It’s just about the right time for Amazon to release an upgraded version of the Kindle DX. You know this bigger version of the Kindle right? While this has been available in the U.S. market for quite some time now, Amazon has finally deemed it alright to make this available also to international customers.

So, if you’ve been waiting for the Kindle DX International Version, this is it. You can now pre-order it from Amazon. It will set you back for $489 and will start shipping on January 19.

Full features of the Kindle DX are pretty much the same as the 6-inch Kindle International. Here goes:

Wireless Delivery of Personal and Professional Documents: Customers can take their personal and professional documents with them around the world with Kindle DX. They can even wirelessly receive personal and professional documents while they’re on the road, saving the hassle of searching for a printer or fax machine.

Built-In PDF Reader: Kindle DX features a built-in, native PDF reader using Adobe Reader Mobile technology for reading professional and personal documents. With a larger display and built-in PDF reader, Kindle DX customers can read professional and personal documents with more complex layouts without scrolling, panning, or zooming, and without re-flowing. Everything from annual reports with graphs to flight manuals with maps to musical scores can be viewed on a single, crisp screen with Kindle DX.

Auto-Rotation: Kindle DX’s display content auto-rotates so users can read in portrait or landscape mode, or flip the device to read with either hand. Simply turn Kindle DX and immediately see full-width landscape views of maps, graphs, tables and images.

3.3 GB Memory Holds up to 3,500 Books: With 3.3 GB of available memory, Kindle DX can hold up to 3,500 books, compared to 1,500 with Kindle. And because Amazon automatically backs up a copy of every Kindle book purchased, customers can wirelessly re-download titles from their library at any time.

Annotation and Bookmarks: The Kindle DX keyboard lets customers add annotations to text, just as they would write in the margins of a book. Customers can edit, delete and export these notes, highlight and clip key passages, and bookmark pages for future use. Additionally, Kindle DX automatically bookmarks the last page a customer reads of any content.

Automatically Syncs With Kindle and Kindle Compatible Devices: Amazon’s Whispersync technology automatically syncs customers’ last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights across Kindle, Kindle DX and Kindle-compatible devices like Kindle for PC and Kindle for iPhone, as well as additional applications coming soon, including Kindle for Mac and Kindle for Blackberry.

Incredibly Thin: Kindle DX is just over a third of an inch, which is thinner than most magazines.

Adjustable Text Size: Kindle DX has six adjustable font sizes to suit your reading preference. You can increase the text size of your favorite book or periodical with the push of a button. If your eyes tire, simply increase the font size and continue reading comfortably. Now every book in your library can be large print.

3G Wireless, No PC, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots: Just like Kindle, Kindle DX customers automatically take advantage of Amazon Whispernet to wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content in less than 60 seconds, and read from their library–all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing. Amazon still pays for the wireless connectivity on Kindle DX so books can be downloaded in less than 60 seconds–with no monthly fees, data plans or service contracts.

Extended Battery Life: Kindle DX now offers extended battery life – read for up to one full week with wireless on and up to two weeks with the wireless turned off.

Text-to-Speech: Kindle DX offers the experimental read-to-me feature “Text-to-Speech” that converts words on a page to spoken word so customers have the option to read or listen. Customers can switch back and forth between reading and listening, and their spot is automatically saved. Pages turn automatically while the content is being read so customers can listen hands-free. Using the read-to-me feature with books, newspapers, magazines, blogs and personal documents, Kindle DX can read to you.

No Setup Required: When customers order a Kindle DX, it arrives from Amazon.com ready to use. There is no software to load or set up. Customers are immediately ready to shop, purchase, download and read from Kindle.

Built-in Dictionary and Wikipedia: Kindle has built-in access to The New Oxford American Dictionary, which contains over 250,000 entries and definitions, so readers can easily look up the definitions of words within their reading. Kindle customers also have seamless access to the world’s most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia–Wikipedia.org. With Kindle DX in hand, looking up people, places, events and more has never been easier. It gives whole new meaning to the phrase “walking encyclopedia.”

So finally, the iRiver Story e-Reader is coming to America. If you’ve been wanting to have this for so long now, you’ll have to wait later this month as iRiver makes the basic model available at a competitive price. Perhaps something in the range of the Kindle and Nook prices.

As a review, the iRiver Story e-Reader boast of  6-inch e-ink display, integrated MP3 player, 2 GB of internal memory, SD expansion slot, USB connectivity, and a battery pack good enough to last you for 9000 pages of ebook reading.

Later this year, iRiver will also be bringing a new Story E-Reader equipped with WiFi connectivity. Now, that’s certainly worth the wait.

Via Engadget

Another e-book reader that will grace the CES 2010 is the Skiff Reader with its tablet-like form factor and large 11.5-inch touch screen display. With its large screen display, the Skiff Reader looks more like a tablet device geared for newspaper and magazine reading.

It’s full touchscreen display allows intuitive navigation of digital content purchased from the Skiff store as well as personal and work document. The Skiff Reader is lightweight too, weighing only one pound.

Despite its thin form factor, the Skiff Reader is very durable as it is made of thin, flexible sheet of stainless-steel foil.

For its distribution to the U.S., Skiff has signed a multi-year deal with Sprint which will provide 3G connectivity to the Skiff Reader, although it also works through WiFi.

No pricing and release date are available yet, but expect it to be announced pretty soon by Sprint.

Via I4U

Aside from that this e-book reader will be running on Nvidia’s Tegra processor.

So, if you’re attending CES 2010, be sure to check out MSI’s booth for their e-book reader. Don’t go looking out for the dual-screen yet though, as MSI is showcasing only a single screen model.

Somewhere in China, another e-book reader shows up with the name OWEN E1 e-book reader.  This one has a 5-inch e-ink display with 20 lines per page at 30 characters per line display capability. This practically makes the E1 e-book reader slightly smaller than the Kindle.

Noteworthy features of this e-book reader is its support for MP3, WMA, and OGG. I guess you can call it as an music player as well.

Unfortunately no pricing details are available yet as well as whether this e-reader will see the light of day internationally.

Via PMPToday