Product Review
Kindle DX
By Terence W. Cavanaugh
When comparing e-book readers to books, it's important to remember that a book is actually its content, not the paper it's printed on. The words, structure, and what you do with a book are what give it value.
This review explores how well the Amazon Kindle DX functions as a textbook and its fit for what we truly want students to do with their textbooks.
First and foremost, we want students to take their books with them and read. Amazon claims that the DX will hold up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents. That is plenty of room to carry all that I am currently reading, so I don't need to leave a book in my car or at home. As long as I have the DX, I can take all my books with me.
Although smaller than some textbooks, the 9.7-inch diagonal display is clear and easy to read. Actually, I feel that it is easier to read than a paperback, because I am able to adjust the font size and margin space and even listen to the device read aloud.
Students should be doing more than just reading. They should be taking notes, using the glossary, answering questions, and, if they own the book, highlighting sections. The Kindle DX allows for all that and more.
I played a podcast that I made to help my students understand and review a chapter in a textbook I am using. Here are some other things you can do with a Kindle DX:
- Look up words with its built-in dictionary. Readers move the cursor using the joystick to the desired word, and the definition displays at the bottom of the screen.
- Look up words online. If the definition is not enough, just push the joystick over and the unit will connect wirelessly to Google or Wikipedia.
- Visit websites listed in a book.
- Store notes. You can take notes, highlight text, and add bookmarks.
- Search text. Find all the occurrences of a term and browse through them.
- Play MP3 files.
These features allow the student to not only read the textbook but also engage in numerous other learning activities when a computer, MP3 player, or paper and pencil are not available. Students’ notes, bookmarks, and highlights are available in Kindle’s My Clippings book, which they can download to a computer through the USB port as a clippings.txt file that contains references to the original book file. Using the highlighting option, students could create a chapter outline, add a few summary notes, and move the outline version to a word processor. They then could convert the file back to a Kindle-compatible format and review it with their e-readers.
File format is one limitation. To get the most interactivity from a document, it must be in the Kindle proprietary format. Also, the device cannot read textbooks in other formats, such as Microsoft Word (.doc) and ePub, without conversion. As for accessibility, books are easy to transfer to the device using Wispernet (Amazon’s free wireless cellular access) and the USB port. I downloaded texts directly from Amazon.com, used the conversion service to convert a Word document, and transferred books, both text-based and audio, directly from a computer to the device using the USB port.
Kindle-compatible versions of textbooks are often less expensive than the print versions, and Amazon offers more than 360,000 titles. One text that I use in my educational design class is Heath & Heath’s Made to Stick, which was $26 for a hardback or $13.73 for the Kindle version. Of course, you must consider the expense of the device itself ($489). I used a number of open-source and free texts and found them to be very usable, with excellent display quality. I used text files in the Kindle and Adobe PDF formats. The PDF files display well, but the Kindle-formatted files offer more functionality, such as point-size adjustment, bookmarking, note taking, and the read-aloud option. Kindle e-books do not allow users to print text, but when I wanted a page in hard copy, I put the Kindle on a copy machine and made a copy of a page just as if it were a paperback.
Battery life varies, based on wireless usage. Amazon claims you can read up to four days on a single charge with wireless on, or two weeks with wireless off. I used it every day for more than a week before it needed a recharge. Because the display employs E-Ink technology, the device’s display uses power only when the display changes, not while it displays text.
The Kindle DX is an effective e-book reader. With its larger screen (the standard Kindle has a 6-inch diagonal screen) and added functionality, the unit is a useful alternative to textbooks for reading and studying. If you have to choose between a hard copy and an e-reader, your decision shouldn’t come down to pixels or pulp but the format that offers the best learning opportunities for your students.
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Kindle DX
Display: 9.7" (diagonal)
screen using E-Ink with 16 grayscale levels
Storage: 4 GB
Input: QWERTY keyboard,
joystick, buttons
Connectivity: Wispernet
wireless using Sprint’s 3G
network and micro-USB 2.0
Supported Formats:
Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC
(HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, RTF,
PNG, and BMP with conversion)
Supported Audio Formats: Audible (Format 4, AAX), MP3
Dimensions:
10.4" x 7.2" x .38";
26.4 x 18.3 x 1 cm
Amazon.com, Inc.
$489
www.amazon.com
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Terence W. Cavanaugh teaches educational technology at the University of North Florida and is the author of ISTE’'s The Digital Reader: Using E–Books in K–12 Education. |
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Copyright © 2010, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int'l), iste@iste.org, www.iste.org. All rights reserved.
Learning & Leading with Technology | February 2010
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