Amazon Plans iPad Competitor (and 2 New Kindles)

destinyland writes "Some time in the next 10 weeks, Amazon will release a new Android tablet device, which will compete directly with Apple's iPad, according to the Wall Street Journal. Amazon hopes to leverage the digital content they've already made available online — digital video, music, and ebooks, as well as their new app store for Android devices. The device will ship without a built-in camera, prompting one tablet watcher to report that 'it feels like Amazon is trying to strip it down and bring it in at the lowest cost possible.' Amazon will also release two new versions of the Kindle — one with a touch screen, and one at a lower price." Now if only they'd make it a proper e-reader by including a Pixel Qi (or similar) daylight-readable screen, I'd be sold.

Comments

Ugh

[Niris]

Another new tablet? Probably with a completely different UI than all the others. Going to be bombarded with users asking how to do things or to trouble shoot it, so have to learn ANOTHER set. Already sick of tablets and their non-standardization.

Re:Ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a suggestion (from a sysadmin with hiring power): spend less time getting worthless certifications and get a real job where you don't have to support consumer devices.

Re:Ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

Going to be bombarded with users asking how to do things or to trouble shoot it, so have to learn ANOTHER set.

WTF? Do you learn all the controls for their other devices too? "Oh yeah, you need to set spin cycle three to get jeans dry in your washing machine, now I just need to help Bob with his SatNav before I'll have a chance to look at your motorboat".

Re:Ugh

[Threni]

It's an Android tablet, so it'll probably be as easy to use as other Android tablets, phones etc. Do you find Android devices complicated to use?

Re:Ugh

[Niris]

They're generally easy to use, until someone has a problem and you have to find where different settings are that may be causing the issue, or if it's a problem with a specific app that doesn't want to play nice.

Re:Ugh

[Niris]

Real job will be next year when I'm done with my degree, hence the last part in the signature.

Re:Ugh

[geekoid]

A tablet that has an interface already used by million, and ti will(probably) be cheaper then the iPad to get all those people who want tables but the iPad is out of their price range.

If you can't pick up any tablet on the market right now, and be able to use it, then for the love of god, stay the hell out of computer software. We don't need more people like you.

Re:Ugh

[h4rr4r]

If they are not company owned why are you doing this?
If they are company owned this sounds like something helpdesk grunts can handle.

Re:Ugh

[Niris]

When you work in shit retail support, it helps to know everything in the "computer department" because every hick and their family members are going to come over to ask questions on everything.

Re:Ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

And the next generation user interface/experience will have been dumbed down/simplified especially for the people who couldn't figure out the old one. And everyone else will also have to use it.

Re:Ugh

[cyber-vandal]

There's a lot of BS in Computer Science already we don't need any more.

Re:Ugh

[rwool]

Another new tablet? Probably with a completely different UI than all the others. Going to be bombarded with users asking how to do things or to trouble shoot it, so have to learn ANOTHER set. Already sick of tablets and their non-standardization.

no doubt there are more to come it will be at least a year (if we are lucky) if not longer before some type of standardization is used among all tablets

Re:Ugh

[arisvega]

Already sick of tablets and their non-standardization.

Standardization is for insects.

Re:Ugh

[jojoba_oil]

cheaper then the iPad to get all those people who want tables but the iPad is out of their price range.

I may be dense, but why would anyone want an iPad for a table?

Okay. It was a cheap shot. I'm sorry.

Re:Ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

You clearly dislike your job, so instead of complaining about it on the internet, why don't you man up and go apply to McDonald's?

Re:Ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

Studio apartment?

Re:Ugh

[spire3661]

In case you hadnt gotten the clue yet, no one cares what your certs are here, especially with a UID like that. You might as well have a flashing neon banner saying 'Im a noob who needs 3rd parties to make my skillset marketable" for a sig. IN the real world people care what you can do, not what hoops you have run through in the past. Honest to god, Ive seen hobbies listed on a resume more interesting then your string of alphabet soup

Im not trying ot be a jerk, I would just like to know what you think that sig accomplishes? Yes yes i COULD turn off sigs, but what fun would that be?? IM really not trying to be Offtopic, its just hard to take anything you say seriously with a sig like that.

P.S. Non-standarization is what keeps us geeks employed. Believe me you dont want a future of zero-config because you will quickly be out of a job, especially when all your certs point to you being a life long cubicle drone and not someone that will chart his own course.

Re:Ugh

[rainmouse]

Another new tablet? Probably with a completely different UI than all the others. Going to be bombarded with users asking how to do things or to trouble shoot it, so have to learn ANOTHER set. Already sick of tablets and their non-standardization.

Apple are trying their hardest to get rid of standards, whether its trying to patent parts of HTML 5 or suing anyone with a vaguely similar UI. It's going to be hardly their own fault to not want to give half their profits to Apple via lawyers.

Re:Ugh

[LifesABeach]

I'm a little concerned about a company that sells electronic media, then on the whim of someone, reaches out and deletes said media from all of its client base. I think I'd wait on any purchase from Amazon...

Re:Ugh

[_KiTA_]

I'm a little concerned about a company that sells electronic media, then on the whim of someone, reaches out and deletes said media from all of its client base. I think I'd wait on any purchase from Amazon...

It wasn't on a whim. Someone uploaded a copyright file to the Kindle Store that they did not have the right to do so with, thinking it was out of copyright. Technically it is out of copyright were the uploader resides (Canada), and should be out of copyright in the US, but that's another discussion entirely, and I think we'd all be preaching to the choir with that one. At the point they got a legal nastygram about the book, they were required to remove it. Not only that, to protect themselves from being a provider of stolen merchandise -- the closest analogue to what they unwittingly did -- they had to make a good faith effort to resolve the situation. The best way to do this was to send a remote file delete command. Was it an ideal solution? No. Ideally they would have sent an alert to those who bought the item giving them a few days notice, then deleted the item. I get them occasionally when my debit card craps out after I buy something off the Kindle store on the Kindle itself, it looks like a book with the title "There has been a problem with a recent purchase", letting you know you need to look at Amazon's account page for more information. They could have sent a similar one, "Urgent Notice Regarding your recent purchase of 1982" with a warning that the file was in fact, illegal, and they had to get rid of it. I know it's technologically possible -- now, anyway. It might not have been so at that time. I am under the impression that they made a good faith effort to appease the people who purchased the book, I seem to remember them offering free deadtree versions of the book for anyone who complained, but I might be wrong. But you do have to understand that Amazon's current business model is completely dependent on making good faith gestures towards the content resellers. If they pissed off a publisher and they said "welp, no more Kindle sales for us, we're going to do our own thing," then Amazon would be in trouble. This is the same reason Netflix is trying to pass off a huge price hike to it's users. Basically, Hollywood, being the oh so greedy and humble jackasses they are, are trying to push a 1200% license increase onto Netflix for streaming their content -- ultimately, the studios want to make as much as a theater ticket for each and every single person who streams a movie. Netflix can't really fight back, outside of trying to talk some sense into them (good luck with that), so they're just having to adjust and try to not go under before Hollywood gets a clue.

Re:Ugh

[_KiTA_]

As a quick aside, there was a LOT more whitespace in that before Slashdot got ahold of it. Turning off the new slow-as-molasses ajax nightmare posting system royally breaks things.

Re:Ugh

[RobotRunAmok]

every hick and their family members are going to come over to ask questions on everything.

You're a classist buffoon.

The next time you look down your nose at a "hick," bear in mind he's probably thinking, "Thank God I've got a real job that let's me work normal hours and pays enough to raise a family -- not like that rude hipster stuck in retail."

Re:Ugh

[Count Fenring]

1982? The little known prequel? ;-)

Re:Ugh

[painandgreed]

Here's a suggestion (from a sysadmin with hiring power): spend less time getting worthless certifications and get a real job where you don't have to support consumer devices.

Good change of subject. True management material. Deflect the issue and attack!

Re:Ugh

[_KiTA_]

1982? The little known prequel? ;-)

Yes, but this is the Hollywood version. They're getting Michael Bay to direct. It turns out Big Brother is an alien conspiracy, which they solve via pyrotechnics. In 3D and IMAX, Summer 2012.

Re:Ugh

[tehcyder]

You clearly dislike your job, so instead of complaining about it on the internet, why don't you man up and go apply to McDonald's?

Because his vastly inflated sense of entitlement prevents him from doing a lowly job that doesn't utilise his awesome technical knowledge, sharply honed intellect and massive cock to best effect.

Re:Ugh

[Golddess]

Ah yes, the ol' "you have no right to complain because there are people worse off than you" argument.

Re:Ugh

[LifesABeach]

I was thinking about what you said. I'm trying to think of a situation where faceless-corporation A, sells stolen items to client's B's; and both parties had reasonable expectations that the product was sellable. Then faceless-corporation A has to go and retrieve sold items from all clients B's. Nothing comes to mind as a similar example. But what does come to mind is that faceless-corporation A gets fined by the D.O.D., and pays damages to Plaintiff. And when I consider if the book was a bound book, this is like faceless-corporation A breaks into my house, and steals the book. I think this is a slippery slope Amazon stepped on, and it's a problem I don't have the time to spend trying to solve.

Re:Ugh

[darkwing_bmf]

Ditch the sig. Listing certs looks unprofessional. Let your posts stand or fall on their content.

Price War?

[Anonymous Coward]

Will this start the price war on tablets? Great! I don't care about a built-in "web cam".

Re:Price War?

[Necroman]

Doubt it. Samsung had to push out the release of their Galaxy Tab 10.1 because Apple's iPad 2 had better specs and they were able to sell it at a lower price.

I wouldn't expect these devices to drop too much in price. The most this competition will do is cause tablet makers to produce lower end tablets.

kindle started it all

[StripedCow]

The Amazon Kindle was there before Apple's iPad, and started the whole tablet craze. It is not the other way around, like the article seems to suggest!

Re:kindle started it all

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps they started it but apple has a nice success on their hands... That we in the tech industry did not think would happen. If it had their desktop OS on there I would have snapped one up myself. But I like to get my OCD on and arrange icons all the time :)

Re:kindle started it all

[geekoid]

No ti didn't. I mean is was out, but no one wanted a tablet' until the iPad. well, the VAST majority of people.

They are not really comparable. one is a device designed for a specific task, the other is a multipurpose portable computer.

Re:kindle started it all

[Moridineas]

What about the Newton? What about those brick thick tablets in the 90s/early 2000s that you could draw on?

I have a Kindle and an iPad. I read books on both. The Kindle experience is, imho, far better. The Kindle is great, but the Kindle is not a general purpose tablet. The iPad is. It's absolutely fair to say that the iPad started the current tablet craze.

Re:kindle started it all

[jojoba_oil]

No ti didn't. I mean is was out, but no one wanted a tablet' until the iPad. well, the VAST majority of people.

They are not really comparable. one is a device designed for a specific task, the other is a multipurpose portable computer.

I have trouble calling the iPad a computer. Can you save files on its harddrive? Not directly. Can you word process on it? Not really. Can you edit pictures on it? Not very effectively. Can you program/create things on it? Not that I've ever seen.

Can you explain to me how it's a portable computer instead of an oversized phone? When would I need an iPad that I wouldn't be able to use a netbook?

Re:kindle started it all

[Wyatt Earp]

The hell you can't save a file to the iPad.

If you took 5-10 minutes and installed some apps, even free ones, you can do all the things you say you can't do on an iPad.

Just because you don't have the patience or knowledge to do something doesn't mean it can't be done.

Re:kindle started it all

[cyber-vandal]

You have to install an app to save things to your iPad? Wow I must get me one of those [/sarcasm]

Re:kindle started it all

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you save files on its harddrive? Not directly.

I'm not sure what "directly" means, but you can save files and open files.

A jailbreak version gives you a filemanager and other things.

Can you word process on it? Not really

Sure. There's lots of those apps. Among others: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id364361728?mt=8 and http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pages/id361309726?mt=8

The real "limitation" is the keyboard, but there are wireless keyboards for serious typing.

Can you edit pictures on it? Not very effectively.

I'm not sure the threshold for "effectively" but you certainly can. And for some designers, it's really no different than their input tablets.
For example, http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photogene-for-ipad/id363448251?mt=8

Can you program/create things on it? Not that I've ever seen.

There are code editors:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/for-i-code-editor-for-the-ipad/id363493710?mt=8

There are even compilers for jailbroken ipads.

Re:kindle started it all

[Telvin_3d]

If you don't have any apps, what are you saving? The pictures you are not editing? The text files you are not writing?

Re:kindle started it all

[Count Fenring]

Kindle isn't a tablet - it's a dedicated e-Reader. It has close to zero similarity to the tablet form factor - it's not a general computing device, it's not touch screen, etc, etc.

Re:kindle started it all

[painandgreed]

Can you explain to me how it's a portable computer instead of an oversized phone? When would I need an iPad that I wouldn't be able to use a netbook?

Simple. You're a techie, perhaps and old techie set in you ways, and you just don't see where computers are going. You're the IBM greybeard that could never imagine a computer in every home because they took up too much space, too much power, and ran specialized programs that no average person could want. Your phone probably is a already a computer with a phone function that does way more than your first computer ever did and better. What it does may not be what you want to do, but you are the minority. I'm sure you didn't listen to Steve Jobs last speech where he said he was trying to get rid of the file system. That there is no file system that can be viewed and manipulated isn't preventing the iPhone or iPad from being a computer, it's a feature that they are working hard to achieve. When it comes down to it, most people don't want to manipulate all 30k of their mp3s into their own folders organized how they want. They just want to load them into a program that does all that for them and play them. If the program in question doesn't work they way they want, they'll get a different program to handle all that for them. The iPad could run some sort of CLI and do all the things that computers used to do, but the consumers don't want that. Face it, the UI is changing. The filesystem and guts of a computer are being hidden from people, but that doesn't mean it's not a computer.

For what you want, there will be special models, developer machines, pet projects for which, 99% of the world could care less about. Not saying I agree with it or like it, but that's how I see it. I was wondering when the iOS would crack and the demand for some sort of file system would force it to appear. However, after listening to Jobs speak, I know it won't. They will just put more effort into making sure all of that is handled in the background till it is not longer an issue.

In car allegory, computers are moving from type that anybody with knowledge could work on and change the oil to the type that do what they are meant to do and when something goes wrong you take it into the shop where they have the tools to read the errors in the chips log and do everything for you. For those hobbiests that really want to work on their own engines and change their own oil, it will be possible with the right tools, special brands, or old models, but those won't matter to the majority of the market.

Re:kindle started it all

[Eskarel]

The thing is none of that is actually true.

Yes mobile devices are selling like hotcakes, but I don't know a single person who had a computer of some sort(laptop, netbook, desktop, etc) before they bought an iPad and doesn't have one now. I don't even know anyone who put off an upgrade or replacement to one of those devices because they bought an iPad.

People like Jobs keep touting the end of the PC, but as far as I've seen and read there's absolutely no evidence of it happening. Sure PC sales are slowing, but that's because everyone who can currently use one and wants one has one. The few people who don't are too poor to buy an iPad either.

Maybe you're seeing stuff I'm not, but I just don't see any evidence of a decline in PC ownership, a decline in the rate of increase in PC ownership sure, but that was coming with or without the new sort of tablets.

The same prediction has been made for years but it's never happened. No one is throwing out their laptop to buy an iPad.

Re:kindle started it all

[Anonymous Coward]

but I don't know a single person who had a computer of some sort(laptop, netbook, desktop, etc) before they bought an iPad and doesn't have one now.

You also didn't see or ignored Steve Jobs' latest presentation on iOS 5. He specifically pointed out that, up until now, there have been certain things you just couldn't do without a computer. Things like activating the iPad or installing OS upgrades require a computer to tether your iPad to. So it makes perfect sense that no one has yet given up their regular computer in favor of an iPad since, by Apple's own admission, they haven't made this possible.

iOS 5 is supposed to change that, so your appraisal of the situation might be meaningful if it's still the case in 6 months. But for right now, it's meaningless.

Re:kindle started it all

[teh kurisu]

Can you word process on it? Not really.

Why not? There are plenty of word processing apps available.

Unless you're one of those people for whom 'word processing' == 'Microsoft Word', in which case you can't word process on Linux either.

Re:kindle started it all

[leenks]

I'm running iOS 5 betas, and yes, it is true. Wire free activation and cloud backups.

Re:kindle started it all

[leenks]

WINE

Re:kindle started it all

[Dog-Cow]

Yes, directly. Yes, really. Yes, if there's an app for it. Yes, even though you haven't seen it.

Explain to me how a (modern) smartphone isn't a portable computer with cellular voice hardware.

There is no time you'd need an iPad where a netbook wouldn't get the job done. What is your point? You could also lug around your desktop. It gets even more done than a netbook.

Re:kindle started it all

[hey!]

The Kindle experience is great for novels. It is not so good for technical books or non-fiction books with illustrations and figures. As for math books -- forget it. A page with equations is either rendered as if it were put into an open blender and splattered across the wall, or as an unreadable image. Ironically, I *can* read those book on my iPod touch using the Amazon Reader. The rendering infrastructure must be better. Also on the touch I can zoom in and out of illustrations and photos, a capability for some reason not implemented in the Android reader software for Amazon of Barnes and Noble.

Re:kindle started it all

[painandgreed]

What point I was trying to make is not that desktop computer will disappear, but that you can't dismiss items like the iPad or iPhone as a computer just because it doesn't act the way you think it should as a computer. It's the sci-fi future and most people are now walking around with a PC in their pocket (instead of strapped to their thigh or forearm as old sci-fi movies and tv series predicted).

Re:kindle started it all

[Moridineas]

Releasing ebooks for the Kindle is somewhat frustrating... The mobipocket format that Amazon has used up until this point is several limited compared to epub (and especially the forthcoming epub3). It has all sorts of bizarre limitations like, on one visible page, you can't have specify multiple left margins (that is margin-left in the css) -- only one will be visible. No right margins. No nested lists. Little typographic control. Beyond weird limitations like that, mobipocket itself is like a bastardized HTML 3.2. One almost expects to see tags at any second. Really, if you have to do any complicated formatting at all, an image is your best option.

Things that matter not at all for novels, but make a big difference technical, academic, etc books.

Beyond that, as you said, there are pretty big differences between an eink kindle, an iPhone kindle reader, and Kindle for the PC.

But, the Kindle is far and away the most popular platform. The publishing company I work for primarily focuses on Kindle because iPad, nook, etc books just don't sell at nearly the same rate.

Re:kindle started it all

[cyber-vandal]

A picture, an MP3 or a video from the net perhaps. Like I do all the time on my £300 cheaper netbook. I'm sure there's lots of uses for tablets but not one where someone else tells me what I can put on it.

huh?

[Ralph Spoilsport]

Now if only they'd make it a proper e-reader by including a Pixel Qi (or similar) daylight-readable screen, I'd be sold.

Huh? Make what a proper ereader? The Kindle? The kindle eInk is easily readable in broad daylight. It's useless in the dark.Or are you talking about the tablet? Your syntax is unclear. Please rephrase.

Re:huh?

[awyeah]

Yes, please elaborate. My kindle is the current generation and it's perfectly readable in broad daylight.

Re:huh?

[gubers33]

Completely agree. I have read my Kindle on a the beach with zero clouds in the sky and bright as could be and it read like a book.

Re:huh?

[EraserMouseMan]

I think what the parent wants is a full strength Android-based tablet/eReader with an eInk touchscreen. I would love to see that come to market!

Re:huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

The link explains all: http://www.pixelqi.com/

Re:huh?

[jfengel]

Presumably, destinyland is seeking a tablet which also has the the ability to be read in sunlight like a Kindle. This is set up as a competitor to the iPad, which doesn't behave particularly well in sunlight.

It's a tablet rather than a dedicated e-reader, and since tablets can run programs that require fast response times (which the Kindle's screen can't do), they're hoping for the best of both worlds.

Re:huh?

[destinyland]

Hey! Destinyland didn't say that. Timothy did.

Sincerely,

Destinyland

Re:huh?

[shutdown -p now]

He means the tablet. And it's a bad idea - it was already tried with Notion Ink Adam, and PQi was found very lacking compared to current generation of eInk in terms of contrast.

Re:huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason I love my Kindle-3 (e-ink) is because I use it exactly like my real books. Under the sun, in the pool or on the beach, or even in the dark with the same reading lamp I always had. No eye fatigue, pages similar in size than a pocket-book, I can change fonts and read PDF magazines.

Re:huh?

[jfengel]

I stand corrected. Sorry about that; having the inane ramblings of a Slashdot editor attributed to me would be very upsetting.

Re:huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if only they'd make it a proper e-reader by including a Pixel Qi (or similar) daylight-readable screen, I'd be sold.

The screen of my first 3G+wifi Kindle (bought in January) died in April. I got a replacement whose screen died late in June. I was extra cautious with my second kindle. I am on my 3rd kindle (got replacements each time) now and I fear when this one will give way. The same problem was faced by my friend whose kindle died within 1 month (and he wasn't even using it enough). I'd rather have them make more reliable devices. IMHO, they are already aware of the issue and that's why they have a dysfunctional screen option when you choose to return the device. Instead of recalling their duds, may be they are hoping to create more goodwill by offering free replacements to customers.

Re:huh?

[h4rr4r]

And eInk has terrible refresh times. On a smaller older reader a human could read the page faster than they could refresh. On current eink this is not true, but they all seem to do that terrible flash to black then the text thing.

Re:huh?

[shutdown -p now]

It is very subjective. I find the refresh time and method on last-generation Kindles to be fast enough to not annoy me, but then I've been using eInk readers for over 3 years now.

Anyway, no-one is proposing to use eInk for general-purpose tablets. My point was that adding PixelQi to a tablet will not magically make it a good e-reader - it's too low-contrast to read indoors, and in direct sunlight you'll get glare on the glass that'll also drown out the screen. At best, you're going to get something of roughly the same contrast as 3-year-old eInk readers, which is to say, not all that good. And, on the other hand, the quality of normal (non-reflective) mode will suffer.

Best just stick to IPS as iPad does, and make a solid reader app. It's good enough for most, and us bookworms will buy a separate eInk device anyway, and consider the tablet on its merits as a tablet.

Re:huh?

[subreality]

What the link doesn't explain is that the Pixel Qi doesn't have as good of contrast as eInk, and it's black and white when it's in reflective mode. For an ebook, I'd say that's a poor tradeoff. IMO the Kindle already has the best ebook display with current technology.

Re:huh?

[NotPeteMcCabe]

That doesn't mean it's a bad idea. It's a terrific idea—the current technology may not quite be there yet.

Re:huh?

[HJED]

Maybe because all the screen aren't dodge, only some of them? When my first one broke, they sent me a new one international express post from the US (I live in Australia) and I didn't even have to send my old one back they just told me to throw it in the bin.

Re:huh?

[Tei]

I have used a iPod and a iPad under horrible conditions of dust and dirty hands (don't ask), and the screen is readable.. mostly because is a glass (probably of a special type) and the screen is good, very, very, good.

And I have used these machines to read long books, games, and browse, for very long hours, too.

What you comment, is not a problem at all, ... at least for Apple devices, or devices with the quality of Apple hardware.

Re:huh?

[leenks]

My iPad2 and iPhone4, like pretty much every colour LCD screen, are practically unusable outdoors in sunlight.

UI replacements on Android

[tepples]

Do you find Android devices complicated to use?

Yes, when customizations by the manufacturer or carrier overcomplicate the UI. It's also complicated to find apps for entry-level Android-powered devices whose manufacturers don't pay Google for Android Market access.

New Kindle.. we'll see

[willoughby]

No EPUB, no sd card slot... no sale.

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[p0p0]

EPUB is understandable, but software like Calibre can easily convert it to MOBI. SD Card is moot. The Kindle now comes with 4GB of memory. Few books are bigger then a few hundred kb, and you should use something else for music.

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[Anonymous Coward]

Buy a nook.

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[MimeticLie]

and you should use something else for music.

Why? Why is it preferable to carry around yet another device than to expect the same level of functionality provided by the Kindle's competitors?

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[chispito]

Well, there is this:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304569504576403291417417796.html#ixzz1S7TijLao

"A spokeswoman for Amazon said, "We're working closely with Pottermore to make sure Kindle customers will be able to buy and read J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books."

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[Anonymous Coward]

Because, whatever Amazon says, a Kindle isn't exactly pocketable...

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[TheCouchPotatoFamine]

your statement sounds just like what the CEO's of failing consumer electronic device companies would say.

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[shutdown -p now]

You already carry a device that can play music in your pocket - it's called a "cell phone".

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[LtGordon]

I'm actually in the same boat where 4 GB and no expandability is less than ideal. I am a huge fan of being able to load and read PDF documents onto an e-reader, which can easily hit 20+ MB each.

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[Sable Drakon]

If this is true, paper books are pretty much dead to me.

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[Anonymous Coward]

No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[dakameleon]

Because a specialist device doesn't need to and shouldn't compete with more generalist devices?

You can stick to the philosophy of "Do one thing, do it well" and still endure. Attempting to be a jack of all trades chasing competitors for ancillary features shouldn't be important if you know what you're selling should sell on its own merits.

I use my Kindle for reading, and my iPhone for music - I charge my Kindle once a month, my iPhone daily. Two separate but complimentary devices.

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[willoughby]

That SD card slot isn't just for capacity, it's also a separate partition. I can slide an SD card loaded with pirate copies of George Orwells "1984" into my Nook and Barnes & Noble can't even see them, much less delete them. With the Kindle... well, we know what happens. Amazon has the Kindle set up so they can see everything on it and take "appropriate action" ("but we'll never do it again")

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[Anonymous Coward]

your statement sounds just like what the CEO's of failing consumer electronic device companies would say.

Or what Steve Jobs would say:

- You don't need Flash, or the ability to play FLAC or WMA or WMV files
- You don't need an SD card, we have lots of built-in memory

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[Anonymous Coward]

It's almost as if Amazon doesn't consider their target market to be 'douchenozzles who pirate stuff'. Weird.

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[Eskarel]

Amazon also can't, and won't, do anything to the documents you manually put on your kindle, 1984 was yanked because it was sold by Amazon improperly, Amazon doesn't back up private documents, nor have they ever yanked them.

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[cachorro]

Not a bad idea. I was considering buying my wife a reader for her birthday, and was comparing kindle to nook. Came across lots of postings on various websites about jailbreaking the nook and turning it into a not-so-bad android-based tablet for less money than any of the (then) current offerings. Almost bought a nook to play with, but I simply cannot justify owning a tablet as well as a laptop _and_ smartphone (N8). Can't imagine anything what would fall through the cracks that a tablet would catch. It might be perfect for someone else tho

Re:New Kindle.. we'll see

[Dog-Cow]

I don't carry a cellphone. I have a PAYG that's been sitting in a drawer for 8 or 9 months now. I'll pull it out in a few weeks, as my wife's due date is approaching, but after the delivery, back in the drawer it goes.

To be fair, I also don't own a Kindle.

Kindle is black and white

[tepples]

The Kindle?

Black and white. Is there a Kindle model with a daylight-readable screen useful for, say, children's picture books or other material that relies on color?

Re:Kindle is black and white

[Yvan256]

What I'd like to see is a large color e-ink panel that can be cut to size and targeted at hobbyists. Doesn't need to be fast, even a refresh of a second or two would be alright.

Re:Kindle is black and white

[Anonymous Coward]

It's called a Nook Color

Re:Kindle is black and white

[davester666]

They'll consider working on this once you've placed your deposit for the first shipment of 1 million of these panels.

Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Fool106]

Am I the only one who doesn't want a touchscreen kindle? I do not want to see my finger prints all over the screen while I try to read a book.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[0123456]

Am I the only one who doesn't want a touchscreen kindle? I do not want to see my finger prints all over the screen while I try to read a book.

Ditto. I suspect most people demanding touchscreens have never actually used one for long.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[shutdown -p now]

It would still have physical keys to flip pages, I'd imagine (like all those Sony readers), which is what you use 99% of the time, so there wouldn't be many fingerprints. Touch would be for picking a book from the bookshelf, and also for browsing the book store - and it does make sense there.

What worries me is whether they'll be able to maintain the high contrast ratio. When Sony went for touchscreens, their screens did become somewhat darker.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[steveg]

You're not the only one. I was interested in the new Nook until I found it was a touchscreen.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[mlts]

You are not the only one. I much rather have buttons on a bookreader, especially for page turning, and not have to worry about fingerprints. The Kindle is a decent form factor for holding like a novel.

The Kindle is a bookreader. Having Web browser functionality is nice, because sometimes clicking on a link in text to do something may prove fruitful.

However, if the Kindle turns into a touch screen tablet, it will just be a face in a herd, and lose the usefulness that made it a sellout item in the first place. We have a ton of touch screen tablets.

What Amazon should do instead is get the Kindle to work with the epub format, add a SD card slot, so if someone wants 32 GB, they can have it. Since Amazon also has a decent cloud store, why not offer to stream/download from that as well? This doesn't need anything fancy on the screen, although AT&T may not like Whispernet being used for this.

Amazon should not lose what makes the Kindle great, and that is the ease of reading books with it, regardless of light. If they make the Kindle into another tablet, they will lose their market because they will be just another generic iPad competitor.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[steveg]

When Barnes and Noble announced the new touchscreen Nook, one of my objections on various forums was about the reduction in clarity that came with touchscreens. A number of people told me that, while that was a problem with the 1st gen Sony touchscreens, the newer Pearl touchscreens used a different process and there was no optical penalty for the touchscreen part.

You'd still have to deal with the fact that it's a touchscreen, and I'm not too enthusiastic about that, but it seems that clarity is no longer the problem it was.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Fool106]

I completely agree with trying to make Kindle another tablet! It's a book reader for god's sake. The one thing I want it to do it does well. I have the 2nd gen Kindle and did not want to buy the current generation since mine works great still. I wanted to skip a generation until I upgraded my Kindle. Now I'm not so sure I want to upgrade if they release a touchscreen version.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[rolfwind]

Used my iPhone for 2 years now. Bought parents an iPad2 a while back. I have no problems with fingerprints. The light from the screen usually diminishes the impact if you are viewing the screen head on (and as a personal device, why wouldn't you be?) It's more visible when off or from the side. My glasses give me more problems with blurriness and I wash them at least daily if not more because it bothers me. My phone, once in a blue moon.

I hope Amazon brings a good tablet out though, competiton and choice are always better.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[shutdown -p now]

That's good to hear!

You'd still have to deal with the fact that it's a touchscreen, and I'm not too enthusiastic about that

Why not, so long as they do the same think Nook did and keep the page flip buttons?

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

Used my iPhone for 2 years now. Bought parents an iPad2 a while back. I have no problems with fingerprints. The light from the screen usually diminishes the impact

He was talking about a potential touchscreen Kindle. An e-ink device. There wouldn't be any light from the screen except reflected ambient light so what you're saying wouldn't apply.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[demonlapin]

What Amazon should do instead is get the Kindle to work with the epub format, add a SD card slot, so if someone wants 32 GB, they can have it. Since Amazon also has a decent cloud store, why not offer to stream/download from that as well? This doesn't need anything fancy on the screen, although AT&T may not like Whispernet being used for this.

Money, money, money: Amazon has no reason to put things in ePub because it owns the Mobipocket format and its DRM. (However, since Mobipocket is a clearly-described standard, I really can't figure out what it is that people want to do with ePub that they can't with Mobi - except check out library books.) Adding an SD slot costs money, and Amazon has been absolutely dedicated to getting the price down ASAP (it's almost certain that the device will experience a huge jump in purchases once it can be sold below $100). And streaming over Whispernet will never happen because Amazon has to pay AT&T for all that data usage - they'd have to charge a per-byte fee if it ever were used for anything more than book delivery and the very occasional Wikipedia lookup.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[rolfwind]

Oh, I didn't think Amazon would release an E-ink touch screen tablet to compete with ipad, even disregarding this fingerprint issue, the refresh rate would be unsatisfactory for anything else but reading books, and would be doubly bad for responding quickly to direct touch commands.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[geekoid]

I read my kindle books on my nexus S, and I never notice a smudge.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[geekoid]

And social media.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wash the cheesy poofs remnants off your hands before using your tablet. Also occasionally wipe down your tablet screen.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

I have the kindle app on my ipad 2 and hate it - it is too easy to bump the screen and turn the page unintentionally. I'll stick with my kindle 2 with it's easy to use physical buttons that require an intentional press to turn a page..

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

the kindle has a matte screen. pretty tough to see fingerprints/smudges when it's on or off.

i split my reading time on the ipad and kindle.. touchscreen would be pretty cool. half the time i tap the screen out of habit.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

I really can't figure out what it is that people want to do with ePub that they can't with Mobi - except check out library books

So you can figure it out.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

yes, I too wear a glove made from the skin of my enemies. no smudges once you dry out the hide!

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

I don't know. I like my old ipod touch, even with its smudges and fingerprints. I'd definitely be open-minded about buying another touch-screen device (but probably not from Apple).

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[demonlapin]

You think library books explain the nigh-religious fervor with which people have sworn on here that they'll never buy a book reader that doesn't support ePub? Not to mention that those library books are going to have DRM...

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Fool106]

Because your fingers dont have any natural oils on it right? The kindle is also not backlit. It's e-ink.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

borg!!!

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[de_smudger]

That's because in your case most of the the light is coming straight through, from the underneath the smudges - the kindle doesn't use a backlight, so light more often comes in at an acute angle and gets scattered by smudges making them more visible. I have an iPhone and a Kindle, and find I clean the Kindle screen for reading whereas I tend to notice iPhone smudges only when it's off.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

Touchscreen fingerprints are only visible when the screen is off, people who think the finger prints are an issue when the screen is on obviously has not used one for long.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[steveg]

Because touchscreens have the habit of *doing* things when you touch them. I like to be able to handle my book reader without unintended things happening.
I use a PocketBook 360 ebook reader. Some people complain that the page turn buttons are hard to push (they are!) I *like* that about it.
I don't like touchpads on laptops that click when you touch them either.

Re:Touchscreen....No Thanks!

[shutdown -p now]

Hm, that is good point, actually. Come to think of it, whenever I try to read from a tablet, I often accidentally turn pages by tapping it somewhere.

I think the best of both worlds would be to have a hardware switch that would completely disable the touch screen (much like the one iPad has that can be used to lock orientation). That way, you still have the convenience of touchscreen for navigating through the menus, shopping etc, but once you start reading, you disable it and use the hardware buttons.

No sale until I have control

[Anomalyst]

Bozo will not have the ability to push his whims down my throat. I paid for it. It is MINE.

Re:No sale until I have control

[iluvcapra]

As far as he's concerned it's just an Amazon Point-of-Sale -- to the extent that it'll probably be free or heavily subsidized to Prime members.

I bet he's going to do a much better job delivering a quality Android tablet than Samsung or Verizon, however. Amazon is just much better at retailing good consumer experiences, like Apple.

Re:No sale until I have control

[demonlapin]

If you turn the wireless off, he'll never know it exists. You don't even have to register it to an account in order to use it. Sideloads work just fine. It's yours to do with as you please.

Re:No sale until I have control

[geekoid]

Then don't use whisper net.

Re:No sale until I have control

[geekoid]

I'm assuming you don't have a car? Don't have an ISP, don't have any product with a EULA?

because all those people are pushing there whims on you.

Another tablet and a confusing product lineup

[wjcofkc]

Oh joy, yet another Android tablet to muck up the already confusing and fragmented Android tablet market. Another Android tablet with yet another interface and yet more bloatware. I hope they at least bother to release any code that falls under GPL - As is well known, this is not a popular thing to do. They are only helping Apple, not competing, by throwing another Android tablet into the watered down mix.
As far as Kindle, it just sounds like they are making for a confusing product lineup.

Re:Another tablet and a confusing product lineup

[city]

God forbid we have choices when buying a tablet.

Re:Another tablet and a confusing product lineup

[wjcofkc]

"God forbid we have choices when buying a tablet."


Choices? We have a deluge of devices trying to be based on a single platform while going to far trying to be there own propriety system. The Android market is a confusing mess.

Interesting but

[Gonoff]

I will only buy one if they stop paying criminal blackmailers, Perhaps others do not want any of their cash being redirected towards protection rackets...

Re:Interesting but

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you elaborate? I haven't a clue what you are refering to.

Re:Interesting but

[Gonoff]

They are paying Microsoft money following the blackmail claims that they were using (undisclosed) IP. This money is then used to blackmail other companies. That is why in many places paying protection money etc is against the law. It funds further such activity.

Of course, if MS actually revealed what this IP is, people would then have the option to stop using it, or fighting the claim in the courts. Without that revelation, anyone who pays up are committing a criminal act. Except that that particular sort of blackmail seems to be more legal than when some smaller firm like the local criminals do it.

Hurray for Foxconn of Shenzhen!

[retroworks]

Along with "Polaroid", they have another "Manufacturer", called "Amazon", to contract assembly with. I can't wait to get the "Aunt Jemima", "Uncle Ben's" or "Cap'n Crunch" kindle.

Re:Hurray for Foxconn of Shenzhen!

[Dog-Cow]

Amazon doesn't claim to be a manufacturer. Additionally, your post makes little sense in English.

Misleading title

[arisvega]

If you (*clears throat*) RTFA, you will perhaps agree with me that instead of stating

"Amazon Plans iPad Competitor (and 2 New Kindles)"

it would be more appropriate to say

"Amazon Plans 2 New Kindles (and iPad Competitor)"

Anyway, given a fair price and connectivity, I am game if it;

a) can be read under direct sunlight,

b) has a refresh rate slightly above pathetic, and

c) has a rudimentary operating system that I can mess around with (and am officially allowed to do so).

A sensible set of demands I got there, would you not agree?

Will they make a clean break from Google?

[golemite]

They have their own app store, music, movies and more. All they have to do is license a mapping app and this could be a major non Google Android device..

A proper e-reader?

[prowler1]

Personally I would prefer it is Amazon didn't package a number of their books with their DRM'ed proprietary format. I own a Kindle and think it is great for reading regular novels but not so great for technical resources (page refresh a bit to slow, jumping around not the easiest) and recently I purchased a technical book. I went to import it into Calibre and found I couldn't.

I had to boot a Windows machine, install an old copy of the Kindle Reader, unplug the computer from the network to stop it auto updating and run a special script to convert the book to .mobi before I could read the book which I had purchased in my reader of choice :|

As I mentioned, the e-reader side is fine for novels and almost everyone who has seen it comments on how much it looks like real paper. Would be nice if the refresh was quicker and had a better interface for jumping around in a book but as other comments I have seen commented on, touch screen could suck due to the finger prints everywhere on the screen.

Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a first generation Kindle, still going strong and find that its perfect for casual reading. I has some issues of course, but my text books have issues as well. EInk is the way to go, now all I want is a flexible screen I can roll up and stuff in my coat pocket.

Doubt will brand as "'droid"

[__aazsst3756]

This will come closer to being branded like the Nook than any Android tablet, but with better app support. Amazon has content, and is one of the few companies in position to seriously compete with Apple in that area. They can fork android, build their own ecosystem, put it on their front page and sell millions. I think the writing has been on the wall for several months now.

fuck steve jobs

[Anonymous Coward]

"Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs also has poked fun at Amazon's Kindle electronic-book reader, saying that few people read and that general-purpose devices like the iPad are superior to single-purpose ones."

He can't die soon enough. What a piece of shit.

Amazon releases a new FAIL

[Whuffo]

The tablet wars are already over. The field is littered with the stillborn and ill-conceived competitors which died without honor.

Here comes Amazon with their ill-fated entry. The bar has already been set, and unless their offering is significantly better, they'll get kicked to the curb, too.

There's quite a few wanna-be competitors who have released "tablet" products recently; I've had the dubious honor to handle a few of them. Motorola, Blackberry, Asus, HP - how can they be so blind? They look at the leader and say "we have Flash!" and assume that it makes their missing features irrelevant and their product superior. Nope; it doesn't appear that the market feels the same way.

At least they'll be able to jockey for second place with the not-quite-competitive competitors. These second-rate offerings might be compelling when offered in a McFrugal's discount bin, but not in the primary market.

You who is just itching to hit the "reply" button and make the "fanboi" accusation - you're dead wrong. Try using the various offerings in the tablet market and you'll understand what I've been saying. Is the leader perfect? Hell, no - but what's coming from other companies isn't even in the same league. What a bunch of junk!

amazon's future tablet

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe that Amazon is not proposing the right device.
It may cost less than the ipad, not really, it cost less because it has less devices. You are paying the same.
There is no innovation, no color ebook announced, actually the ebook is already an obsolete product. You don't want to carry a tablet, that can do practically everything , plus an ebook.
What we need is a truly advanced and fully equipped device. Sony is coming out with a good concept with the S1, it has portability, can be folded to a nearly smartphone size, and they are protecting the screen.
If they put all devices, backed by an itunes type of online store for multimedia , plus communications and work capabilities they could have a winner.
But I have serious doubts that they will succceed. They have been missing the bus lately with incomplete products backed by a wrong marketing campaign.
PS3 , despite the blu-ray push, is losing its battle with microsoft and even nintendo, the flat tv screen, actually is made in Korea by Samsung who captured the market.
No innovation whatsoever in tv, internet tv systems , cloud proposals and so on.
Amazon is doing similar mistakes, to succeed like the firts Kindle, you need another revolutiuonary product.

www.guccihandbagstrade.com

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if only they'd make it a proper e-reader by including a Pixel Qi (or similar) daylight-readable screen, I'd be sold.

Huh? Make what a proper ereader? The Kindle? The kindle eInk is easily readable in broad daylight. It's useless in the dark.Or are you talking about the tablet? Your syntax is unclear. Please rephrase.

www.guccihandbagstrade.com