Comparison of Kindle DX and iRex DR1000

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by minhiub

I heard that for the Kindle 2, you have to the settings through Whispernet, which international customers could not do.

I don't understand that sentence. Did you skip a word? You have to "what" the settings? No, you can use a Kindle that has never connected to Whispernet. There are place in the US where the service doesn't cover.

Originally Posted by minhiub

Also, I am pretty worry about the firmware update, although I know that Amazon does not do it very often. Do we need to have the Whispernet for upgrading Kindle's firmware, if it ever happens?

Yes, you can also update the kindle firmware without whispernet. They put the firmware binaries on their web site. You d/l it and copy it to the device via USB and then can run the upgrade from the Kindle menu.

BOb

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I don't understand that sentence. Did you skip a word? You have to "what" the settings? No, you can use a Kindle that has never connected to Whispernet. There are place in the US where the service doesn't cover.

I believe that, until the Kindle has connected to Whispernet once, one cannot access the "Settings" menu.

[Acextreme]

Can someone asnwer this question? How's the book/file management system of the Kindle DX? What are the available options? Heard that it's quite poor but how poor, any details?

And if it's a problem, are there any workarounds or temporary solutions to sort documents? Imagine having 1000 books, how is one going to find and select the desired book to read? Scroll through each and every single book in the main menu till you reach your desired book? Are there any better ways?

And what the heck is Amazon thinking? Any idiot of a system designer would have realized the need for a simple file manager...gosh, what a bummer...

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Acextreme

Can someone asnwer this question? How's the book/file management system of the Kindle DX? What are the available options? Heard that it's quite poor but how poor, any details?

There are no folders or collection options (newspapers are a special case, which I will ignore here) for navigation. Folders can exist, but are ignored for navigation. All your content is in one linear list, but there are three sort options: recent first, author, title. In the latter two, it is possible to go to the first letter of the title/author by using the keyboard. It is also possible to use the entire device search to find an ebook. The biggest problem for a large collection would be finding ebooks with incorrect metadata, because they won't be where they are supposed to be.

For PDFs, only the metadata is included in the entire device search, but more importantly metadata recognition seems to be hit and miss. See Kindle 2 DX PDF Metadata... all sorts of wrong..

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I believe that, until the Kindle has connected to Whispernet once, one cannot access the "Settings" menu.

You can access the Settings screen, and do firmware updates, but you can't:

1. Register your Kindle (from the device, you can still register it manually on Amazon's website, but it won't show as registered from the device).

2. Edit the device name (Amazon will ship with a default one).

3. Edit the Personal Info (typically you put your name and address and phone number here in case your Kindle gets lost)

[HarryT]

Someone mentioned, I think, that you couldn't set the clock, either?

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Someone mentioned, I think, that you couldn't set the clock, either?

The clock is set via WhisperNet; it's not something you can do manually.

[HarryT]

Given that quite a few areas of the US are outside the areas of Sprint coverage, it does seem a little curious that there are features of the Kindle (such as setting the clock) that rely on it. It wouldn't be hard to provide a manual screen for setting it.

[sirbruce]

What I don't understand is why it loses the clock when it crashes; it makes no sense.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

What I don't understand is why it loses the clock when it crashes; it makes no sense.

Does it also lose the clock setting when you switch it off (I mean really switch it off)? If so, it probably means that it's purely a "software" clock, with no hardware clock chip.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Does it also lose the clock setting when you switch it off (I mean really switch it off)? If so, it probably means that it's purely a "software" clock, with no hardware clock chip.

No, but maybe it's not completely off when it's off.

[amgoforth]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The DX may indeed be a good option for international users if they simply want a large-screen reader for PDFs - but didn't I read it a review that it doesn't support hyperlinks in PDFs? That seems like a pretty serious shortcoming for such things as technical manuals, although it's perhaps not of too much importance for journal articles and other short documents.

It also doesn't zoom or re flow pdfs. Hope that changes.

[amgoforth]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Given that quite a few areas of the US are outside the areas of Sprint coverage, it does seem a little curious that there are features of the Kindle (such as setting the clock) that rely on it. It wouldn't be hard to provide a manual screen for setting it.

Strange thing is the dx internet works at my home. The 1st edition kindle didn't work here.

[minhiub]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I believe that, until the Kindle has connected to Whispernet once, one cannot access the "Settings" menu.

@pilotbob, sorry for confusing your. I skipped a word by mistake. What I really meant was the thing that HarryT already mentioned above. Thanks HarryT for your help.

@HarryT, so do we need to have whispernet every time we want to modify our "settings" menu?

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by minhiub

@pilotbob, sorry for confusing your. I skipped a word by mistake. What I really meant was the thing that HarryT already mentioned above. Thanks HarryT for your help.

@HarryT, so do we need to have whispernet every time we want to modify our "settings" menu?

I believe you only need to connect to Whispernet once and register the Kindle in order to modify the settings screen. After that, you can change it as you wish, although chances are you never will. If you deregister your Kindle then perhaps you'd need to be on WhisperNet again but I don't know.