Kindle DX: To Buy or Not To Buy?

The newest Kindle isn't right for everyone

By Lauren Aaronson Posted 05.06.2009 at 1:07 pm 8 Comments

Kindle DX Lauren Aaronson

Today, Amazon announced a new Kindle e-reader that has a bigger screen -- 9.7 inches diagonally -- and a bigger price tag: 489 smackeroos. So should you fork out $130 more than the last Kindle for the new version? We can't say for sure until we get to play with it for a while, but here's a preliminary guide based on the specs and our quick demo at today's press conference.

Who Will Want It

Students: Textbooks can weigh five-plus pounds and cost 80-plus dollars. So backpack-burdened students are the obvious first customers for a big-screen e-reader that can hold hundreds of textbooks and display their diagrams and charts in full. The Kindle DX isn't the first large-screen e-reader (see the options from iRex) but Amazon's clout gives it an advantage, letting it offer textbooks from many different publishers. Amazon has already announced deals with Pearson, Cengage Learning, and Wiley, who together account for 60 percent of the U.S. textbook market. Although prices for the upcoming digital textbooks haven't been announced, I expect that they'll be lower than the printed version, just as with Amazon's other e-books.

News junkies: the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe will all offer Kindle DXs at a discounted price in a trial of digital subscriptions. Unfortunately, it seems this summer's trial will happen only in areas where there's currently no paper delivery. (Looks like the rest of us will have to wait, which is too bad for me -- I'd gladly sign on, because even though I can get the paper delivered to my apartment, someone always steals the darn thing before I get outside.) Right now the digital newspapers' format is simple, not a copy of the paper version's layout, just as on previous Kindles -- although maybe the bigger screen will prompt publishers to think about new ways of presenting articles.

Owners of printers: Businesspeople, scientists, and the rest of us are always printing out 8 1/2-by-11 documents, whether they're corporate reports, journal articles, or recipes. A screen that’s two and a half times the size of the original Kindle's gets much closer to the size of an actual piece of paper, so you don't have to zoom or scroll to see all the information -- everything looks exactly like the printouts we're used to. The best part: The Kindle DX can read all your PDF documents instantly, without you having to go through the complicated conversion process that the current Kindles require.

Who Won't

Scribblers: The DX, like other Kindles, lets you highlight text and type in notes using a small QWERTY keyboard. That works pretty well, but it's not for everyone. People who like to scrawl notes or scribble in the margins might want to opt for an e-reader that, like a tablet PC, lets you write with a stylus. And some avid readers just don't like the idea of buttons on their book. (iRex offers stylus-friendly models; the touchscreen Sony Reader lets you turn pages with a swipe, although you type by pressing letters on its screen instead of writing by hand.)

Bargainistas: If you're looking just for Amazon's digital book and magazine selection, an ordinary Kindle costs $130 less than the DX. If you're looking just for an e-reader with an easy-on-the-eyes E-Ink screen, a Sony Reader costs $190 less. And if you're looking just for a portable gadget to read on, screen size and glare be darned, a refurbished iPhone costs $290 less.

The risk-averse: You never know what's coming down the line. Will Amazon introduce a new model with new features, like faster page turns, color, a touchscreen? Will Plastic Logic finally come out with its large, touchscreen, much-hyped e-reader -- and will it offer book deals to rival Amazon's? Or will some even better gadget or screen technology come along?

Who Could Go Either Way

Bookworms: For people who simply love to read -- and to download new books instantly wherever they are -- it's a toss-up between the regular Kindle and the Kindle DX. It comes down to what size screen you want to tuck in your bag, and what size screen you prefer to read on. If you like a lot of books and magazines with illustrations, photos, or graphs, you might want to opt for the DX.

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8 Comments

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gigabutz

05/06/09 at 2:38 pm

As someone who does most of his reading on the train I (as well as the people crammed next to me on the subway) would actually prefer the smaller Kidle. Somehow 8.5 x 11 doesn't exactly feel portable, though I completely agree with your point about its advantage to students.

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Dumky

05/11/09 at 1:52 am

Correction from the article: the screen is definitely not 8 1/2 by 11 inches.

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Malcosapien

05/21/09 at 4:45 pm

Just for you Dumky:

Taken directly from the article: "A screen that’s two and a half times the size of the original Kindle's gets much closer to the size of an actual piece of paper...;" if you are going to get snippy, you might want to check the text, I know it's a huge article with 'lots and lots' of words, but she clearly states that the Kindle Dx is CLOSER (Key word here in your attempted comprehension of this article.) It eems to me that the comment needs no alledged "Correction;" when correcting others, it is a good idea to be correct. To be honest, I am far from 100% correct all the time; if I have erred in writing this correction, please correct me, but if you are going to take the time, at least go back and READ the text instead of just skimming the whole darn thing. No 'corrector' is always correct, but come on, the statement made by Ms. Aaronson (interesting spelling of Aaron, a friend of mine spells it like this) about the new Kindle's screen size is far from complex, in fact, the information is not even really implied, unless you have a third grade reading level. I apologize for 'ripping' on third graders, but I have never enjoyed people who love to 'crack on' other people as 'sport.' I think Dumkey might want to get a hobby, or read a book once in a while. I am beginning to think that I also need a hobby, because I have spent a stupendous amount of time ridiculing your flippant and 'un-thought-out' comment. We need to get a life; at least I read the article because I was highly interested in the text's information. Why did you skim the article?

com bastante amore para voce,
Malcosapien

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nor

06/26/09 at 4:56 pm

That is the most obnoxious, pretentious comment I have seen in a while. Overreact much? Perhaps a nap, or less sugar?

Quand les ignares diplômés prolifèrent, la bêtise fleurit joyeusement.

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jstevenson

07/22/09 at 10:39 am

I already have plenty high-tech devices and I don't need one more especially with this price tag.

John
http://www.yourloan.ca

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casual2atee

08/06/09 at 3:29 pm

You recommend iRex's ereader but here's the thing- iRex technologies use Mobipocket. Mobipocket has a free downloadable Ereader because they make their money off the books. Titles in Mobipocket can be upwards of $25 while Amazon titles do, for the most part, come for $9.99. Mobipocket does include a lot of free titles, but most of them are older or they are free to read and download off the Internet already. I'm not sure that iRex technologies is any bigger bargain in the long run.

The only reason, in my opinion, to pick iRex over Kindle, if you want an Ereader is the writable tablet. The iRex iLiad comes with a stylus and Wacom sensor board.

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John Rye

11/23/09 at 6:07 pm

Kindle DX is an attempt ( among other things ) to get into the textbook market and, while doing so, attract a younger audience to Amazon products.

Right now, the demographics of Kindle buyers have 35-plus-year-olds taking about 70% of the market, with 50-plus wealthy, well-read baby boomers taking roughly about 40% ( even though these stats may not be 100% accurate, this comes both from personal experience as well as from studies by other sources like kindleculture.blogspot.com ).

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John Rye

11/23/09 at 9:52 pm

Sorry, forgot to add something and can't edit my earlier comment.

While the stats at kindleculture.blogspot.com were obtained by searching the Amazon forums ALONE (so does the author himself admit), which may not be all that representative, here's a second study that pretty much confirms the first results:

obsessable.com/news/2009/05/01/does-the-kindle-appeal-more-to-the-over-40-crowd-an-inaccurate-sampling-indicates-maybe/

( read the comments by "Zack")

The good thing about this second example is the fact that a much more random sample was selected, which makes results a lot more significant.

In any case, it seems Amazon has been targeting the right kind of people.

John Rye
www.squidoo.com/BUY-CHEAP-AMAZON-KINDLE-2