Kindle DX rumours become a reality

kindle

It’s been a while and there have been a ton of rumours floating around the net in the last few months, but Amazon have finally announced the Kindle DX. The system will be available in the summer, although US consumers can pre-order one today for the rather heavy price of $489. Amazon is hoping the system is going to bring even more people over to the idea of using e-Paper to read books, magazines and even more specifically, newspapers.

The new system is far larger than the original, making reading larger formats a much easier task. It also has enough space to hold around 3,500 books and an iPod Touch style auto rotating screen. The E-paper design should remove any traditional problems of eye strain when reading text online using a traditional monitor.

At the press conference for the device Amazon announced it’s lofty plans to move every single book in the world into the digital format and have them available to download in sixty seconds onto the Kindle. It might be sales hype, but the library is still impressive with over a quarter of a million books available for the device.

Perhaps the Kindle will turn into the iPod for people who love reading, or perhaps it won’t. It’s still got quite a long way to go and $489 is a lot of money to spend on something that really one has a single purpose compared to the cheaper, multipurpose media players and portable devices available.

If you’re interested in buying one, you can pre-order right now providing you live in the US. UK readers might have to wait a little longer, yet.

Posted on May 8, 2009 | Filed Under Tech