Amazon unveiled the latest version of its Kindle e-book reader at a special event in New York on Monday.

Chief executive Jeff Bezos showed off the new device, along with an expanded catalogue of books and news content for both the new and original Kindle.

The Kindle 2 will cost $359 (£242), and sports a slimmer 9.1mm case, 2GB of memory and a screen that supports 16 different shades of grey to display content.

Battery life has been boosted to two weeks with wireless networking turned off, and four to five days with the wireless connection enabled. The device will maintain the Kindle's Whispernet wireless system.

Other new features include an improved dictionary look-up system and text-to-speech capabilities.

"Kindle 2 is everything customers tell us they love about the original Kindle, only thinner, faster, crisper, with longer battery life, and capable of holding hundreds more books," said Bezos.

"If you want, Kindle 2 will even read to you, something new we added that a book could never do."

The Kindle Store service has expanded its book offerings to some 230,000 titles, along with a larger selection of newspapers and magazines which will be available for monthly subscription costs.

Amazon plans to ship the Kindle 2 on 24 February, although users in the US will be able to pre-order the device online. No details on international availability were given.