Amazon releases the rumoured large-screen Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Amazons-Wireless-Generation/dp/B0015TCML0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241620598&sr=8-1

by jrockway • 17 years ago

112 103 17 years ago

amazon.com

davidw• 17 years ago

I'll consider getting one of these things when TAOCP looks decent in it.

nadim• 17 years ago

How does TAOCP look in it? I'm curious to know what the limits of what this device can display are.

rkowalick• 17 years ago

Mathematics books are really crappy too. The conversion to Ebooks screws up the typesetting completely and makes a lot of things hard to read or follow.

mdonahoe• 17 years ago

I hope there is a way to disable auto-rotation for reading in bed. That is a big pet peeve with my iphone.

anuraggoel• 17 years ago

There seems to be. From the manual at http://s3.amazonaws.com/kindle/KindleDX_Users_Guide.pdf

The screen changes automatically when you rotate your Kindle from portrait to landscape or vice versa. Or, you can lock your screen to a particular orientation to fit your reading position.

However, since this is a much bigger device, I am not sure if reading in bed is going to work the same way it does for the iPhone.

silencio• 17 years ago

All of the ebook readers I've liked for the iPhone let you disable auto-rotation - Stanza, BookShelf, the Kindle app...

Sidnicious2• 17 years ago

Yep: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/kindle/nell/photo...

Every orientation you could want, even left-handed!

pronoiac• 17 years ago

It doesn't auto-rotate if you tilt it so the home button's at the top.

pchristensen• 17 years ago

Even though I probably won't buy one anytime soon, I'm much more excited about the big one for $500 over the little one for $350.

josefresco• 17 years ago

You know what would be awesome? The same thing ... but even bigger. Gotta love creative engineering and lazy product evolution.

No in all honesty this new Kindle looks pretty awesome, but also a little ridiculous when held compared with other electronics.

jballanc• 17 years ago

I just want them to get rid of the keyboard. Isn't there some rule about size vs time-you-actually-spend-using-the-feature? At its present size, I'd say that if you're not using the keyboard 1/4 of the time you're using the Kindle, then it's too big.

jonknee3• 17 years ago

Not having a keyboard would make it a pain in the ass to search for content. Amazon is highly vested in making it easy for you to get more content. Yadda yadda, the keyboard aint going anywhere.

inigojones• 17 years ago

The killer feature is that it reads PDFs natively now (i.e., without having to convert them). For someone who prefers to read on screen and who has to read a lot of PDFs, this is very exciting.

jamiequint3• 17 years ago

This is really cool. I have the Kindle 2 and the PDF conversion on many books is really bad, but especially programming books. However, the Kindle DX looks huge. I'm not sure I could carry that thing around the same way I do the Kindle 2.

neovive• 17 years ago

As stated a few places. I think this may work well for students that need to carry around many large/heavy textbooks. Since it would still fit nicely in a book bag. However, the price tag is a bit high for students, unless the textbooks are already included :)

henning• 17 years ago

Where can those PDFs come from? Can I just send it files from my computer's hard drive and then read them on the Kindle, like an iPod for PDF?

kirubakaran• 17 years ago

It has a USB 2.0 port.

jamiequint3• 17 years ago

You get a kindle email address. You email PDFs to it and they automagically appear on your device. Although this costs $0.10 a pdf. You can also plug it in and it opens as a flash drive, then you just drag and drop. (In the case of the Kindle 2 you also have to convert to the right format, DX sounds like it will be easier)

juliend2• 17 years ago

can it read protected PDFs also? I suppose that i can enter my password with the keyboard.

jrockway3• 17 years ago

You can always just strip the DRM off on your computer.

kqr2• 17 years ago

I'm an original Kindle owner and I hope that they backport the pdf viewing software. Pdf conversion using mobipocket creator gives mixed results.

Also, I purchased some technical books via Amazon where the images appear to be fixed resolution. For example, when I resize the text, the illustration still stays small. Sometimes the text in these illustrations are barely readable.

If I purchase the new Kindle, I hope that they will reconvert some of these books so it can take better advantage of the screen real estate.

vaksel• 17 years ago

Based on the price of this one, I think we'll see the small Kindle go down in price soon. Because right now it doesn't make any sense to buy the small one.

I still wont' buy one, chances are they'll release a color version in a couple of months, thats the next obvious step

whacked_new3• 17 years ago

Obvious but orders of magnitude harder in difficulty. I'm thinking 2 years, from a Japanese company.

jamiequint3• 17 years ago

The problem here is that nobody can release a similar device and get adoption because they don't have the content. Similar to iTunes and the iPod. I'm pretty sure this is going to be a device monopoly.

The only people that could pull off a licensing deal would be Barnes and Noble or Borders and they don't seem to be in a position to do that. At least Apple has the Zune Store as competition (as much as it sucks). Amazon's going to have nothing. Sony can't compete on device technology alone without the ability to get content onto those devices easily.

jmatt• 17 years ago

Based on the price of this one, I think we'll see the small Kindle go down in price soon. Because right now it doesn't make any sense to buy the small one.

I have a story that supports this. My Mom just bought the Kindle 2 last night for my Dad's birthday. I called her this morning and told her about this new one and she immediately canceled and ordered this one. The main reason - with a bigger screen he can boost the font size a little bit more and maybe not have to wear his reading glasses. This may not be a big deal for our generation, but it is for our parent's generation.

njharman2• 17 years ago

Are there even any color e-ink type displays in the lab?

donw2• 17 years ago

Yep: http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/27/hitachi-showing-off-color...

Still a few years away from production, though.

patrickg-zill• 17 years ago

Supposedly Fujitsu has one, using their own e-ink like screen (they call it "FLEpia"). It has Wifi, has a web browser, and runs Windows CE.

http://activitypress.com/2009/02/22/fujitsu-trials-colour-e-...

Supposedly, will be out in 2010.

edw5192• 17 years ago

Can you load your own .txt files onto this? This is actually big enough to carry & review my source code without booting up a laptop.

buckler• 17 years ago

Yes sir, Kindle 2 does it (via http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix).

ajju3• 17 years ago

So does Kindle 1. For me the Kindle 2's killer feature is the text to voice.

imp• 17 years ago

How often do you browse your source code without the intent to edit it? Just curious if you have an interesting code review or development process because I don't think I've done that before.

edw5192• 17 years ago

Not often at all. I carry hard copy and multi-colored pens everywhere.

I just figured that if I'm spending $500 on a full page sized device, it sure would be nice to load all of my recent source code on it. I travel alot without a laptop and I'm always thinking about my work. I often follow the trail to a hard copy or an older module that I'm not carrying with me.

jpd• 17 years ago

As a debugger, I always browse source code without ever editing it.

akirk• 17 years ago

I wonder how PDF in larger paper formats (A4, US Letter) look on the bigger screen. They get rendered with illegibly small text on my Sony Reader (which has the same-size screen as the normal Kindle).

Too bad again, that the Kindle is US only.

sireat• 17 years ago

I plan on getting Kindle DX even though I am based outside US presently. The wireless features are not that important to me, nice screen and native PDF support however is.

htrbtrb• 17 years ago

With the first kindle that was very difficult unless you had a US credit card with a US address.

whacked_new3• 17 years ago

My, this is going to be a hit. I sorely desire a wacom on it though :(((

talison• 17 years ago

Looks great but does anyone else think the price is a bit expensive? Not that this is a great comparison, but I can buy a netbook for $299 or less these days.

Why such a up-front hardware cost when Amazon will get recurring revenue from Kindle books? Are they taking a loss on the book sales to boost downloads?

_pius• 17 years ago

Not that this is a great comparison, but I can buy a netbook for $299 or less these days.

It's expensive, but it may still be a good value. For example, an iPod costs more than a netbook too.

tortilla• 17 years ago

The e-ink screen is the major cost component.

hapless• 17 years ago

Once you see the e-ink screen in person, the $500 price tag just doesn't matter. It's jaw-dropping. It is considerably better than you might imagine.

(I speak from experience with the Sony PRS-505, but it is my understanding that the kindle e-ink is almost identical.)

berntb• 17 years ago

How fast are page turns for the big Kindle? (Checked amazon.com but didn't find that information.)

jm42• 17 years ago

I'm so tired of the netbook/iPhone comparison. It's apples and oranges. An ebook reader is a dedicated reading device. A netbook is a multi-function computer that could also be used for reading, but it lacks the ergonomics of an ebook reader and a screen specifically designed to eliminate the eye strain associated with computer screens.

Ebook readers and netbooks serve completely different purposes. You wouldn't want to buy a netbook for the specific purpose of reading ebooks any more than you'd want to buy a pair of rollerskates for transportation. Sure, they'd get the job done, but not nearly as well as a bicycle or car in most situations.

syoutsey• 17 years ago

Because I believe Amazon is losing money on each ebook sold. They want people to move to their platform so badly that they're willing to accept a loss on each ebook and make it up with the hardware costs.

aneesh• 17 years ago

That makes no sense - the more books they sell, the more money they lose. No business should sell below their marginal cost for any length of time unless they're really desperate for market share. What's more common is selling the hardware at a loss, and reaping the profits on the e-books.

dkokelley• 17 years ago

That sounds off. Any sources?

njharman2• 17 years ago

Um, don't Kindles come with lifetime of wireless access? Factor that in and they're reasonably priced.

scotth• 17 years ago

The wireless access is only free when buying books I believe, not for general browsing.

(Someone correct me if I'm wrong)

doosra• 17 years ago

Does anyone know of a similar reader at about the same price point which supports annotation of the text (for example with a stylus)?

Sidnicious2• 17 years ago

The Kindle does support limited annotation — highlighting, bookmarks, and text notes.

Keyframe• 17 years ago

iRex Iliad - http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad ... a bit pricey though, 599 Euros

Xichekolas3• 17 years ago

Also (with bigger screen), the iRex Digital Reader 1000S: https://www.irexshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_35&pr... (has wacom-style input)

mikebo• 17 years ago

This looks like it will be a great product, especially for all the technical pdfs I've built up over the years.

Still not wild about the DRM though -- I made the mistake of buying DRMed music that I can't listen to anymore. I'm not going to do the same with books.

Anyone else trying to justify a $500 pdf reader? :)

cstejerean• 17 years ago

I'm going to be using this to read technical books, a lot of which can cost between $50 to $100. Compared to the cost of my library, I think $500 is easily worth it for being able to take most of these books with me anywhere I go.

gopalakrishnans• 17 years ago

But how much do the PDF versions of the technical books cost ? And where do you get them? I am also trying to calculate the costs and see if I can throw the bookshelf away.

lallysingh• 17 years ago

FWIW, I've already paid for my Kindle 1.0 in terms of book $$ saved, and the bookshelf I didn't have to buy.

The convenience of having dozens of books to read in my backpack is a cool bonus :-)

chris11• 17 years ago

Yes, I am.

I'm salivating over the idea of replacing all of my textbooks with pdfs. But unfortunately I doubt I could get all of my textbooks on the kindle right now. And price is an issue. Checking on Amazon, there is not a large price difference between kindle textbooks, and real textbooks.

So the only reason I would get a dx is if the textbook and the kindle pdf were bundled together for a reasonable price. But I doubt that will happen.

mattmcknight• 17 years ago

To make the price difference worse- your physical textbooks have a resale value, while the digital files do not.

andreyf3• 17 years ago

I'm not sure if it's obvious or not, but PDF's of many popular textbooks are widely available either free as in beer:

http://infolab.stanford.edu/~ullman/focs.html http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~vazirani/algorithms.html

Or free as in money from a bank robbery:

http://thepiratebay.org/browse/601/0/7

jrockway3• 17 years ago

Still not wild about the DRM though -- I made the mistake of buying DRMed music that I can't listen to anymore.

The DRM that Amazon uses is pretty crappy (isn't it all), and is trivial to remove with a Python script available from various file-sharing services. But you didn't hear that from me, I know nothing about it...

gcheong3• 17 years ago

I wonder how Safari Online would look/work on it. It would be great to have this display in combo with an online bookshelf.

tlrobinson• 17 years ago

This would be my dream combination. Right now I'm using an OLPC XO to read Safari Books, which works ok but could be better.

http://tlrobinson.net/blog/2009/04/06/using-olpc-xo-as-an-eb...

gcheong3• 17 years ago

Will have to try your hack out on my OLPC as I was trying to use it for the same purpose and was frustrated for the same reasons. Thanks!

dschobel2• 17 years ago

The kindle is in a strange position now.

The more features they add (like native PDF) the more people will clamor to make it more input friendly (like the talk of a wacom-esque interface below).

Here's hoping Amazon knows where to draw the line and it just remains a damn good way to read text.

donw2• 17 years ago

To me, that's the killer feature that it's missing. For a small reader, it doesn't matter, but for the large one, I want to be able to take notes, sketch out ideas in the margin, and so on.

ftse• 17 years ago

It looks great. Now let's compare it to the competition... Amazon's web page for the Kindle shows only one entry under 'Browse similar items in Electronics': 'Kindle DX'

ableal• 17 years ago

(retailers must love you ;-)

iRex Digital Reader 1000S, 699 EUR; https://www.irexshop.com/

    10.2 Inch (diagonal) electronic paper display
    1024 x 1280 pixel resolution at 160 pixels per inch
    16-level grey scale
    Mini-USB connector
    Wacom® penabled® touch sensor input with Stylus
    ...

More data and opinions over at http://mobileread.com, etc.

P.S. I tossed this in because iRex is not using the same screens as most everybody else: http://www.eink.com/products/matrix/High_Res.html (found via MobileRead). I had nearly forgotten that.

DLWormwood• 17 years ago

You know, if this wasn't iPod white, I'd swear I'd seen something just like it on TV before...

http://www.slipperybrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/stpd...

TweedHeads• 17 years ago

"Kindle DX will be released this summer"

Amazon is just afraid of the incoming Apple iPad.

Very afraid...

zaph0d• 17 years ago

I live in India. So probably the EVDO / 3G connection won't work here. Does the Kindle DX also support vanilla WiFi so that I can still buy books from Amazon?

jgrahamc• 17 years ago

Goodnews. When is this going to be available in the UK?

I'm there if I can read PDFs on it (check), subscribe to Le Monde (check), the New York Times (check), The Economist and The Guardian. I can see a device like this making me spend more on subscriptions than I currently do because of the convenience and lack of paper to recycle.

I guess I might buy the occasional book, although I really like paper books.

Amazon releases the rumoured large-screen Kindle

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