Looks promising. What I want is a jacket-pocketable tablet, optimised for ebooks in indifferent light, sufficiently durable not to need a case--no cases, please--with usable web-browsing and pdf display. And the option, should the need arise, to watch a movie. The Kindle Fire may be it. At the moment I find myself choosing between packing my Kindle and my iPad. A residual sense of the absurd stops me carrying both (especially if the laptop's in there as well). These days it's usually the iPad that gets left behind. I use it at home as a fully reclining web browser, but its traveling days are over.

The Fire's size is perfect. Battery life could be a nuisance. But the key thing is the display. The resolution seems fine--169ppi, about the same as on the existing Kindle, sufficient for nice sharp text. And something else got my hopes up: actually, to me, the most thrilling term in all the tech details. Anti-reflective! Praise be. How I detest a glossy screen. Anti-reflective needs to make a comeback. I want to know why it went away in the first place.

Cheap, too. I ordered one, and I'll let you know.