Amazon Kindle DX

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.