First Look: Large-Screen Amazon Kindle DX Debuts in New York

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos personally unveils the newest and largest-screened Kindle eReader device, the Kindle DX, in a presentation at Pace University.

Kindle eBook sales now account for some 35 percent of Amazon’s total book sales, according to Bezos, who suggested that the device’s popularity stems from its light weight and easy-to-read screen.

The Kindle DX’s grayscale screen is capable of displaying images with a high degree of fidelity. The new device ships sometime this summer; Amazon is taking pre-orders today.

In conjunction with the release of the Kindle DX, Amazon struck a deal with three newspapers—The Boston Globe, The New York Times and The Washington Post—to offer a reduced-cost device in exchange for a long-term subscription commitment from customers.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The New York Times, espoused the virtues of the Kindle DX. The company will offer the device to potential subscribers outside of its home-delivery areas.

The Kindle DX is designed to be versatile, and capable of displaying not only books, but also PDF documents such as corporate reports or even ship navigation charts.

As with previous versions of the Kindle, pages on the DX can be navigated via a five-way controller.

The Kindle DX has 3.3 GB of storage, which translates to roughly 3,500 books. It also offers active PDF support, meaning that documents will fit the screen without the need to pan, zoom or scroll.

The Kindle DX is being offered at a higher cost, $489, than the Kindle, which retailed from Amazon for $359.

The previous version of the Kindle had a 6-inch screen, while the Kindle DX has a 9.7-inch display.

Buttons along the side of the device allow the user to navigate pages. Certain options from previous Kindle devices, such as text-to-speech, are still present.

In addition to newspapers, Amazon also signed a deal with leading textbook makers to port their works onto the Kindle DX. Some 60 percent of higher education textbooks will be offered on the device.

Amazon signed a deal with five universities, including the University of Virginia, to test-pilot the device on campuses this autumn.

Words can be highlighted within documents, allowing users to access the definition of the selected term at the bottom of the screen.