Kindle DX could trim your footprint - and your wallet
By EJ Green |
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Shortly after the February release of the Kindle 2, Amazon announced the debut of the Kindle DX, the newest version of their e-book reader. Due this summer, the DX has a larger screen space and a built in PDF reader, positioning it as a viable alternative to textbooks, newspapers, and magazines - that is, if you feel 16 shades of gray can do these mediums justice.
For the uninitiated, the e-books that have trickled onto the market in the past five years utilize a fairly new technology - electronic ink.
E-ink is just fancy talk for the electrophoretic display system that gives these devices their paper-like appearance. Instead of a backlit screen like most electronic devices equipped with Liquid Crystal Display technology, these babies handle outside light just like a good old-fashioned piece of paper. That means you can peruse your PDFs and e-books longer, without suffering the bleeding-eye sensation usually experienced after staring at a computer screen for too long. Oh, and it works great in a sunlit park, too.
The e-ink screen is 9.7" and fills up most of the real estate available on the 18.9-ounce body, which is less than half-an-inch thick. A sleek blend of white and aluminum, the Kindle is easily mistaken for a member of the Apple family. Similar to the iPod, the Kindle works directly (and almost exclusively) with its own e-book provider - internet media giant Amazon.com. Amazon's solid-but-young e-book business model, offers over 270,000 works in their database, plus a bevy of subscriptions to US and international newspapers and magazines, and almost all are available for $9.99 or less. All are easily downloadable on their 3G network, directly to your Kindle.
Many frustrated users have come to expect their Internet media free-of-charge, but for those of us who wish to safeguard the last vestiges of the fine world of print and minimize our carbon footprints, these lower-than-the-actual-price-of-book fees are nominal, and well worth it.
As for the necessary technical details: The battery life is generous - sans wireless feature, you can expect up to two weeks of reading time. With the wireless, you get about four days on a single charge. Users get 3.3 GB of space, which translates into a library of up to 3,500 books, periodicals, blogs, and documents (plus or minus some mp3s and audio books). If you are on the go, you can get your Kindle to read to you, too. With its advanced text-to-speech feature, your books and documents are read aloud in a delightful computerized cadence.
Unlike other e-books, Kindles work independently of computers. You don't need a computer to access Amazon, as the Kindle does so wirelessly via Sprint. This device promises to simplify and streamline your reading experience, so long as you don't mind seeing your wallet streamlined as well - the going rate for the Kindle DX is $489.00.
Originally Published: June 1, 2009
