Kindle DX impressions: Big screen, but prohibitively expe…
Posted by admin in Kindle Wednesday, 14 April 2010 19:48 21 Comments
With a few minutes, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the newest Kindle, named the Kindle DX — a larger screen version of the Kindle 2 that adds some features like PDF reading and an accelerometer to dynamically switch orentations. We linked to the specs earlier, so it’s time for the meat: Our impressions of the device. On the panel today is freelance writer and columnist Gary Krakow, and Jason Hiner, Editor-in-chief of techrepublic. We’re all feeling a bit of apprehension toward the device, with Gary pointing out the $490 is going to be a tough pill to swollow for most people. Jason points out the device has a companion application for the iphone platform, which leads to the logical conclusion: Why haven’t they made software for desktops? I’m pretty much dead set against the Kindle DX, though I might opt for the Kindle 2. It’s pretty ballsy to market a $490 device for reading books, when I could get a 10.1″ netbook for around the same price that can surf the web on a color screen, and the like. Sure, my netbook might not have the long battery life, or as be as comfortable on the eyes as the epaper display, all 16 shades of its monochromatic wonderment, but for me, and most cash strapped college students, I think we’re going to save our dollars for “real gadgets”.
even $300 is expensive for this
and then came ipad
with 500 dollars you can buy all the text books you need and hire someone to carry them for you till you finish college… lol…
u had to think that it has to big a size u can read with confort… and yes the price is a little high, but u save money at the time u buy book for 50% the real price or even less…
u had to think that u pay 500 for kindle, but then any book u buy is like 50% less than the price of a real book, so if u buy enough books u will “pay the kindle” with that discount and from then u are saving money!!!
yes u can…
YES U CAN!
That’s too much fuckin’ money for a shit that’s only black & white… and it’s recession…
Great idea, but a colour screen and about $150 would be much better. As Jason says, Uni students already have a laptop so what not have this app on laptop.
well to be honest the price is really high and the only thing that I like about this new kindle dx is the screen. i find really hard to read text on a computer and I read lots of PDF files because music guides and documents. I print rather than read the document right off my computer because it hurt my eyes and with e reader this will solve a big problem of my book bag full of dinosaurs (books) inside. i wanna buy it but I better wait to see if they improve it or decrease the price.
it’s too expensive AND too big (awkwardly big for a tech gadget)
$500????? You can buy a cheap-ass netbook, getting so much more functionality? Let Amazon learn the hard away when these things pile up in their warehouses. Bezos needs to get his head out of the clouds. I think Apple would them out of the water if they decided to make an Ebook reader.
I used to make notes on my textbooks, underline stuff, highlight stuff. Can’t do that with a Kindle.
if the price was around $300 it would be hit
i would definately buy it, but not for $500
The PDF support is nice, but in black and white it will never be as good as viewing on a laptop.
E-Ink is great (I own a Kindle 2), but as soon as any company makes a slim color LED reader with good battery life (12+ hours) with internet, I’m willing to ditch my Kindle 2 even if it will strain my eyes.
Actually I disagree with this video review. I have done a lot of traveling in my job and brought along a laptop and the battery only lasts three hours max on most laptops if you are lucky. To be able to bring along something to read for weeks at a time would be just fantastic! And I’m sure you could buy a cheap clip on light if you needed to illuminate. The major plus for me would be the free internet via cell phone service WOW. Plus it’s lighter than carrying 6 textbooks on a dolly LOL.
I agree with Odinfury, ebook readers are mostly for fashion trendies and gadget freaks in most cases of the purchases, but for people like me it has a very practical and essential purpose, that is glare free reading. When i am reading from my computer, after one hour of reading i start to get serious problems, my eyes start to strain and i start to get headaches. So i need a big sized kindle to read all the important pdf homeworks and lecture slides without eye strain. I’ll buy one.
Your missing the ENTIRE POINT OF EBOOKS….specifically the idea of EINK technology which Kindle, Kindle DX, Sony Ebooks, and many others are based. E-ink technology allows people to read for long periods of time without eye strain, without battery charging, etc. Have you actually even held an EINK based ebook reader? The screen is so easy on the eyes. My only complaint about EINK technology is the refresh rate it is so slow! This technology is a game changer, just like the ipod/iphone
i’ve seen other companies release color pdf readers for more then double of the kindle dx price. $500 is not that much, im just glad i didnt buy the kindle 2 lol I needed the native pdf support
Touch screens look worst, go to google and do a search for “Pictures of PRS700 vs PRS505″
I think the Kindle DX is really amazing. But how it is still not touch screen or has a built in light really disappoints me.