The Kindle DX - A Review a Few Days In

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by junkyardwillie

With the DR1000 can you search in PDFs? Also is there a "go to page" feature or is it still the click on the bar at the bottom functionality to move through docs?

Let me check...

Yes, you can search in PDFs, and look words in the dictionary. You navigate to a page by tapping on the progress bar but, since this actually shows page numbers, this works pretty well. Also, given that table of contents and hyperlinks "work" on the DR1000, there's much less need to jump to a specific page than there is on the Kindle.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DesiLinguist

I did not own a Kindle before the DX but owned an iLiad Book Edition. I can confidently say that the Kindle is, in *most* respects, a more practical and more useful e-reading device than the iLiad BE. The biggest thing that bothered me about the iLiad was the lack of a sleep mode coupled with the horrendous battery life. That is certainly not a concern with the Kindle family of devices. I get access to the Amazon Kindle store right on the device while getting books on to the iLiad was a bit more work. I also greatly appreciate the larger screen as I can comfortably read most of my journal articles in portrait mode with the white spaces trimmed. I do miss the select-and-zoom mode from the iLiad and being able to write on the PDFs but not as much. The Kindle definitely feels like a much more solidly built device with a much better case than the iLiad BE.

In all, I am really happy and will be selling off my iLiad BE soon. I do hope that Amazon adds more features to the PDF reader in subsequent updates but even if they don't, I am quite satisfied and enjoying my purchase

I used to have an iLiad too. The DR is what the iLiad "should" have been. Much more solidly built, and a dramatically improved user interface. For reading, the battery life is around 12h which, although not fantastic, is certainly adequate for my needs, especially since one can use the DR while it's charging.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Valloric

Maybe it's just me, but you seem to be contradicting yourself.

I don't think so. We know why Amazon cripple PDF support. But that still doesn't make it any more right for them to do so. Just because Amazon doesn't sell PDF doesn't mean they cannot have proper PDF support.

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by Gideon

Still, I dunno. The advantages to having a great PDF viewer, even with terrible functionality, is pretty nice. I've got reading for the next ten billion years (gotta get all those journal articles before my access goes away!) that way and can scan the occasional book when it suits me.

I am pretty happy with my DX; pdf (A4) looks good, page refreshes nare fast. I am curious, though- why didn'rt Amazon include html in its format support. It renders html through the browser; maybe there is a way to use the browser to display html on the local device.

I think there will be much competition in large-screen readers, but I don't think Sony will be the one to put out a cheaper reader, at least initially.

The only improvement I would like to see is better format support- for html, drm's pdf, and office docs (word and excel).

[quig]

Originally Posted by Teddman

Can you elaborate on that or provide a link? Sounds like an interesting story.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44350

[Strether]

I note Amazon sold out their first batch. New ones available 6/17/09.

Jim

[WChvrs]

Originally Posted by quig

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44350

Not to derail this thread, but.........wow.

[Abelturd]

Please does Kindle DX support unicode? Does it have support for diacritics, e.g. ľ,š,č,ť,ž,ý,á,í,é?

Thank you.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by Abelturd

Please does Kindle DX support unicode? Does it have support for diacritics, e.g. ľ,š,č,ť,ž,ý,á,í,é?

From what I can tell, PDF can display anything. For regular MOBI books, I don't know the limitations.

[Abelturd]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

From what I can tell, PDF can display anything. For regular MOBI books, I don't know the limitations.

This is a prc with rss news. If it's not too much of a difficulty, could you please check if it displays the same on kindle dx as in the mobipocket reader.
I would be very thankful.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by Abelturd

This is a prc with rss news. If it's not too much of a difficulty, could you please check if it displays the same on kindle dx as in the mobipocket reader.
I would be very thankful.

Looks exactly like it does in Mobipocket Reader:

[Abelturd]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Looks exactly like it does in Mobipocket Reader:

Thank you big time, karma coming at ya.
That should mean that dx supports unicode.
There's one little error though, the "t" with the arrow tip on top (didn't know how better to describe it) should display as "ť" but that's only a minor glitch.
Thanks again.

[sirbruce]

Ahh, yes, I see what you mean. Mobipocket Reader shows it as " t' " with the close single-quote after the t rather than on top of it, but that's a font issue I suppose.

[Daithi]

I've had mine for a day now, and overall I'm quite happy with it. It displays PDFs quite well. I looked at various PDFs of different sizes and different content and all displayed great (art books by Andrew Loomis, programming manuals, original Dickens novels, etc.). Of course the display of prc files is also excellent (wished they supported ePub).

There are some deficiencies but most are software related in regards to PDF support. Not having the ability to annotate, go to a page number, support of links within the PDF, dictionary support, the metadata is awful, etc. I'd also really like to have a zoom function for PDFs. I'm hoping these issues will be resolved with a software upgrade. I had also hoped that the original Kindle (and subsequent Kindles) would get a software upgrade that would provide folder (or tag) support, but that hasn't happened yet, so I'm not entirely optimistic.

In regards to hardware, not supporting an SD card is a huge mistake. I have the Gadshill Edition of Charles Dickens' Works -- 34 volumes with all the original illustrations and several additional illustrations as well. This takes up half my available space all on its own. For a device that supports PDFs, not supporting an SD card is a huge flaw.

It's definately not perfect, but I expect it will be my primary reading device. I really like the size, style, and especially the access to Amazon's content. I like having the keyboard even though I don't use it much, and find navigation pretty easy (I'd still like buttons on the left hand side). Compared to iRex I also like the KDX's price, weight, length of battery, and once again access to Amazon's content. I think Sony has a shot at producing something better, but the Amazon content is such a big thing for me that the Sony reader would really need to be stellar.

[kshanti4la]

Hello friends:

Thank you so much for these interesting comments. Pls, can anyone add a bit more commentary on a comparison of the Kindle DX and a BeBook/Hanlin v 3?

I'm still so undecided on which e-reader will work best for my needs, which are the ability to read PDFs and, one hopes, the ability to highlight or make comments on the text. I'm a PhD student (yeah, this is what the failing economy does to some people) and am simply swimming in PDF material. The Hanlin looks interesting but it's size is a bit small, yes? And I live outside of the US, so Kindle support would be iffy at best, don't you think?

Any comments on the software, Stanza, which is reported to reconfigure and load PDF books to Kindle 2s without the assistance of the Amazon middleman?

Again, thank you for such a helpful forum.

Linda