The new Kindle DX: good for gaming?

[mach1.9pants]

I have literally just received my Foxit eSlick reader. Foxit (a PDF software company) have reskinned and re programmed some other ereader (don't know which) and it has the standard 6 inch screen. It ONLY does PDFs and is the cheapest out there at the moment (269US, I think).

Now from my couple of days with it (and exclusively using RPG PDFs... rulebooks, level up, KQ, One Bad Egg stuff) I would pass this opinion for everybody thinking of going for one of these type of things for gaming..

1. Even the 6" screen is big enough to read Dungeon and Dragon mags- full screen 1 page. Reading them landscape works.. the print is fine but certainly readable due to the incredible clarity of epaper. The rulebooks don't quite work, their font is smaller. So I use software to chop each page into bit sized pieces. Obviously the Kindle3 will mean you could read everything i page per screen, awesome you lucky americans!
So for reading these are just awesome! All my rulebooks mags and 3PP in one (ultra light- weighs less than my phone) handy package.

2. At the game table it is not going to be quite as useful. There is a noticeable delay on page turn, probably not much longer than turning a page but nothing like the instantaneous page change on your PC. This means that flipping for a rule, unless you have very good bookmarks would be frustrating. You can search though. Maybe the Kindle 3 has a better CPU but there will be a delay.

In short awewome for reading your PDFs (I am finally reading the entire issues of Du and Dr mags etc, raher than just skimming a few articles); maybe not so hot at the table itself... YMMV Just my 2cp

 

[tmatk]

...
Also, if the Kindle becomes more popular, this presents another possible avenue for WotC's electronic sales. It's a more secure format; it's just there's a very limited base of potential consumers right now.

-O

Is it more secure? I don't know too much about it, I assume it uses DRM. If that DRM isn't cracked already, it will be. The crackers-that-be probably haven't bothered with it since it isn't popular enough yet.

 

[FunkBGR]

Have to also chime in. I pointed the new Kindle out to a co-worker, and he pointed me to this:

eSlick Reader

The eSlick is nearly half the price. Plus their pdf software is what they're known for. I'd probably go with that rather than the Kindle, but I would only use it for reading rulebooks and stuff, and wouldn't find much use with the Kindle magazine / wireless stuff.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Is it more secure? I don't know too much about it, I assume it uses DRM. If that DRM isn't cracked already, it will be. The crackers-that-be probably haven't bothered with it since it isn't popular enough yet.

Yeah the DRM is cracked. Amazon are very suspicious of people who buy an ebook (DRMed) then 'return' it (as is their right). In the in between time people are stripping it of DRM=free book.

Have to also chime in. I pointed the new Kindle out to a co-worker, and he pointed me to this:

eSlick Reader

The eSlick is nearly half the price. Plus their pdf software is what they're known for. I'd probably go with that rather than the Kindle, but I would only use it for reading rulebooks and stuff, and wouldn't find much use with the Kindle magazine / wireless stuff.

Look a couple of posts up

 

[JoeGKushner]

Another step in my theory that the iphone (electronic device) will one day replace printed products.

 

[Miar]

I'm not very excited about the Kindle however there are two other readers coming out I want to check out. There is Samsung's Paprus due out in Korea in June (I'm in Korea so..). The other one is Plastic Logic's reader probably coming out early next year. It's super thin and has a 8.5 by 11 screen.

 

[Saracenus]

My wife has a Kindle 2 and I can vouch for the readability of the screen, but it is more suited to blogs, books and short news stories.

From all I have read and the pictures I have seen the Kindle DX will be the reader to beat for textbooks, magazines, and newspapers. The fact that it will have a native PDF reader and supports tables and graphics are all full of win.

If you want to see what graphics and tables look like on the new reader check out this link:

Live from Amazon's Kindle event in NYC!

I really like the automatic portrait and landscape mode that is built into it.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Will this thing allow for fast switching between different PDFs? A DM device has to be able to do this, IMHO. Otherwise you see a power mentioned in a Dungeon adventure, close the adventure open the PHB, search for the power, read it, close the PHB, open Dungeon, search for the encounter and hope to still remember the specifics.

A more useless approach is hard to imagine.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Will this thing allow for fast switching between different PDFs? A DM device has to be able to do this, IMHO. Otherwise you see a power mentioned in a Dungeon adventure, close the adventure open the PHB, search for the power, read it, close the PHB, open Dungeon, search for the encounter and hope to still remember the specifics.

A more useless approach is hard to imagine.

You have 'hit the nail on the head'. This is exactly the problem with an ereader for a game table device. They don't have the CPU power to hold open several PDFs at a time. It is an ereader, for reading not researching! I would not use my eslick at the table, that is what my laptop is for. But the ereader is great for reading dragon mag or whatever, beats the laptop hands down.

Note maybe the new Kindle has got the power to keep several PDFs open at once, but I doubt it. I am basing it of my one.

 

[Whimsical]

Kindle does remember your place in the book you're reading. So, by pressing the Home key, it will take you to the list of books. You would then select the other book and it would open to the last point you were reading.

So, it can work a little better than described above, but being able to switch between different tabs of open PDFs on a laptop is better.