CrunchGear predicts ”the new Kindle is thinner and has a nicer design and probably has a touchscreen,” and doubts the device will include a color screen because “Color e-ink is still in its infancy.”

The Los Angeles Times talks to analysts and concludes the new Kindle may have “a better battery life” and a “design that relocates the page-forward and page-back buttons so users would be less likely to hit them accidentally.”

The New York Times Bits Blog reports, “The new Kindle likely uses the new Broadsheet microchip from Epson and E-Ink” — technology that “breaks the screen into 16 pixel sets and can update them in parallel, allowing for faster screen refreshes and a generally more responsive screen.”

[via techflash]