Should I buy a Kindle DX?

[ProfCrash]

Given that no one has come into that market, I think that the 10 inch e-readers are going to be a niche item and probably fade away.

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Given that no one has come into that market, I think that the 10 inch e-readers are going to be a niche item and probably fade away.

That's your opinion, but I think you're wrong. I'm pretty sure that better 10" e-ink readers are just around the corner, maybe even with colour and video!

In the meantime, I'm just going to sit back and continue to enjoy reading E-books on my DXG.

Cheers,
Tom

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ThomasC

That's your opinion, but I think you're wrong. I'm pretty sure that better 10" e-ink readers are just around the corner, maybe even with colour and video!

The 10" market has really been overtaken by tablets such as the iPad, and the various 10" Android devices. It's just too "niche" a market sector for eInk, I think.

[howyoudoin]

I think b&w e-ink readers in the 10" format have been a financial failure.

But I do think that colour e-ink will be just the innovation required to re-invigorate the format. Novels do not benefit greatly from colour, but magazines most definitely do. And they're better viewed on a 10" screen than a 6" one.

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The 10" market has really been overtaken by tablets such as the iPad, and the various 10" Android devices. It's just too "niche" a market sector for eInk, I think.

I guess time will tell Harry. Ithink that there is a lot more upside potential for E-ink technology in the near future.

Cheers,
Tom

[Greg_E]

Let's not forget that the Pocketbook Pro 902/903 does exist and is a current model. I really hope iRiver makes a ~10 inch e-ink device for Google with their higher resolution display it would be like 1600x1200 pixels (just a rough guess) since the 6 inch device is already said to be 1024x800 and it does look much better than the new Kindle on the shelf next to it.

I think I have pretty much resigned myself to an Acer Iconia a500 or Asus Transformer if I can get a decent price. I can't see paying $200 for a first gen DX, and really can't see paying $250 for a used graphite, and I'm not going to pay nearly $400 for a new graphite when $500 will get me a nice Windows 7 tablet in color with a high res display that I can use for multiple things like programming the network equipment at work, surfing the web, playing music, composing documents, etc.

[PharaohsVizier]

Originally Posted by reprep

Kindle DXG has 2.5.8 firmware. Kindle 3 has 3.3 now. So its firmware is much more primitive than kindle 3. But there is a way to install the 3.1 or 3.2.1 firmware to kindle DXG (which i recommend to every kindle DXG user out there) to overcome these difficulties. check this for more info. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=127969

If you don't upgrade your kindle DXG to 3.x firmwares, these are the things you will be missing.

a) much more simplier pdf reading. No annotations, no adjustable dark levels. No dictionary usage on pdf.

b) worse experimental browser

c) no support for non-Latin characters. I wasn't able to read turkish books in .mobi format with 2.5.8 firmware but kindle 3.x firmwares support non-latin characters natively so this wasn't an issue on 3.2.1.

d) i got the impression that 3.x firmwares make the kindle DXG faster (opening books, going through the menus etc) though i can't say it for sure.

so if you do the firmware upgrade you will have all the capabilities of a kindle 3 including the pdf reader abilites you asked. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

I'm just curious, is it possible to still jailbreak this 3.2 firmware for custom fonts and screensavers?

[ProfCrash]

I love my DXG and am bummed that it receives no love from Amazon. My Mom loves her DXG. So does my older brother. I would love it if there was a new 10 inch model around the corner but I think that most folks who want a 10 inch screen are buying tablets because of their versatility. (shrugs)

I very much hope I am wrong

[cmforums]

If its a fake/copy then i would not buy it as it will nothing like the real version.

[max99]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The 10" market has really been overtaken by tablets such as the iPad, and the various 10" Android devices. It's just too "niche" a market sector for eInk, I think.

i have an ipad 2 and kindle dxg....and for serious reading i would never use the ipad. if the marketing is done well i really don't see why a backlit tablet should be stealing market share from a large screen eink reader.

[ProfCrash]

Because most people are not serious readers. The research I saw showed that half of all Americans had not read a single book in 2009. Half the population of the US had not read a book in an entire year.

The 6 inch e-readers are now cheap enough that a casual reader will think it is not a bad idea to own one. Most of the serious readers, lets use this board as and example, own a 6 inch reader and have no interest in a 10 inch reader.

The size of the screen makes them a great deal more expensive so they are not likely to come far enough down in price to interest many folks.

There is little that they can do about the weight of the 10 inch e-readers and people love the light weight e-readers.

There is little they can do about the size of the 10 inch e-reader. Many folks want an e-reader that fits in their purse or can be slide into a coat pocket.

All of this means that the 10 inch reader is going to be a niche product and that it is not going to receive much love. At least, not from Amazon or BN or Sony.

[max99]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Because most people are not serious readers. The research I saw showed that half of all Americans had not read a single book in 2009. Half the population of the US had not read a book in an entire year.

The 6 inch e-readers are now cheap enough that a casual reader will think it is not a bad idea to own one. Most of the serious readers, lets use this board as and example, own a 6 inch reader and have no interest in a 10 inch reader.

The size of the screen makes them a great deal more expensive so they are not likely to come far enough down in price to interest many folks.

There is little that they can do about the weight of the 10 inch e-readers and people love the light weight e-readers.

There is little they can do about the size of the 10 inch e-reader. Many folks want an e-reader that fits in their purse or can be slide into a coat pocket.

All of this means that the 10 inch reader is going to be a niche product and that it is not going to receive much love. At least, not from Amazon or BN or Sony.

this is nonsense. you don't have to have a gigantic market to justify a derivative product, like a large screen reader. good businesses make their bread and butter from the mass market products but keep other customers happy supporting more niche products. almost every mature industry works that way.

as it stands you simply cannot read technical books on a 6 inch kindle, the formatting cannot support complex mathematical equations or graphs. therefore there certainly IS a market for 10 inch eink readers.

my guess is most people on these boards would buy a DX if it was cheaper. that's the angle i imagine amazon will work on...bringing to market a cheaper, lighter 9 inch reader to replace the DX. if they don't somebody else will.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by max99

my guess is most people on these boards would buy a DX if it was cheaper. that's the angle i imagine amazon will work on...bringing to market a cheaper, lighter 9 inch reader to replace the DX. if they don't somebody else will.

Up to now, no-one has

There are a few competitors to the DX, but they are neither (significantly) cheaper nor lighter. The Pocketbook 90x are a generation behind screenwise (Vizplex vs. Pearl) and the Onyx Boox M9x series are roughly as expensive as the DX and suffer from software problems.

[DustyDisks]

On size and weight, there is a limit and trade off on different form factors. For a given size screen there is a limit on how light one can go and still keep the costs down and still produce a product that can stand up to the stresses and strains of everyday use.

Something that is ridged enough that will not break just looking sideways at it. Anything that is held in two hands has to be protected from twisting and flexing, and that protection (With in limits) adds bulk and weight.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by max99

...
my guess is most people on these boards would buy a DX if it was cheaper. ...

I would be willing to buy one for $225. My preference is a touch screen, but I can put that want to the side.