Amazon has a 1-day discount on its Kindle DX Graphite today, August 10, Friday.
The The DXG is on a special one-day sale for $110 off and Amazon last did a big sale for one day on this model during Black Friday Week 2011 when they discounted The DXG by $120.
At that time we wondered if they were being phased out.
But it's almost a year later now.
Amazon's wording:
' Today only, August 10, 2012, get Kindle DX for $269 (regularly $379). Kindle DX includes Free 3G wireless that works globally. 'The email I received added, "while supplies last." However, the product page doesn't have that wording.
If you click on the image at the top of today's blog, you'll get the larger image. Then if you click on "Next" while there -- at the top-right while viewing, there's a zoomed in version of that photo so that you can see the font display better.
For more on the DX Graphite model, here are Day 1 reports on it in the Kindle forums after it was released
Also, here are reactions to the DXG by the tough-minded Mobileread Forum folks, a crowd which tended to favor the Sony display before the Kindle Graphite DX was released.
A 6" Kindle? Or the largish 9.7" DX
This was a common question, and I was asked about this today. I wrote a blog article, when the first Kindle DX was released, about questions you should ask yourself before deciding between a smaller, more carryable Kindle and the larger, more readable one.
The advice would be the same for the current 6" and the DX Graphite though, except that the current 6" Kindle Touch has considerably darker fonts than the old Kindle 2 had.
Screen examples of older model showing PDFs, landscape mode, sheet music
Here are examples of material (PDFs and sheet music) as displayed on my older Kindle DX before they improved the model with the DX Graphite which has darker fonts and higher contrast.
These will still give you an idea. Click "next" at upper-right of the image page to get more examples as you go.
I use the Kindle Fire more, but for PDFs with smaller print, I reach for the DX Graphite.
I suppose that Amazon is going to clean the "marketing confusion" generated by all the kindle versions they have (especially in USA).
ReplyDeleteKindle touch DX, would be nice!
Erick, it'd be nice to have a DX touch (though I haven't missed it). The problem with the 9.7" e-Ink is that there are no economies of scale on this.
DeleteSo, it's expensive as it has been. No other e-reader venders have a 9.7" e-Ink out. In the past, we had iRex and, I think it was, Plastic Logic. Both companies are gone. The latter was financed in Russia and now that hasn't turned out well, either.
That's true! I have a lot of long pdf documents from work, I borrowed a Kindle 4 from a friend but It was not a good experience. I could buy a 10" tablet but I feel sorry for my eyes.
DeleteErick, yes. Basic is VERY basic :-) No landscape that I know of. And it's mainly focused on reading novels and not much else. But with no physical keyboard and no touch keyboard I personally would find it trying - but I know many who find it all they need.
DeleteThe zoom handling of the DX in pdfs is quite clunky, but the process works well for most pdfs I have in that zooming isn't needed as a rule.
On a tablet I dim the display way down for reading and use sepia tone. Much easier on the eye, and surprisingly comfortable for a short time, but when I get back to e-Ink, what a difference in ease on the eyes.
Even at today's discounted price, you'd be better off with a tablet for PDF in general. DXG has no annotation capabilities, bookmark navigation, much better performance i general, etc.
ReplyDeleteBTW 'Kindle' does seem to have orientation option. At least the User's Guide references this. I just bought one for a friend (at the 40% discount for Amazon VISA cardholders). I'll check this when we unbox it, but I'm pretty sure it will work as the K4 firmware is pretty much the same as K3 (except for the virtual keyboard).
Tom, well, for pdf's it'll depend on the size and style of fonts because these can be hard to read at length on an LCD tablet for me. The e-Ink fonts on the DX are etching-like for me and just easier on the eye. However, if the PDF is too wide for the Kindle DX, then it is hell to use those zoom boxes :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't know why they haven't yet upgraded the DX for the changes given to Kindle 3 at the time they both came out since they are using the same type of display. Could the processor be that much slower in the DX Graphite AND it has to do double the text per page turn? No idea.
The basic Kindle probably got the Landscape option at the same time that the Kindle Touch did with a software update a few months ago finally, after a long wait...
Thanks!
News spreads: http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/12/3237993/amazon-kindle-models-discontinued-out-of-stock-discounted
ReplyDeleteHi, Erick -
ReplyDeleteYes, I read that about an hour ago. Noted the apparent disappearance of a Kindle Keyboard WiFi mode but not the 3G one. Haven't checked yet, but I'm pretty sure that all signs are we will be seeing new products soon.
I feel like I've been reading the same predictions over and over again as they all pick up old KFire rumors. But noticing the product pages? Yes, a lot of people are watching. You were among the first to notice...