Kindle DX Review – Early Thoughts
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That was a short wait! Kindle DX is already out, and we do get the standard letter from Jeff Bezos to Amazon Customers on the front page of Amazon. Amazon has decided to get away for numbers for now, which is why Amazon is calling the new device Amazon Kindle DX. I have been calling it Kindle 2.5 as it is not really the third generation Kindle but it does offer some improvements over Kindle 2.0.
Kindle DX is only 1/3 inch thick. That means it’s almost as thin as your everyday magazine. It has also been improved upon Kindle 2.0 in the storage area. Kindle 2.0 can hold 1500 ebooks on average. With Kindle DX, you can carry 3500 ebooks. But the major improvement with Kindle DX is the 9.7 inch diagonal rotating screen. That’s much bigger than the previous generation Kindle. That is going to make Kindle DX very attractive to college students and those who want to use their Kindle to read magazines and newspapers on the go.
Here is a summary of what Kindle DX features:
- Screen: the 9.7″ screen makes Kindle DX more attractive to college students and newspaper publishers/readers.
- Color: no color yet. But you get 16 shades of Gray which is currently the best in the industry.
- Auto-Rotate: unlike Kindle 2.0, you can now auto-rotate your Kindle DX’s screen (portrait, landscape) as you turn your device.
- PDF Reader: Amazon Kindle DX now provides native support for PDF (finally!).
- Thickness: it’s as slim as a regular size magazine. So it’s almost as portable as Kindle 2.0, and it’s not that heavier either.
- Storage: holds 3,500 ebooks on the 4 GB internal memory.
- Wireless: you still get wireless 3G connection on your Kindle DX which is fast enough to download books fast.
- Read To Me: the voice to speech feature that raised a lot of controversy is still included on Kindle DX. But Amazon clearly discloses that publishers have the right to disable this.
- Battery Life: you can read your device with wireless turned off for two weeks. If you have to keep your wireless connection on, then you can expect your battery to last for 4 days.
- iPhone: you can easily switch back and forth between your Kindle and iPhone by using Kindle for iPhone app.
- .docx support: Microsoft’s .Docx is supported on Kindle DX.
Here is a graphical comparison of Kindle DX and Kindle 2.0:
Overall, Kindle DX is a bigger, better version of Kindle 2.0. It’s more expensive too! Amazon is seemingly targeting college students, engineers, and other niche segments to expand its business. I am not sure how many Kindle 2.0 owners will upgrade to Kindle DX but it’s certainly worth a look.
Kindle DX Accessories:
Your take: will you be upgrading to Kindle DX?
