I'm looking to get a Kindle for Christmas, one with 3G is essential.

However, I've noticed that at the minute, the 3G Kindle is bigger than the £89 Wi-Fi one, and has a physical keyboard. This obviously begs the question, are Amazon planning on releasing an updated 3G Kindle which is more similar in style and function to it's smaller brother?

Amazon are likely to release the Kindle Touch 3G at some point in 2012, for the UK market. No guarantees though.

Unless you intend to get a 3G Touch from the US, then you're choices from the UK store are limited to the new Kindle 'lite', Kindle Keyboard (wifi) or the Kindle Keyboard 3G.

The KK3G is still an excellent bit of kit, offering greater battery life, larger memory, text to speech and of course the convenience of 3G.

I am sure Amazon does not have plans to launch an update to Kindle. The main purpose of reducing the price could be selling out all the 3G devices by Christmas. Of course it's a best Christmas give away! However, the company would be more concentrated in developing its new product the Kindle Fire and capturing the Tablet market.

A kindle is for life, not just for christmas.

I wouldn't have thought so - the new £89 one is a reduced spec cheaper model - the higher spec keyboard versions are still available.

Kindle is the best one for its long last battery and for bed reading. There is no backlit in kindle. So it is better to read your favorite ebook via kindle without disturbing others. At any time I like to have my kindle with me.

If you're in the UK, you want 3G, and you want a Kindle for this Christmas, then the 3G keyboard model is your only option. Amazon have announced their models for this Xmas. The UK isn't getting the Fire at the same time as the US, and the newer smaller model, which is now available doesn't have 3G.

I'd say go for it. I have the 3G Keyboard Kindle and it's brilliant.

The Kindle Keyboard 3G is bigger than the new model, but it really isn't that big. It might be bigger than some paperbacks, but it's lighter than most of them. I have been using mine for more than a year now, always having it with me when I travel, it fits in a bag nicely and it's comfortable to hold in hand. I do not care it could be shorter a few centimeters.

The new Kindle is very light, which is why I bought one to keep in my handbag, but I was otherwise quite happy with my keyboard model. In fact, the reading experience is probably better with the Kindle Keyboard, as it feels more like a book.

Not really reduced spec as it has noticeably faster page turns.

They are not doing full refresh on page turns, so it may make them look faster. I was expecting they will bring this to keyboard models in the latest software update, but they did not, just some stuff with personal documents. Otherwise this new Kindle is an entry level model, some features are missing. But the most important one, the screen, is the same as in the keyboard models, so there's no compromise there.

I know the technical reason but due to not having to do a complete refresh it doesn't just seem faster it is.

I have sat with both my kindles and pressed page turn at exact same time and the new one is noticeably quicker.

Also I really like the reduced weight, feels like your holding nothing even after hours.

If you look at the numerous side-by-sides that have been posted, the page turns are almost identical.b Also has a smaller battery and less flash memory, understandable as this model is built to sell for the cheapest price.

I'm uncertain about your comment that, "If you're in the UK, you want 3G." I've only recently bought a 3G Keyboard Kindle and I'm therefore no expert on it. However, I've so far found the 3G feature of very limited use.

I can connect wirelessly via my BT Home Hub, and the connection seems to be fast and reliable. The Amazon Whispernet coverage map suggests that I should be able to get "3G coverage (high speed)" in my home area, but I don't seem to be able to get any coverage at all, not even at low speeds.

Yesterday, just as an experiment I took my new Kindle to a nearby town that is supposed to have high speed coverage and I did manage to get some sort of 3G connection, but it seemed to be both slow and unreliable. Perhaps I was just in a bad area.

Though I like my Kindle, I think that I could have got on perfectly well without the 3G feature. Yes, it may prove useful if I go to some city or other but my impression is that in many rural areas, villages and small towns 3G isn't much use. I may be wrong, but I think that Whispernet coverage is provided by Vodafone, and its coverage map for internet and email seems a good deal less optimistic than Amazon's for Whispernet.

3G may be useful to some people, but I doubt if it's by any means an essential feature for many Kindle users.

^^^ I think it was meant "If you're in the UK and you want 3G" not "then you (should) want". As for 3G, if you are at home or hang around wi-fi, you won't find it that useful. If you travel abroad, it's nice to have Internet access for free. You pay the arm and the leg for roaming otherwise. Not that it was my main reason to get 3G model, but it's nice to have. As for speeds, given the usual book sizes, even if it falls back to EDGE, it's still fast enough to deliver a book reasonably fast.

Yes, after reading grumpyoldbat's post once again I'm sure you're right. Sorry for the misunderstanding!

Why would I look at side by side comparisons when I can test it myself

I can assure you that the page turns are noticeably faster when you try it yourself.

Also the reduced battery was a good move as it helped to reduce more weight and you still get a month out of it. Also flash memory isn't important to me as I delete the books once I'm finished reading them.

With so many books that I want to read the chance of me reading one twice is slim.

One more thing, with the right phone one could use tethering and have the same access as with the 3G.

With 3G, I can be standing in my local branch of Waterstones and see a book that I like, but the price is too high. Check it out on my Kindle, download it for half the price within 5 minutes maximum, and be reading it with my morning coffee. It's also brilliant if you're travelling, as it's completely free to download wherever you are. Some people who already have loads of e-books may not need to do this, but if like me you're interested in new books coming out and being able to have them ASAP, the 3G feature is very important. I think if more people really understood that the 3G feature is free worldwide, they might be more excited about it.

Well, I've just discovered that I can at least get EDGE coverage by walking up the small hill behind my village, so maybe the 3G situation isn't quite as bad as I'd thought it was in this area. I shall experiment further!

I guess Galloway's a bit different from Greater London! Scotland in general needs to do something about its mobile phone coverage - we were up in the North of Scotland a couple of summers ago, and coverage was very patchy. You'd think they'd do something about it when so many people go climbing and walking up there. Orange phone mast on top of Ben Nevis - sorted!

When I was in London last week I bought the new Kindle (already had a Wi-Fi KK). I set it up using McDonald's Wi-Fi (didn't buy a meal just stood inside) and then bought a book later in the day using the Wi-Fi in Starbucks (again no purchase made). The 3G is only worthwhile if you are far away from a Wi-Fi point but in most city centres you are more than likely to be footsteps away from somewhere with free Wi-Fi.

After using the new Kindle for over a week I do actually prefer the KK, I'm certain the screens are different and if the new one is meant to be improved then I don't think it is. However the new one is so small to carry round so it's a lot more convenient than taking the KK everywhere.

I think deciding between the two based on page turns is silly based on the ratio of time take to turn a page compared to reading a page, it really doesn't matter too much. Size, maybe smaller and lighter is better but my KK3G feels fine.

The 3G is very handy if you use it for newspapers and the like. For a while, I did a free trial of the Financial Times. My kindle would permanently be in my bag and I'd turn it on on the train into work and pick up the latest paper then. Saves having to wait a minute or two on the WiFi at home. (More time saved at home in the mornings = more time for sleeping)

3G as many things is not essential, but means more comfort. The question you need to ask is if it is worth the price difference. When I was deciding a similar reader from competition (Sony) went for £200, so I thought Kindle 3G would still be cheaper and I would not have to starve because I spent more either. I went for that one and I don't regret it.

I think the debate about which is the 'best' is a bit misleading really. I don't particularly see the Kindle Keyboard as an 'upgrade' of the Kindle and certainly don't see the Fire as an upgrade to the KK. They're all different items fitting different needs.

For me, I finally bought a Kindle when the keyboardless version came out mainly because of size. It was finally small enough to fit into all my coat and suit jacket inside pockets. It can even fit in my jeans pocket at a push! (not sure I'd go with that too often though ). The amount of memory and battery size weren't even a consideration for the simple reason that once you go above a week or two it frankly doesn't matter. Similar thing with the memory - for the vast majority of people it's simply not going to be an issue.

However, it suits my usage profile but may well not suit other people's. If you don't always read books in a linear way for instance, or you use the dictionary a lot then it makes complete sense to go for the KK. Equally, if you have a huge number of books or the ones you use have diagrams or pictures making them larger then the KK may be the better choice.

If you travel abroad a lot then 3G makes sense, or if you are often away from home or make lots of impulse purchases then, again, it makes sense. I think it's useful for people who use their Kindle to subscribe to newspapers or magazines as well, especially if you read them on your commute.

As far as the Fire is concerned, I think it's not really comparable to the 'normal' Kindles. I can understand why at first glance a lot of people will think it's an upgrade because of the better specs, but it has two major problems that blow it out of the water as an option (even if it were available in the UK!) as far as I'm concerned:

1. Its screen. I find eink so much better to read for extended periods that I wouldn't even consider a backlit reader.

2. The battery life. I don't want to have to be worrying about charging my 'book' on a daily basis. I've got enough on worrying about charging phones and laptops!

So as far as I'm concerned the Kindle Fire isn't really competing with the other Kindles, it's competing with the iPad, Galaxy Tab and all the other tablets out there.

The only one I'm not really sure about is the Touch. I'm not really sure where it fits in to be honest, other than the fact that a lot of people like touch screen devices. I haven't spent much time looking at it though so may be missing the reason other than that!