As a purchaser of the original Kindle 1 back around November of 2007, I’m a relatively early adopter of Amazon.com’s eReader technology. In general, I’ve been well satisfied with it, for a first-generation device. I find the ability to purchase most books for $9.99 or less in a very readable / usable / portable format, to be a very nice price point. It saves me about 60% on my book purchases, and significantly cuts my costs on newspapers and periodicals.
My main complaint about the Kindle 1 was the placement of its navigation buttons; it was far too easy to accidentally advance to the next page when you didn’t mean to. That has been solved with the Kindle 2 — not to mention, the eInk display can now manage 16 shades of gray instead of 4, and the price has come down significantly.
But the Kindle 2 lacks native support for PDF documents, so it’s limited to displaying Kindle’s proprietary AWT format. Many eBooks are only available as PDFs, and this is particularly true of technical books. In addition, the Kindle 2’s small form factor, while very portable, is a bit cramped for reading anything that’s not pretty much straight text. For periodicals, newspapers, and some tech books, a bigger format is desirable. [Updated Nov 25, 2009: Amazon is now pushing a firmware update for the Kindle 2 that adds PDF support. You can see a review here.]
Enter the Kindle DX. I succumbed to purchasing one of these, even though I can just about take it to the bank that the price will come down after Christmas. Right now, it’s approaching twice as expensive as the Kindle 2 — even without a case, which Amazon wants to soak you $50 for (less expensive cases are available from third parties). But, the DX has built-in PDF support, and with its form factor similar to an 8.5×11 inch sheet of paper, it should be better for reading larger-format publications.
I’ve had a chance to get acquainted with the DX for a few days and my initial impression is that it’s just a wee bit too heavy, and that weight is toward the top of the device, which makes it worse than it should be. The DX is happier on a desk or table, not as friendly as the Kindle 2 for bedtime reading.
All the buttons are on the right side, which will annoy lefties. There is a workaround of sorts: the device knows what angle you’re holding it at and will switch automatically between portrait and landscape mode. If you simply rotate the DX 180 degrees, you have your buttons on the left — although the keyboard is now upside down at the top.
I can see why native PDF support for the Kindle 2 wasn’t a priority; I purchased a PDF eBook and even with the DX’s larger screen, the large format of the book and its use of colors makes the print a little too small even for me — and I’m more tolerant of small type than most people I know. Oddly, there is no ability to set magnification like you can with, say, Adobe Acrobat Reader. The Kindle very much wants to show everything full page. The truth is that the PDF support is probably best for people who want to take mostly text documents with them, such as business reports and the like.
Of course, with native Kindle documents, you can set the text size to your taste, enabling you to read at larger font sizes than on the Kindle 2 while still seeing more words / lines per page.
Many reviewers exult in the greater clarity of the DX’s display vs its smaller brother. I can’t say I’m seeing what they’re seeing. It’s no worse, and I suppose that the ability to see more text even at larger sizes contributes to their impression. Page turn time is slightly quicker, perhaps, but still slower than one could wish for.
Other differences from my old Kindle include the fact that “wireless” (the cell modem) is always on by default. There’s no longer a handy switch for turning wireless off; you have to do it via the menu. I get the impression that the wireless is a little smarter, drawing less power than when not in actual use; but my experience on the Kindle 1 was that batteries drained a lot faster if you left wireless on. I’m in the habit of using wireless only when I actually want to shop in the Kindle store.
Inexplicably, when the Kindle’s screen saver turns on, the two-key combo for getting back to whatever you were reading no longer works. You have to toggle the power switch off and on, a much more awkward maneuver. Because of this, to fully power off the unit you have to hold the switch against its spring tension for four seconds, then release — another annoyingly clumsy act. Maybe the folks at Amazon have figured out you’re more likely to buy more books if the device is never turned off. It uses very little power when not actually turning pages, but still, Amazon should make it easier to “be green”.
Users who travel outside the US need to take into account that the Kindle 2 cell modem works outside the US, whereas the DX’s does not. However, you are charged extra for using the K2’s wireless service outside the US, so most users will probably minimize out-of-country usage anyway. Unless you’re US-based and travel the world extensively, it’s a non-issue in practice.
A final thought for those of you who might be contemplating a Kindle under the Christmas tree this year. Barnes & Noble is releasing its new Nook reader, a direct competitor with Kindle, in a few days. I gave it some consideration, but rejected it for the following reasons:
- The extra, color screen is a navigation gimmick. I prefer physical keys, even though the DX has lost its numeric row to save space. So the Nook has color. That would only be interesting if you could see your favorite news magazine with color photos.
- Barnes & Noble touts a million eBooks available for the Nook, vs Kindle’s 350K or so. This is a disingenuous, misleading claim. Most of those books are public domain, via Google Books. If you actually shop B&N’s eBook store, you’ll find the selection of titles for your favorite authors wanting compared to Kindle.
- I’ve already been the pioneer with the arrow in my back … let others work the kinks out of a first-generation product. Amazon has 60% of the eReader market; that’s a pretty good first-mover advantage. I’ve been able to get most of the books I want in Kindle format. I want to support that, not cast my lot with a “me too” newcomer.
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