Kindle DX
Amazon's Kindle DX has the 9.7 screen size of the iPad, but in a lighter body, at 18.9 ounces (iPad weighs 24 ounces, or 1.5 pounds). It includes a keyboard and displays pages from books and publications in 16-gray-scale E Ink. Like the smaller Kindle 2, it has text-to-reading capabilities. The DX includes a PDF reader, but a 10 MB document you email yourself will cost you $1.50 under Amazon's 15 cent per megabyte data cost. It is selling for $489, slightly less than the cheapest iPad, but Amazon has been known to adjust pricing without notice. The E Ink display means the device is not backlit, which requires a user to have some kind of light when reading in the dark. But that display also reduces power demands, and some reviewers have said the DX will get up to two weeks on a charge, although Amazon only says you can "read for days" without recharging.
Return to Continuing coverage: Apple's iPad tablet