Kindle has no keyboard - I rarely used this anyway. About the only time that I enter text is when I'm looking for a new book to download - and I quite often do that from my notebook anyway.
I won't be rushing to "upgrade" to the Kindle Touch if it appears on Amazon UK. I find the fact that it doesn't have physical page turn buttons a little off putting.
David Wormley 5 February, 2012 13:49
I just want them to open up the Amazon Appstore outside the US.
anonymous 5 February, 2012 17:28
Not really bohered, why does anyone need a touch screen on a kindle? I have the kindle nn keyboard and the only buttons i use reguarly are the next page button and directionals.
anonymous 6 February, 2012 12:34
Really guys, got it it in the us, already had the new touchless before, and the latter is way better. Touch screen is not very responsive, thicker, heavier, and because of the lack of the turnpage buttons on the sides there's really jut one way you can hold it and use it
anonymous 9 February, 2012 03:45
@anonymous who posted on 5 February, 2012 17:28: the Kindle Touch's keyboard is available on demand, so it does not constantly take up space unlike the Kindle Keyboard, which is a Good Thing precisely because the keyboard is not frequently used. Yet, despite being slow, it is still better than the basic Kindle's on-screen keyboard because it is touch screen. Besides this, being able to select a word for a dictionary lookup by a tap instead of cursor selection is an advantage.
anonymous 10 February, 2012 02:30
How much does it cost to ship from the US?
anonymous 19 February, 2012 02:40
I've been waiting for ages for this, it's pretty frustrating. I'm seriously considering getting a Kobo Touch instead, which WH Smith have for the same price as the budget UK Kindle.
anonymous 19 February, 2012 05:51
I got one off eBay - just over a £100 it's my favourite Kindle and I've had the 2 previous models sold here.
Just seems more intuitive touching the screen and it's got a nice interface.
Amazon wouldn't remove my adds though -said there was no mechnism for the UK yet - suspect that s the reason for the delay.