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Many Early Adopters of the Amazon Fire Are Unhappy
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that the Kindle Fire, Amazon's heavily promoted tablet, is less than a blazing success, with many of its early users packing the device up and firing it back to the retailer. A few of their many complaints: there is no external volume control. The off switch is easy to hit by accident. Web pages take a long time to load. There is no privacy on the device; a spouse or child who picks it up will instantly know everything you have been doing and the touch screen is frequently hesitant and sometimes downright balky. Amazon's response was: 'In less than two weeks, we're rolling out an over-the-air update to Kindle Fire.' The only problem with that is many of the complaints are hardware related and no amount of software can fix one of the early blunders: 'The fire is shipped in a box that advertised on the outside of the box exactly what it is. "Hello, you, thief, please come steal me!"' wrote one would-be customer who, as you might guess, had her Fire stolen and was left with the box. This was supposed to be an iPad killer, with its much lower price point, but Apple is tough to beat because most of its mistakes are software-based."
Another "iPad killer" in the dustbin. You are not going to compete with Apple with some cobbled together piece of junk. The iPad is positioned to be as dominant as the iPod in the mp3 player market.
Might as well buy a Kia and complain that it's not as polished of a driving experience as a BMW.
I have a Kindle Fire. I generally like it but the gripes above apply (no volume control, no security/locking for reading history, etc).
I can't wait to install a replacement version of android that's more like what you find on other tablets and phones: http://liliputing.com/2011/12/cyanogenmod-7-performance-on-the-amazon-kindle-fire-video.html
(I have no association with whatever site that is, I'm just exciting to be getting cyanogenmod on the fire).
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
first you say it is hardware based complaints about button locations, and then you say it is software based, on the sucky browser than has to filter through amazon.com first?
If you are going to complain about it at least finish telling us about he hardware complaint before you move onto the software ones.
besides the kindle fire should never be considered an ipad killer. it is a 7" screen, the ipad is 10" screen. according to that meteric the iphone should gut ipad sales.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
"Itâ(TM)s expected to sell well among parents who always buy the wrong thing." according to Seth Meyers from SNL
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
A SD card slot is also on the missing list ?
I picked up my kindle fire about three weeks ago. I will not even try to hide the fact that it has flaws. However, the feature list for the price is exactly what I wanted.
It's no iPad killer, but anyone who thinks they're going to get a 200 dollar product to replace a 500 dollar+ one is delusional.
it has been on every frigin tech news site. Sicker yet of all the frigin people complaining about a $200 dollar device because they think it should be as polished and as feature rich as a $500+ device. The Fire is awesome at what it was designed for, consuming media at a budget. I think it was all the hype about the "iPad killer" and everyone was expecting so much more.
The Kindle Fire still seems like an interesting device for its main function: consuming Kindle content. But if you want to do more with it, it is clearly limited. Who realistically expected otherwise? Indeed it is cheaper than an iPad, but if every few minutes you get irritated then saving up more for an iPad is the best strategy for everyone except the most Apple-hating zealot.
Apple is tough to beat because most of its mistakes are software-based
Apple is tough to beat because most of its mistakes are user based.
Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
"There is no privacy on the device; a spouse or child who picks it up will instantly know everything you have been doing."
I don't know the situation for the complainers, but my Kindle Fire has a passcode enabled.
Settings > Security > Lock Screen Password
What would have been amazing is if the Kindle Fire had NOT had these sorts of problems. Amazon is trying to release a cutting edge tablet but has no corporate ability for hardware or software design and development. It's a little like buying an automobile from an airline or books from an oil company or something. Kudos to Amazon for doing as well as they did.
I've been boycotting Amazon ever since they started bullying states into dropping sales taxes.
I bought my girlfriend a Kindle and a couple gift cards, but aside from maybe a few more books for her Kindle, Amazon won't be getting any more of my money.
I'm glad that the Kindle Fire is failing in the marketplace. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving company.
As long as an Occupy Wall Street protester takes a dump in a Tard Party office or mouth by the end of the year, I'll consider 2011 to be a success.
Everything I see on actual consumer reviews of the kindle fire show 4/5 stars average, the same as the iPad. All available data points to both devices having the EXACT SAME rating amongst consumers. Remember the iPad has flaws of its own... that get ranted on reviews as well...
Actually many hardware problems can be fixed with software.
You can not change physical switch position, but with software you can change how long you need to keep switch in specific position until it will do something. So you can fix most of the problems with software when problems are that device is turned off or put on sleep mode by accident touch.
Of course software can not add a external volume buttons, but with software you can bind some existing buttons to work as such (if there is such buttons). Or you can add a easy to access virtual button to offer those functions. It is more a hack but can work for many.
The sensitivity of touch screen can be fixed with software, as software rules again how the input data is being used. Better to have very sensitivite input touch screen and then slow down outpus what with software.
What comes to privacy, well, that can be fixed with software as well, place PIN code or something similar. Add lock to every application and make a easy way to delete history of web browsing or book history etc.
Apologies, I just couldn't resist stating it. XD
for Christmas.... D'oh!
"a spouse or child who picks it up will instantly know everything you have been doing"
So don't sit around the house looking at porn.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
It's as if the millions of dollars and man-hours of research apple puts in to making their products usable actually matters to the end-user! Who knew that would pan out!
The fire is nice for what it is. It's a low priced tablet designed to utilize Amazon's services. It happens to have some leftover 'muscle' to do some other tablet tasks, just don't expect it to replace an ipad. That's not what it was designed to do.
really, what twit came up with that type of button and its location?
The browser was actually worse than I expected, however I still keep the Fire on the breakfast table for catching up on email. Why? Because it is very one hand friendly. That form factor is great for just holding one handed while eating with another. I know it sounds silly to some, but I like tend to read by holding a paper or such in my left hand it is sized just right to do so. The iPad actually doesn't work so well because of is size.
That said, that browser just sucks. Battery life could be better than they would have been better off with no speakers. To me an ideal seven inch tablet would have a rear facing camera again because the form factor/size is much more ideal than my iPad.
Reading books was fine, getting them was not because again the browser needs help. Use it upside down, it still works and hitting that stupid power button is mostly a non issue then.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
The review average is 4 stars, ~3100 4 and 5 stars to ~650 1 star reviews. That's not bad considering how new it is. Yeah, problems like no external volume can't be fixed but design decisions like that weren't a secret. Amazon isn't Apple. I might be tempted to buy one myself but I remember how pricey and relatively clunky the first Kindle was and how quickly the 2.0 version came out at a much better price. I'd like a tablet about that size but I'll wait for the early adopters to finish the debugging and usability testing for me :-)
The Fire arrives configured for Amazon One Click purchases, and the option to disable this does not work. Anyone who picks up your Fire will be able to order anything they like without any password, PIN, or other attempt to verify the purchase being made.
See here: Serious Security Flaw In The Kindle Fire
Was this article funded by Apple? It's very biased, as demonstrated by the fact that they cite the 22% of people who don't like the Fire rather than the 88% who clearly do. Even if _every_ one of those 22% gave it one star and _every_ one of the other 88% gave it only 4 stars, it's still a 3.75 rating. My wife got one a while back and she loves it. Sure, it's not an iPad, but it's also only $199, and it fits in a good-size pocket. It's a great little tablet for the price of two nice dinners. I sill prefer the real e-ink, but for getting all the additional tablet features, I'd say it's a pretty good compromise. Sure, it could use some improvements, but its the first generation, and it does what its advertised to do. Anyone used to Android should have no problem with it.
It's designed to consume Amazon services. It does that quite well. It also plays angry birds.
Palm Touchpad
RIM Playbook
Motorola Zoom
Samsung Galaxy Tab
HTC Flyer
The fact that the box gives away it's contents is not really an issue. I assure you that if you ordered a mousepad from apple and that same box was sitting on that persons steps the thief would have taken it as well. That's what thieves do! To say the least of the fact that any Apple box would be more desirable for a thief.
I'm just saying, say a Kindle Fire at Sam's Club the other day.. did not mistake it for a Playbook. Has the same rubber gasket holding the screen in, but is noticibly thicker and lighter then the Playbook. I had to ask if the one I was holding was a real one or a fake demo shell it was so light.
I had no time to try it, but am interested to see how the touch and browsing respond really is... I mean, how bad can it really be?
-m
You know you have problems when you have fewer buttons than the equivalent Apple device.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Except by all accounts, nearly none of these problems exist for the Nook Color which is the same price. The Nook Color is slower than an iPad, but it is generally responsive and fairly well polished, especially after a year of updates. The Kindle Fire by comparison is a shoddy rushed product.
So this is like buying a Kia when you could have gotten a better Hyundai for the same price.
I agree that it would be great if the Fire was perfect, but by the same token it's a $200 7" full-color Android tablet backed by a reputable vendor. Most of the competition at this price point is from fly-by-night imports with no expectation of warranty coverage much less ongoing support. If it's a $200 Fire or a $130 Shang Loo brand Android device, I think the $70 premium is a small price to pay.
I pre-ordered a Fire, got it on release day, and have been nothing but happy with it. I am not sure how the lack of external volume controls was a surprise - it's not like Amazon withheld specs or photos of the device. The power button is not only easy to hit in landscape mode, but it's in an awkward position in portrait mode, so my solution so far has been be careful not to hit it. The rear window switches in my car are easy to hit when going for the front window switches, so I just exercise that much more caution when operating power windows. It actually isn't difficult when you get used to it.
Silk was widely publicized, and while I wouldn't expect the average noob to associate "web sites are pre-rendered through EC2" to mean "slow web browsing" I certainly did. To that end, I don't think Silk has been disappointing at all - in fact, it's been pretty darned decent. I also haven't experienced any responsiveness issues, but gaming has been limited to Angry Birds and a couple word games... so, whatever. As for privacy or security - what? Exactly what privacy or security does an iPad offer than a Fire doesn't? Just the other day my coworker was complaining he can't let his son use his iPad to surf the net because he doesn't want his son reading the lewd emails between him and his girlfriend.
I am really not sure what people expected from a $200 e-reader that also happens to have wifi, a full color screen, a fully functional OS, web browsing, video support, access to streaming media, and potential access to the lending library, but I am baffled to hear that anyone could be truly disappointed, *unless* they expected a half price iPad... like the poster above said, some people buy a Kia and wonder why it's not as good as a BMW. Duh.
I'm an owner, and am VERY satisfied with my device.
The complaints I have are minor. It can take a little bit for it to connect to a wifi network, but that's not a huge deal. Sometimes, it's a little sensitive in registering taps, but that's once again not a big issue. The carousel is a little too speedy for my liking, but I rarely use it, and when I do, it's usually just to open the very most recent thing I've opened.
I haven't noticed any real speed issues with it; at least, nothing show-stopping. Books read fine. If you're trying to fly through a bunch of pages like you're thumbing through a book to find a certain page, sure, it can slow down there, but I almost never do that. Games & streaming content perform perfectly.
I didn't notice any real issue with the browser; I was able to load websites faster on my Kindle than a local iPad owner, over the same wifi connection.
Typing is easy for me; in landscape mode it can be slightly difficult, but not unusable. I usually use portrait mode, anyway.
The lack of physical volume controls doesn't bother me at all. It's stupid-easy to get to, and keeps me from accidentally raising/lowering volume.
I do wish I could change the lock screen photo(s) easily, but that's not exactly important.
Regarding the lock/power button, I have NEVER accidentally tripped it, and I'm using it on a daily basis in a variety of situations.
If you look at reviews on Amazon, there are a good number of 4 and 5 star reviews; more than 3 or less.
"Better to be vulgar than non-existent" -Bev Henson
I honestly can't say why people are pissed off about it. I had a Kindle 3rd gen keyboard and now I have the Fire. I'm extremely pleased with it. I admit, the power button is awkward (particularly since its close proximity to the USB and headphone jack make it difficult to plug in my headphones at the same time as the other two), but really? It certainly isn't an instantly returnable product by any means. If people expected it to be exactly the same as an iPad, that's their fault. I played around with it at Best Buy for a while before I bought mine and had no illusions about how well it would perform. I wonder how many people have done the same that then downrated it significantly.
$199 tablet not as good as $499 tablet. News at 11:00.
Most of the complaints are from idiots from what I can see.
"There is no privacy on the device; a spouse or child who picks it up will instantly know everything you have been doing"
So when the device is picked up it instantly displays browsing history? Hello? the ipad is the same way as well as every android device made. the ipad home button is easy to hit, Granted the lack of volume buttons sucks but can be fixed with an on screen one. etc....
Sounds like the people buying it are morons and idiots expecting a $600.00 experience from a $199 device.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"... but Apple is tough to beat because most of its mistakes are software-based." See iPhone 4 death grip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B2ngRRhqcE
Missing volume buttons is a feature, not a flaw. I wish I could remove them from my phone and my Nook. Especially on the phone, they're right on the edge where I want to grab the thing. Very irritating.
Nook Color did the $200 tablet, first and better.
Some of the Nook advantages include:
- User accessible SD card slot
- Can take the Nook into the store and read complete eBooks for free
So yeah, Amazon needs to step up their game or get out of the market.
I own a kindle fire and while it's not a home run by any stretch of the imagination, it's not bad. I like it...a lot. There are quite a few kinks that I really think Amazon should have known better than to not go ahead and fix. Bad word of mouth or ill will can cause a lot of damage if trust gets reduced. It could impact sales of the 2nd or 3rd generation device when they do finally get things right. By the same token, I know they were rushing something "good enough" to market in the hope of not getting left out. I guess it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of situation.
FWIW,...I agree with all the gripes (and I have some other issues to boot, like graphic novels simply refuse to display on my unit. I get a white screen only and so far amazon support can't figure out the problem).
OMG scandal. How dare they ship a product in the box with a picture, branding, or anything else on the outside of the box. This is outright scandalous. Oh what? This is the industry norm? Oh well, move along then.
I suppose they may be complaining that the Fire got delivered without the device and that someone in the postal service or courier nabbed it. Well guess what? In that case it's insured. Heck my room mate's experience with Amazon is that they delivered something while no one was home and it was stolen (presumably or someone just delivered it to the wrong house). Amazon shipped out a replacement the day of the complaint.
Why wreak an article full of bad points about the Kindle Fire with a quote that looks like people are now really reaching for anything at all to complain about? It destroys the credibility and seriousness of the article.
For Amazon's first go at a tablet, I think the Kindle Fire is a great product for the price of $200. It is not without flaws, but I am very happy with mine thus far. I do agree with nearly all of the complaints, but for some of them there is a workaround and (I'm guessing) a software updating coming to fix them. None of them are enough to send mine back and I've just gotten used to the touch sensitivity. The sluggishness can be an issue at times, but I wasn't expecting something super snappy for the price that I paid. An external volume control would be nice, as the device can be sleep and still be playing audio with no way to adjust it, but you can get headphones that have a volume control on them to workaround this issue. I've never had issues with web page load times except for some sluggishness at times and privacy settings/parental controls would be a very nice feature to have so you could share the device with others without them messing up your settings or viewing content you don't want them to view. The off switch problem was fixed for me by getting a cover for it, as it makes it more difficult to hit the power button in accident.
they also bought millions of units and sent them all back for a refund.. APPLE WILL NOT BE BEATEN
The iPhone 4 is not an iPad
I bought a Playbook recently during the big sale they had. The only reason I feel it's worth mentioning this here is because of the flak I got from people saying they would rather buy the Kindle Fire for 199$ when it would be out rather than the Playbook when it was selling at the same price point.
It amazes me that people were expecting the Kindle Fire to be some high grade tablet. I wasn't expecting it to be terrible mind you but this just shows how people are putting down a perfectly good deal for a device they haven't even seen the performance of yet. I just have to shake my head on this one.
The Playbook has a lot that needs to be improved but hardware isn't one of the problems, even if the power button is hard to hit but you won't be turning this device off by accident I assure you and it does the basics stuff well which suits me fine.
I'm no trying to bash the Kindle Fire. I don't have one or have even seen one to determine it's worth. I'm just thinking people are quick to judge a product and in the case of the Kindle Fire from the article, people didn't bother to see if it was worth what they expected for 200$ and yet strangely enough, I felt the Playbook got shunned for that same 200$ value yet does seem to be able to perform well.
All these negative reviews focus too much on the lack of polish of the UI is compared to the actual usefulness of the device. It's UI lags behind iOS, but it is about the same as a mid range Android device, which are widely successful.
I own the Kindle Fire, and its flaws are really just minor annoyances with device, but the overall experience is good enough. I can surf the Internet, watch videos and play graphic intense games no problem and the small form factor makes it comfortable to hold in one hand. Just because you occasionally have to double tap on a button or experience a 1/2 second lag every once in a while, doesn't mean that the $200 tablet is a failure.
This device was never intended to be an iPad killer. Amazon itself said as much. The linked article makes it sound like it was set to be an iPad killer by "important people," but the link just links back to another pcmag.com article. What a joke.
The fire is not intended, has not been intended to be an iPad killer. It's a cheap tablet device that does what many people need it to do without all the extras that the iPad has that some people will never use. It's one of the primary reasons I returned my iPad and got a Color Nook and rooted it - the Nook did everything I wanted a tablet to do at a fraction of the price. If I were to do the same thing today, I would buy a fire instead of a Nook.
The article looks at a few individual reviews on amazon's website, to support its claim that consumers are unhappy with the device, however overall if you look at the average of these ratings they are on par with the iPad. And the statement that "some of the early adopters are unhappy" is relatively useless as it could be applied to the iPad or any other device and still be true. Where is the substance to this argument?
Ugh, now I am that parent. I ordered my daughter a Nook Simple Touch ($99 E-Ink reader) for Christmas this year because (1) she really likes to read, (2) reading is the only thing I want her to do on it, and (3) $99 is about my upper limit for a portable electronic device for a kid. But now her friend has an iPad and all the other kids are awestruck by it. I used to have my daughter pretty well brainwashed against i-devices (she would say, "don't call my mp3 player an iPod!) but peer influence is so much stronger than parental as they get older.
subject of sentence fragment was Apple, not iPad2.
The only people I have heard call it a supposed "iPad killer" are Apple sycophants who assume that everything in the world that looks like an iPad might unseat it from it's throne. Low self esteem or unsure of their core beliefs or something.
Disclaimer I use Apple stuff but I hate fanboys of all stripes (except OSS fanboys those my homies)
The Fire is meant as a consumer device. Connected to the Amazon store. To read books, watch videos and/or movies, listen to music, read magazines, etc. It's not meant to compete with the iPad, and Bezos said that up front. Yes, it only has 8GB onboard storage. Most of the heavy stuff is meant to be streamed. You're not going to be storing mass amounts of data on it. And not all of us care in the least about jailbreaking it or cracking it or rootkitting it or any of that. That's not why we bought it.
I preordered one, got it, and I love it. The box it arrived in did not announce it was a Kindle Fire, it was in a normal Amazon box. I do agree, the lack of external volume controls is awkward. That being said, my 11yo stepson figured the thing out in about 10 minutes and loves it, too. No one that I've let play with it has accidentally powered it off. I have noticed sluggish touch-screen response, but nothing that keeps me from working or reading. Yes, the Amazon app store if limited, but I imagine it will grow modestly. For now, all the major apps that most normal people use are there and available.
I think the only people who were disappointed or mislead were expecting too much. They didn't read the details, they just saw "tablet for a lot less than iPad" and thought it would be something amazing. It's not amazing, but it is completely and totally adequate for what it is meant to do. Seriously, what are you expecting from a $199 device? That says up front that it is a media consumption device? Get real.
Baseless self confidence kills more people each year than bathtubs.
I bought one for myself. I have, admittedly, never owned one of the previous Kindles. I have had it a week now, and I am rather happy with it. There are, however, a few things that I wish were different, but it's not a deal breaker.
Pros: I can read on it (the main reason I bought it) with white text on a black background (E-Ink isn't... that particular contrast.). It runs the apps in Amazon's store reasonably well. Video looks pretty good streaming. Even the PC Magazine I read on it looked pretty good.
Cons: It can be "touchy" sometimes and doesn't register button presses. I can't put custom wallpaper on the lock screen. I would like the ability to delete apps I have no intention of using again from "The Cloud", but cannot seem to accomplish this.
-Kinsey
Contrary to the summary the Kindle Fire is actually a decently spec'd tablet. A dual core processor and just as much ram as the Ipad 2 is fine. A lot of the problems are in fact due to Amazon's shitty software. The "silk" browser just makes things worse (as shown by tests on Anandtech) and trying to load a half baked "Amazon" version of Android instead of a proper implementation of the Android OS like Honeycomb, or even better Ice Cream Sandwich has limited its usefulness and response times.
I've been playing around with the one my parents got themselves for christmas, and really I'd only recommend it for people comfortable with rooting the thing and putting a custom rom on it. I've already told them I'll put Cyanogenmod 9 on it for them when it's up and running; and would recommend others do the same or wait for until it's out.
I got rid of my full sized, loaded Iconia because it just didn't fit anywhere in my user profile. Who needs/wants GPS, cameras, weight, and all that? My iPhone does those things perfectly well(using it now). I wanted something exactly like the Kindle Fire.
Most of the complaints I have can be resolved by software updates. The on/off button location is annoying, though. Some apps force a certain orientation, thereby negating the "turn it over" option.
Can someone clarify WHAT the Fire is....I thought it was a media device designed specifically to channel Amazon content, and not a fully featured tablet, hence the low price point. Isn't it unreasonable to expect so much for a 199 dollar price?
There is no security when liberty is sacrificed.
Resist. Just because the herd do it, doesn't mean you are bad for not.
Our prayers are with you. Be strong! :o)
A very happy Nook Color owner, 6 months and counting.
The Kindle Fire is just an oh-shit! reaction to the popularity of the NC, its not like they actually had a business plan for it before the NC came out. Of if they did have one, they really messed up.
Steve Ballmer, is that you?
You can get the Acer A100 for $260 and it's a much better device: Android 3.2, two cameras, Bluetooth, standard Android market, etc.
The Kindle Fire (like the Nook Color and Nook Tablet from B&N) are marketed as tablets (the Nook Color was originally marketed as "the reader's tablet"), and marketing for both the Amazon and B&N devices often includes the e-Ink devices from the same vendors as preferred devices as readers while the LCD devices are pushed as tablets.
While the iPad may not be the most relevant comparison for any of these devices (their closest competitors are each other rather than anything from Apple), it is the marketing from the vendors that has invited them being compared for features as tablets rather than as "book readers".
hey fool, what are you doing talking about the other tablet by a book seller? Didn't you know Amazon does not want the press to mention that other company and it's products when mentioning their product? shame on you.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Ah yes, the "antenna that is much, much better than the one it replaces in the 3GS that only shows the Death Grip(tm) issue when it's in areas of signal that the prior one couldn't even pick up in ideal conditions" problem.
In other words, something blown out of all proportion... perhaps something that the current article is being accused of...?
No, it wasn't.
Some of the complaints i can see are valid in some situations, but others i think it was just people being cry babies.. But its their $, so they can cry as much as they want.
And no, i don't own one, i chose a nook tablet instead, and i still don't understand all the uproar.
( and ya, that 'steal me box' was the first thing i thought too when i saw one )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
And I think these issues are being way overplayed by the tech media and some users with a big axe to grind against Amazon. It's a fine tablet with a very few rough edges that can be smoothed out with a couple of software updates. The notion that so many buyers are returning them is based on CNN counting the number of 1-star reviews at Amazon (some of which are fake) and guessing about how many are being returned, it's BS and nonsense. I've never hit the power button by mistake, web pages load just fine, and any hesitation in the interface is pretty minor and not what I would call balky. The ONLY significant hardware issue for me is that both speakers are on one side of the device. It would have been much better to split them up.
The problem with both the Kindle fire and the Nook tablet is that they are a closed device and designed only for certain uses. I looked at both the Fire and Nook tablet and like the Aconia 7 tab tablet. For $250 it's a open device with a dual core processor. You can attach a USB thumb drive or USB HDD is you need to.
That the worst kind of flamethrowing / sniping / namecalling would be happening in here.
A**ple fankids have been the snidest bunch I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with - going all the way back to the 80's at SF Macromedia conferences, where, when the PC's crashed during presentations, howls of laughter and yelled-out snide remarks were all the rage. When the Macs crashed... polite silence. Some things never change.
I'm getting a Fire for my honey for Xmas. I'm not expecting it to be the damned second coming of Christ. Nor am I expecting it to perform on par with / exceed a $500 to $900 tablet - because I actually did my research before buying it. (And if I WERE going to buy one, you can bet yer ass it wouldn't be an iPad) The Fire is is a media consumption tablet with some extra bells and whistles - and if you compare it apples to apples (sorry) to something like an iTouch (which I have)... I'll take it in a heartbeat - if for no other reason than the fact that I don't have to use some POS proprietary software (iTunes) to get an damned MP3 on it. And for those of you who protest when someone rightfully describes iPads and iTouches as closed systems - well, hope yer enjoying the Kool Aid.
Amazon never positioned this as an iPad killer - pundits and press did - and in a sense they were right - maybe not killing the iPad as a device - but definitely taking a big chunk of the market that the iPad never could. Why? Because there are a whole bunch of folks out there who would never shell out over half a grand on a tablet. They are now.
One last thought - I work independently in tech - have for over 20 years, on both platforms. So do a bunch of friends - some of whom have actually made the plunge and bought a Fire. Everything I've heard back is positive - they think it's a lovely little device that does what they expected it to. In fact, I haven't heard a single negative.
The negative, as in extremely low, reviews are usually nothing but whiners. They didn't do their homework and get pissed because what they got is different than what they imagined, not what they were promised. Also a lot of them relate to shit that isn't the product. Like people who get one that is broken, and get a refund. Ok well that doesn't warrant a low rating. How about get a fixed one and see how it works?
My buying experience generally aligns with the well written (as in not one sentence) positive reviews of products. I find they are usually pretty accurate in telling me what the product is good for, and letting me know about any gotchas.
The Kindle Fire is not a tablet.
It is not a competitor to the Ipad.
The Kindle Fire is a Glossy, Sunday morning newspaper insert for Amazon.com.
It is simply a colorful portal for people to use to buy stuff from Amazon.
You buy movies, books, music, games and real crap that will ship for free because of Prime.
It is not a camera, Skype phone, GPS, computer, word processor... It is the 21st century 'Sears Catalog"
and it will do just fine.
Is there any fact in this "story" at all? Who is unhappy? And what qualifies as "many" ? Tens of thousands could be unhappy and that would likely still be a very small % of overall sales. Does that mean many are unhappy? Or instead that almost everyone is happy or satisfied with their purchase? This piece is nothing more than heresay without real figures.
This whole piece reads more like sorting the reviews on a Newegg product from worst to best - when there are 20 one stars and 500 5 stars.
* It's significantly lighter!
* It plays movies as well as the iPad
* The interface is faster and easier to use than the iPad.
* The web browser is infinitely better than the cr*p browser on the iPad.
I have the original iPad and not the iPad2, maybe they fixed the horrendous UI and the lack of responsiveness of the original iPad. I find neither tablet a usable replacement for a book or an e-reader. Both that have screens too much glare to use for reading more than about 5,000 words at a time and the back-lit displays make them unsuitable for use in either low light or sunlight conditions so using either to read a book or other lengthy material out of the question.
I didn't even think of it until this was posted on slashdot, but the iPad hasn't left it's cradle since the Fire was activated.
That said there are a couple issues.
* The "power button issue" has an easy workaround, hold it so the button is on the top and not resting on your tummy. But this could have been avoided by making it not stick out and instead needing you to use the point end of a finger to push it.
* The is no way to password protect the purchase function. This means you can't have a credit card associated with the account if you have small children which in turn makes purchasing apps a chore. I'd prefer something where a password isn't required to just update apps or "purchase" free apps like on the iPad, because that is really annoying. But whenever a debit is being made against my CC I'd like a password prompt.
I have as many Apple devices as the company (literally 5 or more computers, three ipods in the house, and an ipad). I like their products a lot and I love the ipad for web browsing and such. I use it daily.
I bought a Kindle Fire last Friday and I think it's great. Is it an iPad? Well, no. But it's a nice device that doesn't have to be compared to the iPad. It stands on its own and is a fine device. It actually fits in some of my pants pockets, so I like the size even if the screen's a little smaller. It plays Angry Birds and a lot of other games, it has nice built-in software (I like Silk), and I have no problem changing the volume on-screen. The batter also lasts a long time.
I feel like this comparison is similar to the comparisons made between the iPad and some low-end netbooks or notebooks when the iPad first came out. The iPad was a different device but quite useful, and now the Kindle Fire is also a slightly different device but also quite useful. It might not be what every wants, but I think it's a fine device.
Do you have ESP?
Ugh, now I am that parent. I ordered my daughter a Nook Simple Touch ($99 E-Ink reader) for Christmas this year because (1) she really likes to read, (2) reading is the only thing I want her to do on it, and (3) $99 is about my upper limit for a portable electronic device for a kid. But now her friend has an iPad and all the other kids are awestruck by it. I used to have my daughter pretty well brainwashed against i-devices (she would say, "don't call my mp3 player an iPod!) but peer influence is so much stronger than parental as they get older.
Is she hot?
Be seeing you...
No hardware problem can be "fixed" with software. All you can do is hide or work around the problem with a software patch or by disabling the faulty section of the hardware so that it is not used.
Anybody who thinks that hardware problems can be "fixed" with software is completely delusional and has no clue of what hardware is.
I am extremely happy with my Kindle Fire, far more than I would be with an iPad if someone had given me one for free. The form factor is right for the airplane and for reading in bed, much more useful for what I want it for than a 10" tablet would be.
It's true that exactly like the iPad, the iPhone, every Android phone, every other Android tablet, HP's ill fated WebOS tablet, most default OSX, Linux, and Windows installation with auto-login enabled, etc. that there is no privacy protection. It's a single user device, and anyone who sees the device can pretty easily determine what its user was doing on it recently (and in general). That is indeed perhaps a weakness, and I wouldn't mind having Android devices (especially tablets, but perhaps phones also) be multiuser (likewise for the iWhatever stuff).
During my most recent plane trip with my Kindle Fire, which unlike an iPad fits in my pocket, I:
* Read a variety of documents sent to the device from web pages using the Firefox Readability plugin
* Read some PDF documents
* Read (part of) some books that I purchased from Amazon
* Watched a video that I downloaded directly onto the device from a 3rd party website (in anticipation of flight)
* Listened to some music I had put locally onto the device
* Played a few moves of Words with Friends before takeoff
* Played Plants vs. Zombies while in flight
* Checked GMail and Facebook and Google+ quickly before takeoff (using Wifi connection to hotspot)
In every respect that I can see, not least including price, but even more so including Freedom, the Kindle Fire is a far better device than the iPad is.
Buy Text Processing in Python
Does the iPad not do that? All tablets (not slate computers) I have seem do not seem to be set up with user accounts.
The iPad has a large number of apps that essentially provide accounts. Plus of course for things like games there is GameCenter, where you can log in as different people.
The iPad also has parental controls safeguarding purchases. The Fire has none; once it's wired to an Amazon account you cannot block purchases (without unlinking the account which also disables some things on the tablet).
The iPad has basically lurched halfway to being a multi-user device, while the Kindle doesn't pretend to be at all to start with.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I am extremely happy with my Kindle Fire, far more than I would be with an iPad if someone had given me one for free. The form factor is right for the airplane and for reading in bed, much more useful for what I want it for than a 10" tablet would be.
It's true that exactly like the iPad, the iPhone, every Android phone, every other Android tablet, HP's ill fated WebOS tablet, most default OSX, Linux, and Windows installation with auto-login enabled, etc. that there is no privacy protection. It's a single user device, and anyone who sees the device can pretty easily determine what its user was doing on it recently (and in general). That is indeed perhaps a weakness, and I wouldn't mind having Android devices (especially tablets, but perhaps phones also) be multiuser (likewise for the iWhatever stuff).
During my most recent plane trip with my Kindle Fire, which unlike an iPad fits in my pocket, I:
* Read a variety of documents sent to the device from web pages using the Firefox Readability plugin
* Read some PDF documents
* Read (part of) some books that I purchased from Amazon
* Watched a video that I downloaded directly onto the device from a 3rd party website (in anticipation of flight)
* Listened to some music I had put locally onto the device
* Played a few moves of Words with Friends before takeoff
* Played Plants vs. Zombies while in flight
* Checked GMail and Facebook and Google+ quickly before takeoff (using Wifi connection to hotspot)
In every respect that I can see, not least including price, but even more so including Freedom, the Kindle Fire is a far better device than the iPad is.
Buy Text Processing in Python
But don't worry, you'll figure it out sooner or later, as Android tablet manufacturers will eat Apple's lunch.
They sure will.
The only problem for them is that Apple has already moved on to dinner.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Book reading. And it is quite good for that purpose. It replaces the similarly priced e-ink readers Amazon had before.
All the other functions of the Kindle Fire are secondary and are gravy.
You must have been sent a special message from Jeff Bezos, because all the Amazon marketing for the Fire has emphasized all the *other* stuff it supposedly can do. Book reading is strictly an afterthought.
It's hard to stop that inertia from carrying over into making an ever grander mistake. The kindle is a beautiful example of function. It does what it does and does so ideally. The audience for the Kindle is a rare one, too. Those of us who read books. A dying breed to be sure.
The fire is aimed at a completely alien segment. The consumer of media. The form over function. The short attention span, who lives in the world of youtube and sitcoms, chatrooms, and forums. Who has learned to replace you with u for expediency.
The mistake here was in calling it a 'Kindle', and risk harvesting some good will from those who have so far been served so well by foisting upon them a new device that both fails to understand what the audience that could possibly want it desires, and also fails to grasp what those people are like who are already loyal to the brand, such as it is.
The ipad thrives. It can be handed to a toddler who within hours will be sliding tiles with the letter A into their appropriate slot, with no training. It is intuitive and deftly executed because the creators consider all of their users to be to some degree like that toddler. Incompetent, and benignly harmful and who are best served by a very pretty black box.
The kindle, like the android phone both live in a strange world where at some degree their creators hold a secret contempt for the ignorant. They want to create tools that the brilliant can leverage, and in some darkened shadows of reason and camaraderie with their fellow geeks they are quite happy if those who 'do not get it' are de facto denied it by simple dint of a failure to quit the blinking twelves that it provides.
So many failed MMORPGS have taught us the lesson that it is not enough to merely mimic the superficial aspects of a successful venture. And understanding of why those ventures are successful stems from an understanding of the people who make those ventures successful. That is the same opacity we see here. It's not enough to make a cheaper, less approachable, less "ipad" ipad and think that anything will shadow the success.
Regardless, people will try.
"No good deed goes unpunished"
I've enjoyed my Kindle fire. It does have an issue with a poorly placed power button. However, you can flip it over. I don't have an issue with the volume control.
Given that the New York Times is the unpaid press office for Apple and writes what it is told in return for pre-review hardware it is clear that the story is bogus. Apple is really concerned about the success of the Fire so of course the New York Times runs a spoiler. In fact the Fire is selling well and looks pretty good. It is also a third of the price of the iPad.
- Made by a reputable company: they'll stand behind the product.
- No need to buy a service plan.
- I can surf the web.
- I can read email.
- I can read books
- I can easily side load most any program. BN Nook for Android? No problem.
- I can watch movies.
- Hulu+ works.
- free app of the day? Can't complain about that.
- OMG fingerprints? Just use one of those left over tissues, bud....
It arrived the day it was available. Set up was, well, 5 minutes.
Size? Fits in the inner pocket of my coat. Just the right compromise between portable and usable. Small enough to use one handed....
Sensitive screen? I've had the same issues with every touch system, Andriod, BBOS, touchpads on laptops.
Ispaz killer? Couldn't give a shit. Not my cup of tea.
When the first Kindle came out, I bought one, mainly because I wanted to read the Washington Post every morning. It was great. I used to bring it to work every day. Then the Ipad 2 came out, and after waiting for availability, I bought one. What I immediately discovered was that for reading books on e-reader, the Kindle was far superior, but I didn't want to lug around two devices. Then Amazon released an Ipad Kindle app, and I've never needed a Kindle again. It just sits on my desk and collects dust. What this did was unbelievable. When the Kindle was only black and white, books now came in color on the Ipad Kindle App. So when I heard about the Kindle Fire, I thought, "why would I need that?" And that's the problem Amazon has right now. They developed such a good alternative "free" market for reading their books that there's no need to actually buy one of their devices. As a devoted Ipad user, there's no way I'd trade down for a Kindle Fire, so all they can do is attract new people who never would have bought an Ipad in the first place (and that number dwindles every year). I'm not even an Apple fanboi, and I love the Ipad (I usually hate Apple).
Sarbonn's blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/blog
That sounds EXACTLY like an Android Tablet to me!
The main problem is that consumers see it as the "cheaper Android" version of an iPad. They expect, due to various trumpeting and possibly the fact that Apple products are always more expensive than they're worth, that the iPad is like so as well; more expensive by far than what it costs, and thus the lesser but modestly priced Android tablet would be a straight competitor.
And then they find that it's just another shoddy (in comparison) tablet with an Amazon tailored interface.
Bunch of idiots, you would have waited two weeks and gotten a blackberry playbbok, with external mini hdmi, front and back camera, dual core, 1 gig of ram, 16 gig for the same god damn price.
Some might BITCH about it but it does video, music,Pictures web browsing AND Ebook reading for the same price. People always complain the lack of software but who gives a damn that apple has 100 000 apps, you wont be needing them anyways,
Amazon has been terrible at supporting their "premium" product lines, because of the comparatively low userbases. For example, while corresponding Kindle "Keyboard" 3rd generation is now at firmware version 3.3, Kindle DX "Graphite" 3rd generation has been stuck in 2.5.8, with a horrible browser, no support for international fonts and no pictures in paid magazine and newspaper subscriptions (ridiculous). Now in the case of Fire - it is unlikely to see huge adoption as compared to smaller 4th generation devices (due to it not being an eInk eBook reader and its future as a tablet is being threatened by iPad). Therefore eventual support efforts are not going to be focused on the Fire, resulting in experience similar to that of DX customers (which yours truly is one of; needless to say I am never buying an Amazon product ever again, especially a "premium" model). [/rant]
Bow before me, for I am root.
... Apple is tough to beat because most of its mistakes are software-based.
Should be:
... Apple is tough to beat because most of its mistakes are hidden by its reality distortion field.
The Fire is a fine piece of hardware, especially at this price point. The problem is that Amazon is selling it as a Kindle.
Kindles are expensive ways to read books sold to people who have enough disposable income to buy a single-purpose device.
The Fire is a tablet for cheapskates who aren't willing to spend the money to buy an iPad.
These are, of course, two dramatically different markets and if a Kindle owner buys a Fire they're going to be incredibly disappointed. Amazon's problem is that's who they're marketing the Fire to. If they made it a separate product line and market it to those who can't afford an iPad but want to play Angry Birds, they would have dramatically better customer satisfaction.
forgiven for not remembering the Newton.
Making something easy to jailbreak implies that non-technical people will do it, knowlingly or not ("Re: Re: RE: Hey, try this out!"). That leads to malware/viruses/buggy software being run on Apple devices which leads those non-technical people to blame Apple, not themselves, and value their Apple device less.
Similarly, from Apple's perspective, for marketing purposes they would rather be known as the device which is simple & safe for nontechnical users--and even a small fraction of jailbroken Apple devices can serve to tarnish that reputation.
How about a car analogy? what if there was a button to manually deploy the airbag on the dash of a new car. Anyone who doesn't want to push it doesn't have to; we've only added a degree of freedom here, so how could that possibly subtract value. Who's going to buy that car?
but I would be shocked if there wasn't a technical reason for Apple limiting compatibility with older chargers or speakers. I know that in at least one case the reason they broke compatibility was because when they transitioned from iPod -> iPhone there was some noise issues that would have compromised the use of the phone while attached to an older charger or speaker. Another time there was some issue when they started exporting video over that connector, presumably another noise thing.
Apple could change the connector every generation if they wanted to, and they don't. They pushed for DRM-free music and they continue pushing for DRM-free movies/TV--there are so many things they could do to create artificial lockin but in nearly all cases their focus is on making a better device that people want to buy rather than tricking them into buying something.
I'm sure there's a little fiscal gamesmanship here and there; but generally less so than other companies as near as I can tell.
Amazon misFire
"There isn't any external volume control!"
Was there an external volume control when you bought it? Does it have external volume control amongst its feature list?
All in all, I've said it before and I'll say it again: brand names aside (both Amazon and Apple are major brands), you get what you pay for. Who in their right mind things that a cheap tablet ($199) will perform as good as a more expensive one ($525)? Quality tablets cost hundreds of dollars for a reason.
I was trying to have a legitimate discussion but if you want to be a douche then you can be a douce by yourself, alone, dry-humping your Android.