A further benefit: PDF files are much easier to read. You still can't alter the text size of PDF files, which rather makes a mockery of Amazon's claim that the Kindle has truly native PDF support, but at least the extra screen size means the standard PDF page view is readable which it certainly wasn't on the smaller Kindle.
Skinny and not heavy
If you do want to up the text size of your PDF files, you can now just flip the DX onto its side and let the accelerometer change the page view from portrait to landscape fit-to-width which near enough doubles the text size. Incidentally, the accelerometer will flip the page layout through 360° if you feel the need to hold the DX upside down.
Physically, the DX looks like a Kindle that has been on a heavy course of steroids. At 264 x 183 x 9.6mm it's a fair bit bigger than the Kindle 2, but Amazon has maximised the percentage of the front taken up by the screen by the simple expediency of reducing the size of the Qwerty keyboard. Despite the keys now being smaller, rather oddly shaped and lacking a dedicated row of numeric buttons, we didn't find the new design any the less easy to use.
Nor did we miss the Kindle 2's left-hand side page-turn controls, which are absent from the DX. Otherwise, the layout of the DX is identical to that of the Kindle 2, so you get a micro USB port at the bottom; a 3.5mm audio socket and on/off switch at the top; a pair of rather better sounding speakers than those fitted to the Kindle 2 around the back; and a row of controls along the right-hand edge of the unit to navigate the various system menus, turn pages and adjust the volume.
The screen dominates the DX's face
Amazon has also stuck with the basic cosmetic style of previous Kindles so you can have any colour you want as long as it's white. Thankfully, the increased size of the DX hasn't resulted in any chassis flex and the new device is every bit as solidly bonded together as its smaller sibling.
COMMENTS
Degrees
Nope, the reviewer does mean 360 degrees. Keep turning the DX by 90 degrees to the left or right and the screen keeps re-orientating itself. OK, when you have it upside down it has only turned though 180 degrees but the point is you can keep on turning it through 270 and 360 until you are back where you started.
$450+?
Look, it's a black n white e-reader+ with a non standard keyboard layout, no touch screen, no color, no application support, no bluetooth, no TV connectivity, no camera support, no file system to speak of, no document editing capabilities, and it's still smaller than the iPad.
I hear a LOT of people, who have not actually bought either an IPS screen nor an e-reader, speaking to the point that e-Ink is superior to LCD in terms of eye strain. Let me tell you, as someone who works under florescents for 9-10 hours a day staring at a cheap ass Dell LCD, then goes home to a dark room and stares at a far superior Acer LCD panel for several more hours on my PC, and when I'm feeling like something other than gaming, i sit on the bed in complete darkness reading ebooks of my wife's MacBook pro, often in 3-4 hour sessions.
I borrowed a kindle from a friend, and a Nook from another, for a week each, to see if I felt investing in a formal ebook reader was worth the $300-400 in cash plus the cost of non-portable proprietary DRM books. I spent just shy of 16 reading the kindle, and although i found the e-Ink to be quite nice in normal light, it was somewhat tough to read in bright sunlight, and the backlight quality with e-ink in a dark room made my eyes hurt after only an hour or so trying to read it. The Nook was superior in almost every way to the Kindle, and did better in daylight, but equally poor in a dark room. On one night, I managed to read the kindle in the dark for just about 4 hours, i don't think I could do that again...
Apparently, the majority of people complaining about LCD in dimply lit rooms complain about not being able to dim the screen far enough, and complain about the harsh light. First off, who told you to read black text off a white screen as an e-reader!?!? Change the background color to a deep set near-black, and the text to a soft contrast color. With a computer, or software based e-reader on an iPhone or iPad, that is completely under your control! There are also a number of very cheap screen protectors that filter excess backlight that leaks through parts of the screens and that greatly reduces "wash" in the display if your LCD is particularly susceptible to that (most LED IPS panels are not), but cheap LCDs can be.
I'm glad I had the chance to try both competing e-readers for extended periods. It absolutely confirmed I will never own an e-Ink device, at least not until there's one that fully supports open, unenctypted books, or provides a book sharing mechanism for DRM books from multiple outlets, and at the same time, costs less than $150. Also, it really needs a screen larger than 6". That's fine for text-only content if you have good vision, but for anything including graphics of any kind, or layouts of text (periodicals), anything less than 9" is too small.
I'm not jumping on an iPad immediately. I have 6 other things in front of it in my budget plan, including a new iMac 27" to replace an aging gaming PC, a new washing machine, furniture for my 2 year olds room, shelving in my garrage, and new couches in the living room... However, by Christmas at the latest, I'm sure I'll get around to getting an iPad.
Hang on a minute
...you claim the TFT LCD isn't easy on he eye, but neglect the fact that millions of people spend pretty much all day every day gawking at them. Care to square that one? Frankly the iPad is so far beyond the capabilities of this Kindle that I feel slightly sorry for Amazon. They had a good crack at it, but the game's up, I'm afraid.
International my A*se
Amazon seem to use the word "International" to refer to US owners who happen to travel internationally, rather than those of us who actually live outside the USA (gasp!).
I just wished Amazon would sell a truly International Kindle, e.g. one I can buy from amazon.co.uk that comes with a UK plug and a data plan unlike the current "free" one where either everything that uses it is disabled, or paid for with a premium on the download price.
Price is all
When these things are down to $99 ask me again. And I think ebooks also won't really take off as long as they cost as much as paper books.
I currently use an iPod touch for reading and while I think the screen could be a bit larger I have no problems with the screen being no e-ink. And the thing is (relatively) dirt-cheap AND it can do so much more. I have no doubt that the iPad will hit the ebook-market like nothing before.
