Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Kindle Fire Surfaces
MrCrassic was the first of several submitters to write in about the Kindle Fire: "It looks like another competitor has joined the fight for tablet market share. Amazon released specs and pics of its newest offering, the Kindle Fire, which is bound to turn heads at $199. However, I wouldn't sell your Nook Color or iPad just yet. From the article: 'The Kindle Fire doesn't have an embedded camera or a microphone. The device offers Wi-Fi connectivity, though not 3G access, and comes with a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, the company's $79-a-year membership service that includes streaming video and free two-day shipping.'"
Don't forget Kindle touch wifi for $99, about $30 less than nook touch wifi.
Einmal ist Keinmal. What happens but once might as well not have happened at all.
I'm already sick of hearing people bitch about how it doesn't have a camera and how you can't make Skype calls with it. It's not intended to do that. Amazon is selling it purely as a media consumption device to get you to use all their media services (video, audio, books, etc).
If you buy one of everything (wifi models only) that Amazon announced today, it is cheaper than the low end iPad.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
I'm really curious why nobody has brought another 9" tablet to the market. AFAIK, Apple is the only name-brand manufacturer to bring out a 9" 1024x768 tablet. Everyone else is pushing 5/6/7" tablets. Surely screen size is something most people consider when comparison shopping? It's not like screens are terribly expensive any more. I read somewhere that the iPad screen is less than $50 in bulk.
moox. for a new generation.
Can I root it and put the Android App store on it? I know not yet but hopefully someday.
The Silk browser sounds very Opera like from the mobile days.
OMAP 4! That is a pretty hot CPU folks.
Lack of a front facing camera is a negative. Come on this is pure skype candy folks.
My wife as a rooted viewsonic Gtab and it is really nice but it is too big for for an ereader.
The iPad2 is too pricey and too big.
Even if it isn't hackable at $199 I may still get it just because it would be so handy.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Perhaps they're bitching that it's yet another device that can act as a roadblock for people who want to climb from consumption to creation. Some people will end up owning only devices for consumption; if they want to create, they'll have to either pony up for something else or just do without creating. And if the market for devices capable of creation shrinks, prices for such devices will likely rise due to loss of economies of scale.
You can get 30 days of Prime free without buying anything anyway. Note the "Start Your One Month Free Trial" button on the right side of the page.
This device lacks a camera and a microphone. As far as I know it still has access to an app store, so if you want to create on it you can use any app that allows you to do so (that doesn't require a camera or a microphone). If you desperately want to create photo based or audio based content there are plenty of cheap options to do so.
Jherico
What can the average user can do to ensure his security? "Nothing, you're screwed"
No Skype, Fring or anything (no mic, no camera). No Google apps, so no navigation, no email (without third-party apps) and calendaring. No mobile internet at all.
Surely not a bad media-tablet and surely cheap, but a tablet computer this is not.
Looks to me as if it would require some major tinkering to turn it into something fun and useful and you'll still have no 3G, no camera and no microphone.
No, it's a full blown android tablet. Without a camera or mike, which I myself never use anyway on a tablet.
Perhaps they're bitching that it's yet another device that can act as a roadblock for people who want to climb from consumption to creation.
I have a hack saw and its getting in my way from cutting through a 6x6 </sarcasm>.
People aspiring to climb from consumption to creation should be savvy enough to get equipment that enables them to do so instead of getting equipment such as this which is not intended for that purpose. Fascinating idea, I know!
There are some 10" tablets like the Xoom but haven't sold well. I suspect the problem with the screen isn't demand but supply. There are rumors Apple cornered the market by being first and locking down their supply. Every manufacturer after had to either spend more money or get less supply. Or make 7" tablets until more manufacturers were ready.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
On second thought, the Prime that comes with this device is not so much about people experiencing shipping aspects, as it is enjoying the free video Prime offers. In that sense 30 days seems like a long enough period of time to decide if you want to pay for Prime to continue getting some free video content.
And more than 30 days might lead you to run up against the limited video content of Prime...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I've a Nook Color and considering its behavior after rooting, I have to think that B&N went out of their way to make their software jive well with rooting. I rooted mine as soon as I could and it's worked well but for a few app compatibility snags with random crap from the Android market....whaddyagonnado?
If Amazon has half a brain they'll play nice with rooting. I'm sure they'll lock down their own apps and cloud access, but why not let their apps run on someone else's Android build? They have to know that as soon as this thing has an easy root, plenty of folks will buy Kindle Fires so they can have a brilliant Android tablet for $200...and they'll still buy Amazon products, because it'll be easy as all get out....just like rooting the Nook Color...unless they're stupid, which doesn't fit their track record.
Those devices were far overpriced. They tried to compete with the iPad at the iPad's price point with an inferior device. To the average consumer, they look at these smaller devices they've never heard of for the same price as an iPad and they say, "Well for that price, why wouldn't I just get an iPad?"
This actually fits the bill. It is a reasonable competitor for the way most people use the iPad. Does it have limitations, sure. But it's $200. Most people to this point have thought that you had to spend $500 and up for one of these little tablet internet surfing thingys. For that price, they could have a nice full-featured laptop (which they probably already have).
This gives you the core tablet computing functions at an affordable price. I know /. neckbeards will complain that this is not a full replacement for every electronic device in the world, but for most people, this works.
Show me a better value 9.7" tablet than the iPad at $499 please.
http://www.amazon.com/ARCHOS-101-Internet-Tablet-8GB/dp/B00422W5QO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317228887&sr=8-1
And Archos 10.1 tablet for $259. Now it's just a matter of nitpicking if it's a better value or not. I can do all the things most people with an iPad do and I could almost buy 2 of them for the cost of 1 iPad.
Get the basics right (UI, wifi, app store, media store) first.
Next year it gets the camera/microphone, tempting people to upgrade.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
That's because if a solution handles more edge cases, it probably handles the common case more robustly as well.
That is the classic definition of "feature creep", and usually means it is too complex for most people to use or simply does nothing well.
Handling more edge cases means you spent less time worrying about core functionality.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Am I the only one that half-wishes the Kindle Fire has overheating problems?