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Amazon Brings the Kindle DX Back From the Grave

Kindle DX (graphite) Angle-HandI think Amazon might be on a revivalist kick lately. They’ve just brought back the Kindle DX, that 9.7″ ereader that was launched in 2010 and discontinued in October 2012.

There’s been no announcement from Amazon, but earlier this week Amazon quietly started selling the Kindle DX again on amazon.com. The current list price is $299.

Amazon launched the Kindle DX in May 2009 as their bid to enter the academic market. The KDX was the first Kindle model to directly support PDFs, and Amazon hoped that the KDX’s larger 9.7″ screen would work as an adequate replacement for paper textbooks. Amazon even convinced a number of major US universities to launch digital textbook pilot programs based on the Kindle DX.

This was of course before the launch of the iPad. That was during the middle years of the ereader bubble, a time when it wasn’t a crazy idea to believe that an E-ink ereader with poor PDF support and no touchscreen could be useful for textbooks. But now we know, largely thanks to those pilots, that the Kindle DX is too slow and too feature limited to work well with textbooks. It’s not nearly as fast as your average textbook app on Android or iOS, and it also has fewer features.

original Kindle DX

original Kindle DX

And if the lackluster performance wasn’t enough to kill most school’s interest in the Kindle DX, the lawsuits filed by visually impaired students did. In 2009 several students filed suit in partnership with the NFB to block the Kindle pilots because the students were blind and thus couldn’t use the Kindle DX. Those suits weren’t settled until mid-2010, but naturally that put the kibosh on large-scale adoption by schools and libraries.

This ereader was updated in 2010 with a faster screen and more features (and Amazon even rolled out a firmware update in early 2011) but this ereader has largely been neglected since then. It might be new on the shelf today but it is still a circa 2010 ereader. I feel a similarly priced tablet would be a better buy.

This week’s revival of the Kindle DX isn’t the first ereader that Amazon has brought back, and like the Kindle Touch this offering might only be temporary. So if you want one you should act fast.

On the other hand something tells me that this ereader might be available for longer than the month or so that the revived Kindle Touch. Amazon has not only brought back the KDX, they also updated their menus to promote it again. The Kindle Touch, which was briefly available for about a month earlier this year, was sold but not promoted.

Amazon.com

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Comments


cookie May 26, 2013 um 10:01 am

$299. Wasn’t this selling for like $99 before they killed it off–maybe they were refurbs, but still………


Msieuico May 26, 2013 um 10:29 am

It’s a hell of a price !


pidgeon92 May 26, 2013 um 1:12 pm

Of all the ereaders I own, the DX is still my favorite. I hope it will always be a part of the Kindle lineup.

I don’t think the refurbs ever got as low as $99. I did some research on Google, and the cheapest refurbs I found selling at any point were $199.

Cookie May 26, 2013 um 6:04 pm

Maybe I was wrong. Liliputing linked some refurbs at $160 one time

http://liliputing.com/2013/01/pick-up-a-refurbished-kindle-for-as-little-as-25.html


paul May 26, 2013 um 7:36 pm

Good job noticing that the DX is back in stock on amazon.com. The battery is going out on one of my DX’s and I’ve been misdirectedly berating the poor techs at amazon for the company’s decision to suspend sales for months. I’ve heard each of the their 3 pat answers quite a few times.

Nate – my main man – it doesn’t seem like you’re too keen on the DX bro! You say it’s "too slow" for textbooks, but I really don’t know what you mean by that. The 1st gen DX’s page-turning is a bit slow, especially from/to a pdf page populated with graphics, but why not use that half-second that’s slowing you waaaaaay down to reflect a bit on the page you just read?

The fabulous color that is a part of many pdf’s nowadays is, of course, a total loss on the DX. But, I’m past the days of reading books that are full of big, colorful pictures, so, for me, no great loss.

I’m one of those rare, rare people who gets distracted by the internet, and having the internet readily-available, so I’m lucky the DX’s browser function is a total POS. I can still get books over the wifi from the amazon store in no time flat, however, if I know the title of the book.

i maintain that DX is the best e-reader you can buy (again). you can keep your backlit tablets…. 😀

cookie – no, not quite that low. I did a lot of searching around, for both 1st and 2nd gens, after the 2nd gen was abruptly discontinued. Europeans were buying them up like crazy on ebay, where I was lucky enough to score one for about 180, used.

Searching just last week on ebay returned far fewer available DX’s than a months before – almost none, actually.

I guess we still don’t know if these are just left-over stock from before, or if Amazon is actually manufacturing these again nowadays?

Could this be a marketing-driven response to the recent news of a 13″ screen on a new sony ereader?


Super Alexio May 26, 2013 um 10:37 pm

I love my DX, I still use it all the time, even though I have a Nexus 7 and (finally) a smartphone.

1) For outdoors, the DX has the best screen by far.

2) I love the storage space on it, compared to the baby Kindles. I know the Nexus has more space, but it also has more other things on it, so I actually have a LOT more books on the DX.

3) It lasts and lasts. I charge the Nexus every couple of days, so I keep a spare charger at work. The DX gets charged every few weeks or so, because I read a lot.


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Richard Askenase May 29, 2013 um 2:44 pm

I love mt DX (second generation now) and have since they first came out. The larger screen is beautiful, and much more on a page. Although I’m not a big guy, I always felt the smaller kindles/nooks were just too small to read on.

And, now with the warm weather here in the northeast, it is PERFECT to read it on a hammock (present from my kids).


hel May 31, 2013 um 9:27 pm

no way. Time is gone for this device. It was nice but now it is too slow and tablets ate the market niche. It should cost 150$ at most.

lordofwarnick June 6, 2013 um 4:07 am

I agree. Once when KDX is firstly launched, I got it with the price of 499$, but it wrecked after I have used it for one and a half year. Although now I want a new big screen e-reader, I am willing to pay no more than 50$ for e-reader because it is just e-book reader. Too expensive price does not match my rigid usage.


Ed June 3, 2013 um 5:38 pm

Reading on my DX is way more enjoyable and tolerable than on any tablet I’ve ever tried (and I own several Fires and a Fire HD, I just let my kids use them because I prefer the DX).

I’ve never liked the smaller Kindles, so I’m pleased to see this guy back in the lineup. I’ve been worried about what I would do if/when my trusty DX would die. Now I just have to decide if $299 is worth it just to have a spare (no question it’s worth it for the device itself).


Colleen July 5, 2013 um 2:56 pm

I just found this on Amazon today and it would be perfect for my husband. He has a tremor and can’t use a touch screen. I am getting concerned this his e-reader won’t last forever, and then what? I think the price is a bit ridiculous tho. What can I upload to it? I’m not too likely to buy all ebooks from Amazon. I suppose that when they say "Kindle format" they are referring to MOBI. Correct? If the price goes down, I’ll probably try one.


Jakub August 1, 2013 um 4:13 am

That’s a great news! I own my KDX for almost 3 years and find it awesome. I’ve read about 150 novels and many pdf articles for that time, I can recommend KDX to anyone who loves reading. IPad? Thanks, but no, I just don’t need it


Carlos Rezende September 9, 2013 um 11:46 am

Kindle DX was the best device ever produced by Amazon.Ample and confortable screen,good resolution and ideal for home use.


roger hudson October 4, 2013 um 8:22 am

I have a Kindle II with a lovely brown leather cover with built-in light, it is a complete joy to read on, no strain on my eyesight at all, far better than the iPad. I was going to get a DX2 but it was discontinued and I looked on Ebay but everybody seemed to want a lot of money for the few I saw. I will now get one from Amazon 'while stocks last' as I suspect the are all NOS from a Chinese warehouse.
I just wish I could get a nice leather cover for it.
E-ink is such a clever technology, very economical. The 'pebble' smartwatch also uses it and that also has good reviews for battery life and visibility .
I download lots of PDFs so the DX should be an even better than my daily used Kindle.


Abhijit Soman October 5, 2013 um 1:51 pm

I’m using my Kindle DX for last 3 years and I like it very much. As Amazon has started selling DX again, I hope they will release DX firmware updates also.


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theWoosh January 2, 2014 um 4:17 am

I use my Kindle DX2 all the time – I bought it (2nd hand) about 3 years ago for reading PDFs away from my computer. I use Calibre for converting epub etc. to mobi (great program). I was also able to upgrade to a more recent version of the OS by jailbreaking etc. (google). I only hope that AMazon will now release native DX system upgrades…


krinse January 4, 2014 um 6:53 am

It seems the Kindle DX is not on any of Amazon’s regional sites (i.e. any other site except amazon.com)?

I personally would like to see an Amazon Kindle DX Paperwhite based upon the 2nd generation Kindle paperwhites now being sold.


Misty January 15, 2014 um 6:00 pm

I had to return the Amazon Kindle DX due to the black flash that was happening when I was turning pages was inducing seizures.

Very scary and will do a fire without the black eink flash


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ronnie May 20, 2014 um 8:37 am

Is it possible to go to a specific page of a pdf using kindle dx? Or do I have to go page by page until I reach the page I want?


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