Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

Many a kindle dx review has pointed out that the benefit of the larger screen does not come without accompanying disadvantages. The whole question of size becomes a rather interesting one.

Lets look at the competing factors by starting with the Kindle 2.

Kindle 2′s Smaller Size enables greater portability

The fact that the Kindle 2 is the same size as a paperback book and about as light means -

1. You can carry it around easily.
2. Kindle 2 doesn’t take up much space in your luggage.
3. You can carry it around in your purse.

You even see companies releasing products that are even smaller – devices with 5″ screens advertised as “carry in your pocket” ereaders.

In general, the smaller the size of the eReader the better the portability.

Kindle 2′s Smaller Size enables easier handling and use

The small size and light weight of the Kindle 2 make it -

1. Easy to carry around. 
2. Great for reading with one hand.
3. Great for relaxed reading on the couch or in bed.
4. So Kindle 2 use doesn’t tire your hand.  
5. Easy to handle.

Again, we see that the smaller size of the Kindle 2 makes it as easy to use as a paperback with the additional benefit of being able to flip pages with just one hand.

However, Kindle’s Smaller Size does impose some Restrictions

We see a few direct disadvantages due to the small size -

1. The screen is rather small. Although the size of the Kindle 2 is the same as a paperback the reading screen is probably 65% in size.  
2. Making the device compact means the SD card was eliminated (supposedly to ensure thinness). 
3. Another disadvantage is the liliputian keyboard.  

Lets look at the Kindle DX.

Kindle DX’s Larger Size enables larger screen size

The screen being 2.5 times the size of the Kindle 2 is a definite advantage -

1. We finally get a large enough reading area. 
2. Magazines, Newspapers, websites become more readable.
3. The landscape mode of the Kindle DX further improves the size.
4. Larger fonts can be used without turning pages into paragraphs.

The DX with its larger screen and landscape mode does an excellent job of improving on screen size and readability. However, we have a device that isn’t as portable and is not as easy to handle.

The Kindle DX has the size advantage that a hardcover does, and also the accompanying disadvantages of bulk and inconvenience.

What Should We Choose?  

On the surface this problem of size seems to have no solution – you have to choose one option and accept the trade-offs. However, there are two interesting possibilities -

1. Split Screens. You could literally take two kindle 2 screens and put them side to side around a hinge and create a 2-page ebook. Introduce a portrait mode that lets you read on both screens as one page and voila – you get a Kindle 2 sized device (probably 1.5 times as thick) with a Kindle DX size screen (almost). 
2. Roll-able and Flexible Screens. We already have Polymer Vision’s Readius as an example of this –
3. Another good example of a roll-able screen is from eInk (the company that makes the Kindle’s screens; jump to 1:09 in the video) –

Polymer Vision seems to be further along than PVI/eInk and its currently having financial difficulties. Amazon ought to consider buying them if their display technology is close enough to mass production.

One or both of Kindle 3 and Kindle DX 2 ought to leverage these technologies to solve the size challenge.

Filed under: evolution Tagged: | kindle size