Kindle News: Kindle DX Graphite $299 on the product page ($80 less)

Amazon has quietly changed the price on the DX Graphite from $379 to $299 - at least for today.

The DXG is back in the 'Kindle Family' header (where I haven't seen it since September 5, although it has been in the comparison table on product pages).

  Commenter QZA reported seeing the lower pricing at the "Caribbean Amazon" and I checked the U.S. page, and sure enough, it's $299 with no wording on the drop from $379, although it's no surprise they'd ultimately reduce the price now that LCD tablets of similar size (~10") are more economical than they were two years ago when the DX Graphite was released.

  I don't see it in Amazon's Gold Box or Lightning deals today, so it's probably more than short-term, but I have nothing to go on.

Kindle DX has 3G access but not WiFi
Kindle DX includes Free 3G wireless that works globally, like the Kindle Keyboard.  It does not have WiFi.  Here's Amazon's wording on the product page [emphases mine] :

' Wireless Access to Wikipedia
Kindle DX also includes free built-in access to the world's most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia--Wikipedia.org. With Kindle DX in hand, looking up people, places, events and more has never been easier. It gives whole new meaning to the phrase walking encyclopedia.

Search
Kindle DX's keyboard makes it easy to search within a book, across your library, in the Kindle Store, or even the Web.  To use the Search feature, simply type in a word or phrase you're looking for, and Kindle finds every instance in your book or across your Kindle library. Looking for the first reference of a character in your book? Simply type in the name and search.  You can extend your search to the Kindle Store to find related titles you may be interested in.  Explore even further by searching Wikipedia and the Web.  Web access is not currently available for some customers outside the U.S.  Check your country '

Bear in mind that the web access is ULTRA slow on e-Ink and can tax anyone's patience, but it is useful when you have a need for it to quickly check mobile versions of email webpages or to do lookups that are primarily text-based.

 Amazon UK has a page on the countries in which the 3G can be used when UK (or US) residents are traveling there.  I just updated it as it's now 59 countries rather than 61, with Russia and the Ukraine not included in that table now.

The Kindle DX Graphite
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 I was asked at the time.  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" models and the DX Graphite Kindle though, except that the current 6" Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Touch and Paperwhite have considerably darker fonts than the old Kindle 2 had.

Screen examples of older DX model (White) 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 many PDFs, I reach for the DX Graphite, as it's easier on the eyes for more sustained reading.  The words look etched on the screen and fewer page turns are needed, but it's also heavier.  I've used it only in the house but brought the DX with me on a 3-week trip to Egypt where I wanted to be able to check the many diagrams I'd saved from web articles.

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Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

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