“We are in the process of building a colour display - our colour display is essentially a monochrome display with a colour filter on top,” Sri Peruvemba, head of E Ink global sales, told me.(Note: You'll find an excellent summary of the Pearl display technology here.) As PC Magazine observes, however, neither the new screen technology nor the DX price cut are likely to save that specific device:This filter reduces the light going into the display, affecting the contrast, which is particularly noticeable on black and white text.
“We had to change the fundamental display so that we had double the contrast. Then, when we put the colour filter on top, the black and white text should look at least as good as the current product - so that’s what drove us to do this.”
E Ink has adjusted the chemistry of its black and white pigments and optimised the display to produce contrast ratios that can be better than the 50 per cent improvement claimed for the DX. ...
The Kindle DX, of course, isn't an iPad-style tablet, nor was it designed to be. It's essentially a plus-sized e-reader with a 9.7-inch display; global 3G service for downloading e-books and a limited selection of Web-based content; and a mini-keyboard that's sufficient for limited text entry.DX is dead. Long live the Kindle. Soon to be color.In short, it's a nonconformist struggling to find a niche. Want to read in coach on a cross-country flight? Lounge by the pool and indulge in a trashy bestseller? Take your e-reader to the gym? The smaller devices are a better ergonomic match for these uses. Sure, the Kindle DX has a larger screen, but its bigger form factor can be a disadvantage too. A smaller e-reader is easier to pack. It's lighter too. (Yes, we're talking a few ounces here, but those add up when you're holding a reader for hours at a time.)
Tablet shoppers? Kindle DX isn't on their radar screen. The iPad crowd wants a whiz-bang gadget for apps, games, movies, and music--and that's not the Kindle's thing. Besides, the DX looks old school, even if it isn't. ... Younger customers might think, "Hey, this would be great for my mom..."
Oh no. The stench of uncool.
Kindle DX may ultimately find its niche in vertical markets such as education, where e-textbook readers could prove an affordable alternative to conventional textbooks. (Come to think of it, anything would be more affordable than today's overpriced textbooks.) However, a trial run at Princeton University last year was a bust, with students griping about the DX's slow performance, poor annotation tools, and page-reformatting quirks. ...
