Hey, all! I thought it would be good to have a thread where we can post links to good pics and video of the Kindle.

As I live in New York now and am currently under-employed, I was able to swing by the press conference this morning where Amazon unveiled the new Kindle DX. Here are some pics and video I took. I'll write up my personal impressions a little later.

Video:

SIjFb8TfQag
Extended clip: Demo of the Kindle DX.

vxGsH5vgajc
Short clip: Note taking/highlighting in a non-pdf textbook.

3RVxZt9K_-E
Short clip: Menu selection scrolling, screen response time.

Em02zbFJAf4
Short clip: Zoom mode for images in a newspaper.

I apologize for the crummy camera work in the above. I'm not a very good cameraman, and this was my first try doing something like this.

Okay, pics!

28531 28532 28533 2853428535 28536 28537 28538 28539 28540

Enjoy!

thanks very much for these ! it's great to see it in action. did you get the opportunity to try it out yourself ? what did you think of it ? i think a lot of people are wondering how comfortable the keyboard is to use, any thoughts ?

Thank you jharker! The display is simply gorgeous. Amazon scored a 10 with this one if you ask me.

Auto-rotate? Does it rotate to follow the format of the text/image or to follow the position of the screen?

That's great work, jharker. Thanks for taking the very clear pictures. I see that you have an Iliad, so would be very interested in an informed comparison.

Nice job, jharker.

price is $489.00 pre-order

Edit, darn, I'm a day or two late :)

No mention about the resolution yet seemingly...

I actually like this one! They actually have a decent design on this one... And the price isn't too bad either.

Thanks for this. That PDF in the demo does look nice! Hmm... lots to think about.

Has the screen contrast improved, even by a little? This was an issue with the Kindle 2.

thank you jharker! the Kindle DX is very nice...wow 2 weeks of battery life. That's sweet. Actually the price is reasonable but given the choice between this and the rumored Apple media tablet, I'll save my $$ for the latter cuz I'll probably be able to do more with it.

Looks great, especially for multi-column titles, but I can only imagine persuading a student to pay full price, or close to it, for an electronic version of a textbook. Their expections re. price are so much lower, but there is no way that the textbook publishers can really start lowering textbook prices until they can cut development costs--the best way is to keep editions around longer, and this won't happen until they can eliminate the used textbook market. Kindle could help with this, but only if a ton are sold to students.

Looks great, especially for multi-column titles, but I can only imagine persuading a student to pay full price, or close to it, for an electronic version of a textbook. Their expections re. price are so much lower, but there is no way that the textbook publishers can really start lowering textbook prices until they can cut development costs--the best way is to keep editions around longer, and this won't happen until they can eliminate the used textbook market. Kindle could help with this, but only if a ton are sold to students.

Again and again the same arguments. Publishers would like to wait till the termal death of the universe before they start lowering ebook prices.... The ebook is the end of the publishing industry as we know it.

Actually, if the device reads PDFs then I can conceive of cannier students grouping together to buy a paper copy of a textbook, then slicing it up and scanning it to share. So the price of textbooks had better be reasonable, otherwise the students will get illegally creative.

And open textbook sites like Connexions (http://cnx.org) (they've mentioned using the Kindle) will be able to start putting some pricing pressure on the big textbook publishers.

Could be really interesting for technical books... much more lighter, and thinner... but the size of the device... likely not to fit my handbag ! ;)

The photo of the new device next to the print 8x11 is especially telling about the poor contrast quality of the display. Given a choice between the two would anyone seriously choose to read from the Kindle 3?

Now, I've seen the Kindle 2 and I was stunned how poor the display was. This one looks no different other than bigger.

Hey, all! I thought it would be good to have a thread where we can post links to good pics and video of the Kindle.

As I live in New York now and am currently unemployed, I was able to swing by the press conference this morning where Amazon unveiled the new Kindle DX. Here are some pics and video I took. I'll write up my personal impressions a little later.

Video:

SIjFb8TfQag
Extended clip: Demo of the Kindle DX.

vxGsH5vgajc
Short clip: Note taking/highlighting in a non-pdf textbook.

3RVxZt9K_-E
Short clip: Menu selection scrolling, screen response time.

Em02zbFJAf4
Short clip: Zoom mode for images in a newspaper.

I apologize for the crummy camera work in the above. I'm not a very good cameraman, and this was my first try doing something like this.

Okay, pics!

28531 28532 28533 2853428535 28536 28537 28538 28539 28540

Enjoy!

JHarker,

Thanks for your coverage on this. Are you able/willing to comment on the screen quality compared to your iliad?

Hey, everyone! I've finally got a few minutes, so I'll try to give my impressions of the Kindle DX. I got to hold one for a few minutes at the press conference today, so I have had some actual hands-on time.

First, let me summarize my remarks by saying that this is the first e-reader I've seen that I would replace my iLiad with. Now, the iRex iLiad has many good points, and the iRex DR's screen is still a tad bigger than the Kindle DX, but any comparison just stops right there.

The Kindle has built-in cellular wireless, a MUCH longer battery life, great UI, more format support, and now with the DX, a large screen. And it's $370 cheaper. The iRex DR has... umm... a stylus.

Up until this point iRex had the lead in hardware, which somewhat compensated for their really poor software/UI design. Now Amazon has matched if not exceeded iRex in the hardware department, and with a much slicker UI and more software features to boot. The gauntlet has been thrown down. The next 12 months should be VERY interesting in the ereader market.

Okay, enough editorializing. Let's have some details.

In terms of the basics, the DX is supposedly comparable to the Kindle 2: same screen material (2nd-gen e-ink), same screen refresh rate, similar battery life, Whispernet cellular wireless functionality.

Physically, the DX is nice to handle. It's fairly heavy, a little heavier than I found comfortable. The press material says it's 18.9 oz., or just a bit over one pound. Probably not something you want to hold up with one (or two) hands for a long time. The screen is apparently glass-based, not plastic based (as some have inquired), but the thing feels so solid and stable that I wouldn't worry much about breaking it, as long as you're reasonably careful. I would definitely buy a cover, though.

The screen itself is 150 dpi, 9.7" diagonal, which translates to 8" by 5.5", almost exactly half of a standard letter-sized page. This means that pdfs can display at 100% zoom in landscape mode, and most are very readable even in portrait mode. I was not able to see it used with any two-column academic journal articles, unfortunately. But my impression is that they would be just as easy to read.

To compensate for the large screen, Amazon also added a "words per line" option to the config menu. In reflowable texts, this essentially allows you to set the column width to be narrower than the screen width. Personally, I would love to see a "two column" option as well, but it didn't appear to be there.

Speaking of pdfs, the DX has native pdf support, as I'm sure you know by now. This appears to be seamless, and the user interface is exactly the same as for any other document. I don't know about annotation or note taking support for pdfs; I know that's been a popular question.

Another big new feature is auto-rotate. The DX has a built-in accelerometer. If you rotate it 90-degrees, after a short pause the page flickers and reorients itself. All re-zooming or text reflowing is handled automatically. Any of the four orientations work for this: 0, 90, 180, 270. The auto-rotate also works seamlessly with any kind of document: pdf, newspapers, textbooks, even the web browser. Finally, there is an option in the config menu to lock the orientation to any angle, so you can lay it flat and not have it constantly flipping on you.

Speaking of the web browser: according to the Amazon spokesman, web browsing on the DX is still free and you can still visit any site with it.

In the documents I saw, both textbooks and the newspapers were in reflowable file formats, not pdf. Presumably (since Amazon has agreements with textbook and newspaper publishers) this would be the norm. There are several ways to browse a newspaper: by section, by summary (headline & lede), or page by page.

Let's see, what else. The keyboard. I'm not a huge fan of the key action. I haven't ever used a Kindle (1 or 2), but these keys are shaped like small tic-tacs, and the action is much softer and less clicky than the keys on my Blackberry. On the other hand, I don't imagine one would be doing a heck of a lot of typing on the thing. And as you can see from the pictures, the keyboard is much more condensed (and less obtrusive) than on the other Kindles.

On the whole I think that Amazon is rapidly becoming the Apple of e-readers. I mean that in the best way possible. There are definitely still a few annoyances, and the lack of ePub support is disappointing, but on the whole I was extremely impressed by both the hardware and the UI design.

A couple added/clarifying comments: The DX screen material is exactly the same as the Kindle 2. They have identical contract and nearly identical refresh rates. This is 2nd-gen e-ink, which I personally think is significantly faster and has better contrast than my iLiad v1.

The contrast difference in the Kindle vs. 8.5x11 picture I posted is a bit exaggerated. That picture was primarily for size comparison. In real life the contrast difference was not as pronounced to me.

I think people tend to separate into two groups: people who think that e-ink has intolerably poor contrast, and people who think the contrast is perfectly fine. I'm in the latter category. If you're in the former, then the Kindle DX won't change your mind: it's exactly the same.

Oh, a few little tidbits from the presentation:

First, apparently this subsidizing deal with newspapers is only for people who live where you can't get regular paper delivery. That limitation seems a little silly to me.

Second, Jeff Bezos made a startling (to me) claim: On Amazon, many of their books are availble both in paper and as e-books for the Kindle. Bezos said that in April, looking at just those books, e-book sales accounted for more than 33% of their total sales. That is, for books that are available in both forms, one e-book was sold for every two paper books.

Second, Jeff Bezos made a startling (to me) claim: On Amazon, many of their books are availble both in paper and as e-books for the Kindle. Bezos said that in April, looking at just those books, e-book sales accounted for more than 33% of their total sales. That is, for books that are available in both forms, one e-book was sold for every two paper books.
that is a very interesting piece of information ! much higher than the numbers we heard previously, and very encouraging for ebooks as a whole. although after seeing the sales figures for the beginning of the year, i'm not sure i'm very surprised.

thanks again for this report, i'm really glad you were able to go and get all these details.

How is the file management on the DX? Is it a flat file system like the K1 & K2?

Want want want, never going to have!
You lucky Yanks!

Once again, great work, jharker.

Thanks for a fine and well-illustrated report - probably the best description of the DX yet on the Web. I, too, would be interested if you would compare the strengths and weaknesses of the DX to the iRex.

Thanks for the great report. Looks like an interesting device. When the screen is rotated, the buttons are then in the wrong place. Having duplicate buttons on the top wouldn't be aesthetic, but I'd probably like to have them there.

This is a device I will keep my eye on.

At least four companies, including Hearst and News Corp (NYSE: NWS). have big-screen e-readers in the works in the U.S. But only two, Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN) and Plastic Logic, have provided specs on their devices. Here’s how Plastic Logic’s eReader and Amazon’s Kindle DX measure up:

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-how-the-kindle-dx-lines-up-against-the-plastic-logic-ereader/

http://paidcontent.org/images/uploads/kindleVelogicV8.jpg

Bottom line: The eReader is lighter, thinner and has a touch screen, but the DX undoubtedly has the big-mo because of Kindle’s dominance with e-readers and its earlier release date.

Great concept but absolutely ugly device! Why can't Amazon learn from Sony's design?

So far, Sony PRS-700 and PRS-505 is the only where I've seen that includes a cover that acts and fits like a book cover. The cover is hooked on to the reader via two holes on the edges of the reader as opposed to the typical four elastic strap across four corners.

And what about getting rid of the keyboard and make it touchscreen?

Great concept but absolutely ugly device! Why can't Amazon learn from Sony's design?

So far, Sony PRS-700 and PRS-505 is the only where I've seen that includes a cover that acts and fits like a book cover. The cover is hooked on to the reader via two holes on the edges of the reader as opposed to the typical four elastic strap across four corners.

And what about getting rid of the keyboard and make it touchscreen?

Yeah my impression from watching that video is that the DX is in huge need of a touch screen interface. However, that would add cost and kill battery life which Amazon, I'm sure, didn't want to do...

Well assuming they use Wacom technology. Otherwise they would kill screen clarity like the prs-700

Regarding keyboard vs. touch screen, you have to think of the usage model and target market. The Kindle has wireless internet and book downloading. People are either going to be searching for books, taking short notes, or browsing the web (i.e. searching Wikipedia). For all of these, a keyboard is necessary. With the slow refresh rate of e-ink, a physical keyboard is the only way to go.

And once you have the keyboard, what do you really need a touchscreen for? Scribbling? Taking notes? Maybe, but the slow refresh rate of e-ink makes these things feel clunky at best -- I know, I own an iLiad. I like it, but I almost never use the stylus except to do things that a button could do just as easily. Meanwhile, the trade-off for touchscreen capability is shorter battery life and substantially higher price. In my opinion, it's just not worth it.

Remember that the Kindle 1 had that little LCD selection bar? I thought that was a brilliant design choice. E-ink at the time was so slow that moving an e-ink menu bar felt clunky. The LCD bar was slick and fast, and they could use the e-ink display for the static menu options.

Anyway, the point is that the normal UI design paradigm just doesn't work with e-ink-based e-readers because the refresh rate is too slow. The biggest challenge when designing a reader today is figuring out how to design the UI so that the user won't get frustrated. It's very challenging. All modern design concepts assume a fast refresh rate, so there's no real prior art to work from.

It looks great! Congrats to Amazon for expanding their product line to satisfy a certain demographic (students, techies, nonfiction warriors, science types, etc.).

I read strictly for pleasure, so I'll stick to the 6" format, as it fits easily into my purse and my life in general. However, I've bought many Ipods as gifts, from Shuffles, Nanos, to Ipod Touch (for me), with the thought of how it will fit into the giftee's life. So I think it's great to have a lot of diversity out there.

Great concept but absolutely ugly device! Why can't Amazon learn from Sony's design?

So far, Sony PRS-700 and PRS-505 is the only where I've seen that includes a cover that acts and fits like a book cover. The cover is hooked on to the reader via two holes on the edges of the reader as opposed to the typical four elastic strap across four corners.

Well, you haven't been looking too closely, then. Both the Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX have covers that hook into the edge exactly as you describe, no ugly elastic design. (Although you can get covers with that too if you prefer.)

Regarding keyboard vs. touch screen, you have to think of the usage model and target market. The Kindle has wireless internet and book downloading. People are either going to be searching for books, taking short notes, or browsing the web (i.e. searching Wikipedia). For all of these, a keyboard is necessary. With the slow refresh rate of e-ink, a physical keyboard is the only way to go.

And once you have the keyboard, what do you really need a touchscreen for? Scribbling? Taking notes? Maybe, but the slow refresh rate of e-ink makes these things feel clunky at best -- I know, I own an iLiad. I like it, but I almost never use the stylus except to do things that a button could do just as easily. Meanwhile, the trade-off for touchscreen capability is shorter battery life and substantially higher price. In my opinion, it's just not worth it.

Remember that the Kindle 1 had that little LCD selection bar? I thought that was a brilliant design choice. E-ink at the time was so slow that moving an e-ink menu bar felt clunky. The LCD bar was slick and fast, and they could use the e-ink display for the static menu options.

Anyway, the point is that the normal UI design paradigm just doesn't work with e-ink-based e-readers because the refresh rate is too slow. The biggest challenge when designing a reader today is figuring out how to design the UI so that the user won't get frustrated. It's very challenging. All modern design concepts assume a fast refresh rate, so there's no real prior art to work from.

Irex has well proven you don't need a physical keyboard. A on screen keyboard or handwriting recognition software is plenty sufficient. We're not writing a novel here...

A touch screen obviously adds ease of navigation, ease of annotation, more versatility as a digital pad perhaps...

Lets agree it would not be friendly to price or battery life. But to ignore its benefits is ludicrous IMHO. And to argue from a usability standpoint? As if a touchscreen is not obviously more intuitive and less frustrating? Would it be more convenient to scroll to the bottom with the janky d-pad or simply touch my option. Hard choice this one...

Edit: And anyway I wasn't suggesting they take away the keyboard. They can leave that silly thing. I just think a device this big is screaming for a touch screen interface.

The biggest issue is lack of an SD card support...

The biggest issue is lack of an SD card support...

Yeah but I don't think we'll see one of those on a Kindle again. Shame.

Lack of SD support is a bigger deal with the DX than it is with the Kindle 2, I think. Amazon is trying to market to students (and possibly businesses) and text books are rather large. If students want to load up their Kindles with text books and reference material and still have room for leisure material, it might be an issue. Then again, 3.3 GB should be enough but in an age where it's becoming more common to measure hard drives in terabytes, I definitely think Amazon is making the wrong move on this.

Also, would like to see what a PDF document designed for 8.5 x 11 paper looks like on this screen.

jharker:

I'd like to thank you for your informed and informative writing. It's a joy to read unbiased reporting, which leads me to believe you use words for a living.

Thank you for such great insight into the new Kindle.


Don

First, apparently this subsidizing deal with newspapers is only for people who live where you can't get regular paper delivery. That limitation seems a little silly to me.

Too bad, and yeah silly to me as well. I posted elsewhere about the subsidization plan. I thought it would get the papers a lot of subscribers and sell a lot of DX's too.

I'll continue to read the NYT's for free, unless or until they go back to online subscriptions.

Oh, a few little tidbits from the presentation:

First, apparently this subsidizing deal with newspapers is only for people who live where you can't get regular paper delivery. That limitation seems a little silly to me.
I don't know what subsidizing deal with newspapers you're talking about here, but the first newspaper here to start with an epaper format, made sure people would be able to get the reader a lot cheaper:

If you already have a subscirption, you can get the Iliad for 500 euro, epaper subscription is free. If you don't have a subscription yet, you can get a year subscription + reader for 700 euro. The iliad iss 650 euro if you buy it in the stores without subscription... (subscription itself is 180 euro).

I don't know what subsidizing deal with newspapers you're talking about here, but the first newspaper here to start with an epaper format, made sure people would be able to get the reader a lot cheaper:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/05/06/amazon-kindle-dx-will-cost-489-newspapers-will-subsidize-the-pr/

The following excerpted from link below. Hopefully they will wise up by release date.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346661,00.asp


Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the New York Times Co., appeared on stage to laud the agreement, but he offered scant details besides some confusing information about possible limits to the regions in which Kindle DX edition subscriptions would be available versus those for the print edition. After the press conference, I couldn't find any newspaper representatives to talk to: Sulzberger and Bezos were nowhere to be found. Amazon reps could offer zero additional details about the newspaper offering.

At least four companies, including Hearst and News Corp (NYSE: NWS). have big-screen e-readers in the works in the U.S. But only two, Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN) and Plastic Logic, have provided specs on their devices. Here’s how Plastic Logic’s eReader and Amazon’s Kindle DX measure up:

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-how-the-kindle-dx-lines-up-against-the-plastic-logic-ereader/

http://paidcontent.org/images/uploads/kindleVelogicV8.jpg

Bottom line: The eReader is lighter, thinner and has a touch screen, but the DX undoubtedly has the big-mo because of Kindle’s dominance with e-readers and its earlier release date.

Given the very close weights of the two devices, is the production version of the KindleDX actually using the plastic-substrate display? While the KDX has a smaller display could be the keyboard, metal back and a possibly different battery more than account for the weight differential.

It makes no sense at all to market a device at students with a glass based display. No way they will be able pamper an ereader with a glass-substrate display in the way it would need to survive.

With the slow refresh rate of e-ink, a physical keyboard is the only way to go. With the Epson controller, refresh isn't slow any more for partial screen updates. On-screen keyboards work very well on large screens. A touch screen probably is more expensive than a physical keyboard, but a device that is primarily for displaying text does not need a full-time keyboard. The limitations of a built in keyboard are also apparent for the KDX, which is otherwise designed to be used in any one of 4 orientations. Only standard portrait orientation allows the keyboard to be used.

Regarding keyboard vs. touch screen, you have to think of the usage model and target market. The Kindle has wireless internet and book downloading. People are either going to be searching for books, taking short notes, or browsing the web (i.e. searching Wikipedia). For all of these, a keyboard is necessary. With the slow refresh rate of e-ink, a physical keyboard is the only way to go.

And once you have the keyboard, what do you really need a touchscreen for? Scribbling? Taking notes? Maybe, but the slow refresh rate of e-ink makes these things feel clunky at best -- I know, I own an iLiad. I like it, but I almost never use the stylus except to do things that a button could do just as easily. Meanwhile, the trade-off for touchscreen capability is shorter battery life and substantially higher price. In my opinion, it's just not worth it.

Remember that the Kindle 1 had that little LCD selection bar? I thought that was a brilliant design choice. E-ink at the time was so slow that moving an e-ink menu bar felt clunky. The LCD bar was slick and fast, and they could use the e-ink display for the static menu options.

Anyway, the point is that the normal UI design paradigm just doesn't work with e-ink-based e-readers because the refresh rate is too slow. The biggest challenge when designing a reader today is figuring out how to design the UI so that the user won't get frustrated. It's very challenging. All modern design concepts assume a fast refresh rate, so there's no real prior art to work from.

In general your conclusion seems well thought out given the limitations of e-ink. However, regarding the use of a keyboard I'll offer a different view.

The functions, other than reading, that I would use most would be search (i.e. very light typing), links, and select/highlight. For these a touchscreen would be superior to any [tap, tap, tap...] keyboard even with e-ink. I would not want to browse the internet on one of these devices at all, but if I did it would be very irritating navigating the web without a touchscreen or mouse. Likewise, for browsing or buying books I would rather go to my computer. Taking long notes or scribbling? Use a different device or paper.

In general I do not want a physical keyboard taking up space on my portable reader. The amount of typing I would be doing would be very small. Until the refresh rate of e-ink improves substantially or until another superior technology (or even good old LCD) replaces it these units will have limited functionality.

I think people tend to separate into two groups: people who think that e-ink has intolerably poor contrast, and people who think the contrast is perfectly fine. I'm in the latter category. If you're in the former, then the Kindle DX won't change your mind: it's exactly the same.

I agree. Unfortunately, my eyes put me in the former camp. I just replaced my Kindle with a TFT screen reader that reads much better (for me), especially in lower light levels.

Instant page turns is an unexpected pleasure that I would not now give up. I had told myself the slow flashing refresh of E-ink was tolerable, but it is not missed, and this for pleasure reading.

Those young college kids testing the DX are going to be horrified at the slow page turns, especially when reading (studying) pdf's, the newly touted feature. And in black and white, weaksauce. :)

With the Epson controller, refresh isn't slow any more for partial screen updates. On-screen keyboards work very well on large screens. A touch screen probably is more expensive than a physical keyboard, but a device that is primarily for displaying text does not need a full-time keyboard. The limitations of a built in keyboard are also apparent for the KDX, which is otherwise designed to be used in any one of 4 orientations. Only standard portrait orientation allows the keyboard to be used.

I have been impressed at the faster speed of partial updates, so now that I read your argument I agree that an on-screen keyboard would be workable. I do still think that a physical keyboard is more user-friendly to the majority of the target market, though. But primarily I would guess that cost was the major factor. :(

Those young college kids testing the DX are going to be horrified at the slow page turns, especially when reading (studying) pdf's, the newly touted feature. And in black and white, weaksauce. :)
I totally agree. With these refresh rates, I find only straight-through reading to be satisfying on e-ink devices. For "browsing"-type reading (research papers, textbooks) that requires lots of flipping back and forth, I just couldn't use one. I even find it difficult with a normal computer screen. I find that a physical book still has the best UI for that kind of thing. :D

On the other hand, weight is a big issue for textbooks. And if Amazon offers substantial discounts, I can see how it would be tempting from a price point of view...

One more video review available below. I don't know why they don't demonstrate how Internet browser works.
http://www.slashgear.com/amazon-kindle-dx-hands-on-0642999/

With these refresh rates, I find only straight-through reading to be satisfying on e-ink devices. For "browsing"-type reading (research papers, textbooks) that requires lots of flipping back and forth, I just couldn't use one. :D


Unless of course you had two ereaders. :D

I keep hearing about how bad the Kindle 2's contrast and readability is. Please, could anyone make a comparison with cybook's or prs-505's screen contrast?
I'm seriously thinking of getting Kindle DX, because I'm just infatuated with its big screen.
I'm from outside USA so I would have to go into some amount of trouble to have it delivered, so I would rather it to be worth it.

There's virtually no difference between Kindle 2's contrast and readability and any other E-Ink reader (Sony, etc.) on the market. The only problem is some overzealous Kindle 1 owners who got so particular with reading very dark fonts at very small font sizes that they can't adjust to the Kindle 2 screen. If you're not a Kindle 1 reader you probably won't even notice, and in any case increasing the font size to 3 or 4 eliminates the issue entirely.

Thanks for the answer.
I'm a cybook owner. Please can PRS505 owners corroborate that the Kindle 2's and PRS505's contrast level (which I know to have the same contrast as cybook) are the same?
Thanks a lot.

Supposedly the problem with the K2 is due to having 16 shades. What Amazon is doing is dithering the fonts to improve the edges of the fonts and thus adding in more gray to the font. This lessens the overall darkness of the font. The screen itself is fine. It's no different then the screens of the 505 or Gen3.

And before you run out and order a DX, Sony is possibly going to have a larger screen reader later this year and Astak/Mentor is working on one and there is also the V9 as well. So there will be more choices of large screen devices with better software and more choices of reading formats you'll actually want to use.

As someone who returned a Kindle 2, the screens are the same. However, Amazon tweaked the font somewhat which makes it appear less dark when compared to either the first Kindle or the Sony et al. Something they could easily change via a software update. A couple of the reviews for the DX seem to indicate the font is a little darker than the K2. I imagine this is something they will continue to tweak on the device as they get more feedback.

One other point, if you had no other device to compare it to you wouldn't notice the lighter font.

Thank you.
Two more things. If I make a custom pdf I can choose my own font, right? Or does Kindle support only one type of font? Will it be possible to lookup words in the dictionary from within pdf files?

Thank you.
Two more things. If I make a custom pdf I can choose my own font, right? Or does Kindle support only one type of font? Will it be possible to lookup words in the dictionary from within pdf files?

I'm not sure we know the answers to those questions yet with respect to the DX.

If I make a custom pdf I can choose my own font, right? Or does Kindle support only one type of font? Will it be possible to lookup words in the dictionary from within pdf files? Since the KDX is using Adobe Digital Editions for PDFs, it is probably safe to assume it is a normal PDF reader. All PDF readers support Times, Helvetica and Courier and other fonts can be embedded into the PDF. So you should be able to choose your own font. Perhaps a Sony Reader owner can comment on whether doing so impacts performance.

The KDX User's Guide does not say explicitly that dictionary lookup is supported in a PDF. However, word search is supported (provided the PDF isn't entirely images), see p66 of the User's Guide. This might suggest that dictionary lookup will also be supported, but we don't know for sure so far as I know.

As someone who returned a Kindle 2, the screens are the same. However, Amazon tweaked the font somewhat which makes it appear less dark when compared to either the first Kindle or the Sony et al....

This is correct. when I look at the K2 and Iliad BE (both 16 shades), the iLiad is noticeably more contrasty, and easier to read.

Having said this, the K2 font is not terrible, by any measure. And the font hacks available from this forum, can make the K2 font appear darker/more contrasty (although less pretty.)