Amazon got a blaze of attention today for its Kindle Fire tablet. But the company's two new e-book readers, the Kindle, starting at $79, and the Kindle Touch, starting at $99, also merit attention. Both offer only modest advances in technology, but their prices are potentially game-changing.

Here's what's new about the two devices. And see our video (below) for more details, right from this morning's event.

The new Kindle. Available immediately at $79 and up, this Kindle is smaller than its predecessor and is several ounces lighter. That weight loss is significant in a device that you hold for hour after hour. Indeed, with a claimed weight of less than 6 ounces, the new Kindle will be among the lightest e-book readers on the market.

Amazon has also redesigned the page-turn bars on each side of the Kindle screen. And the physical keyboard, for pecking out searches or page numbers, is gone; instead, you now use the Kindle's square navigation pad to select characters on an on-screen virtual keyboard.

The Kindle and Kindle Touch both use the latest Pearl version of E Ink screen technology. Pearl is already used on the current Kindles and other e-book readers that score well in our Ratings (available to subscribers). The new Kindle's screen is the same 6-inch size of previous Kindles.

Amazon says that the two new devices also turn pages about 10 per cent faster than any other Kindles. In part, they've achieved that gain through the same technological tweak that Barnes & Noble uses on its Nook e-book readers: Namely, up to six pages at a time are stored in a cache, which means the screen needn't turn to black—and so delay the refresh of the page—during every page turn, as is the case on older Kindles.

We expect to receive the new Kindle in our labs by tomorrow, and will immediately begin to evaluate these and all other aspects of its performance.

The Kindle Touch. It's about time for Amazon's first touchscreen e-book reader; Barnes & Noble has had its Nook Simple Touch out for months, and the device currently tops our Ratings of e-book readers.

Among the distinctions to Amazon's touch entry is X-Ray, the feature that allows you to view references to characters and phrases from throughout the book or to link to Wikipedia entries on historical figures, places, events, and the like. From what I saw, the features works well enough. I'm just not sure how often I'd want or need to use X-Ray personally; I'll be curious about response to the feature among Kindle aficionados.

We expect to receive the Kindle Touch for testing on or before its availability date of November 21st.

My preliminary bottom line on the new Kindles: After a 2011 in which Barnes & Noble offered the most compelling new book-focused reader, these devices give Kindle fans welcome new options.

In particular, the $79 price of the basic Kindle is the lowest price ever for a an e-book reader that promises to be of high quality. Its price tag should allow many people who have been considering an e-book reader, but have balked at the price, to finally make the leap to digital reading.