helps you find the perfect gadget. ver. 1.2

"The reader's appearance is further streamlined by its absence of buttons on the left-hand side of the unit; the controls to turn pages have migrated exclusively to the right side."

"The DX's 9.7-inch screen resembles a page from a typical hardback."

"The DX...doesn't feel too burdensome to carry or hold. However, it clearly isn't as portable as the Kindle 2; its larger footprint requires a larger bag or briefcase for stowaway purposes. Most women's handbags, for instance, just won't be big enough to contain the thing.... You really need to keep both hands on the device to support its weight. "

"With the DX, I find myself reaching across the page with my left hand to turn the screen, giving me a sense of the difficulties that southpaws may face with the DX. Amazon's suggested fix is using the DX's controls to invert the page image, and flipping the unit so the keyboard is on top. But that gives lefties an upside down QWERTY."

"It’s a scant 0.02-inches thicker than the Kindle 2, at 0.38-inches, with a metal back-plate lending stiffness, but the left-side page controls have been dropped."

"To prevent the device from being even larger, [Amazon] had to remove the left-side page-turning buttons, confining all the controls to a vertical strip on the right. The keyboard at the bottom is also more vertically cramped."

"The DX should have page controls on all four sides, since the screen can flip 360 degrees. With the page controls located on just one side, turning pages in landscape mode requires an awkward reach to the top or bottom, which makes using it sideways for any period of time somewhat tedious."

"Best of all, the DX was engineered not to feel big. Virtually the same thickness as the Kindle 2, the 19-ounce heft won't tax your wrists. Its keyboard is actually a little smaller than the Kindle 2's, so almost all of the DX's front surface is covered by the screen."

"Because of the device's larger dimensions, it's a little difficult to thumb-type on the tiny-buttoned keyboard, but since typing isn't often required, that's not a huge problem."

"I found the students' gripes about the Kindle's poor annotation skills particularly interesting. The ability to interact physically with a textbook -- mark up pages, write in the margins, paste sticky notes, and quickly flip through pages -- is lost with an e-reader, although the Kindle DX does provide similar electronic tools."

"While its feedback is slightly better than the one on the Kindle 2, the wider DX e-reader makes typing a little awkward. Of course, keyboard feel is one of those things where everybody has their own opinion. All I’m saying is this: a) I have small hands and b) I’ve gotten used to typing with my thumbs on a BlackBerry, so the DX experience was not ideal for me."

"The DX also features a built-in QWERTY keyboard for taking notes, entering search terms when wirelessly accessing the Kindle Store, and typing out URLs in the rudimentary Web browser."

"Like the Kindle 2, the Kindle DX has a keyboard, but it's awkward to type on."

"As with the Kindle 2 you can add text comments and clip sections of an ebook, but there’s no circling, in-line amendments, underlining or any of the common highlighting many people do with their textbooks."

"It's hard to say if we've ever used a keyboard this bad, and hell, we've used the Kindle 2's keyboard. Not only does the increased width of the DX make for some awkward thumb reaches, the keys themselves are tiny, placed poorly, and have so little travel and feel so gummy that it's almost impossible to tell if you've actually pressed one..."

"The Home button is still the best way to restart your navigation process, and the five-way directional toggle moves you through the menus. Previous Page and Next Page buttons, as before, are situated along the right-hand side of the device, but there are no page navigation controls on the left, as there are on the Kindle 2."

"If there's room for a keyboard, there should be one-button access to the Kindle store. To get there you have to navigate through the menu system."

"The device even works upside down, so that lefties can use the page navigation keys with their left hand."

"Anybody who automatically goes to use their left-hand to turn pages (and that’s not just the left-handed among us) will have to either retrain themselves or follow Amazon’s advice and flip the display 180-degrees. Doing so obviously puts the keyboard and joystick out of easy reach, so it’s not an ideal solution."

"One major Kindle DX enhancement is the ability to reorient content. The accelerometer inside can adjust to display all content horizontally or vertically, or even at a full 180-degree rotation. This ability renders left-side navigation buttons unnecessary, and it's great if you're left-handed--or even if you just want the freedom to vary how you hold the e-book reader."

"The larger screen lends itself to displaying newspaper and magazine content…. You see more of the story on a single page and the reading experience is a little more akin to reading an actual newspaper."

"The DX weighs about half as much as the paperback, a real load off my chest. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) As Kindle lover Chen is apt to point out, the Kindle 2 is just half the weight of the DX, but I counter with this lazy man's factoid: Even using a slightly larger font, I can see the equivalent of two and a half Kindle 2 pages on a DX screen. It is, in fact, a better reading experience."

"Reading by the pool was pleasant, and there was absolutely no glare caused by the sun."

"In reading standard books on the DX, I also encountered instances where the text on a page varied in shade from light gray to black…. I tried a variety of documents, and in many cases the results were great. The text was crisp, and the tables and graphics looked like they should. But I found that on some of these PDF documents, the text was too small to read..."

"The screen is slow to flip, the page formatting usually looks weird, and there aren't convenient Next/Previous Page buttons for horizontal reading. In fact, the interface overall lags a long way behind UI maestros like Apple."

"Thing is, when you download a magazine like the Atlantic Monthly or the New Yorker to read on the DX, the design isn't any different, so it doesn't really use this extra space in a meaningful way. Sure, photos can be larger, but for the most part you just get more words on the page."

"More text on a page means more lines and, if you prefer, a bigger font, without having to turn the page as often. What does that mean for you? It's easier to read via the DX."

"Monochrome E-Ink may look nice by the light of your nightstand lamp—and thank God Amazon hasn't gone and mucked it up like Sony did with that PRS (more like POS)-700—but it's still too slow to leaf around the way you would a serious work of literature."

"I can't imagine how anyone could listen to more than a paragraph. Apparently neither can Amazon: In the Kindle DX, the speech controls are buried, and you have to memorize a keystroke combination to get it working."

"At the default speed, the voice reads a tad too fast, but at the slower speed, it’s in slow motion. Also, Amazon has some work to do to get the computer-generated voice to pronounce words like real humans."

"It seems more gimmicky than anything else, and AudioBooks are certainly not at threat."

"Like the Kindle 2, the Kindle DX has text-to-speech reading capabilities for handling content whose producers permit it. But whereas the Kindle 2 has a monaural speaker, the Kindle DX has built-in stereo speakers."

"Like the Kindle 2, the DX's rechargeable battery is sealed into the unit (read: nonremovable) and delivers about two weeks of battery life if you use the built-in 3G wireless data connection judiciously. If your battery dies, you have to send the device back to Amazon to replace the battery for a fee."

"Battery life is similar to Kindle 2. In line with Amazon's claims, my test unit went four days with the wireless on before a warning message appeared. I assume that, as with the other model, you can go almost two weeks if you turn off the wireless."

"The back of the DX does not detach; there is no removable battery or memory card slot like the original—though Amazon says this version can hold more than 3,500 books."

"Amazon claims the same multiday battery life for the DX as for the Kindle 2. In my tests, I was able to go for several days of moderate reading without recharging, and much more if I turned off the wireless capability."

"Unlike a laptop or an iPhone, the screen is not illuminated, so there’s no glare, no eyestrain — and no battery consumption. You use power only when you actually turn the page, causing millions of black particles to realign."

"Amazon will ship an international edition of its 9.7-inch screen Kindle DX, beginning January 19th [2010]. The oversized e-reader will cost $490, and replaces the current US-only unit. The new DX also benefits from the firmware update that gave its little brother better battery life."

"As Kindle lover Chen is apt to point out, the Kindle 2 is just half the weight of the DX, but I counter with this lazy man's factoid: Even using a slightly larger font, I can see the equivalent of two and a half Kindle 2 pages on a DX screen. It is, in fact, a better reading experience."

"I found [the Kindle 2] to be convenient and just the right size to fit in my handbag. It at least felt like a book. But after toting around the Kindle DX, it suddenly feels as if I am carrying a computer."

"The DX...doesn't feel too burdensome to carry or hold. However, it clearly isn't as portable as the Kindle 2; its larger footprint requires a larger bag or briefcase for stowaway purposes. Most women's handbags, for instance, just won't be big enough to contain the thing."

"Best of all, the DX was engineered not to feel big. Virtually the same thickness as the Kindle 2, the 19-ounce heft won't tax your wrists. Its keyboard is actually a little smaller than the Kindle 2's, so almost all of the DX's front surface is covered by the screen."

"Furthermore, its larger size means the DX is, while no heavyweight, still heavier than I think I’d want it to be. (One indication: eventual palm fatigue when holding the DX in one hand, as I would when riding the subway.)"

"Amazon also throw in an MP3 player, which is rudimentary in its features but, as long as you’re satisfied with merely MP3 support, does all you ask of it, including background playback either via headphones (there’s a standard 3.5mm socket) or the integrated stereo speakers."

"If you like the idea of listening to music while you read or hearing a real audio book, the Kindle DX makes transferring songs to the device relatively simple. Unplug one end of the Kindle DX cable from its small power adapter and plug it into your PC. We transferred two Meiko tracks over to the device and played them back using the MP3 player. Audio sounded much better than we expected: Music played loud and clear through the Kindle DX’s two speakers."

"MP3 playback that's surprisingly confident when running through light jazz vocals but collapses into mush when faced with anything more demanding."

"The DX comes with more memory: 4GB (3.3 usable) of internal memory, compared with 2GB for the Kindle 2 (neither the DX nor the Kindle 2 has an expansion slot for more memory, like the original Kindle had). That's enough memory to store 3,500 books, according to Amazon."

"The Kindle DX comes with 4GB of memory, room to store about 3,500 books, compared with the 2GB, 1,500-book capacity of the Kindle 2. I doubt many Kindle users will ever max out their libraries…. There's still no slot for expanding the memory."

"Workers who normally carry binders full of documents will greatly lessen their load by toting a Kindle DX, which has 3.3 gigs worth of usable storage"

"Finally, a very basic web-browser offers rudimentary online access over the 3G connection, good enough for the occasional Google query but unlikely to displace your netbook."

"Amazon labels its browser option “Basic Web,” which is fitting.... I tried to get around the need to subscribe to the newspaper by going to nytimes.com, but quickly discovered that the browser doesn’t support the full version of the Web that we view on our computers (and now, some smartphones)."

"You can now switch from a basic mode to an advanced "desktop" mode that allows you to view the Web page as you would on your desktop.... Ultimately, the browser still does best with lighter-weight (read: fewer graphics) mobile versions of Web sites that are suitable for viewing on mobile phones..."

"The Kindle catalog is bigger, too; [300,000] books are available. New York Times bestsellers are $10 each, which is less than the hardcover editions. Older books run $3 to $6. That said, Amazon is still a long way from its ‘any book, any time’ goal..."

"Amazon has announced that it "reached an agreement" with the three publishers who account for 60% of textbooks sold—Pearson, Cengage Learning and Wiley (but not Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)—we haven't seen any actual textbooks distributed to Kindles yet and, more upsettingly, we have no idea how much they will cost or what weird rights issues may be involved in their "sale."

"Shortly after I got my DX, I downloaded the Google Books version of the public domain Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and e-mailed the 9-megabtye file to my Kindle DX. Inside of 10 minutes, the document arrived via Whispernet (Kindle's wireless service) and I was reading the scanned pages.... The textbooks haven't arrived, but the DX crisply displays monochrome output of PDF or MS Office files."

"Internally, it has native PDF support, which allows for reading of the vast bulk of formal business literature, not to mention a bazillion easy-to-download copyright-free (free-free!) works of actual literature."

"The native PDF support is a tough call.... Amazon does offer an "experimental" e-mail conversion service that will turn PDFs, as well as JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP images, into Amazon's proprietary AZW format. However, Amazon acknowledges that using this service doesn't always yield PDFs that display accurately."

"Amazon has raised its fees for converting and delivering business documents via email to all Kindles. The charge was formerly 10 cents a document. Now, it's 15 cents per megabyte, which can add up if you load up your Kindle with lots of large documents. Most of my test documents, which were fairly small, cost over $1 each."

"The DX also adds native PDF and RTF file support to the Kindle. Although previous Kindles have been able to display PDFs, this support was experimental and spotty. The Kindle DX uses Adobe Reader Mobile technology to provide that native PDF support. During my tests, I loaded some of my own PDF documents, and the results were so-so."

"When it comes to PDFs, the Kindle DX lives up to its unambitious promise: There they are, in the menu, the minute you copy them from your computer to the Kindle via USB. What won't show up are .doc, .docx, Excel spreadsheets or any other text-based pseudo-standards from the Microsoft people, and no images either."

"We wish the Kindles were more open and offered support for other formats such as EPUB files, but, for now, Amazon has chosen to keep its e-reader garden relatively closed."

"The other big enhancement--mentioned earlier--is the Kindle DX's native PDF reader, enabling Amazon to target the professional market, where financial documents, reports, marketing flyers, and even PowerPoint presentations are commonly published as PDFs."

"Ebook deliveries via the integrated 3G connection (which relies on Sprint’s EVDO Rev.A network) are fast and simple, and there’s certainly no shortage of choice through Amazon’s online store."

"You can delete titles from the Kindle and then later redownload previously purchased books in under a minute, free of charge."

"Files can be sideloaded via the micro USB cable or sent through Amazon's Whispernet service. For the latter, all you have to do is send the file as an attachment to your Kindle e-mail address and, minutes later, the file will appear on your DX. Just keep the cost in mind ($0.15 per megabyte). For large files, sideloading is a better solution."

"We’ve had no problems loading files onto the Kindle DX either via the wireless Whispernet service (where you email the PDF – or indeed a variety of file formats... to your DX’s unique email address, and it’s converted en-route) [for a price].... Anybody planning on doing this regularly really should get into the habit of using the included USB 2.0 to micro-USB cable, though, as Amazon’s Whispernet conversion fees can quickly mount up."

"The interface is the same, the dead-simple process of wirelessly downloading books is the same, and the content you can get on the device (books, magazines, newspapers) is the same."

"Another nice convenience: if you have multiple Kindles on a single account--or, more likely, if you're running Amazon's free Kindle App on your iPhone or iPod Touch--all of your content will be synced up. Stop reading a book on Page 116 on the DX, and when you pull it up on the iPhone, it'll resume at that point."

Amazon was ranked #4 in customer service among all U.S. retailers in a 2009 National Retail Federation Foundation survey of 8,600 consumers. Amazon has been ranked in the top 5 in customer service in this survey every year since 2006.

Amazon was the top-rated e-commerce site according to an annual survey on holiday shopping satisfaction conducted by ForeSee Results in December, 2009.

Amazon ranked 4th out of 113 companies for their customer experience according to a survey of 4,500 consumers conducted by Forrester Research in April 2009.

"Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of A+ on a scale from A+ to F."

On their website, Amazon's Kindle return policy states: "You can return your Kindle for a full refund within 30 days of the day you received it as long as it is in new condition and in accordance with our return policy. Your Kindle is not eligible for return and refund after the 30-day return period has expired." Amazon's general return policy states that: "You may return most new, unopened items sold and fulfilled by Amazon.com within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. We'll also pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error. Items should be returned in their original product packaging. Just visit our online Returns Center, and we will guide you through the process and even supply you with a return mailing label you can print out."

On their website, Amazon's Kindle warranty policy states: "We warrant the Device against defects in materials and workmanship under ordinary consumer use for one year from the date of original retail purchase. During this warranty period, if a defect arises in the Device, and you follow the instructions for returning the Device, we will, at our option, either (i) repair the Device using either new or refurbished parts, (ii) replace the Device with a new or refurbished Device, or (iii) refund the purchase price of the Device. This limited warranty applies to any repair, replacement part or replacement Device for the remainder of the original warranty period or for ninety days, whichever period is longer. All replaced parts and Devices for which a refund is given shall become our property. This limited warranty applies only to hardware components of the Device that are not subject to accident, misuse, neglect, fire or other external causes, unauthorized use, alterations or repair, or commercial use."