Photo comparison of new Graphite DX vs a good older DX

New Graphite DX alongside Older White DX

This photo is from the Amazon’s Customer Images area and is taken by D. Meador. Here’s a link to the specific image which is 130k in size. I had to make it smaller for the blog and for the loading time of the Kindle Edition of this blog.

It’s a good illustration of the subtle differences in background lightness being more evident when you can see where the lighter aspects come through in a much more intense way, as in the white that you can see within the dark area of the very lowest bird’s wing as it appears in the graphite DX.

Also see the back of the head of the 4th bird down, facing to the right. With the older DX, it’s grayer.

In the smaller background spaces that are defined by branches as in the triangle that is made between the bottom part of the 3rd bird from the end and the branch it is on that turns up a bit, the difference in whiteness isn’t evident until you look at them one after another.

Then, if you step back a bit, and look at it overall, the the definition of the full picture by contrast is evident. The intensity of the black you see there is also seen in the text of documents on the display.

My DX seems somewhere between the two, but if given a choice of the first or 2nd one, as seen here, my eyes definitely like the one on the left better.

D. Meador has also done a customer review of the Graphite model at Amazon. Included in it:

‘ Comparison of Kindle DX (White) to DX (Graphite). The black images are sharper, and you can immediately see the difference. The ink looks richer, darker and more like an actual book. The graphite body color does make the “page” background appear whiter, along with the improved contrast.

Comparing the Kindle DX to the iPad: I stopped by the Apple store and compared the DX to the iPad. The iPad had too much glare and harsh contrast when compared to the Kindle. Also, the fonts were crisper and easier to read on the Kindle. ‘

Clayton Morris, for FoxNews, does a video preview of it and also a brief review, and writes:

‘… The biggest complaint I have with the iPad is not being able to read it in direct sunlight. In fact it’s virtually impossible. By the pool, beach or park, that’s where my Kindle gets its biggest workout.

… The screen on the new Kindle DX is nice and sharp and makes reading in the sunlight a no-brainer. If Amazon were smart, this little factoid would be plastered all over its marketing material.

Certain features on the Kindle DX have left the iPad in the dust, such as a very thin third-inch width compared to the iPad’s half-inch size. A much longer battery life — iPad gets about 10 hours while the Kindle boasts a week on a single charge. The Kindle DX is also noticeably lighter than the iPad. But remember, the Kindle is just an ebook reader and the iPad is almost a laptop replacement, hardly the same kind of device.’

He wouldn’t personally shell out another $200 for the larger Kindle, but many have, and the continuing new reviews of recently received Graphite DX’s at the Amazon thread I linked to yesterday and at other Kindle forums are indicating that this is the reference e-Ink reader-screen for now and we hope it’ll someday also be put on a smaller Kindle. I did get the larger DX earlier because I’d rather read on a larger screen but many prize the easier portability of the smaller one.

Editor’s Note: the above is reprinted, with permission, from Andrys Basten’s A Kindle World blog. PB