Amazon unveils 9.7-inch Kindle DX with focus on education
Amazon on Tuesday introduced the Kindle DX, a new multi-purpose version of its digital eBook reader that, thanks to a 2.5 times larger screen, is garnering the support of several universities, newspapers and textbook publishers who've announce pilot programs around the device.
Thinner than most magazines at just over a third of an inch, the $489 Kindle DX sports a large 9.7-inch e-ink paper display with 16 shades of gray, making it ideal for newspapers, magazines, and graphic-rich textbooks that include an assortment of images, tables, charts, and equations.
Also new to the DX model is an Auto-Rotation feature for displaying content in landscape or portrait mode, and a built-in PDF reader leveraging Adobe Reader Mobile technology. Like other types of documents on Kindle, users can email their PDF format documents to their Kindle email address or move them over using a USB connection.
Each Kindle DX ships with 3.3 GB of memory, which Amazon says is sufficient for storing up to 3,500 books, or more than double that of the Kindle 2 (unboxing, review). The online bookseller will also automatically back up a copy of every Kindle book purchased so users can wirelessly re-download titles from their library at any time.
Like the Kindle 2, the DX model connects to Amazon's 3G-based Whispernet for wireless book shopping and is capable of downloading new content in "less than 60 seconds." The wireless service is included in the price of each Kindle DX, meaning users won't need to seek out Wi-Fi hot spots or access a PC to transfer and purchase content. The device also automatically syncs content across Kindle, Kindle 2, and the Kindle for iPhone app.
"Personal and professional documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display that you?ll find yourself changing ink-toner cartridges less often," said Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos. "Cookbooks, computer books, and textbooks ? anything highly formatted ? also shine on the Kindle DX. Carry all your documents and your whole library in one slender package."
Several high-circulation newspapers include The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post each have announced pilots with Kindle DX this summer, where they'll offer the device at a reduced price to readers who live in areas where home-delivery is not available and who sign up for a long-term subscription to the Kindle edition of the newspapers.
Educational institutions and book publishers are also throwing their support behind Amazon's big-screen device. Textbook publishers Cengage Learning, Pearson, and Wiley, which together make up more than 60 percent of the U.S. higher education textbook market, will all begin offering textbooks through the Kindle Store beginning this summer.
Textbook brands published by those companies include Addison-Wesley, Allyn & Bacon, Benjamin Cummings, Longman & Prentice Hall (Pearson); Wadsworth, Brooks/Cole, Course Technology, Delmar, Heinle, Schirmer, South-Western (Cengage); and Wiley Higher Education.
With the first batch of Kindle-formatted textbooks on the way, Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia have each announce plans to launch trial programs that will make Kindle DX devices available to students this fall.
These schools have agreed to distribute hundreds of Kindle DX devices to students spread across a broad range of academic disciplines, Amazon said. In addition to reading their course material on a larger screen, students can take advantage of existing Kindle features such as the ability to take notes and highlight, search across their library, look up words in a built-in dictionary, and carry all of their books in a single lightweight device.
?The Kindle DX holds enormous potential to influence the way students learn,? said Barbara R. Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University. ?We look forward to seeing how the device affects the participation of both students and faculty in the educational experience.?
Textbooks aside, Amazon said there are more than 275,000 traditional books available in the Kindle Store, including 107 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers. Most of those books and other new release are priced at $9.99. Many top U.S. and international magazines and newspapers, as well as more than 1,500 blogs, are also available.
Amazon is currently taking pre-orders for the Kindle DX through its online store on a first-come, first-served basis ahead of availability planned for sometime this summer. A guided tour of the new eBook reader is also available at Amazon.com.
Thinner than most magazines at just over a third of an inch, the $489 Kindle DX sports a large 9.7-inch e-ink paper display with 16 shades of gray, making it ideal for newspapers, magazines, and graphic-rich textbooks that include an assortment of images, tables, charts, and equations.
Also new to the DX model is an Auto-Rotation feature for displaying content in landscape or portrait mode, and a built-in PDF reader leveraging Adobe Reader Mobile technology. Like other types of documents on Kindle, users can email their PDF format documents to their Kindle email address or move them over using a USB connection.
Each Kindle DX ships with 3.3 GB of memory, which Amazon says is sufficient for storing up to 3,500 books, or more than double that of the Kindle 2 (unboxing, review). The online bookseller will also automatically back up a copy of every Kindle book purchased so users can wirelessly re-download titles from their library at any time.
Like the Kindle 2, the DX model connects to Amazon's 3G-based Whispernet for wireless book shopping and is capable of downloading new content in "less than 60 seconds." The wireless service is included in the price of each Kindle DX, meaning users won't need to seek out Wi-Fi hot spots or access a PC to transfer and purchase content. The device also automatically syncs content across Kindle, Kindle 2, and the Kindle for iPhone app.
"Personal and professional documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display that you?ll find yourself changing ink-toner cartridges less often," said Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos. "Cookbooks, computer books, and textbooks ? anything highly formatted ? also shine on the Kindle DX. Carry all your documents and your whole library in one slender package."
Several high-circulation newspapers include The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post each have announced pilots with Kindle DX this summer, where they'll offer the device at a reduced price to readers who live in areas where home-delivery is not available and who sign up for a long-term subscription to the Kindle edition of the newspapers.
Educational institutions and book publishers are also throwing their support behind Amazon's big-screen device. Textbook publishers Cengage Learning, Pearson, and Wiley, which together make up more than 60 percent of the U.S. higher education textbook market, will all begin offering textbooks through the Kindle Store beginning this summer.
Textbook brands published by those companies include Addison-Wesley, Allyn & Bacon, Benjamin Cummings, Longman & Prentice Hall (Pearson); Wadsworth, Brooks/Cole, Course Technology, Delmar, Heinle, Schirmer, South-Western (Cengage); and Wiley Higher Education.
With the first batch of Kindle-formatted textbooks on the way, Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia have each announce plans to launch trial programs that will make Kindle DX devices available to students this fall.
These schools have agreed to distribute hundreds of Kindle DX devices to students spread across a broad range of academic disciplines, Amazon said. In addition to reading their course material on a larger screen, students can take advantage of existing Kindle features such as the ability to take notes and highlight, search across their library, look up words in a built-in dictionary, and carry all of their books in a single lightweight device.
?The Kindle DX holds enormous potential to influence the way students learn,? said Barbara R. Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University. ?We look forward to seeing how the device affects the participation of both students and faculty in the educational experience.?
Textbooks aside, Amazon said there are more than 275,000 traditional books available in the Kindle Store, including 107 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers. Most of those books and other new release are priced at $9.99. Many top U.S. and international magazines and newspapers, as well as more than 1,500 blogs, are also available.
Amazon is currently taking pre-orders for the Kindle DX through its online store on a first-come, first-served basis ahead of availability planned for sometime this summer. A guided tour of the new eBook reader is also available at Amazon.com.
Comments
Color, OS programs, email, just hope we are not raped by a contract.
Should work well with iPhone, Mobile Me. It's happening.
Or was it Redmond?
Each Kindle DX ships with 3.3 GB of memory
Why the 3.3GB, why not 3GB or 4GB?
I can't wait for the Apple device that will probably run on Verizon.
Color, OS programs, email, just hope we are not raped by a contract.
Should work well with iPhone, Mobile Me. It's happening.
You make a lot of assumptions. I hope they come to fruition but have seen nothing that shows any signs that any of them are likely.
Why the 3.3GB, why not 3GB or 4GB?
It may have 4GB with 768MB or so reserved for firmware.
For $490 I can buy a pretty nice laptop, with a full-color screen. They really need to get the pricing down on these things.
Why the 3.3GB, why not 3GB or 4GB?
I figure the firmware and drivers are taking up the rest.
Though when I was a student, I would have loved this device to bring with me to class instead of a laptop. Most college classes I took had the professor talking about the readings, and I would take notes on the PDF they had us download. I hated the fact that the computer took so long to boot before I could open the PDF (1-3 minutes while the teacher has already started lecture!). So yeah... I guess I'm a few years too late.
I am curious, how will text book prices on the Kindle compare to physical text book prices. Seeing that the DX is so much (about the total I spent on text books per semester) I wonder if it really will gain any ground. Though we do know the price is due to the the no contracts with Sprint 3G...
If I went with something like this, I still think I wouldn't want either of those major newspapers on it. I don't think these guys get what's happening yet. They're still seeing the future through their own rear view mirrors.
Yeah, the course book angle makes sense (even though they pointedly don't say how much the students will pay for the device), but this thing seems designed overall as a technological replacement for people that currently buy and read newspapers.
The number of people who get their news by reading newspapers is very small nowadays, especially relevant to the potential market for such devices, and most people who still read them, read the "free" newspapers (which are actually propaganda/advertisement flyers disguised as newspapers but that's another story).
For $490 I can buy a pretty nice laptop, with a full-color screen. They really need to get the pricing down on these things.
Yes, you can, but this isn't a notebook. Comparing this to a notebook is like comparing an iPod Touch to a notebook, they all have their purposes. Some aspects cross over but their main uses and capabilities are very different from each other.
The number of people who get their news by reading newspapers is very small nowadays, especially relevant to the potential market for such devices, and most people who still read them, read the "free" newspapers (which are actually propaganda/advertisement flyers disguised as newspapers but that's another story).
Unless they sell newspapers formatted to fit on the device and easy to navigate it doesn't seem like a likely replacement, though it is a step in the right direction if they want to make these common. I still think colour has to be introduced with an ecceptable level to recreate magazines before this will catch on. Maybe melgross is right that low power OLEDs and super efficient batteries are more likely before E-Ink will evolve.
while is makes sense to market this towards education - where will all the kiddies get their exercise from if they only have to carry this device around?
"Cupertino, start your copiers!"
Or was it Redmond?
Cute, but I'm sure Apple has had similar (looking) devices in R&D for several years, if not longer. Honestly, it's been 20 years since they first started development of the Newton.
You don't think all the research into case design and materials was for not; they're looking for the best way to build strong, sturdy cases for thin devices.
I understand, the hardware costs and wireless contract up the price, but I can't see this really flying until they can at least get the price down to $300. At that price, you could justify $100-200 of that for the lifetime wireless, and $200-100 as cost to overcome with electronic book discounts.
Sure it would be nice to have access to a huge library electronically, and the weight savings, but still, price, color, and multifunctionality need to get on there. I don't see those happening from a completely subjective point for perhaps 3-5 years.
Meanwhile, that's just a few iterations of modified iPhones/iPod Touches, and I could see that outpacing Kindle technology if Apple works in conjunction with Google's digital library project (and I'm sure Android will have that capability too.)
it doesn't seem that much larger for $100+.
while is makes sense to market this towards education - where will all the kiddies get their exercise from if they only have to carry this device around?
There is a lot more than a screen size increase.