Kindle 3 Quietly Adds Microphone: Voice-Control Coming?

There's no shortage of headline features for Amazon's third-generation Kindles – new, lower pricing, the inclusion of WiFi, E Ink's updated Pearl display – but there are quite a few quietly tweaked additions that could promise an even more interesting future.  A Kindle World spotted the inclusion of a microphone – currently unused – together with a few other tidbits, that has already prompted some to suggest a voice-enabled Kindle could be on Amazon's roadmap.

According to the Kindle 3 user guide, "the microphone is not currently enabled but is provided for future use."  The exact nature of those "future use" applications is unclear, but suggestions include voice navigation (useful for those with sight-problems who might be taking advantage of text-to-speech), shared audio annotations and even a phone option for making voice calls.

[via TeleRead]