Amazon's Kindle DX

Today Amazon announced their Kindle DX, an oversize version of their e-reader. Primarily aimed at the textbook and newspaper markets, the Kindle DX is in many ways a Kindle 2 with a much larger screen. The Kindle DX has a display size of 9.7 inches and a built-in storage capacity of 4GB, storing up to 3,500 books. Additionally, the Kindle DX comes with a built-in PDF reader, and the ability to rotate the Kindle into landscape mode. The Kindle DX is only available for pre-order now, and will begin shipping out in a first come, first served basis.

Some of the interesting UI choices they've made is a some button rearrangements as well as changing the shape of the keyboard keys (the keys are now oval instead of round). While the DX is certainly a step ahead of the second version of the Kindle, and the willingness of 60% of college textbook publishers to put titles on the Kindle is certainly a step ahead in the right direction of creating digital versions of their textbooks, at $489, it's quite expensive for a e-reader, and partially out of the budget of most college students, and the paperback-sized 6-inch Kindle 2 is $130 cheaper for nearly the same feature set. However, conversion of 1300 PDFs over the lifetime of the device for reading would more than make up for the cost difference.