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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."
Might as well buy a Kia and complain that it's not as polished of a driving experience as a BMW.
"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.
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.
"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
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.
The best selling tablet doesn't have an SD card, so no, that's not one of the problems.
Amazon has had hardware products since 2007. They have been in the tablet buisness longer than Apple has.
Just like the Hyundai Accent isn't poised to kill the Ford F-150... two different markets with two very price tags and two related but still quite different usages
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.
There's very little wrong with the Kindle fire that can't be fixed with software.
I owned one, and returned it. I returned it because I prefer the e-ink screen of the Kindle DX for reading. If you want a tablet, the Fire is fine.
The problem is that the operating system is not ready for release, it feels like it's in a beta state. There's no way to customize most of the things you look at and think "Hmm, I wish I could ..."
The volume button position is weird, but you can simply turn the device over and the screen flips. It's no issue. Some people bellyache about the external volume control, but so what? Does that kill a device that comes in a less than half it's competitors' price point?
The Silk browser was reportedly sped up greatly after the first software update - I returned mine before taking it.
The Kindle Fire was rushed out before the OS was ready. A couple updates down the road, it will be a very nice competitor to the iPad.
You know you have problems when you have fewer buttons than the equivalent Apple device.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
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
It means that the users make the mistake of using the device incorrectly.
For instance, if you recall, Apple users held their iPhones incorrectly, thereby causing antenna malfunction. Steve Jobs (RIP, Hallowed be His Name) was forced to publicly instruct iPhone users in the correct method of holding their iPhones, since their ignorance was not surmountable through regular support channels.
Another example would be with the early iPod. As you recall, users were not treating their iPods as the holy relics they rightfully should have been treated as, and instead subjected them to all kinds of profane abuse -- like putting them in their pocket with their keys. This resulted in desecration of the viewing screen on those iPods, again, totally caused by the user.
And, lest ye forget, it would be remiss of me not to mention the abhorrent failure of users to recharge their iPod batteries every two hours when using iOS4.
Seriously, though, Apple gets a pass on a lot of mistakes because they do a lot of things right. They also have major brand loyalty, which is kind of unique in the gadget world, where most people judge on features, not on styling or brand ("no wireless... less space than a Nomad... lame" is the relevant quote, I believe).
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
That word... I do not think it means what you think it means.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
And what usage is the Fire intended for?
Answer: general tablet usage.
At which it fails, as shown by numerous examples, including this article.
The eInk Kindles, however, are fantastic ereaders, and also fit your analogy better.
There's very little wrong with the Kindle fire that can't be fixed with software.
You state that as though good software is so easy to write, it can be treated as an afterthought.
Sadly, many hardware makers share your view, which is one of the major reasons why every. single. iPad "killer" has failed miserably.
The eInk readers would be motorcycles in the analogy :P
I'm not sure Amazon ever claimed the Fire to be an iPad killer. It was likely only the media. And many supposedly sophisticated tech users took the bait for this imaginary conflict.
Apparently you don't recall their launch event. Of course, Amazon probably never used the term "iPad killer", but it's obvious that's the exact market it's targeted at.
And it wasn't only the media. It was countless individuals, like poster here on Slashdot, Gizmodo, Engadget, and any other tech/nerd site, who proclaimed this would kill the iPad this Christmas, due to the fact that it's $200 and (the funniest recurring theme of them all) that it's "open".
This was bolstered by the fact that the Fire was heavily modified, so it shed the stigma of being "just another Android tablet", and became "an Android tablet, redesigned around the user experience".
As usual, the focus has shifted after yet another failure. This time it's about the software update that Amazon is working on. As though somehow this will play out different than every other time we've seen this pattern.
I'm conflicted here because the Kindle Fire is not for me; the form factor and CPU are good but I'm going to wait for a 7" pad with an SD card slot. (Other than the overpriced Galaxy.) On the other hand, I used an iPad for a week and gave it back; clearly that overpriced and overhyped device is not for me either. I guess I'm not a fanboi.
I followed some of the links, trying to find where Amazon has called the Fire an "ipod killer", and the only place I can find that phrase used is by various media pundits. (For instance, one PCMag article cites an earlier PCMag article. Wow, we're not CREATING news, are we?)
It appears that Amazon was trying to create a reader on a code base that they don't have to maintain themselves, that was compatible with Kindle content and also had some browsing capability. (Someone will surely correct me if I'm wrong.) I personally think it doesn't have enough memory or expandability to be a serious contender in the tablet marketplace, but that isn't important.
The Nook Color has some issues too. If we had the processor of the Fire and the features of the Color running full Android 3+ including Marketplace instead of dinking around with crippled versions of the OS, at that price point, or even a little more, well, I'd buy one. Some day it'll happen.
The Fire will either succeed (with a much needed firmware update) or it will fail. It doesn't really matter, as there will be alternatives. Some day, someone will take Amazon's idea of not trying to compete with the iPad as a boutique item but actually make a usable tablet for a reasonable price, and it'll really take off. But it'll have to be, you know, usable.
But I'm uncomfortable with "X will be a Y killer" especially when "Y" has a near-hysterically devoted fanbase. Rather, I think there is room in the marketplace for multiple products, including ones for people who are looking for a certain set of capabilities, and ones for people looking for a certain logo engraved on the trendy stainless back.
(And yes, I'm being intentionally provocative, as I found the tone of the parent article irritating and fanboi-ish.)
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
The most direct competitor to the Kindle Fire is either the B&N Nook Color ($50 more than Fire when Fire was launched, now the same price, lower hardware specs in general, but does have an SD card slot, and many reviews have the Kindle Fire performing worse on many common tasks) and the B&N Nook Tablet (released shortly after the fire, at a $50 higher price point, similar processor specs to the Kindle Fire, but more RAM, local storage, SD card slot, and most head-to-heads I've seen find it performs better overall.)
Neither B&N device has the power button placement issues or lack of external volume controls that the Fire has, either.
Amazon clearly wants people to compare the Fire to the iPad on price, because a not-quite-iPad at half the price sounds like a good value proposition, and the best chance Amazon has at succeeding with the Fire is if that's how people see it, but its closest competitors on price, form factor, and features aren't from Apple.
Purchasing stuff from Amazon?
Steve Ballmer, is that you?
Then they shouldn't market it as a general tablet. Don't blame people for measuring it against the same yardstick that they market the device to in their ads.
The link for it is right not he main Amazon page, and the ad above is pretty clearly being marketed as a tablet.
http://www.amazon.com/
Yes, and you also get to complain to everyone that Ferraris should cost the same as Hyundais, that Ferrari should be put out of business because some people can afford Ferraris but you can't, that Ferrari drivers are immoral and stupid just because they have a higher income than you, and that you're entitled to a free Ferrari anyway (preferably forcibly taken from someone else who bought the Ferrari with their own money).
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
Only you have it exactly backwards. iOS isn't about locking you into Apple's services. The services are about adding value to the hardware. That's why the Fire is a budget device and the iPad is not.
I don't quite get the fuss. I own the Fire. I knew the limitations when I bought it, and expected it to have a few bugs, which it does. I use it all the time, and pretty happy for my 200 bucks worth. I didn't expect it to keep up with a quad core box, or even the iPad, I expected it to display books, show movies, do light surfing, play casual games, all of which it does ok. It *does* need some updates to the software to work the bugs out, but every computer I have ever bought needed both hardware BIOS upgrades and OS upgrades, so the idea that a new to the market tablet has a few bugs shouldn't come to a surprise to anyone.
If anything, people were oversold on what the tablet was. It was exactly what I expected, and I'm guessing it was exactly what most people expected since the majority of owners are happy with it. What I'm finding is several publications talking bad about the tablet, but the owners I know are all happy. Go figure.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Yes, the latter has been successful. So are high heeled shoes, which fail every objective test for the usefulness of a shoe. Just saying.
And the iPad is, objectively, the most useful tablet out there. Your analogy is absurd.
You are a nerd. Your analogy should be sneakers vs. boots. Boots are more useful in specific contexts, but not useful in general situations the way sneakers are. You are like a lumberjack saying sneakers (the iPad) are merely successful because people are stupid and blinded by shiny. When the reality is that your needs are not common, and therefore neither is your opinion.
At least have the decency to not denigrate people just because they don't have your nerd cred and like different things than you.
Absolutely. I returned mine because I can't read the New York Times on the Kindle Fire. Why? Because I didn't buy my New York Times subscription from Amazon; I bought it (long ago) from - ta da - the New York Times. Believe me, I tried, I rooted the device; I found an apk from someone's backup and tried downloading that. The New York Times app gets hi-jacked when you try to load it on the Kindle Amazon says, basically, "go away".
And don't get me started on the library books available for the Kindle (not to mention the interface - !!!!)
Yuck. Back it went.
Good at book reading? Sorry it takes a turn for the worse for book reading. The display has a horrible glare to it, it attracts finger prints like its the next big thing, and the page turning is atrocious. You have to very carefully hold the device on the edges to avoid turning the page because the slightest on screen touch could jump you pages, or depending where you press even chapters ahead. The volume control is definitely an annoyance as you have to obstruct your view of whatever your watching or pause it. I also hate the lack of "forward" button. Its easy to press back on accident and there's no forward. When your going through book collections it will not remember your last location in the list forcing you to rebrowse from the beginning after going into a book, plus for a book reading device there's no button to go to the book list other than the home button and then the book list. There's no directory structure or categories for books its all one big jumbo collection with no organization. The apps market place is restricted to amazon app store only and many apps are blocked for fire use for no good reason(like twitter, but i don't use that one). The android market place works perfectly fine on the fire but you have to root the device to get it on there.
The screen can be very sensitive but it doesn't always work, sometimes you have to press something 2 or 3 times, but the very slightest touch elsewhere will trigger something you don't want.
I got a 1st gen iPad a few months ago. Already having an iPhone, not to mention a laptop and a media pc at home, plus a plethora of devices at work, I wasn't sure how much value it would be to me, but I was getting it at a price where I could easily resell it at a profit, so it was a risk free experiment.
Just a few month later, it's become my primary information access device. Be it reading news, streaming ripped DVDs, renting movies, responding to slashdot posts, this is the device I use. It's form factor is great, has battery life to die for, and, as much as I hate the non descript adjective, it "just works"
Mind you it's not a device to get work done on. For that I will always prefer a keyboard and mouse. I've run into nothing that ive thought it should be able to do that it can't, including removing in to servers at the office in a pinch. So, I'd say you should try using it as its meant to be used before knocking it. To say its too locked down to me means you haven't even given it a try before bashing it.
Well except the software is not as good as my iPad for even that.
I would have imagined a great native app to shop on amazon, but it does not exist, so
I have to go to the web browser.
And while the web browser on an ipad is an enjoyable experience, it's not on a Fire.
It's slower, the soft keyboard is less convenient, the experience less snappy and the screen smaller.
The gold box is not well integrated.
The e-mails I receive from Amazon on my ipad/computer are useful, but not integrated. This should
have been built as the mother of CRM devices.
The other complaints from users are valid:
a) No privacy, so anyone can see what movies I watched on the main page (so you prefer not bringing it to work)
b) The cover flip UI is unusable if you have a lot of books. The iPad is more conveninient. Good luck being able to select
book number 43 - and selecting the right one is hard. Usually the page flips and it open the next one instead.
c) I inverted my fire because I don't find the location of the on/off button convenient, but the login screen does
not make use of the orientation, so need to log in upside down.
The hardware is lacking a video out for movies (cant't cost that much)
There is no external SD slot to expand internal storage
So the device can't be use to view PDF's which I do a lot on my iPad.
So yes, very much v1.0 in both hardware and software. I was hoping it would be more convenient - for example
to read in the subway - than my ipad but it's not.
Hope Amazon takes feedback and improve their feedback. Will be interesting how long they support the device.
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