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In the pictures, leaked to the technology website Boy Genius Report, the new reader is shown side by side with the first generation device which was launched in 2007.

The new Kindle is shown to have grown slightly larger than its predecessor, but retains the qwerty keyboard layout below the display. The screen appears to be the same panel as used in the original Kindle, and therefore as the majority of eBook readers

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on the market, including the Sony reader and the iRex.

Other apparent changes include replacing the proprietary power adapter with a standard mini USB port, and removing the SD card slot in favour of providing a larger internal memory - up to an impressive 1.5GB in the model shown on the site.

Unfortunately, the device does not look as though it has been designed for a UK market. It continues to use Sprint’s EV-DO network for media downloads, which means that it will not function in the UK in its current form. The previous version reader has never been released in the UK.

A wave of new eBook readers has been released recently that do work in the UK, including a new iRex equipped with a 10.2in screen and the PRS 700 from Sony which includes a touchscreen interface. But the market leader is not a dedicated reader at all, but Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch, whose Stanza eBook reader application has to date registered more than 395,000 downloads.

Amazon was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.