If e-readers are going to be the future for newspapers (as some hope) then there's plenty of work left to do as the latest version of the Amazon Kindle e-reader doesn't score well.
The Amazon Kindle DX is bigger, heavier and more expensive than the Kindle 2. The original Kindle is aimed at book readers (as are products like the Sony e-Reader), but the new Kindle DX is primarily aimed not at readers of books, but newspapers, magazines and textbooks. For that it comes with a hefty $489 price tag ($359 for the smaller Kindle).
Like the earlier model it allows users to do all the same stuff as before: shop, wirelessly download Amazon e-books (there are 275,000 titles out there now) and uses the same easy to read screen technology only with improved resolution.
However, in a blog post on the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital blog by Walt Mossberg, it doesn't score well. You would imagine for reading newspaper and magazines that portability and ease of use would be paramount. Apparently not.
"I’ve been testing the Kindle DX and I didn’t like it nearly as much as the Kindle 2, which I own and enjoy using daily. While it performs its promised tasks adequately, I found that its size and weight made it awkward and tiring to hold for long periods of reading. It’s still fairly thin and light, but it’s 85% larger and heavier than the standard Kindle.
"In addition, Amazon has degraded the user interface. To prevent the device from being even larger, the company had to remove the left-side page-turning buttons, confining all the controls to a vertical strip on the right. The keyboard at the bottom is also more vertically cramped."
Mossberg lists other design problems particularly for lefties (that's left handers not reds) and issues relating to reading in landscape mode. His tip? The Kindle DX would have been a better product with on-screen touch controls that could instantly adapt to its size and orientation.
As for newspaper use specifically, he said they looked about the same on the DX as they do on the smaller Kindle device.
"Despite the larger screen, they don't use traditional print or Web layouts, but a special Kindle layout that some users like a lot, but which I find annoying because it makes it harder to quickly scan multiple headlines."
Although he does say that textbooks – where portability is less of an issue – might be the killer app.
Follow me on Twitter
Gordon Macmillan
Blogging for:
Member since: 03 Jun 2008
Last login: 23 Nov 2009
Total Posts: 1,617
