Kindle Touch gets UK release date and pricing

Amazon is set to launch its Kindle Touch e-reader in the UK and across Europe, the company said on Tuesday.

The Kindle Touch was first unveiled in September last year but was initially unavailable in Europe. However, its arrival here on 27 April will not be accompanied by that of the highly successful Kindle Fire tablet, which was first released alongside the Touch in the US.

The Kindle Touch uses a similar six-inch e-ink screen to that of the non-touch Kindles, which are already on sale in the UK. It adds infrared-based touch capabilities that let the user turn the page with a tapping or swiping action.

The new device will cost slightly more than its non-touch counterparts, at £109 for the Wi-Fi-only version and £169 for the 3G-enabled version. The standard, Wi-Fi-only Kindle costs £89 and the 3G version, which also has a keyboard, comes in at £149.

The Wi-Fi-only Kindle Touch is 43g heavier, and a bit larger, than the cheapest non-touch variant.

However, it can hold twice as many books — around 3,000 as opposed to 1,400 — and also has an 'X-ray' feature that lets customers tap on names or phrases to call up related entries from Wikipedia or Shelfari, "Amazon's community-powered encyclopaedia for book lovers".

On its UK release, the device will also be able to display books in landscape or portrait orientation, a feature that has been missing since its US release. At the moment, it can only be used in portrait mode.

Although the Kindle Fire does not yet have a UK release date, it is notable that many rumours point to a redesigned successor not being too far away, so it is possible that this version will be the first to land in Europe.