The Amazon Kindle Touch gets a UK release date of April 27th

Despite the fact Amazon’s highly-anticipated Kindle Touch eReader was launched in the US late last year, it’s only just been given a release date of April 27th here on the other side of the pond. But hey, better late than never, eh?

We’ve been waiting for news about Amazon’s Kindle Touch eReader (and the even more elusive Kindle Fire tablet) for what seems like YEARS now, but this morning it’s been announced we’ll be able to get our hands on it at the end of April.

The eReaders will be almost identical to their US counterparts apart from some software tweaks prior to a larger global firmware update. Interestingly, the Kindle Touch does away with both the physical keyboard and page turn buttons of earlier models in favour of software buttons and gesture-based swiping page turns.

Each still features a six inch screen and promise up to two months of battery life per charge. The Wi-Fi version weighs in at 213g, with the 3G edition slightly heavier at 220g.

The new Kindles also bring the new “X-Ray” feature with them, allowing readers to quickly view all mention of characters, ideas or places in a book, as well as leaping out to Wikipedia for more in depth information.

Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President, Kindle, Amazon EU Sàrl, said:

“UK customers have been asking us to make Kindle Touch available on Amazon.co.uk and we are excited to do so today.

“Customers continue to choose Kindle because they love the world-class reading experience, the vast selection of Kindle books available at great prices, and the convenience of downloading their books in just 60 seconds. We continue to see that people read more with Kindle–readers in the UK buy an average of 4 times the number of books they purchased prior to owning a Kindle. With the launch of Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G we expect to see this reading renaissance continue.”

Both the Wi-Fi only and the Wi-Fi and 3G models will launch simultaneously in the UK, priced at £109 and £169 respectively. 3G data costs remain free (subsidised by the cost of each unit) with Vodafone handling network data. Pre-orders open today.

Those waiting for the UK launch of the Kindle Fire tablet however will have to wait a bit longer, as Amazon makes no mention of the new slate. Boo.

[Via Tech Digest]