Kindle DX WiFi arriving? Kindle DX 2 sold out

Posted on August 29, 2010 by switch11

The Kindle 3 has made a lot of people wonder about the Kindle DX 2. 

DX 2 doesn’t have WiFi and it’s missing a lot of the cool software additions that Kindle 3 has. The logical conclusion would be that sometime this year we’ll see a Kindle DX WiFi and a firmware update for Kindle DX 2 that adds the missing features (with the exception of WiFi).

Well, things got really interesting on August 23rd because the Kindle DX 2 got sold out. Currently, it’s ‘expected to ship in 2 to 3 weeks’. Thanks to a commenter at MobileRead for pointing this out.

Did the Kindle DX 2 really sell out?

Here’s what the Kindle DX 2 has going for it -

  1. Large 9.7″ eInk Pearl screen.
  2. $379 price that is $110 cheaper than the price the Kindle DX was selling for.
  3. Graphite casing.

Here’s what the Kindle DX 2 doesn’t have going for it -

  1. Kindle WiFi that is just $139, has the same eInk Pearl screen (although in a 6″ screen size), and has lots of additional features including a WebKit browser and better PDF support (Kindle 3 has these improvements too). 
  2. Kindle 3 that is $189, has 3G plus WiFi, and loads of improvements the Kindle DX 2 doesn’t have like battery life of up to a month, 20% faster page turns, and 3 new fonts (Kindle WiFi has these too). 
  3. The ridiculous amount of buzz that Kindle 3 and Kindle WiFi have.

It’s a little bit of a stretch to believe that the Kindle DX 2 is sold out for 2 to 3 weeks when the Kindle WiFi is available for $139 – You could buy 2.7 Kindle WiFis in the price of a DX 2.

My money’s definitely on the ’2-3 week delay’ being due to something other than the Kindle DX 2 being sold out.

Could it be issues producing the 9.7″ eInk Pearl screens?

It’s quite possible that the Kindle 3 and Kindle WiFi are selling so well that eInk/PVI has been forced to channel all its eInk Pearl production facilities to 6″ screens. Again, a commenter at MobileRead pointed this out and it’s quite probable. Definitely likelier than the DX 2 selling out.

This becomes even likelier if you consider that Nook 2 and Sony 650 are probably going to need 6″ eInk pearl screens too. The yield rates for a screen like the DX 2 screen that is 2.5 times the screen area are generally much lower so PVI/eInk probably feels it can make a lot more 6″ eInk Pearl screens by channeling capacity from 9.7″ screens to 6″ screens. Perhaps demand for 6″ screens due to Kindle 3, Nook 2, and Sony 650 is so high it’s forcing PVI to delay Kindle DX 2 screen production.

Note that Nook 2 and Sony 650 aren’t selling yet but if they are set to release in September PVI has to ship screens out for them right now.

Could it be a new Kindle DX WiFi?

This is a tough question to answer -

  • On the one hand the release of the Kindle WiFi strongly suggests that Amazon has a Kindle DX WiFi set for release. 
  • On the other hand the Kindle DX 2 was released just a couple of months ago and it didn’t have WiFi. Would Amazon ship a Kindle DX 2 with just 3G and then a few months later ship a Kindle DX WiFi?

While it is possible that there is a new Kindle DX WiFi set for release it doesn’t seem that likely.

Could it be Kindle DX 3 with WiFi and 3G?

This is super unlikely. It would be madness to release a Kindle DX 3 with 3G and WiFi a couple of months after a Kindle DX 2 and we can pretty much rule this out.

You have to wonder whether Amazon might go ahead and release a Kindle DX WiFi that is purely WiFi. Lots of people don’t get AT&T wireless reception or have WiFi at home or want a cheaper Kindle DX - a DX WiFi would meet their needs perfectly.

It could probably come in at $250 to $300 and ignite DX sales.

Could Amazon simply be adding new features to Kindle DX 2?

Perhaps Amazon decided to add a lot of the software features in the Kindle 3 to new Kindle DX 2s. Yes, it can do this through wireless updates – However, consider the cost and the complexity. The Kindle 2.5 upgrade was a nightmare and Amazon might have decided to hold back new Kindle DX 2s and send them out with whatever upgrade they’re planning for the DX 2.

This possibility (that Amazon is waiting for a DX 2 upgrade to be ready) and the possibility that eInk/PVI is running into DX 2 screen production issues are the two likeliest possibilities.

Of course, given its Amazon it’s probably going to be a Kindle DX WiFi that comes in at $250 and helps Amazon dominate the large screen eReader market totally. Perhaps Amazon has decided it’s not enough that the Kindle 3 has saved the eReader market from the iPad – It also wants to make sure the iPad doesn’t kill off the large screen eReader market.

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Does a $599 eReader have a chance?

Posted on August 8, 2010 by switch11

In a world where the Kindle 3 is $189 and the Kindle WiFi is $139 you have to wonder whether higher priced eReaders have any chance. Now there’s news Asus has an 8″ eReader slated for an October release for the price of $599.

That’s not a mistake – It’s $599 for an 8″ TFT-LCD screen that has 64 shades of gray but isn’t as good as eInk for reading. It also doesn’t have a backlight. So it manages to take the worst qualities of LCDs (unsuitability for reading) and eInk (no color, no backlight) and combine them into one package. Just the sort of thing you’d expect people to pay $599 for.

The $599 Asus eReader - reactions to the price 

We have Digitimes reporting on it -

Asustek Computer will launch an e-book reader with an 8-inch 64-grayscale TFT-LCD screen without backlight for own-brand sale at below US$599 in October 2010 …

… LCD panel of Asustek’s e-book reader is provided by Chimei Innolux (CMI), which makes it with a special process to improve reflection …

DigiTimes can’t resist pointing out that the $599 Asus eReader might not have much of a shot -

While the LCD panel offers fast response time, it is still no match for e-paper in terms of contrast ratio and reflective performance, Kuo added.

Kuo commented that Asustek is facing a difficult fight as it currently has no content support for its e-book reader and the price is much higher than the US$100-200 for current mainstream e-book readers.

CrunchGear is as surprised at the $599 price as any reasonable human being would be -

$600? For a grayscale e-reader? Nuts to that. Hopefully this isn’t Asus’s answer to the iPad or even the Kindle DX. Either that or something was lost in translation and the price is supposed to be more like $199.

When even the Press, who are usually eager to label any new eReader the Kindle-killer, don’t think you have a shot then you’ve really messed up.

Kindle vs Asus becomes a joke

When there were rumors of an eReader from Asus the Press had mentioned a 2010 release and a $150 price point (though to be fair that might have been for the smaller model).

We’ve looked at Kindle DX vs Asus 950 and Kindle vs Asus (color Asus 570) and this new Asus model sounds nothing like either of them. Given that it does support handwriting (one of the images shows a stylus and something scribbled) it seems this might be in the same family as the Asus 950. The Asus 570 had a color OLED display (which instantly makes you question whether it was an eReader or a mini-Tablet) and was supposed to arrive by the end of 2010. The Asus 950 had a 9″ touchscreen with handwriting recognition and built-in translation.

The main reason Asus got a lot of press for their Asus Reader was their claim that they would bring a $150 device to market. At that time both Kindle 2 and Nook were at $259. 

The 8″ Asus Reader now being discussed is rather disappointing and its price is absolutely ridiculous.

$599 = 3 Kindle 3s. $599 = 4.3 Kindle WiFis. $599 = 1.58 Kindle DX 2s.

At what Price can 8″, 9″, and 10″ eReaders thrive?

The reactions to Asus’ $599 price and the complaints about the $379 Kindle DX 2 (even at $220 less than the Asus lots of people consider it expensive) highlight the problem large screen eReaders face.

Firstly, you are competing against 6″ eReaders which are priced between $139 (Kindle WiFi) and $199 (Nook for $199, Kindle 3 for $189). These smaller eReaders have hit economies of scale which larger eReaders haven’t and thus it becomes even more difficult to meet the expectations they set.

Secondly, you have the multi-purpose tablets that provide a ‘good enough’ reading experience and seem like much better value for money. When the $379 Kindle DX 2 has to fight a bitter value perception battle against the $499 iPad how is the $599 Asus Reader going to survive?

My feeling is that around $250 to $279 is not bad and once we hit $250 the larger screen eReaders will really take off. There are lots of things they are suited for - business documents, PDFs, newspapers, and such. It’s just that the larger screens and the larger eReaders haven’t hit economies of scale so it’s really difficult for a 9.7″ Kindle DX 2 or any larger screen eReader to hit prices like $250.

How long before we see $200 and $250 large screen eReaders?

It’s a tough question.

Asus is pricing its 8″ eReader at $599, Entourage has its dual screen eReader at $499, and Plastic Logic was thinking about $649 before it decided to re-think its strategy. Everyone except Amazon seems to be struggling mightily with large screen eReaders. B&N and Sony don’t even have a large screen eReader – though you’d think their experience and contacts would allow them to create a cheap large screen eReader if they were interested.

It leaves us with only 3 companies that have a good shot at creating a cheap, good large screen eReader – Amazon (Kindle), B&N (Nook), and Sony (Sony Reader). Of these, only Amazon has any experience of actually making one.

If Amazon can create a $139 Kindle WiFi why not create a $249 Kindle DX WiFi?

Amazon has managed to come down from $489 to $379. However, it would need something from B&N or Sony Reader to fire it up and motivate it to really cut costs.

Consider what happened with Kindle – We had the Kindle 2 at $279 until the Nook was released and in the 8 months since then we have seen the Kindle drop from $279 to the $189 price of the Kindle 3. We’ve also seen a $139 Kindle WiFi.

If no one challenges the Kindle DX it might be 2012 before we see a large screen eReader at $200. If, on the other hand, a Nook DX or a 9″ Sony Reader shows up this year then by mid to end 2011 we will have large screen eReaders at $200.

What is a large screen eReader worth? Is it needed?

What do you think?

  1. At what price point does a 9″ or 10″ eReader seem attractive to you? What price is good value for money? 
  2. What is the ideal eReader size for you – 6″ or 9″ or something else?  
  3. Do you think Asus has a chance at $599?  
  4. Would you pay a premium for handwriting recognition?
  5. Would you keep and use both a 6″ and a 9″ eReader?

It’d be interesting to hear your thoughts.

The new Kindle 3 and Kindle WiFi have set such a high bar with respect to value for money that nearly every other eReader company is going to struggle mightily. You have to wonder whether Amazon is losing money on the Kindle 3 and if so how many other companies can compete.

Filed under: kindle dx 2 | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Kindle DX 2 feature-set is very puzzling

Posted on August 7, 2010 by switch11

Now that the Kindle 3 is available with all its improvements the Kindle DX 2 suddenly looks strangely out-of-place. You have to wonder why Amazon would release it at the time it did (very early July) and with the feature-set it did (only 3 big improvements – eInk Pearl screen, graphite casing, lower price).

Just finished a rough Kindle WiFi or Kindle 3 or Kindle DX 2 comparison and the part that was totally inexplicable was that a lot of Kindle 3 improvements didn’t make it to Kindle DX 2.

Kindle 3 and Kindle DX 2 feature-sets are too far apart for products released 2 months apart

Let’s start with the Kindle 3 hardware improvements and what might be hardware related -

  1. WiFi. Why doesn’t the Kindle DX 2 have WiFi?  
  2. Up to 1 month of battery life on the Kindle 3. For DX 2 this is 2 to 3 weeks. With wireless on it’s 10 days versus 7 days.
  3. 20% faster page turns due to some sort of tuning.  
  4. Improved screen contrast (over what the eInk Pearl screen brings) due to tweaks and tuning.
  5. New quieter page turn buttons. Re-arranged buttons.

Most, if not all, of these are improvements Amazon must have figured out a long time ago.

Why produce the Kindle DX 2 without these? 

Take the WiFi and the quieter page turn buttons – For people who don’t get AT&T reception or those who read a lot in bed these are a big deal. Yet, for some strange reason, the DX 2 doesn’t have them.

Things get even stranger when we look at Kindle 3 software improvements

Perhaps we can explain away some of the hardware improvements. However, how do we explain this long list of software improvements that are missing from Kindle DX 2 -

  1. Choice of 3 Fonts.
  2. CJK Font Support, Cyrillic Font Support.  
  3. Better PDF support. 
  4. New WebKit Browser. 
  5. More words per page. By removing the top bar and moving the progress bar to the very bottom of the screen (thanks to Atom for noticing that).
  6. Voice Guide and hence full accessibility.
  7. Lots of smaller improvements – View Downloads Progress, Set Time Manually, Better Progress Bar inside books.

Note that the faster page turns, screen contrast improvements, and battery life may be software based too. There’s no way all these software improvements were done in just 2 months. That must mean a conscious decision to introduce them in Kindle 3 first – Why?

The saving grace is that Amazon could add these to the Kindle DX 2 fairly quickly. Adding all these improvements to Kindle DX 2 really is the right thing to do. DX 2 owners paid more than double what Kindle 3 owners will be paying.

Is Kindle DX 3 on the way? Why is Amazon behaving as if Kindle DX 2 is the less expensive Kindle?

When the Kindle DX first arrived there was little doubt it was the higher end Kindle – It was expensive, it had a larger screen, it had PDF support, it had an accelerometer, it had screen rotation. You paid the $489 premium and received things that the Kindle didn’t have.

When the Nook arrived with PDF support Amazon was forced to add PDF support to the Kindle and cuts its price. However, nothing was added to the Kindle DX 2 to compensate and its price wasn’t cut either.

Now things are even more extreme – the Kindle DX 2 is double the price of the Kindle 3 and has less than half the improvements. You saw the list above – It’s almost as if Amazon is trying to see how low they can take the DX 2 on value for money (especially when compared with Kindle WiFi). 

 Where’s the DX 2 value proposition? Is there a new Kindle DX WiFi? A Kindle DX 3?

There are a few possible reasons why the DX 2 has been left behind -

  1. Amazon plans on adding software upgrades to Kindle DX 2 a few months after Kindle 3 is out – that would certainly reduce the value gap between Kindle 3 and Kindle DX 2.  
  2. There’s a new, cheap Kindle DX WiFi in the works – perhaps for around $250. At that time software improvements added in Kindle DX WiFi will be added to Kindle DX 2.  
  3. Kindle DX 2 is just a lower priority. Perhaps the market for large screen, expensive eReaders just isn’t that big. Kindles have always sold a lot more than Kindle DXes and perhaps that’s continuing.
  4. Amazon hasn’t achieved economies of scale. A screen with 2.5 times the surface area is going to be much more expensive to produce (higher chance of defects). If the numbers are low then you can’t really scale up and everything from the screen to the body to the chips cost more.
  5. Amazon might be consciously positioning the Kindle DX 2 as the high-end eReader. Perhaps the higher price is a filter.
  6. Perhaps Amazon sees the DX 2 as an education eReader and wants to keep it at that price to account for later additions like touch screens and color.  
  7. Amazon wants a device that competes with the iPad as a large screen eReader. They don’t want to cut the price too much. They might want to kill off the Kindle vs iPad comparisons but keep the Kindle DX vs iPad comparisons.

The likeliest possibility is that Amazon hasn’t hit economies of scale and that the software upgrades will be added a few months after Kindle 3 is released. Perhaps Amazon feels that it needs to ‘save up’ all these improvements for Kindle 3 so that the Kindle 3 seems truly extraordinary with a bunch of improvements no other eReader has.

Amazon is free to play whatever positioning games it wants to play - Let’s just hope it gets all the Kindle 3 software features it can into Kindle DX 2 a month or two after Kindle 3 ships.

Filed under: kindle dx 2 | Tagged: , , | 4 Comments »

Kindle DX 2 – screen contrast improvement is key

Posted on July 11, 2010 by switch11

It’s just a few days and have only done the equivalent of a book of reading (split across three books) on it - However, the Kindle DX 2 has quickly become my reading device of choice (beating out the easier to hold Kindle 2).

Better Screen Contrast makes a huge difference

Have talked about how it seems to have only 40% better screen contrast than the Kindle DX 2 – However, this Kindle DX 2 screen contrast analysis post and the comments confirm that the screen (by itself, without the speckling or graphite casing) is 50% better.

This becomes apparent when reading as the 50% better screen contrast and the graphite casing and speckling combine for a much better reading experience. Not only is the Kindle DX 2 much better than the Kindle DX 1 it’s clearly better than the Kindle 2. The Kindle 2.5 upgrade with its sharper fonts does improve reading – However, Kindle DX 2 has 2.5.5 so it has the same software improvements too. Then the casing and the new screen of the Kindle DX 2 kick in and you get a clearly better reading experience.  

Basically, you’ll find yourself always reaching for the Kindle DX 2 – even though the Kindle 2 is lighter. If it comes with this screen the Kindle 3 is going to be a very big hit.

Is the screen contrast really so good that one user is returning it?

There’s a user at the official kindle forum who’s returning his Kindle DX 2 because the contrast is too high -

Imagine reading for long spells from a bold-face font. That’s what the graphite display is like. I know, I know — after all the complaints we’ve all made about low contrast and how great it’d be to finally get darker, sharper text, I should be rejoicing.

But it’s giving me a headache. Literally. The font is too thick for reading long-term in comfort, too.

The bolder font definitely didn’t give me a headache – in fact, it was a pleasure and easier to read at night (needed less lighting). Check out some of the Kindle DX 2 Videos to make sure the font isn’t ‘too bold’ for you and the contrast isn’t ‘too good’. This is the only ‘the contrast is too good’ complaint so far. It’s a welcome change from a lot of years of people asking for better screen contrast.

Note: In my opinion we could do with even better screen contrast than on the Kindle DX 2 though it would be nice to have an option to choose between ‘bold’, ‘light black’ and ‘grey’ for the text color.

Various Interesting Readability Effects

There’s a strange effect where it’s clearer to read when inclined a little bit rather than read straight-on.

You can’t really see the speckling on the screen unless you take a high quality photograph and then look at it on your PC – You might even have to zoom in. There’s no way the speckling is something random. It’s very well structured – it’s got to be by design and to improve readability.

Kindle DX 2 increases the range of lighting conditions in which Kindle beats LCD screens. The higher contrast combines very well with the sharper fonts of the Kindle 2.5 upgrade to create a screen that reads well even in lower lighting conditions.

Earlier as the natural lighting went down there was a definite point at which you would want to switch on a reading light or switch to a back-lit screen. With the Kindle DX 2′s better contrast that point has shifted. Additionaly, with the Kindle DX 2 you can read at night with less lighting – If you have a dimmer then you can go down lower and still see the words.

Kindle DX 2 also brings eInk closer to paper in terms of the contrast and readability – It really is quite something to see where the Kindle 2 US’s screen was, what LCDs are like, and then look at the Kindle DX 2 screen. It’s definite progress towards electronic paper.

Graphite Kindle DX 2 is very pretty

The graphite casing looks very pretty. The lettering is in grey and stands out well. The upper portion of the back is in darkish plastic that’s almost the same color as the graphite casing. This goes much better with the aluminium back.

With the Kindle DX 1 it was rather disconcerting to see the smooth aluminium give way to a plastic slab with a strange greyish shade.

There’s also something done to the casing surface so that it affords a better grip and it now shimmers in light. It almost seems as if there are tiny bumps on the surface that create these two effects. Much better than the Kindle DX 1′s super smooth white casing.

Images really stand out on the Kindle DX 2

Images really stand out – Both the screensavers and images in PDFs look much prettier. The improvements include – the black is noticeably blacker than before, the contrast is much better, the graphite casing plays a role, the white is a bit whiter, and there are more details (not sure why this is – perhaps Amazon upgraded images).

We’re getting closer and closer to ink on paper and while you notice this in books it’s even more apparent with images.

There’s less and less reason for users to avoid eInk

Looking at it strictly from the angle of getting an eInk screen eReader versus sticking with books – the Kindle DX 2 leaves very few reasons to want to stick with books. The screen is very, very close to paper.

Looking at it from the perspective of getting a LCD screen device versus getting an eInk screen eReader – the Kindle DX 2′s screen has great contrast. 

A 50% better screen contrast might not be as sexy as a touch-screen or color – However, it adds a lot to readability and brings eInk very close to paper.

Isn’t that what electronic paper used in an electronic book reader should strive for?

If we go back to Nicholson Baker’s argument against Kindle screens -

This was what they were calling e-paper? This four-by-five window onto an overcast afternoon?

Where was paper white, or paper cream? Forget RGB or CMYK. Where were sharp black letters laid out like lacquered chopsticks on a clean tablecloth?

Well, Kindle DX 2 is awfully close to what Mr. Baker’s asking for. The sharp black letters are laid out and the clean tablecloth is almost the right shade of white.

Filed under: kindle dx 2 | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Kindle DX 2 screen contrast improvement analysis

Posted on July 8, 2010 by switch11

The improved Kindle DX 2 screen contrast is its big selling point. Amazon hasn’t really revealed too much about what led to this improved screen contrast.

Well, let’s take a closer look and see what factors might have helped improve the Kindle DX 2′s screen contrast.

Kindle DX 2 Screen Contrast Improvement – possible Factors

Here are the 3 factors that we can identify right away -

  1. Actual hardware improvements. eInk say the Pearl screen has 10:1 contrast as compared to the 7:1 contrast in previous versions. Quite frankly it doesn’t really seem like the hardware improvement by itself is 43%. In terms of measurements we have this from Bruce Wilson’s comment at Teleread -

    From density numbers alone – white is a little whiter, black is a lot blacker.

    Old White Kindle DX 1 (6 months old):
    white area density = 0.46, Lab = (65.8, -2.3, 0.6)
    black area density = 1.30, Lab = (26.6, -1.0, -2.2)

    New Graphite Kindle DX 2:
    white area density = 0.42, Lab = (68.2, -2.4, 0.9)
    black area density = 1.58, Lab = (18.5, -0.1, -3.6)

    I used a Datacolor Spectrocolorimeter model 1005. “Lab” is a color space measurement like RGB, only for print.

  2. Graphite Casing. Amazon have implied this is not factored into the 50% better contrast – However, it’s clear after playing around with the Kindle DX 2 that the graphite casing has quite an important role in making the screen look better.  
  3. Speckling on the Screen. There are very tiny speckles on the screen of the Kindle DX 2 when you zoom in. Click on the last photo on the Kindle DX 2 Photo page to see this speckling. When photos have noise like this added to them it improves their contrast – It’s hard to believe there could be any other reason speckling would be added to the screen of the Kindle DX 2.

We also have two additional possibilities –  

  1. Software improvements. Kindle software upgrades have improved Kindle screen contrast in the past by making the text bolder and it’s possible that Kindle DX 2 comes with some software improvements. Kindle DX 2 comes with firmware version 2.5.5 and it makes you wonder if that firmware version includes screen contrast tweaks.
  2. Additional changes in the screen hardware. There’s a very interesting mention in the official Kindle forum that the Kindle DX 2 screen is noticeably whiter if you tilt it a little rather than look at it straight on. For my Kindle DX 2 this is true – It’s noticeably whiter when tilted a little. Is this by design? Is this a byproduct of the new screen technology?  

The former is very, very likely while we understand too little about the latter to factor it in.

Breaking down the supposed 50% screen contrast improvement

After shooting a lot of Kindle DX 2 videos and taking a lot of photos and comparing screens in all sorts of lighting conditions it seems to me -

  1. Compared to Kindle 2 Global – Kindle DX 2 screen is 25% to 30% better normally, 30% better in sunlight, and 30% better when Kindle DX 2 and Kindle 2 are both tilted a bit. 
  2. Compared to Kindle DX 1 – Kindle DX 2 screen is 40% better normally, 45% better in sunlight or when both are tilted a bit.

There isn’t really a 50% improvement in screen contrast. It’s 40% to 45% when compared with Kindle DX 2 and 25% to 30% when compared with Kindle 2 Global. 

Furthermore it seems that this 40% improvement is broken down into -

  1. Half due to hardware improvements. If the spectrocolorimeter readings are correct hardware improvements might be responsible for as much as three-quarters of the improvement.
  2. A quarter due to the graphite casing. 
  3. A quarter due to the speckling.

The Kindle 2 Global screen is much closer to the Kindle DX 2 ‘better hardware screen’ than the Kindle DX 1 screen. This might be due to software tweaks or International Kindle 2s getting better screens or perhaps my Kindle 2 global was an exceptionally good version.

How did 50% screen contrast improvement and a graphite case and speckling and possible software improvements add up to 40%?

Well, it seems that eInk messed up and Amazon did as much as they could to make up for it.

Seriously – Look at the videos and photos. If you happen to have any of the earlier Kindles and the Kindle DX 2 compare them in various lighting conditions. If eInk’s claim is valid and there’s a 50% screen contrast improvement then it means that the graphite casing and the speckling and the software improvements (if any) contributed minus 10%.

The far more likely case is that eInk did a terrible job with their screens and improved just 20%. Then Amazon did a lot of brainstorming and came up with the graphite case and the speckling design for the screen and software improvements to get to 40%.

Amazon better hope Pixel Qi or Qualcomm Mirasol deliver color eInk screens soon because Amazon can’t keep compensating for eInk’s inadequacies with software upgrades and smart design decisions. The new Kindle DX 2 has managed to use almost every design and software trick possible to improve screen contrast (we’re including font sharpness improvements in the Kindle 2.5 upgrade). It’s had to because the actual screen technology from eInk isn’t improving fast enough.

Quick Summary 

Yes, Kindle DX 2 has a noticeably better screen. No, eInk isn’t responsible for all of the improvement. If eInk really would have improved their eInk screens 50% we would be looking at 70% to 75% better screen contrast on the Kindle DX 2.

Filed under: kindle dx 2 | Tagged: , , | 6 Comments »

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