Today, Amazon announced the Kindle 2, the follow-up to the company’s first Kindle ebook reader released in late 2007. 

The 10-ounce Kindle 2 features a new, slim design (it’s about the thickness of a pencil), a re-thought key and button layout, 1.4GB of usable onboard memory (up from 180MB) for storage of up to 1500 books, 25% faster page-turns, 25% longer battery life and a 6-inch electronic paper display that can render four times the shades of gray (16 shades instead of 4).

There are currently 230,000 books available for purchase on the Kindle and Kindle 2 with more being added all the time. You can also subscribe to select newspapers and blogs on the Kindle.

There’s also a new Realspeak Solo text-to-speech feature on the Kindle 2 which allows the device to “read to” users aloud.  No word on how this affects battery life.

The one gray lining in this silver cloud: The Kindle 2 is still $359.  You can pre-order the Kindle 2 now.  The unit will begin shipping on February 24 – first come, first serve.