May 5, 2009 4:56 AM PDT
Photos, details leaked on expected Kindle
A blurry photo of what appears to be a dry run of tomorrow's presentation.
(Credit: Engadget)Here's the latest on Amazon's new, larger Kindle, which is expected to be announced Wednesday morning at Pace University in Manhattan, according to numerous sources.
- Thanks to an apparently surreptitious cameraphone photographer, Engadget has posted some blurry photos of what looks to be the dry run of tomorrow's presentation. They're not all that exciting--the new Kindle just looks like a jumbo Kindle 2.
- This Kindle may be called the Kindle DX, according to Engadget's anonymous source.
- The same source says it has a 9.7-inch screen (compared to the 6-inch screen on the Kindle 2).
- Allegedly, the device has a more robust built-in PDF reader and "the ability to add annotations in addition to notes and highlights."
- The Wall Street Journal has an article on the textbook angle of the new Kindle.
- Rumor has it that The New York Times will be lowering its Kindle subscription rate from $13.99 to $9.99. That would be a good move if true.
- The Wall Street Journal says the new Kindle will have a more functional browser.
- It's also reporting that select students at select universities will receive the new, larger Kindles with pre-installed textbooks for chemistry, computer science and a freshman seminar. Pace, Case Western, Princeton, Reed, Arizona State, and Darden School at the University of Virginia will initially lead the lineup for the college Kindle program.
- There's no word on price or whether this will be a touch-screen model.
As always, feel free to comment. We'll have full details Wednesday on the new Kindle after it's officially announced.
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter.
It's a sure bet that Bezos will be trumpeting the NYT on the larger display (as a better newspaper replacement). Unfortunately, it's not. I'd use the NYT on my iPhone (either through the web browser or the iPhone application). It's free--none of this subscription business. I'll look at ads, but I'm not going to pay for a newspaper (it's the economy, stupid).
I would much rather commute next to someone carrying this than someone that doesn't understand how to properly fold a paper for reading on the train.
You can't imaging commuting with this? I can't imagine trying to read the NYT on an iPhone, and my eyes are pretty good.
The "new 40+ y/os" in 15 years are the 25-39 year olds today... His argument was probably that we like our better technology, and simplicity is less of an issue, since we've been exposed to it more.
@ballmerisasnape:
In 15 years there will be new products. Heck, in 2 years there'll be a new product, I'm sure.
Even if people over 40 are the only ones who buy these products, you can only hope you'll live to join them.
For me, the big Kindle is missing some important things for magazines: Color. Optional Backlight. And I'm still not sure it's large enough to replace printed magazines for People, Forbes, or Car & Driver reader.
And forget newspapers. Train commuters may be interested, I guess. But you have to be an almost everyday reader at these prices. And you have to carry the thing around.
I use my Kindle 2 to read fiction and non-fiction books only. I take it on the road, but it's not with me 24x7.
Commenters who think news is free because it is online are just unwilling to pay their share of the cost of gathering, editing and presenting news. Quality always has a cost, as does this democracy/republic we call the U.S.A. Good citizenship demands voluntary ongoing payment for news. That's how you protect the availability of the professionals who do the digging into what miscreants seek to hide. Informed citizenship is not possible without high-quality news. Despots thrive only when newspapers aren't doing their jobs. Television is entertainment. Newspapers are hard work, for which its professionals need a living wage. Being willing to support high-quality sources of news, competently edited, so they are available to do the daily journalism which informs citizens who are willing to take the time to read the details so they can intelligently vote is a foundation stone of participatory democracy. This is part of the eternal vigilance needed to safeguard democracy. It never was true that sound bites adequately inform, and never will be. Careless citizens risk losing their freedoms. So, too, for those who are unwilling to pay their fair share.
Yes hard disk failure is a matter of when. It's a good thing you can back up your kindle purchases from your kindle management page. It's also a good thing that Amazon keeps a running track of all kindle books and subscriptions which can be downloaded again should you delete them or suffer a hard drive failure.
sourpathetic: You know...I always wonder about all those strange stains I find in those library books. Well, it's probably too much information we don't want to know anyways...
Save a tree (or a dozen or two) and spare yourself from the clutter, get an eReader...Kindle or otherwise.
Most of us don't feel the need to be"cool" (sorry Apple) but we do appreciate functionality and in general many within my age group has the disposable income to make it a "why not" purchase.
If you have not seen an eBook reader like the Kindle or the Sony Reader, just go look at one or at least read up on them on Web first, they do not use typical LCD technology but what is collectively known as e-paper technology. In the case of most current eBook readers, an Electrophoretic display, which cannot currently be backlit.
While this technology still has obvious shortcomings like poor refresh rates, lack of a useable color version and cannot be "backlit", it does have unique advantages quite well suited for eBooks.
I'm not sure if I'd like a backlight even if they could backlight it. The display clarity is fantastic on e-paper and because it uses reflected light rather than "transmitted" light (backlit or phosphorescence), it is far less straining to the eye to read over a long period.
The other big advantage of this form of display is it doesn't really draw much power to keep the display on, most power is drawn when refreshing the display. The Sony Readers, for example, can easily perform thousands of page-turns and days of reading before needing a recharge.
When you think about reading, especially a novel, the most time is spent on a static pages being displayed, so this advantage is big.
As for larger screen eBooks, this anticipated Kindle isn't the first either, the iRex iLiad spots an 8.1 inch display and touchscreen.
While I'm probably the minority, for me the Kindle's tight integration to Amazon's wireless store model is something I don't need. I don't buy books from stores as much as bringing with me hundreds of user manuals, reference materials, documentations and other non-purchased content in PDF and other formats.
With a good PDF display software, useable note-taking feature, search, bookmarks and very easy mechanism to transfer documents, the Sony Reader just works better for me.
Incidentally, I can't imagine studying chemistry without color illustrations?how are they going to show which atom is hydrogen, oxygen, etc., in graphical illustrations without color? Not impossible, but certainly not learning-friendly.
It would seem, at least at this stage, the new Amazon gadget in schoolroom is designed to give less (to students) for more (to Amazon). Profit at the expense of knowledge?how refreshing that capitalism is still alive in this country!
Oh, and no, there is no charge for Amazon to convert files for you, too, if you don't use their Whispernet service to do it so don't try to bring that up.
From a 24 year old Kindle user
It's not exactly true that you can add any ebook to your Kindle that you have. Not without walking into a legal gray area, at any rate.
While it's true that you can put any unprotected ebook on the Kindle (assuming it's in a format the Kindle can read, which most unprotected books probably would be), copy-protected (aka DRM'ed) books are another matter. If you buy from an outfit like Mobipocket (even though Amazon owns them) or Fictionwise, and you buy a DRM'ed book, you'll have to strip off the DRM before you can load it on to the Kindle. It can certainly be done with the right software, but it's technically a violation of Amazon's terms of service, and a possible violation of the DMCA. (I'm not arguing that such use is actually *wrong*, if all you're doing is removing the protection on your own purchased book to read on your own Kindle, but that doesn't necessarily mean the law makes that distinction.)
You don't expect me to watch YouTube on a 42 inch screen, yet Amazon and Eink vendor expect me to read books on a gray/gray screen - bigger or not - the issue is still outstanding. Unless they choose to fix that tomorrow; this bigger reader is a fluke, even if it is going to be unveiled in Lower Manhattan.
Often I can't get a fast Internet connection in places such as the train, or in transit terminals. For example, in the airport, if I can't get a real strong signal on my iPhone, I have to walk around until I get a signal and stay there until I am done reading. With the Kindle, even those rare times when I couldn't get a signal on the WhisperNet, I could walk down the concourse, get a signal, buy a book, and walk back.
I travel for a week at a time, if not longer on occassion. I can't load my carry-on with a library of books. When I commute to work on the train, I can slip my super thin Kindle in my backpack, and pull it out and relax on a two hour train ride.
The Kindle has it's purpose... those who don't want to wait for the Internet to catch up to our reading.
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by alphasun4
May 19, 2009 10:10 AM PDT
- This new unit seems good but I think we shall soon see foldable, larger-format screens based on polymers that incorporate the electronics, including the controls, in the flexible or foldable screen.
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(44 Comments)I think we will end up in a year or two with something that slips into your pocket and opens out to about A3 widthx A4 height.
Glasses or visors are already emerging and perhaps they will predominate eventually.