Purported Kindle 2 pictures leaked

The PC World blog has pictures (via the Boy Genius Report) that are purportedly of the forthcoming Kindle 2. While the new design (if it is accurate) looks rather slick, I must admit that I’m not completely sold by it. The original Kindle didn’t look great, but after using mine nearly daily since May I can say that in practice it grows on your really quickly.  It’s a good size and weight, and I actually like the placement and size of the buttons. Most of the changes I’d make (e.g., making it easier to browse through a book to find a particular part) revolve around the software rather than the physical form factor. Of course, hopefully Amazon will update the software when the update the hardware, so I might get the changes I’d want anyway. I’m also somewhat surprised by the design decision (if true) to remove the SD card slot; I like the fact that I can upgrade the amount of memory in my original Kindle relatively cheaply.

So overall, the new design looks nice, but I don’t think I’ll bother to upgrade to it when Amazon finally releases it.