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Amazon Kindle DX announced; coming this summer for $489
Hot on the heels of the Kindle 2, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled an extra-large e-reader today, dubbed the Kindle DX. The 18.4-ounce device is intended to give users a reading experience closer to paper, with a 9.7-inch screen that measures 8.5 x 11 inches — 2.5 times the size of Kindle 2's display.
This latest e-reader has a new trick — its screen can auto-rotate, so when you turn the Kindle DX on its side, an accelerometer will flip your page 90 degrees. It can now directly handle PDF files, with no need to convert them into Amazon's proprietary format. Also new is the ability to control the line length, making the margins wider or thinner with just a few clicks. Capacity has been jacked to 4GB, though there's still no slot for a flash-memory card. Like the Kindle 2, the DX has 3G wireless connectivity for getting content wherever you are, and the E Ink screen consumes no power except when flipping pages.
At the same time, Amazon just made a deal with three major textbook publishers to provide content for the Kindle DX: Pearson, Cengage, and Wiley. Also, five universities have agreed to pilot the DX in the fall, including Princeton, Pace and Case Western Reserve. On the newspaper front, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe plan to partner with Amazon to sell the Kindle DX at a reduced price in exchange for a subscription contract.
Shipping sometime this summer, the Kindle DX is available for pre-order today for $489.
— with reporting by Kevin Hall & Peter Pachal
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Via Amazon
By JP at 11:11 AM ON 05/06/09
Wow! Looks really thin and really expensive! Will the textbook providers reduce their prices if you buy them on the kindle?
By Gumbercules at 11:30 AM ON 05/06/09
Wow. It'll be interesting to see if newspapers' investment in this thing will somehow slow their descent down the tubes.
By Traveler at 12:05 PM ON 05/06/09
I thought from the previous post that they'd dumped the useless keyboard.
By Jenkins at 12:23 PM ON 05/06/09
By Instant Armaggedon at 12:43 PM ON 05/06/09
I have a Kindle 2. I would love to have the DX for its pdf support and larger screen, but $489?? Don't they know there's a recession on?
gaaahhhh....
By ondego at 3:47 PM ON 05/06/09
I can't be the only one that sees this as a pre-cursor to the Star Trek Next Gen slates that were used in the show. I'm amazed how quickly science fiction is starting to become fact.
By piano tear at 3:55 PM ON 05/06/09
Amazon Kindle DX slim just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines.
Look review this at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4EGwrUv__g
By PTRICKY at 4:17 PM ON 05/06/09
I can spend $600 per semester for college texts. If I could get one of this and then pay a mere $20 for a text ($20 profit for 'them') That would be awesome.
Of course that will never happen because the publishers would then have to deal with pirating... But then I wouldn't have any problem with serious restrictions on the text as long as it was reasonably priced...
By W at 5:34 AM ON 05/10/09
Is one able to highlight passages and make margin notes or footnotes? That sort of thing would be very handy for textbooks. I would even go so far as to say it's necessary. Just reading the material is not enough.
By the Kindle DX at 6:14 AM ON 05/12/09
I have the original kindle and I love it but for this new model they are going to need to improve the picture quality for it to really catch on with newspaper readers that and increase their choices of what newspapers you can get. And they'll need to lower the price because they are getting near cheap laptop prices @ $480.
By pando at 12:56 PM ON 10/05/09
Wow!
Amazon is offering refurbished Kindle DX for $399.99! I'm gonna buy mine right now.
;)
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pando:
Wow! Amazon is offering refurbished Kindle DX for $399.99! I'm gonna buy mine right now. ;)...More »