Front-lit E Ink Amazon Kindle incoming

We're still waiting for the Kindle Touch to touch down on these shores, but it looks like Amazon has something far more exciting up its sleeve. The next-generation Kindle will boast a front-lit E-Ink screen, meaning it'll glow and you can read it in the dark without needing a light, Tech Crunch reports.

The new Kindle will go on sale this year, according to the report, so we can expect it to hit Blighty sometime around 2024, if Amazon sticks to its current rollout plans. But what will it be called? We've already had the Kindle Fire, so how about Kindle Glow? Or Kindle Flicker? Kindle Spark?

Hang on, you might be saying. How does E-Ink light up? Well, Amazon has bought a company called Oy Modilis that specialises in it. Tech Crunch claims to have seen a prototype device in a cardboard enclosure. It's a touchscreen, and as you slide a bar to the right, a cool light comes over the screen. In the dark it's a glow, and in uneven light the display appears much more readable, according to the report. It looks like it's projecting light, but because it's actually reflecting it, there's none of the harshness of an LCD. So it should be much easier on your eyes than a tablet.

With the slider bar, it sounds like the Nintendo 3DS with its ability to let you tweak how much depth you add to the 3D image. Or to do away with it altogether. Which sounds great, as the amount of lighting, much like 3D, is all down to personal preference. One person's 3D bonanza is another's emetic nightmare.

LG will launch a flexible E-Ink display this month in Europe, so we could see ebook readers become closer to the humble paperback soon. Combine that with an unobtrusive front-lit screen and a killer price, and you'll have something to tempt all but the most ardent bibliophiles.

What do you reckon to a glowing Kindle? And what should it be called? Let me know in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Image credit: Flex Lighting.