Amazon's new Kindle DX touts higher contrast screen

Amazon.com released the newest edition of its Kindle DX ereader device, with a 9.7-inch screen boasting a new, high-contrast electronic display promising to improve text and image clarity by 50 percent. According to Amazon, the DX's diagonal e-ink screen is optimized for a broad range of material, including graphics-intensive books, PDFs, newspapers and magazines--the device also improves contrast and darkens fonts, making it easier for consumers to read in both bright sunlight and low light. Amazon will sell the new Kindle DX for $379, down from $489.

Amazon's Kindle Store now offers over 620,000 books, most priced at $9.99--the storefront added more than 200,000 new titles in the last six months, and also features over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright releases. Kindle Store purchases may be read across rival device platforms including Apple's iPhone and iPad, Android smartphones and BlackBerry devices.

The release of the Kindle DX follows a week after Amazon.com slashed the price of its original Kindle unit from $259 to $189. Amazon made the move just hours after bookseller chain Barnes & Noble cut the cost of its rival Nook 3G unit from $259 to $199. In early June, brick-and-mortar retail chain Target began selling the Kindle across all of its 1,740 U.S. retail locations.

For more on the new Kindle DX:
- read this release

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