Amazon Kindle DX unboxing and hands-on!

Well, well -- what's this? Amazon's Kindle DX just arrived a little earlier than we expected, looking every bit like the big brother to the Kindle 2 it did at launch. Seriously -- apart from new, less comfortable keyboard, externally you're just looking at a Kindle 2 with a bigger screen. Turn it on, though, and you immediately notice the orientation sensor, which is almost too sensitive. We're loading this thing up with content and putting it through its paces right now, but in the meantime hit up the gallery below for the unboxing and some comparison shots.

Gallery: Amazon Kindle DX unboxing and hands-on

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[skyblaze @ Jun 10th 2009 4:58PM]

"now introducing largest most powerful kindle yet. except THIS upgrade... actually makes sense."

[bandigolo @ Jun 10th 2009 5:03PM]

Looks nice. I need to learn how to read so I have a reason to buy one of these things.

[OneLove @ Jun 10th 2009 5:04PM]

viliv x70 ftw!

[JimboJones @ Jun 10th 2009 5:12PM]

pretty high price for device like this ... they'd better re-think the strategy, laptops with eInk technology are coming (e.g. Pixel Qi) pretty dam fast

[Richard @ Jun 10th 2009 5:21PM]

And? You're going to pay a premium on the tech whether it's in a reader or on a laptop sreen.

Personally I would rather have a dedicated device like this that feels like a book as opposed to just having a computer screen with the tech.

[barry99705 @ Jun 10th 2009 5:50PM]

They don't have eInk technology, it's just a greyscale lcd over a reflective background. It's still using power to show the display.

[Joseph @ Jun 10th 2009 6:07PM]

@barry99705 Actually, it's not a greyscale LCD. It's full color. The sun washes out the color. The darker the environment, the more color you can see.

[quag @ Jun 10th 2009 6:10PM]

Comparing a Kindle to a netbook is like comparing an electric razor to an electric blender. They are two different appliances that solve two completely different problems. (But they both have blades so let's compare them!)

I travel a lot, I read a lot and I often need to bring a collection of heavy books with me. No netbook solves my problem... I was happy to shell out $500 for my Kindle DX.

[JimboJones @ Jun 10th 2009 6:57PM]

Pixel Qi was showing demo of a screen which was very easy to read outside (the screen has two separate modes) and they were talking about screen you will be able to turn so you get eReader type look with no keyboard, ARM netbooks are very thin and capable of 15+ hours as we saw few days ago so. All this combined can cost less than $500 for sure.

quag, I did not say that Kindle is crap NOR netbooks can do the same so stop being upset. My point was that Kindle will be less and less attractive when we will see netbooks which cover some of the key features of kindle. This is not some 2 years down the road maybe, this is 2009 Christmas time.

[quag @ Jun 10th 2009 11:25PM]

Jimbo, I think you are mistaken about netbooks covering "some of the key features of kindle" by the end of the year. (Of course, only time will tell.)

The Kindle is totally worth $500 (to me) because of the convergence of three key features (1) form factor/user experience approximates reading a book or magazine (2) there is a massive amount of content (300,000+ books, my hometown newspaper, etc) all available seamlessly and wirelessly (3) it's an appliance; ie I will never be expected to dick with low level settings, reinstall the OS, update drivers, etc.

Even if Amazon ships a Kindle app that works on netbooks, a $500 Kindle DX is still a better value to me than a $250 netbook. I am happy to spend more for a true "electronic book" with a thriving ecosystem and a device that "just works." A shrunken, underpowered notebook computer is not at all interesting to me.

[Yoyodyn @ Jun 10th 2009 5:16PM]

So, what does the orientation sensor do when it's lying flat?

[anie2007 @ Jun 12th 2009 6:50AM]

Yoyodyn,

I imagine that since when we put it down it'll be at the orientation that we were holding it as there's nothing to sense in terms of direction -- unless we put it down and turn it around or something...

[yyan @ Jun 10th 2009 5:19PM]

So when are textbooks coming to this (their biggest selling point)?
I looked up all of my next semester's textbooks on amazon, and there are ZERO kindle versions.
I have yet to see ANY textbook on the kindle.

[Greg Jizmagian @ Jun 10th 2009 5:41PM]

Agreed! I am very disappointed with the lack of textbooks (and in my case casebooks) available in digital format. If publisher's don't get the point some somebody is going to start doing digitizing them without permission.

[amneziac @ Jun 10th 2009 9:54PM]

@Greg
that's already happening. There's lots of pdf books floating around out there.

[Ariel @ Jun 10th 2009 5:44PM]

There are a few textbooks currently available for Kindle, medical texts mostly. There are strong rumors, however, that Amazon will be launching a more targeted textbook "store" come July 1.

[Michael Scrip @ Jun 10th 2009 6:30PM]

>> "There are strong rumors, however, that Amazon will be launching a more targeted textbook "store" come July 1."

At least they will be doing it before school starts... unlike other manufacturers who launch new hardware and computers in October.

[MikhailT @ Jun 10th 2009 7:23PM]

Can you guys test the PDF? Especially complex PDFs with graphics and so on. That's the main reason I bought my DX, so that i can use my PDF collection which is massive and a lot of technical books too.

[russlar @ Jun 10th 2009 7:24PM]

Do you still have to pay extra for the case?

[Barry H @ Jun 10th 2009 7:29PM]

I still prefer the older version with smaller size which is easy for carry and more comfortable keyboard. It's kind of awkward to carry such a big device to read ebook.

[L4D1 @ Jun 10th 2009 7:39PM]

@Barry H:
It's the size of a magazine. Come on. You can stick tons of those
in the front pocket of an airplane seat.

@russlar:
Yes, the case is $49.99. The two year warranty is
horrible, especially seeing that it's $109.99 and you already get a 1
year warranty.

[Swordomar @ Jun 10th 2009 9:25PM]

Indeed. I'm gonna get one at the first price drop though. Too expensive right now >.

[The Avatar @ Jun 10th 2009 10:02PM]

Hmmm... I hope mine is in the mail! I will soon have a 1st gen for sale.

[AniMill @ Jun 10th 2009 10:32PM]

Does it have any side/rear lighting for bedtime?

[Scandalizer @ Jun 11th 2009 12:07AM]

Interesting, but still waiting for a touch screen.

[Chris @ Jun 11th 2009 2:33AM]

For eInk readers, here are 2 companies whose products I am considering to buy:
http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad
http://www.readius.com/

I would prefer the readius but it's not out yet ...


I never tried any of those (and the kindle is not even sold in my country) so I cannot know which one is best, I just give information, in case someone was interested.

[Vidikron @ Jun 11th 2009 2:47AM]

The DX still pisses me off a bit. I would have waited a few months to get it rather than getting the Kindle 2. Announcing the DX just weeks after selling the Kindle 2 was just bad PR. For that reason alone I doubt my next e-reader will be from Amazon. I'll just ride my Kindle 2 until another large format e-reader launches at a reasonable price (hopefully with a touch screen), get that, and never look back. Yes, I'm bitter about this.

[eufreka @ Jun 11th 2009 3:07PM]

I absolutely cannot understand why I want one of these so badly! But I do, I really, really do...

[Viraf Karai @ Jun 12th 2009 1:06AM]

This is truly a thing of beauty. I own a PRS-505 and can tell you that ebook readers are the way to go. I can easily see myself reading newspapers on this beauty. I do want to comment about

(a) The price - it's way too high. Seriously, Amazon, you've got a masterpiece on your hands and folks like me who love eink technology will definitely want to get one for themselves, but $489 and you don't even throw in a decent cover for free! Come on, you guys can do better than that.
(b) The storage - it's way too low and it's embedded in the device. Now guys, what were you thinking. Before anyone jumps on me, let me state that I want this beauty to read my Java Developer Journal magazines in PDF format. Some of the issues are over 30 MB. Not to mention, I've got several computer science and software engineering text books in PDF format and many of them run several MBs. I can't figure out why Amazon didn't design this beautiful gadget with an SD reader like the Sony PRS-505. SD cards don't cost a lot and I could easily earmark one card for fiction, one card for magazines and say two cards for my textbooks. Seriously, Amazon, please reconsider adding an SD reader when you come out with Kindle DX II.
(c) I read somewhere that PDF documents can't be resized i.e. you can't jack up the font size on PDF documents. I'm not sure if this is true, but if it is, Amazon, you'll lose some of the older audience that is in love with this beauty. Older folks with weaker eyes, will definitely want the ability to resize fonts on PDF documents.

Other than these gripes, I've long craved for a gadget like this that can read technical PDFs like computer science textbooks without messing with diagrams. My PRS-505 natively reads PDF but the smallest font size on A4 documents is unreadable and resizing the font to medium (the PRS-505 only offers 3 font sizes) totally trashes diagrams in PDF documents.

I seriously hope Amazon addresses these issues. I don't know if other readers feel the way I do.

[Casey @ Jun 24th 2009 3:43PM]

Hello I just received my Kindle DX a couple of hours ago.
After reading your review I was surprised how useful the keyboard was not really for typing but for hunt and peck its great. Are your hands really small?
I am surprised at the poor access to the internet. It seems after so long your access is terminated and you have to return to the kindle store for them to turn the wireless back on.
Its easy to read mail in gmail but is very difficult to send mail from gmail and also difficult to use google reader.
The text to speech is surprisingly better that how it sounds in the advertisement. Don't get me wrong it could use several updates so as not to sound like a robot but its ok.
You will want to set it in a stand after a hour but compared to a laptop its very light (even with the cover).