It took me 45 minutes and two rewrites to figure this out and even on the official Kindle forum people are very confused.
There is only one Kindle DX 2 and it’s graphite in color.
How can you identify the real Kindle DX 2?
Well, it’s in graphite.
Here’s how you can confirm you’re getting the brand new Kindle DX 2 -
- It’s graphite in color.
- The product video preview says clearly – All New eInk Screen. 50% better Contrast.
- Its Technical Details section has ‘new 10:1 contrast ratio’ at the very end of the Display line.
- It clearly is shown as a Pre-Order. There’s a line that says – This item will be released on July 7, 2010.
- The first feature listed is ‘All New, High Contrast eInk Screen’. This section again mentions 50% better contrast and also talks about an all-new, improved electronic ink display.
Also, all the images and videos clearly show a Kindle DX 2 in graphite color casing. If you’re on this page – then Congratulations! You’re looking at the real Kindle DX 2.
There are some differences that currently exist but might be updated for the white, older Kindle DX as it actually shares these features with the graphite Kindle DX 2 -
- Description (section below Technical Details) talks about Kindle 2.5 features under the section ‘New Features’. These aren’t ‘new to Kindle DX 2′ features – they are actually Kindle 2.5 upgrade features that both Kindle DX 1 and Kindle DX 2 will have.
- The product page mentions 620,000 books.
In almost every other way – the price, Amazon’s Kindle DX name for the devices, feature-set – the Kindle DX and the Kindle DX 2 are identical.
Why has Amazon made it so confusing?
No idea. Amazon wants to use ’2nd generation’ for the white Kindle DX 1 (Global) and ‘latest generation’ for the graphite Kindle DX 2. It also wants to use near-identical descriptions – which makes it easy to get confused and think that both the white and the graphite Kindle DX are the DX 2.
As we saw above the two versions are different generations. In addition to the better screen contrast we get the ‘graphite casing effect’ with the graphite Kindle DX 2 i.e. the dark case of the new Kindle DX 2 will make text look clearer – the background will look more white and the text on that white background will stand out more. There may also be speed improvements and better performance though we can’t be sure of it at this time.
So be sure to pick the right Kindle DX. It’s only after a little careful scrutiny that you realize the graphite version is the only new Kindle DX 2 and the white is just a lower priced Kindle DX 1.
Filed under: kindle dx 2 Tagged: | kindle dx 2, kindle dx graphite
