Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

With all the excitement last week regarding the announcement of the new Kindle DX, a larger version designed for bigger text like newspapers, it is easy to start to justify the almost $500 expense.  But then a sobering weekend brings up the thought, “why drop that kind of cash on a locked system?”  What can I build on my own and have a better experience?

Thankfully, the world isn’t convinced Amazon’s Kindle will reign supreme and reinvent newspapers.  Leading this charge, newspapers themselves.  Most of the top papers have recently begun experimenting with other delivery options.  Here are two that are worth checking out.

Got an iPhone?  Sure you do, you are a tech reader (if not, just play along).  Check out the Wall Street Journal iPhone app.  As a recent subscriber to the Journal, I hate this app.  Why?  Simple; they took all the content I paid a whopping sum for and are giving it away on a slick, easy to read, custom formatted iPhone App.  Awesome.  While the Journal makes it clear it is a limited time offer, get it while the gettings good.  It is an impressive app.

The other is perhaps a bit more interesting.  You crave a bigger screen than the iPhone offers, but want to be able to do anything (*virtually, damn lawyers) with that screen.  You want access to things like the web, email, word processing, whatever you feel like.  Oh, and keep it cheap.  The answer?

Yeah, it’s a netbook

A netbook.  All that and a color screen in a form factor that looks like you could possibly be working, not just goofing off, lounging around reading.  You could pick up a cheap one with Windows XP or even Linux and load up this recently updated New York Times app that runs on Adobe Air. 

The NYT app is really slick.  It is lightning fast and very graceful in its movements.  The app allows you to easily select a date of publication so you can check an article you heard about last week quite simply.  There are sections that are locked to subscribers only (they offer a $3.95 weekly web subscription) but freebie seekers like me have access to the front page, videos, Business Day section and most popular.  I really like this app.

Many local newspapers put their content online with no limitations, so you can find your local content with ease. 

Check out this great CNET post on some tools to help convert your netbook into an e-reader.  The above image is from that site as well.

Caveats

Now, you’ll need some kind of connectivity through a cell connection or WiFi, so give that some thought.  It’s not e-ink and the experience isn’t nearly as seamless or flawless.

While not a perfect solution, it is a very flexible one.  Serious readers with a penchant for hauling around another gadget can easily justify the Kindle DX I suspect.  Both those of us who can’t it is good to know alternatives abound.