The Netbook Review

Kindle DX, the latest generation of Kindle was released three and half months after Amazon released its older brother, Kindle 2. What’s new in this new gadget? The 9.7” diagonal display is 2.5x larger than the Kindle 2 6” display. It also has an accelerometer so you need only turn the eBook reader to rotate the display.

Kindle DX has an excellent display for reading text and one can read for hours on end without suffering eyestrain. The display, as with all e-ink screens, is incredibly sharp and easy on the eyes with none of that laptop glare or eye-tiring 60Hz screen refresh. There are 6 text sizes to choose from, and one standard system font for body text. Given the larger screen, it can display more words per page than the previous Kindle 2.

The Kindle DX uses the same tiny charger and USB cable as the Kindle 2. It has the same screensaver and set of rotating images as the Kindle 2, and it automatically switches to the screensaver after 10 minutes. Since e-ink only consumes power during page turns, the screensaver serves little purpose and I find it annoying: 10 minutes is too short, especially when it’s not saving the screen or power. To shut down the Kindle, slide and hold the power button until it turns off (this isn’t a full shutdown and reboot, to do that you’ll need to go into the settings menu).

The Kindle DX has 3.3 gigs of available storage. You can drag compatible documents to its documents directory and put music in the music folder. Kindle DX also can acts like a USB flash drive when connected to your Windows or Mac computer via the included USB cable.

The Kindle DX has a desktop mode that won’t make you think you’re using IE on the desktop, but it does a reasonably good job even with heavy non-mobile web sites like the full New York Times home page. The web browser is improved over the Kindle 2. Part of this has to do with the larger screen being more conducive to web browsing and the other part is improved rendering. The DX gets better reception than the Kindle 2, which modestly improves download speeds but seems to do little for page load times which aren’t nearly as a fast as 3G/EVDO web page load times on a smart phone.

Battery life is about the same as the Kindle 2: 2 weeks with wireless off and 4 to 5 days with wireless on.

You can also use the DX for delivery of your personal documents that are converted by Amazon. There’s no monthly wireless fee though (excellent). You can use it to peruse, buy and download books from Amazon and surf the web using the Kindle’s basic web browser.

The Kindle DX can natively read Amazon AZW format, unprotected MOBI and PRC, PDF, Audible and MP3 music files, no conversion or emailing needed. Each Kindle has its own email address, and you can submit HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP files for conversion using your Amazon account and a computer. There’s no charge for conversion and delivery if the converted document is emailed to your computer but Amazon does charge 15 cents/meg (rounded up to the nearest meg) if you have the document sent directly to the Kindle. There’s currently no charge for browsing the web, nor does Amazon charge a delivery fee if you buy and download books from their web site using the Kindle.

Interesting to buy Kindle DX? Now it’s time to talk about price. What about it? This latest generation Kindle now costs an eye-popping $489. Pretty pricey, even with all the pleasant changes. The price of the Kindle DX is definitely way above the earlier versions.

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Kindle DX comes with the larger screen is a definite plus. I use the larger type size on my Kindle 2, and at kindle dx type size I get far much text per page on the DX. This makes the whole reading experience more book-like and should be a boon to people who buy large-print books. The screen is also sharper and crisper than my Kindle 2 in a side-by-side comparison: the text is darker, and the contrast is overmuch better, making for better perceptibility overall.

On a side note, the larger screen also makes it possible to read poetry on the kindle reader, even at large type sizes. On earlier Kindles, the smaller screen cut off lines, so that you would lose the sense of when the poet ended the line. On the DX, you can see the whole line exactly as the poet meant it, with the cut-off in the right spot.

The PDF reader totality as advertised, and is extremely accessible. PDF documents appear on the DX exactly as they do on a computer screen. Moreover, you can proceed and deliver your documents direct to the device using the USB line (or use the for-a-fee email if you perfectly must.) The only downside: at least for the documents that I’ve used so far, I cannot adjust the type size as I can with native Kindle documents.

The  screen rotation also works as advertised: it operates as a mild zoom on both graphics and text and offsets slightly the downside of not being able to adjust the typesize on PDF documents. One good figure touch: the four-way direction joystick introduced on the Kindle 2 is rotation-sensitive, and will move as predicted being to the display rotation.

And more of the style area is devoted to the screen, while the whiteness plastic border around the display seems to get contracted, both in comprehensive and compared to the rescale of display to plastic on the Kindle 2. I like this (but see below about the keyboard).

I like the increase in storage space, and don’t mind the lack of an external storage card. I can see any group having anxiety with this, but only those folks who either must regularly carry around PDF documents totalling much than 3.5 GB of space or must have nearly 3500 books regularly at their fingertips. I fall in neither category.

With Kindle DX has long battery lifetime, you can read on a single charge for up to 7 days with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to 2 weeks. Battery period will vary based on wireless usage, specified as shopping the Kindle Store and downloading content. In low-coverage areas or in EDGE/GPRS-only coverage, kindle dx wireless usage will consume battery power more quickly.

Included In the Box:

• Kindle DX electronic reader,
• U.S. power adapter (supports 100V-240V), and
• USB 2.0 cable (for connection to the Kindle DX power adapter or to connect to a computer).

So, what are you expecting for? Hot Electronics Like This Will SELL OUT VERY QUICKLY, order now to avoid disappointment before the price raised.

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