How would you change Amazon's Kindle DX?
By Darren Murph 
posted August 8th 2009 3:31AM
posted August 8th 2009 3:31AM
posted August 8th 2009 3:31AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Most of the tech wieners here have never held a Kindle... their comments = fail. The price of books is fair...even for renting. How much does BlockBlister get for renting one video for a week...$5.00. So $9.00 for a book is not bad.
The major problem with the DX is the way it handles PDF with no zoom and the interface is clunky. Too expensive for being so limited with PDF's.
Maybe a gestures area rather than buttons on the side, a slide-out keyboard which would let you shrink the whole product in terms of length and width, the ability to travel more than one page at a time. and cheaper book prices.
Amazon needs to leverage the multicolumn layout features they acquired in in their Lexcycle/Stanza purchase (seen in the Stanza desktop application).
Studies have shown that narrower text columns make reading easier on the eyes and is the way we've all consumed newspaper and other periodical content for a long time. This would make the DX's desire to be a replacement for newspapers more of a reality and a vast improvement over the current "column view" on the DX which just just puts really wide margins on either side of a single column of text, wasting the whole advantage of the giant display.
Proper multicolumn support would also improve the book reading experience on the DX. Since its display is a little bigger than two Kindle2 displays side by side, a two-column view of book content when the device was in landscape mode would be a closer approximation of reading a normal books, while also meaning less page turns and subsequently less annoying e-ink refreshes.
I'd also like to see Amazon take the per-chapter page numbering system from the Stanza iPhone application and implement it into the Kindles/DX/Kindle iPhone app, it's really useful to know how many more virtual pages until you're at a good stopping point in the book you're reading, rather than just knowing what location number you're at.
Yes!!!! The concept of true multi-column support does not seem to occur to most people.
It should be mandatory.
Expand the screen to cover the area of the keyboard and add a folding keyboard that can be snapped off (not wireless though) just like the Sony Ericsson P900
http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/specifications/p900
I'm a research scientist so I'm always reading PDF files of journal articles, proposals, etc. So I had high hopes for the Kindle DX and preordered it. But I found that the screen size and resolution wasn't quite good enough to read most such technical documents, which often contain figure captions down to 8 point size. And of course there's no way to zoom in. The lack of a directory structure is frustrating too, there's no good way to keep a big library of reference material organized.
I ended up selling it and buying an iRex Digital Reader 1000s, which has somewhat better resolution, and an aspect ratio closer to latter size. This made all the difference; most articles are easily legible on the DR1000s. And of course the Wacom tablet is an incredibly useful feature. At least for me, these advantage make up for the shortcomings. (Admittedly there are major shortcomings, namely higher price, less polished firmware, and very poor battery life).
This is how i feel. Kindle's MAJOR advantage would be in the Education side of things, the moment that they can put all the textbooks into kindle so that the cost of those effing books would go down..
I would change kindle to support textbooks
The purchasing system needs to change. It should be less like IMAP and more like POP3 with no erase from server. You can download the book as many times as you want and always have a backup waiting, but the server side shouldn't be able to touch your device. That would keep this 1984 thing from happening again. I want to know that what I PURCHASE is MINE not a RENTAL
ONE MORE TIME...
Everything-- E V E R Y book-- you buy from the Kindle Store can be downloaded directly from Amazon on your PC, to your PC's hard drive. It's yours. You own it. You can save it on any digital medium you want; Flash drive, hard drive, floppy disk, CD-R, DVD-R... The choice is yours.
When Amazon got rid of that title ("1984") from their online store, they deleted it from their stock (as it was an illegal copy that a non-Amazon private seller posted). When it was removed, they did a full product recall, refunded everyone's money, and the title was pulled out of people's online Kindle archive. When people synced again (a process which you have control over, BTW), the book wasn't there, so the book didn't re-sync to the devices.
In short, Amazon didn't delete the book from people's devices; It ceased syncing it. There's a difference. It should also be noted again that they refunded the money, and people were free to get an official, legal copy of the book immediately if they so desired. Nobody lost anything. Nobody was screwed.
And for those who were smart enough to download their books to their PC, all they had to do was turn off whispernet, re-sync via USB, and read the book.
Downloading to PC is not a "work around" or a "hack" -- It's a standard function of the Kindle store. It costs no extra, and you're allowed and encouraged to keep your books this way.
But, of course, it wasn't necessary to do this, because "1984" is still on Amazon, uncensored, uncut, and well-formatted. The money was refunded, and the book was there to purchase again.
So, in case you don't get the point of this post, let me say it again:
EVERY BOOK YOU BUY FOR YOUR KINDLE CAN BE DOWNLOADED DIRECTLY TO YOUR PC WHERE YOU CAN COPY, SAVE, STORE, OR DELETE IT AS YOU WISH. IT IS YOURS, AND WILL WORK ON YOUR KINDLE UNTIL THE DAY IT DIES.
And also:
YOU ARE NOT LOCKED INTO THE KINDLE STORE.
Things that are a must:
Button navigation on both sides of the device
a 4 row keyboard like the kindle 2
zoom function and decreased page loads in pdf mode
more books that support the dx screen.
e-textbooks that dont cost an arm and leg.
A FULL copy of the nytimes that doesnt cost as much as a regular subscription.
Things that i would like to see:
Color
Touchscreen would be nice
Self lit (be it front or backlit doesnt matter too much i guess)
a faster processor so it doesnt take half an hour to load webpages.
Price drop is always nice but honestly if they got everything in my need list and maybe one or two from my like list I would consider getting it over my kindle2 ( i returned the dx).
1. SD Socket
So, according to other sources, there is a limit to the number of times you can unload and reload a given book. If this is the case, then some sort of SD socket should be there - especially with text books. Use PGP to prevent rampant piracy of the works.
2. WiFi instead of EVDO
Next, as mentioned, ditch the EVDO and just use WiFi and USB dock. EVDO is nice, but open WiFi is nearly global. Although, really thing that the download prices are padded slightly to pay for per-use wireless fees. I am not sure that dropping EVDO will make a real dent in the price - but if it did, drop it !
3. Textbook Kickback deals with Schools
Textbooks are a FANTASTIC advantage, but schools get fat kickbacks from vendors. Talking them into Kindle may be possible, but dropping the price is less likely.
4. Dual Screen
While working on text books, a clamshell design with dual screens would be awesome. It is more book-like. You could have either facing pages, supplimental content, or your margin notes showing. The dual screens would be nice on the Kindle2 as well.
5. Sweet calculator
Then, license a bad-ass calculator with instant access from both Texas Instruments and HP. Business functions, graphing, engineering and HP's Reverse Polish Notation (RPN). Granted, constantly changing the screen would shorten battery life, but this would kill two birds with one stone.
6. Voice/Email capability
Since you already have sound processing and EVDO connectivity - go ahead make the bluetooth headset work and hook up voice via sprint or Google Voice for those that want it.
7. Church and Choir Version
Make a version with IR and a dock (maybe blue tooth) such that the days hymns and materials (including bulletins) can be viewed. Email facility to send all or portions home (WiFi) for later reference.
8. Band Version
Instead of all those darn band pages, allow broadcast (WiFi) from a PC Based teacher station (WiFi USB adaptor) such that the music page advances automatically as it is played. Or, when the instructor stops and says to go back to a certain section. This adds a lot for high school and middle school functionality.
9. If targeting 8th grade or younger schools - you need a hardened version with soda and pizza grease resistance. On second thought, probably a good idea for all school versions.
1. Pocket size. Digital text does not need a large screen. It's pointless since the screen can be refreshed. A 3-4" screen is big enough.
2. Built-in light. Stupid simple. People like to read when going to bed, riding on a plane, etc. Sure it's great that the e-ink panel can be seen in daylight, but so can the display on my 6 year old Tapwave Zodiac. Oh and my Zodiac can be seen in the dark.
3. Price it between $100 and $150 US.
4. Card slot. Not everyone wants to be forced to connect the device to their computer sot hey can transfer files. Nor does everyone want wireless.
5. Make a SIMPLE ebook reader. Nothing fancy, just books. Plain old text based books.
The comments reflect that most people do not understand the Kindle or the difference between a Kindle and reading ion say an iPhone. It is substantially different and I hav read many books on the palm and now the IPhone.
yes it is expensive, but you get a free wireless service. Would you rather pay $199 now and $15 a month forever? That's $740 over three years?
I get teh Times for $14 a month. Huige savings over the delivered version.
I can get samples fast and easy.
Color is nice, but most pics look fine. text doesn't need to be inc olor anyway.
Finally, the argument that the books need to be cheaper because you "rent them" is silly. few people read a book twice. I have boxes of books in my attic I bought, read once and stored.
I only wish the Kindle 2 had the Dx's pdf supprt. I ca convert but I lose charts and graphs.
change basics first:
* fire the keyboard designer and his/her mutant hands
* include removable battery
* steal a few of the better ideas from Sony's implementations
* learn about ergonomics and usability regarding button placement, UI enhancements, etc.
* change name of device and/or give up
...then work from there.
Maybe actually make it look like something you want to carry around instead of a hospital looking tablet. We shall see what apple comes out with soon, and I am pretty sure, after they release their "tablet" things will start to mimic it. And I hope Kindle will follow from a design aesthetic.
touch and color screen, lower hardware and content prices.
Duh: multitouch OLED at the same price. It'll come down another hundred anyway by the holidays or next spring....I'd rather have an OLED multitouch screen before higher resolution, but that needs to get better too.
I have a question for all you readers here:
How long have you been reading ebooks in any format? Have you quit reading paperbacks & hardcover books? I've read ebooks almost exclusively since I bought the first version of the Palm Pilot. It's been around a decade since I've read a novel in paperback or hardcover format. While I did enjoy reading on various versions of the Palm and other hand-held devices including my G1 phone, I find e-ink to exponentially better then reading on any other type of scree. Much easier on the eyes. So how long have you been reading books in electronic form?
like most of the commenters here, I have NEVER read a book in electronic form, however I'm not about to let that stop me from screaming MAKE IT RUN CRYSIS FFS
How long have I been reading ebooks? I started reading them on a Palm III. I still use my Tapwave Zodiac to read books. Best PDA/portable screen I've ever seen. Blows Apple's screen out of the water. I must have over 15,000 books in palmdoc format.
I'm sure you'll agree, to read books one does not need a large screen.
Shrink the device to be closer to the size of the screen.
make it less fugly
how about some keys youj can actually type on
Add color screen capability or offer a model with an LCD screen, make it faster, have a touch screen interface, allow you to freely browse web and blogs.
Too expensive and books are too expensive. Cheaper, cheaper! After all, Kindle is not Apple.
It needs to support password protected PDFs. Otherwise it is useless for businesses. It's one thing to lose your briefcase and risk a stack of research reports. It's another to lose your briefcase and risk thousands of research reports.
How about you create a social network around it, and you can loan books to your "friends" for a set duration (30 Days), but while it's on loan it will be unavailable to you.
No proprietary files.
Textbooks at a much cheaper price! Since students can buy them used and resale them, and there are no freight, brick and mortar, or other typical costs attached to printing and selling the texts; it doesn't make sense to pay $120 for and e-textbook that you can't sell, and won't typically have a need for after the semester.
Also, for the social network built around it, users could review books and form book clubs.
i'd change the name. "kindle" sounds terrible. there's a funny review of the name, here: http://onthebutton.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/books-are-so-yesterday/
Kindle is bad stuff, and I'm astonished that we find almost unlimited ways like this to waste our money on crap we don't need. .
First off, it is a monopoly. You buy kindle books from Amazon, not anywhere else. License goes away they take it away. Books are free speech devices. Kindle books are not books; they are licensed speech devices.
Second, the text is boring. It looks boring, it is boring.
Third, it is all gray. Not black and white, not color, but GRAY.
Forth, the fonts are all the same, no character allowed that doesn't look the same. BORING.
Fifth, flipping back a page to reread a passage before flipping back to where you are is a tedious pain in the ass. You can't thumb through a book like you can one made out of paper.
Sixth, if your book has any drawings or graphics, Kindle guarantees that they will look terrible and loose lots of resolution.
Seventh, you can't photocopy your favorite passages and put them on your refrigerator except by a totally tedious process unlike from a paper book.
Finally, unless you are totally into voluminous summer reads of large volumes of trash and you are afraid of catching some disease by reading a REAL book made of REAL paper and you have an unlimited supply of funds to fork over to Amazon, do yourself a favor and visit your local bookseller or public library and read a REAL book.
simple: you can't expect me to fork over 250 for something i believe only costs 50.