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Amazon Set to Unveil $199 'Kindle Fire' Tablet

Which brings me to question two.

My family is driving to grandmothers house for Christmas. It's an 8 hour drive.

How do I put 8 hours of 720P video on my shiny new Fire to keep the kids occupied during the drive ?

I can't keep them satiated with candy the whole trip.
 
Great price, but I dont see the appeal in a 7' tablet.

Sticking with Apple, but must admit that this is the first competitive tablet.
 
firewood said:
It does almost everything an iPod Touch does (music, touch games, mobile web), except that it's a bit heavier. And much easier to read for people without hawk eyesight. And likely faster at web browsing with silk.

And it actually costs less.
Click to expand...

But that's the thing: I don't want almost as good. If I'm spending hundreds, I want the best.
 
Interesting warranty on the Fire:

We warrant the Device against defects in materials and workmanship under ordinary consumer use for one year from the date of original retail purchase. During this warranty period, if a defect arises in the Device, and you follow the instructions for returning the Device, we will, at our option, to the extent permitted by law, either (i) repair the Device using either new or refurbished parts, (ii) replace the Device with a new or refurbished Device that is equivalent to the Device that is to be replaced, or (iii) refund to you all or part of the purchase price of the Device. This limited warranty applies, to the extent permitted by law, to any repair, replacement part or replacement device for the remainder of the original warranty period or for ninety days, whichever period is longer. All replaced parts and Devices for which a refund is given shall become our property. This limited warranty applies only to hardware components of the Device that are not subject to accident, misuse, neglect, fire or other external causes, alterations, repair, or commercial use.
 
The interesting thing is going to be seeing just how much money Amazon will be losing on these things. Either the touchscreen is not as advanced as the one on the iPad (like you see on the cheapest tablets, where you have to press hard to get a response) or they are taking a large loss on each one produced. Can't wait for the iSuppli teardown. And that's just the cost to produce, not counting the development, software, etc. I know there'll be excuses that this is gateway drug to selling stuff from the Amazon storefront, but the margins are already low there. So, from an investor's standpoint, I don't get it, unless they are conceding that the only way to cut into Apple's lead is to undercut on price, and plan to jack it up later.

As a consumer, it's definitely interesting. I like the idea of the server-side rendering of web pages, though it remains to be seen how this works in the wild (with millions of users clogging the servers) rather than under ideal testing conditions. Seems hard to imagine they can just allow unlimited 3G access at full speed - I mean, it's one thing to download books, quite another to watch streaming video. There's got to be SOME throttling, doesn't there? The pixel density is also a little strange - normal text at 160dpi is going to look awfully small. And I'm not sure a 7-inch screen works for much of anything - 9.7" is small for internet viewing.

The fun part is that the two most intriguing parts - a smaller device and server-side webpage rendering - are both things that Apple could probably do without too much effort, so it might serve as a beta test for future devices.

dave
 
Peace said:
So you will need to carry around 2 large devices ?

I'd rather pay more to
A. Get more and
B. not have to carry around more than one device.
Click to expand...

What they should do in the new commercials is show one couple on the couch. The woman using her iPad and the man is sitting next to her, looking bored and sad.

Then, they show another couple. The man and the woman both take Fires out of their back pockets. This couple can now decide what to do with the $100 more they have then the first couple. (I envision thought bubbles with dollar signs coming from their heads)
 
PCClone said:
Christmas morning

Timmy: opens his present... Wow, Santa brought me an iPad.

Dad: ah, Timmy, that is an Amazon Fire. Pretty cool huh?

Timmy: oh. Give tablet to the dog for a chew toy.

Two year in the future..

Christmas morning.

Timmy: opens his present...Wow, dad got me a MacBook.

Dad: ah, Tim, that is a Acer 6 pound laptop.

Timmy: oh. Dad, I see you still suck.

Timmy: Mom, can we go to the Apple Store today?

Mom: sure. And your dad will not be going with us.
Click to expand...

Timmy needs a serious beating. Disrespectful little spoiled punk :mad:
 
guch20 said:
I've heard a couple people say they have a hard time reading in bed with their iPads, but I do it all the time. It's really not that heavy, and you can lean it against your legs or lay on your side. Besides, the Fire weighs only a half pound less.

Add in the missing features and some of the shortcuts (two-finger multitouch?!), and I'll stick with my iPad 2, thanks.
Click to expand...


I agree it is only half a pound lighter and it may seem like nothing. For me it is more of the pain of trying to find a good position. I like to read on my side, a device I can hold in in hand, similar to a book works better for me. I have an iPad 1, so I don't know if the reduced weight on the iPad 2 helps.

I read somewhere today that the Fire is supposed to have multitouch, but I don't remember where I saw it. Regardless I think Amazon pulled out pretty big guns today, it's not going to kill the iPad. And ignoring what many say on here, not everything has to be about Apple winning and everyone else losing. These is enough room for the iPad and a high-quality device like Amazon may have on their hands here. The other Android tablets may have something to be worried about. I tried a Honeycomb tablet at Best Buy the other day and was frustrated at it's interface, I must be spoiled with my Nexus S.
 
miamialley said:
Wow, runs Android. Competition is good!
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm missing something here, but Amazon is forkng/has forked Android.

So, yeah, Android now, Android like later, but I'm not seeing the Google Mothership embracing this, and if I was Google, I would be a little bit perturbed that Amazon had poached Android and was keeping the ad money, amongst other things.
 
Yr Blues said:
But the Fire uses Android. ;)
Click to expand...

But it's a highly customized version that doesn't promote any Google services at all. Microsoft will probably make as much off of it as Google from the royalties.

Hawkeye411 said:
Just because I can :D
Click to expand...

Me, too. At $200, it's worth it to me as a complement to my existing devices. Clearly it's a loss leader, but Amazon is about the only company in the market who can do it.
 
firewood said:
It does almost everything an iPod Touch does (music, touch games, mobile web), except that it's a bit heavier. And much easier to read for people without hawk eyesight. And likely faster at web browsing with silk.

And it actually costs less.
Click to expand...

That is a great point. They're closer in price than the iPad and Kindle Fire. I can justify getting one now since my iPod Touch is a few years old and in need of replacement. Why buy the cheapest iPod Touch when I can get something comparable in price with a much bigger screen?
 
Peace said:
Which brings me to question two.

My family is driving to grandmothers house for Christmas. It's an 8 hour drive.

How do I put 8 hours of 720P video on my shiny new Fire to keep the kids occupied during the drive ?

I can't keep them satiated with candy the whole trip.
Click to expand...

Clear mobile internet? :D
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Like the "Kindle Fire" will we someday see the iPad iCushion?
 
Taank said:
What they should do in the new commercials is show one couple on the couch. The woman using her iPad and the man is sitting next to her, looking bored and sad.

Then, they show another couple. The man and the woman both take Fires out of their back pockets. This couple can now decide what to do with the $100 more they have then the first couple. (I envision thought bubbles with dollar signs coming from their heads)
Click to expand...

That's great and all but what about the beach commercials ?
 
What's Wrong with Kindle Fire?

Example: "Holds 80 Apps or 10 Movies", no volume switch, no bluetooth, etc.
http://obamapacman.com/2011/09/amazon-releases-7-color-kindle-fire-review-good-bad-ugly/


TMay said:
Maybe I'm missing something here, but Amazon is forkng/has forked Android.

So, yeah, Android now, Android like later, but I'm not seeing the Google Mothership embracing this, and if I was Google, I would be a little bit perturbed that Amazon had poached Android and was keeping the ad money, amongst other things.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's why Amazon is not using the trademarked Android name to market the device.
 
Peace said:
Which brings me to question two.

My family is driving to grandmothers house for Christmas. It's an 8 hour drive.

How do I put 8 hours of 720P video on my shiny new Fire to keep the kids occupied during the drive ?

I can't keep them satiated with candy the whole trip.
Click to expand...

Well, assuming the local storage is accessible like any Android device, just handbrake up some DVDs (no need for 720p), copy them over (just attach as a drive) and load them into a playlist!

I just checked in one of my video folders and I've got:

Ice Age 1
Shrek 1
Spongebob Movie
Incredibles
Toy Story 1
Toy Story 2

All ripped from original DVDs, HB'ed to MPG4 files, they look fantastic and according the properties are ~4.5GB and 9h 6m and 50s combined length :D
 
Dave00 said:
Seems hard to imagine they can just allow unlimited 3G access at full speed - I mean, it's one thing to download books, quite another to watch streaming video. There's got to be SOME throttling, doesn't there?
Click to expand...

The Fire is WIFI only at this point. The Kindle Touch is 3G and only has an experimental browser and is eInk.
 
Another reason why all iPad competitors fail is - no Apple Store for tech support. If your Kindle Fire fails, you have to box it up, ship it to Amazon and who knows!
 
D.T. said:
Well, assuming the local storage is accessible like any Android device, just handbrake up some DVDs (no need for 720p), copy them over (just attach as a drive) and load them into a playlist!

I just checked in one of my video folders and I've got:

Ice Age 1
Shrek 1
Spongebob Movie
Incredibles
Toy Story 1
Toy Story 2

All ripped from original DVDs, HB'ed to MPG4 files, they look fantastic and according the properties are ~4.5GB and 9h 6m and 50s combined length :D
Click to expand...

So everybody griping about the iPad only doing 720P has suddenly become moot ?
 
Consultant said:
What's Wrong with Kindle Fire?
Click to expand...

Let me guess, you write this blog yourself right ? Why do you spread misinformation on it ? (no App store ? It does have an appstore, the Amazon appstore).

Why the hate ? Why do some of you feel "threatened" by another choice in the market ? Not everyone needs every feature the iPad has. This is a lower priced device for people who need something simple.
 
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