Amazon Kindle DX Review

This guest post was written by CJ’s husband MJ, who writes at Ask-MJ.com.

When news first broke of the Kindle DX, my first thought was, “Another one? Really?” I was disheartened that Amazon would release yet another Kindle so soon after releasing the Kindle 2. I felt exploited, even though I personally didn’t own either of the first two Kindles (though had played with both of them, since CJ owned each of them.)

At first, CJ didn’t want to buy it. Between the price, the fact that Kindle 2 had only arrived on our doorstep a few months before, and its sheer size, she wasn’t sold. I did my best to convince her to get it, citing that people who come to this site for news and reviews about all things Kindle would need information about the DX, and that if she wanted to continue this site it made complete sense to get it. Thankfully, I’m good at convincing her of things.

When the DX came, we did the usual unboxing photos, plugged it in, and played with it a bit. We let it charge overnight, and CJ took it with her to work the first day. After playing with it for a day, and reading a few articles on it for a day, she decided she wanted to keep her Kindle 2, and let me have the DX for my daily reading device. I’ll try my best to convey my thoughts about the device, both good and bad, in this review. If there are things I missed that you want to know, feel free to comment at the end, and I’ll get back to you.

The DX is much bigger than the previous Kindles (as you can see in the comparison picture at left), which is a good thing for me. One of my annoyances with the Kindle and Kindle 2 is that I had to click the “Next Page” button far too often. The DX allows much more text per page, without decreasing the font size to a point where it’s unreadable. While I read fairly fast, it still takes a bit of time to get through a “page” on the DX.

Speaking of clicking “Next Page,” without doing any scientific timing, or any real research, the page turns feel like they’re much faster to me. Clicking the button on the DX feels like actually turning a page in a book. In reading books on the first Kindle, I started to get to a point where I could read down to the second to last sentence on the page, and click the next page button. By the time the page flipped, I’d be at the last word. With Kindle 2, it was a little better, in that I could read down to the last sentence, and make it to the next page on time. With the DX, I can read almost every last word on the page (save maybe one or two) and click the button, and still not have to wait at all for the page to load. I’m sure if I sat down with a stop watch and timed these page turns, the DX would be far superior to its predecessors.

While the DX doesn’t seem to have very many new features over Kindle 2, it’s far more expensive than the previous ones, which is most likely holding people back from buying it. Especially considering that they’re marketing this to college students, to read textbooks on. The price didn’t deter us much from buying it. Factoring in the cheaper prices of Kindle books as compared to list price, over time we’d save money over buying hard copies of books. Seeing as this is the third Kindle in our family (CJ has Kindle 2, my mom took the first Kindle, and I have the DX), we can all share books, so we save money on buying books that my mom already has. One of the unwritten selling points of the Kindle (all varieties) is that you can share books across up to six separate Kindles on one Amazon account [Ed. note: This includes the Kindle for iPhone as a device.]. We put all three of ours on the same account, and can easily share books across all three devices.

The DX does page rotating, similar to an iPhone, but a bit more clumsy. In looking at the DX, you’d probably wonder why this feature was added, and why the buttons weren’t placed in more logical locations should you want to use it. I personally don’t like this feature, and would love it if there was a feature to turn it off. The majority of time I’m using the DX is on the subway, where I often have to move to allow people on or off the train, and the DX often gets jostled around during that time. Sometimes if I move slightly to the left or right, the screen rotates, and it’s not always simple to get it to rotate back. You have to trick it into thinking you really did rotate it that way, and then rotate back. If you look at the image(s) of the DX, and view the sideways image, you’ll note that the spots where your hands would be (which are technically the top and bottom of the DX, but when rotated are the left and right sides) don’t have any buttons. It’s tough to change the page on something, when the button’s nowhere near your hand.

According to Amazon’s description, with wireless turned off you can read for up to two weeks. (With wireless turned on, it says 4 days.) I charged the DX the first night we got it, which was June 10th (the day it was released.) I’ve read through three and a half books on it, so far, mostly every day on my commute to and from work (which is roughly an hour each way on the train) and am at about 55% battery power left. I’ve turned the wireless on only to browse through the Kindle store, and to download the new books I’ve wanted to read. Other than that, I know enough to keep the wireless off, because we all know how it drains your battery. I’ve been very impressed with the battery life on the DX thus far.

Another complaint, which I’ve gotten used to over the last few weeks, is the increase in weight of the DX over Kindle 2. At first I was thrown off by how heavy the DX was. It felt uncomfortable to hold, and was almost impossible to hold in one hand. Since I’ve been using it daily, and haven’t held the Kindle 2 in a while, I’ve gotten quite used to the increased weight of the DX, which is just over a full pound. While it’s not completely comfortable to hold in one hand for an extended length of time, it’s certainly doable in times when the train jerks back and forth and you need to grab a pole. But honestly, it’s a device best held in both hands. Plus, both hands feels more secure. I’m still paranoid that someone exiting the train is going to see it, grab it from me, and run off the train. I doubt that would happen, but I’m a paranoid commuter, sue me.

The download speeds don’t vary much from Kindle 2, so there’s nothing new to report there. The speeds are the same, and the wireless coverage appears about the same as well. I get five bars on the Kindle no matter where I am. What’s notable is that I get 3 bars on the Kindle in bed, where I get no bars on my AT&T mobile phone.

The DX boasts a “no glare” screen, and it’s pretty evident that it works very well. If you’ve ever used a glossy monitor in a sunny room, you know how annoying glare can be. You don’t have to worry about that with the DX. The dull screen on the DX doesn’t reflect any light back in your eyes, from the sun or florescent lights in your office. [Ed. note: The same applies for all versions of the Kindle.]

As I said earlier, there aren’t a whole lot of new features in the DX that you can’t get in the Kindle 2 (which Amazon now just calls the Kindle.) The DX is currently $140 more than the regular Kindle. The feature set is mostly the same, aside from how many books you can store on it, and the physical size of it. Aside from those little things, they’re pretty similar. Whether or not you need to (or want to) upgrade from Kindle 2 to the DX is up to you. If you’re someone, like me, who wants the latest and greatest gadgets, you’re going to buy it no matter what I say. If you’ve already got a Kindle 2, there may not be a need for you to get the DX. If you’ve got the original Kindle, and are looking for something newer, the DX may be worth looking into over the Kindle 2. Personally, the larger screen is a good selling point for me. Being able to read more words per page before having to click the “next page” button is certainly helpful, and makes me feel like I’m doing more reading than waiting for pages to change.

I had never seen myself using a Kindle on a daily basis, when I played with CJ’s Kindle or Kindle 2. Now I can’t see myself leaving the house in the morning without the DX. The thought of sitting on a train for an hour every morning without being able to read a book, or newspaper, or even a daily blog makes me cringe. The ability to know that even if I finish the book I’m reading, I can have another one downloaded in a heartbeat is pretty awesome. I really love the fact that I don’t have to worry about losing a bookmark in my book while it jostles around in my laptop bag during the day – I just turn on the DX (whose name is BK [Big Kindle]) and he knows what page I was on. No more scanning through the first few pages of a chapter I thought I left off on, the Kindle knows for me.

For CJ’s first impressions on the DX, click here or check out her guest post on Ask-MJ.com on how to decide between Kindle 2 and Kindle DX. If you’re ready to get your own Kindle DX, click here to buy it on Amazon.

As always, if you have any questions about the Kindle family of devices from Amazon, feel free to email CJ at cj@kindlenewsandreviews.com.