Amazon first announced the larger screen Kindle DX in May of 2009. The DX offered a larger 9.7-inch display and offered the same wireless connectivity that the original, smaller screen Kindle. The Kindle DX first started shipping in June of 2009. Amazon announced today that it has updated the Kindle DX with wireless connectivity that will work worldwide.

Other than the updated wireless connectivity, the DX is the same as the previous model. The specifications include a 9.7-inch auto rotating display with 16 shades of gray. The new DX has an integrated PDF reader, 3.3GB of memory, and features adjustable text size. The new DX version with global wireless will be offered for pre-order starting today and will ship on January 19 for $489.

“Kindle DX is great for personal and professional documents, cookbooks, and textbooks – anything that is highly formatted. Documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display, that you’ll find yourself changing ink toner cartridges less often and printing fewer documents,” said Ian Freed, Amazon.com Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Now Kindle DX with Global Wireless lets customers enjoy the ease of Whispernet wireless delivery of books, newspapers, magazines, blogs and documents while traveling in over 100 countries worldwide.”

The new global wireless DX will replace the existing models. This may be a good time to buy the older DX versions if you only need wireless service in the U.S., presumably they will be discounted ahead of the new model release if any are left after the holidays.