Amazon Launches Large Screen Kindle DX

Author	Gordon Kelly
Published	6th May 2009

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We knew a large screen Kindle was coming this week and bang on cue, here it is...

Dubbed the 'Kindle DX' it does exactly what we expected fitting a 9.7in display (up from 6in) for easier reading of newspaper context or textbook-style pages. It features the same 16 shades of gray e-ink as the Kindle 2.

Other changes are minimal with the admittedly handy inclusion of an accelerometer to auto rotate the screen, an increased 3.3GB of storage and native PDF support which should win it favour from the business sector. As I speculated the DX also offers subscriptions to automatically deliver daily content from the New York Times, while the WSJ, Time, New Yorker and various blogs have signed up as well.

Elsewhere little is different from the Kindle 2 with integrated WiFi, text-to-speech functionality and an ultra thin and fairly light design (264 x 183 x 10mm and 536g). Interestingly, Amazon talks in vague terms of "Long Battery Life" but doesn't divulge how the larger screen specifically impacts the number of page turns.

One final point - and this is a major disappointment - is the price with Amazon quoting a whopping $489 (£324) compared to the still-high $359 (£238) for the Kindle 2. I suspect this will be a deal breaker for many.

The Kindle DX is on pre-order in the US now though an official delivery date has yet to be revealed. Whether we see either it or the Kindle 2 hit the UK any time soon also seems doubtful but given the exchange rate that may prove a blessing in disguise.

Impressiv-ish-meh.

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