Meet the new enlarged Amazon Kindle DX
by Stevie Smith - May 7 2009, 15:30
Bigger in every way... including price. Ouch. Image: Amazon.
While other tech outlets debate the finer points of whether Amazon’s new Kindle DX will emerge as the crossover saviour of the ailing print industry, we here at The Tech Herald thought you may simply wish to know exactly what the newly unveiled Kindle reader has to offer.
First and foremost, the DX clearly panders towards the digital hosting of newspapers, magazines and student textbook material, thanks in the main to an enlarged display screen measuring 9.7 inches (more than twice the surface area available through the existing Kindle) and a physical ‘thickness’ of around 25mm.
Although the DX’s black and white screen falls short of delivering digital colour versions of the print pages it has been designed to display, Amazon boasts that the screen is capable of producing 16 shades of grey and has more available area for graphic-rich content.
“Personal and professional documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display that you’ll find yourself changing ink-toner cartridges less often,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.
“Cookbooks, computer books, and textbooks – anything highly formatted – also shine on the Kindle DX,” he added. “Carry all you documents and your whole library in one slender package.”
Beyond the obvious attraction of its enlarged screen and eyestrain-free 'E Ink' technology, the DX also comes with a built-in PDF reader using Adobe Reader Mobile for perusing professional and personal documents; while the inclusion of Auto Rotation enables content viewing in portrait or landscape modes, along with full-width views of maps, graphs, tables, images and Web pages. Users can even flip the device to read with either hand.
Also outmanoeuvring its Kindle stablemates in the data storage department, the new DX model has 3.3GBs of memory and is able to hold up to 3,500 books, which is more than twice the current storage ceiling available on smaller Kindles.
Compatible with the Whispernet network, the DX comes with 3G connectivity for easy wireless browsing and shopping through 275,000 book titles available in the Kindle Store, where Amazon claims users can download or receive new content in less than 60 seconds without ever requiring a PC, Wi-Fi hotspot, monthly fees, data plans or service contracts.
Other features include compatibility with Microsoft Word, built-in access to the New Oxford American Dictionary, six different font sizes, text-to-speech technology, swift access to the Web, no set-up process, and no installation software.
Those eager to get their grubby paws on Amazon’s bigger (and better?) Kindle DX will have to first raid their cowering piggy banks to the tune of $489 USD.
The second generation Kindle costs $360 USD.
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