New features besides size include the ability to auto-rotate the screen to show documents in landscape as well as portrait mode, to make it easier to look at tables, maps, and other widescreen documents.
It also has built-in PDF support based on Adobe Reader Mobile technology, enabling it to display standard PDF documents. Users put their documents on the DX by either mailing them to their Kindle address or transferring them via USB.
The DX comes with 3.3 GB of memory, which, Amazon claims, is enough to hold 3,500 books, up from the 1,500 claimed for the current model.
Physically, the device is just over a third of an inch thick and weights 10.2 ounces -- "as thin as most magazines" and "lighter than a typical paperback," according to Amazon.
In support of the new device, Amazon announced partnerships with various newspapers and textbook publishers.
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Starting this summer -- when the DX is scheduled to be available -- the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Washington Post will sell the Kindle at a reduced price to subscribers who can't get home delivery of the printed paper.
"By offering a subscription through the Kindle DX to readers who live outside of our delivery areas, we will extend our reach to our loyal readers who will be able to more readily enjoy their favorite newspapers," said Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.
Amazon also envisions the Kindle DX as an ideal textbook reading device, and textbook publishers Cengage Learning, Pearson, and Wiley are set to offer their books through the Kindle Store, again beginning this summer.
And schools including Princeton, Case Western Reserve, and Arizona State plan to distribute Kindle DXs to students.
"The Kindle DX holds enormous potential to influence the way students learn," said Barbara R. Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University.
The Kindle DX will cost US$489. Amazon is taking pre-orders for the device and will fill orders on a first-come, first-served basis.
