Amazon Kindle DX first hands-on (with video!)
By Paul Miller 
posted May 6th 2009 12:37PM
posted May 6th 2009 12:37PM
- It's not really drastically different from the Kindle 2. Not in any way. The ability to auto-rotate is nice, and the big screen is definitely easier on the eyes when it comes to reading newspapers, but largely this is the same beast.
- The screen looks great. It may just be the demo units here, but the blacks seem to be darker than they are on the Kindle 2. We'll have to hold this judgment for when we've got a review unit in our hands.
- Screen refresh is largely unchanged. You'll still see those black flashes when you turn the page.
- The keyboard seems better to us than the Kindle 2's. The keys are more raised, and there's more real estate for typing. It's still not an awesome experience, but it's improved.
- The size difference really is notable. The DX is a large device. It's not the kind of thing you'll be throwing into a purse, though it's not so large that you wouldn't consider it over the Kindle 2. In fact, if we had to choose right now, the Kindle DX wins hands-down.
- $489 is a lot of money for a device like this. Amazon is really going to have to show some considerable cuts on pricing for their deals with the NYT / schools to make this attractive to end-users.
Its nice!!! But $500 ??????
Same opinion. I'd buy one for $200 since thats the price of a netbook with similar-sized FULL COLOR screen.
But the battery won't last that long. For $500 I can get UMPC-tablet that will do just fine - it doesn't have a very long-lasting battery but it can do web, youtube, flash, videos, games ect ect ect all for the same price.
Now, if I already had a tablet PC and $500 to throw out in the window (like last year's spring), I'd really be interested in DX.
Good product but wrong time or price policy, IMO.
Expensive.
Start looking for cheap Kindle 1's and 2's on Craig's List NOW.
totally agree. I'd need something that size and full color to make me interested.
All the books i read have pictures in them. :)
All of you FAILING NEWSPAPERS out there (and the suits that run them) WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Get in it already instead of sitting there with a panicked looks on your faces, balled up in the fetal positing rocking back and forth wondering what will be come of you! Don’t be a dinosaur gazing up at the night sky as the technology dooms day comet streaks by...
Listen, there are plenty of folks that would pay 50c to 75c (even $1.25) for access to their local news paper. And guess what, you will save ass loads on printing and paper costs too. NOW GO MAN, GO! It’s the best you’re gonna get until flexible OLED becomes more widespread. So stop crying (and don’t even try the “tax payer bail out route”) and CLIME ABOARD THE KINDLE EXPRESS!!
PS Australian Pirates are not allowed on the Kindle Express until version 2.0 when they preload BS detection software. Just sayin ;^)...
ONE MORE THING! Hey Amazon, take a page from the cell phone carriers and SUBSIDIZE THIS BAD BOY! Example:
1. $99.00 2 year contract (subsidized).
2. Customer pays (monthly, daily, weekly) for the paper subscription of their choice
3. This will be applicable to papers that YOU (Amazon) have as part of the program
4. The customer can also pay some agreed to rate $0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00 for each paper.
5. You (Amazon) on the back end (and to recoup the subsidy) charge a fee to each paper
6. They will gladly pay it since there will be substantial printing cost savings.
7. Lastly, what choice do they (failing newspapers) have? It’s a way to stay alive!
What you get is a subsidized device with the failing newspapers GLADLY picking up the subsidy. (a) Consumer is happy - $99.00 Kindle DX (b) Amazon is happy - since they will probably move Millions of units (3) The newspapers are happy - because they get to stay alive and transition into the digital age. EVERYONE IS HAPPY, THERE IS NO DOWN SIDE!!!
"All the books i read have pictures in them. :)"
Once you get out of elementary school that will change.
Tushar I see your point. But I've always seen the Kindle as a tool for 1-12 grade school crowd. I'm a 25 year old that was schooled in NYC and I VIVIDLY remember the amount of text books I had to carry as a kid back and forths to school. The value of these books that had to be returned at the end of every year was easily around $400. If Amazon and the NYCBOE had a subsidized 5-7 year contract for kindles to be distributed to all kids grades 3-12 (I say 3rd grade because thats serious responsibility for a 6 or 7 year old), you can eliminate a lot of wieght on the kids' backs and with updates all year round there'll be no need for out-dated text books!! A binder, a Kindle ,pens, pencils, calculator. What else is needed?
I really can't believe how incredibly poor people are nowadays. I'd appreciate it if it was $100 cheaper, but this is perfectly acceptable given how much technical documents I read.
"cell phone carriers and SUBSIDIZE THIS BAD BOY!"
Wh@T? It is painful enough to watch people running around with bluetooth headsets! Imagine them holding kindles to their heads LOL.
Exactly... I Love how e-ink looks and definitely see the use, but if Apple comes out with a 10" iPod touch tablet thing for $600 or $700, Its going to be very hard to want to buy one of these. Despite the obvious advantage of e-ink versus LCD for long bouts of reading, All the other functionality of an Apple tablet like web browsing, video, etc would be hard to ignore..
Luckily tohe doesn't need a product that involves reading.
Didn't they just release an updated version?
I think Amazon is talking a page from Apple's ebook.
LOL Apple doesn't sell eBooks, But I get your point, The DX is seen as a different type of product, I feel more comfortable reading on the kindle 2 then reading that, but that's just me.
...to fail
Am I going crazy, why would I use this when I already have a netbook?
How about 3 to 4 weeks battery life?
What i don't get is why people aren't more mad that they only just released the Kindle 2, and now it's being superseeded already?
Uh...this isn't supposed to compete with netbooks. Its an e-reader, plain and simple (Except of course, that you can surf the web and enjoy whispernet).
Does your netbook have an e-ink screen that doesn't give headaches? Does your netbook screen look just like paper? If you don't own or have never seen one except for pictures on-line, then quit assuming you already have something like the Kindle already.
I don't think that the DX really "supersedes" the Kindle 2-- it's not an upgrade, it's just a different model for different needs. For me, the smaller form-factor of the Kindle 2 looks to be more convenient than the DX, especially since I'm not that interested in reading PDFs.
I think when I see it I am gonna be like; I have to have this :)
but I think the ultimate dream is one device that does everything. If we get color e-ink displays with fast refresh, then we'll be close - very close
A netbook would cause eye strain from reading the LCD for long periods of time. You are really just paying for the e-ink technology that goes into the device and the wireless connectivity.
I could see Kindle being used as a teaching aid for students in school if Amazon made a version that was much cheaper.
@ Tony, if you were bring a small solar charger with you then theoretically you could have unlimited battery supply for a netbook forever, well at least until the sun goes supernova.
@ story contributer: There are alot of grammatical errors in your story.
@tony
Come on - is it that much of a pain in the ass to recharge your netbook once a day? Yes, 3 to 4 weeks of battery charge sounds nice, but is that really your tipping point? I mean, we're so connected these days and near power points all the time, you'd have to camping in the forest to make that argument (anyway, we should be looking into solar cells to trickle charge the batteries and extend battery life).
The netbook argument makes sense, but the Kindle makes the whole process of downloading newspapers a lot easier for mainstream (ie. non-tech) users, which I think is the key selling point here. But if you're sufficiently tech savvy and the newspapers allow you to download an entire newspaper to your netbook, it is a worthy substitute when you factor in the price. So right now the Kindle is a good option, but not necessarily a no-brainer.
$489 and no subsidised subscription models make Homer go something... something...
Go crazy?
Don't mind if I do...
Dohhhhh!!! (?)
I have a Kindle 2. I'm not buying this. I was expecting more from Amazon.
Get rid of wireless, drop the memory down, add sd expansion, remove txt to speech, add textbooks.
In short I was expecting the student version, not a newspaper version.
Oh, and if they plan on putting ads in the paper, or on my kindle 2 version of the paper, i'm canceling.
I have a Kindle 2 also and I knew I wouldn't be buying another one. Especially since I just bought it less than a month ago. I like the size of the Kindle 2. It's about as small as a larger paperback. I don't want anything larger.
the back-and-forth, is getting a little old, but I do agree in regards to textbooks on the DX. I don't think a 9in screen is large enough to replace textbooks. Many textbooks make use of the margins for other comments/graphics in addition to the body of text. The DX's screen is not big enough for that. Also, as mentioned above, there are many text books that have color pictures which are not useful in black and white. Considering the cost of the DX, the textbooks themselves would have to very cheap in order to make this affordable for students.
Kindle is already signing agreements with major text book publishers and several universities (Such as Princeton) are receiving DX's this fall for students.
Im holding out for a full 8.5"x11" color e-ink screen. Then we'll talk...
Yeah, and you'll still complain that it's $1,000.
Apple will have that covered - real soon now.
Perhaps.. But it will be with a giant iPhone that only supports books bought from the Itunes store, and the fanboys will swear is making their eyesight better.
Color can wait, I just want to price on e-ink displays to drop a little bit.
I like the sepia toned photo. Takes away from the fact that this device doesn't have a color display, and is irrelevant to 99.99999999% of the readers here.
Yet another person who doesn't have a clue as to what the Kindle does do well.
@ Chris
Yet another person who doesn't have clue one as to what they are talking about.
I understand EXACTLY what it can it can not do. It's a nice device and I'm as happy as anyone to see this technology developing, but the Kindle is still too small and the non-color display really hurts it as a replacement for the college books and newspapers it wants to replace.
What I do NOT understand is why it gets so much coverage on this site.
Yes, I own one AND read articles here, so I don't know what I am talking about. So you know that the screen is too small because you have read several books on it?
Talk about clueless.
@ Chris
I was obviously referring to your assessment of me. Maybe you can use your Kindle to download a book on reading comprehension.
And no, I haven't read ANY books on it. I had an lengthy hands on experience with at my local bookstore, and was left very unimpressed, at least for the price.
Happy for you it fits your needs, don't hate on the people for whom it doesn't.
Backtracking troll is backtracking.
How exactly am I backtracking?
How exactly am I trolling for that matter?
Have you always been this dumb?
Well if you're happy that it fits some people's needs, and understand how useful it will be for a lot of people, what's the problem with the coverage on engadget? Yes I have always been this dumb.
@Ethan
I don't think I said that I understand it fits a LOT of people needs. As a matter of fact, I don't think it does at all, unless ALL you are going to read are paperback novels on the thing.
Amazon is marketing the Kindle as a replacement for newspapers and school text books. Last I checked, neither of those are printed in only black and white anymore, and they certainly aren't only 9". Keep in mind with newspapers come ads, so imagine just how much screen will be left for the actual stories.
The Kindle needs a minimum 14" screen (8/12" x 11") and at least 256 colors for it to be a viable alternative to textbooks and newspapers. Get rid of the flickering when turning pages, too.
Engadget's coverage of this thing has been way overboard. This device only covers an extremely small niche in the world of gadgets. I understand running a story here and a story there on it, but 2 or 3 a week for the last 3 or 4 months? What's next, are they going to create a dedicated blog site for it?
I did not realize how many engadget users are ignorant
Need some help? I have another shovel and this whole process would go much faster with two people digging.
Exactly what subjects use color textbooks these days? Are you talking about books used in grade school or high school? What a waste. I recently finished 3 years of school during which I bought around 25 textbooks, and I don't believe there was a drop of colored ink in any of them. I would have been much happier carrying a black and white kindle instead of those 2,000 page monstrosities.
For my taste, newspapers would lose nothing by going back to black and white as well. The only reason NYT added color was to sell better on the newstand. And the only thing that's color is the pictures. You buy the paper for the text, not the pictures, and the text will be black and white regardless whether it's a Kindle or a color device.
25 textbooks, none with color? Yeah, hyperbole really helps your argument.
Newspapers, magazines and textbooks don't HAVE to be in color, but they are. Taking a 40 year step backwards to black and white doesn't make any sense.
And any textbook for history, geography, science, art... hell I could list them all. They ALL make use of color images. You guys making the argument that the Kindle is a valid replacement for textbooks are truly clueless, and obviously no amount of facts will sway your opinions. Have fun living in 1969.
What I really wanna know is how to get PDFs on it. What good is a $500 device that only allows you to play their format? I mean, even an iPod lets you add your own music. Eventhough I'd never be caught dead with an Apple product on my person.
Use the included USB cable to drag-and-drop files onto the device. Just like the current Kindle.
Yeah, current Kindle needs a PDF conversion if I'm not mistaken, nice to see this has native support. I love the idea, just need to see it come full circle after Sony and the like flood the market with better ones. I don't need color, but I need a Micro SD card slot and acceptable price point.
I think the 6" Kindles lacked native PDF support because most PDF documents are formatted for A4 or 8.5x11", and are too large to display on a 6" screen. And eInk's slow refresh rate makes scrolling inefficient.
The Kindle DX specs says "native PDF support," so I think you just transfer PDF files over the USB cable. I'd also guess you can transfer it wirelessly for a small fee, like you can with text and Word documents with the current Kindle models.
Why exactly do you need a MicroSD slot? I thought the price point was a bit high too, until I actually bought one and discovered how great it is.
I just hate purchasing something without expandability. Hence why I don't own an iPod touch. Great device, clever marketing, but lack of expandability leaves me wanting more. I mean, 8Gb? What can you fit on 8Gb? Then you say, they make a 32Gb and I say, your nucking futs to pay that much for something still limited in size relatively speaking. Got myself an Archos5 that is awesome. 160Gb for $280. Micro SD just adds that comfort level of "I'm buying a $500 product for 4Gb of space, but at least I can drop a 16Gb Micro SD card in for $30 when I need to."
As I said, competition in this market for a year will have this caliber device for $150 this time next year. Until then...
@cgrody
In most cases I would agree with you, but when even lengthy books clock in at around a megabyte, storage really isn't much of an issue with the thing.
Just as an example: Bleak House, by Charles Dickens, weighs in at about 1.2 megabytes for a book that's about 1000 pages long. How much reading do you really need to keep on there?
The screen auto-rotates. Turn it upside down.
I'd be using it for my large PDF collection, and I'd certainly consider their $1.99/mo magazine subscription service. Most of my PDFs exceed 10Mb due to the color, graphics, etc. If you can down-convert to greyscale, then we're talking. This is probably the conversion process involved with the Kindle 2.
@cgrody "What good is a $500 device that only allows you to play their format?"
The K2 can read AZW, MOBI, PRC, TXT, DOC, RTF, PDF & HTM documents. You can get books from various vendors, not just Amazon and you can send your own documents to it.
The KDX add direct support for more complex PDF documents.
What is your problem, then?
So, has Amazon given up on their left-handed customers?
Left-handed people are completely incapable of pressing buttons with their right hands?
This is actually kind of a big failing. I've found that, being left-handed, I hold the device on that side more often and 90% of my page turns use the left-hand buttons.
They don't make left handed books either. I'm sure you lefties can learn to cope.
Maybe they don't want to pay to make a second version the device so they can have a second version made for 10% of the population and have to charge more for both versions because of it?
Same reason why no one makes left handed cameras.
In Japan, books turn the opposite way than USA's. So are those left-handed books?
@ehisforadam
The current Kindles have page turn buttons on both sides of the device. I don't think they're actually expecting Amazon to produce a second model just for lefties
No, in Japan if they turned the right handed pages they would be left handed books.
Turn it upside down.
I'm pretty sure the Jews make left handed books!
Yes. Nothing you here lefty. Next!...
;)
Barry's comment FTW.
Turn it upside down. The display auto-rotates.
WOW! ITS BIGGER AND HAS MORE STORAGE! NEATO!
Oh wait, its just bigger and has more storage and a larger price tag....
Its nice that it has a native PDF reader now, but it still doesn't have color. Granted, most of the manga I read doesn't have color but I would like to be able to view the color images sometimes included with it.
Has anyone tried viewing manga on the kindle before? How did it look?
I'm pretty much waiting for a drag and drop manga/comics reader as well.
If you want color, Fujitsu Frontech makes a 10" color e-book reader. Of course the eInk technology can't produce color, so they use some type of persistent reflective LCD display that doesn't require power to maintain an image. According to the Japanese reviews I've read, the display is very dim and low-contrast, and it takes several seconds to refresh (turn the page). And it costs about $1000.
I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have the monochrome e-Ink reader for $500.
If I am going to spend $1000 on something just to get a color manga reader, it will just be a tablet PC where I can rotate the images to landscape to use on the tablet. But I wouldnt spend that kind of money for something like a color e reader.
$500 is even quite a bit to spend on this when I have a decent laptop to read manga online.
Like I said, color doesnt matter too much to me but in that rare occasion that the manga I am reading has a color page it would be nice that I could see it.
Has anyone read some manga on the kindle? I am wondering how the images look on the e-ink display.
.... to be a fool to spend $500 for a whooping 16-level of gray scale screen.
Apple takes 10 giant steps forward in technology, everyone else take 10 giant steps backward. And they wonder why the Mac fanboi are all over everyone else?
Someone's obviously never used an e-ink screen for any extended amount of time.
My question is will they update the Kindle 2 to support native PDF?
You guys know about white balance, yeah?
Bad white balance makes baby Jesus cry.
Well, if Engadget were to take pictures of baby Jesus crying, they would probably be reddish, which would make sense I guess. :)
i'll wait until apple plays their cards, and see what device they introduce...then make my decision.
i am inching towards getting something though...
Apple won't produce an eBook reader, it was Steve Jobs that said nobody reads anymore. If they produce one it will be in the form of an Apple Tablet and Jobs will say install the Kindle app like on your iPhone. Apple doesn't have any business in the eBook market in my mind, books are too boring for their demographic.
...which is why i said "device" and not "ebook reader" regarding apple.
So what's the screen resolution of the Kindle DX? I haven't seen that mentioned, though I suppose I could have missed it.
It's on the Amazon product info page: "1200 x 824 pixel resolution at 150 ppi". I admit I'm a little disappointed, the pixels are larger than on the Kindle II (800x600 at 167 ppi), that's fewer pixels than you get on a typical 12" tablet PC which is already on the verge of being too low a resolution for a full-page document. Still, at 1/3 the weight of my tablet PC, I expect I'd be using the Kindle DX more often than the tablet. (Yes I already pre-ordered.)
Amazon Product page is live, and it states a 1280 x 824, vs the kindle 2's 800 x 600.
I would happily purchase something like this if I could get all my magazine and newspaper subscriptions on it. The idea of not having to pack ten magazines in my carry on bag at the airport would be amazing, and the simple idea of saving all that wasted paper just makes me happy.
Sadly, 99% of the magazines I read are not available on this device. PCMag, Macworld, most other tech mags. The Washington Post FULL EDITION, things like that. Its annoying. And no, I wouldn't need it to have color to enjoy the info I get from these.
The success of iTunes is that you can actually PURCHASE what you use to get on CD from the store. If Amazon truly wants to succeed with this, they will need to do the same with print.
CharlesJR
So where's the native PDF support for the Kindle 2? I don't want a bigger device, my current Kindle 2 is exactly the right size for bringing with me everywhere. I wouldn't mind buying a new device for the PDF support, but it's too goddamned big! Just give me the PDF software update on my Kindle 2, Bezos [you greedy, narrow-sighted asshole].
I think I'll wait til they come in color. It has to be coming eventually. Thats the only thing that warrants spending that much money.
I am increasingly grateful for my tablet. More expensive? Yes, but it does a whole lot more than just read books in a proprietary format...
I also never really see this taking off in the office/work environment OR in college. Most people doing research typically have several books open at once, or at the very minimum, different pages open at once to reference. You would need to have multiple Kindles to accomplish the same thing.
Same thing in the office. When going over docs and research, I usually have many pages on my desk to go through. Especially when comparing or researching. I would need to have multiple pads to accomplish the same thing.
That's where the true expense comes in.
CharlesJR
On the positive side, this is the first Kindle that is actually sexy. Given that it is super-pricey though, how well does it support reading Letter sized documents. Also, does it support external SD cards? 4GB fills up rather quickly.
Does it have a flight-mode? I for one would rather they also offered a non-wireless version at a discount. And may I ask how am I supposed to use it outside the country if it's not GSM?
>> "4GB fills up rather quickly."
Typical e-book are like a megabytes each. This will hold 1,000 e-books.
Not if you converted all your notes to pdf, a typical semester's worth of notes is about like 37 to 40megs. It looks super compressed compressed on the 6" and illegible unless magnified. Definitely external storage is welcome...
bull shit!!! i prefer my iphone...
Good for you.
this is crap, my iphone rocks