TechRadar spoke to Amazon today about its new Kindle device which is set to hit the UK this August.

The refreshed Kindle range has been made 20 per cent smaller than previous devices and utilises new more readable e-ink, but features like colour and touchscreen technology are nowhere to be seen on the device.

There is a very good reason to this according to Amazon.

Speaking to Steve Kessel, senior vice president for Kindle at Amazon, he told TechRadar that there won't be a touchscreen version of the Kindle as this will impede on the user experience.

We won't compromise

"I don't think there will be a touchscreen version [of the Kindle] and let me tell you why: touch for an LCD display makes a ton of sense. Because touch is a layer which goes over the top. But an LCD is backlit so it doesn't matter," Kessel notes.

"But if you put touch on an e-ink display – a reflective display – then anything you put on the top ruins readability. You can already see this with some devices which are out on the market at the moment that have integrated touch into the displays.

"It increases glare and makes it more fuzzy. We won't do that; we won't compromise the reading experience because of the technology.

"Colour is the same, there isn't a great colour reflective display yet."

When we asked about the simple functionality of the Kindle and its general lack of features and gimmicks, Kessel explained: "We didn't want to design a gadget, we wanted to design a functional dedicated reading device."