I am in the process right now of writing my first look and hands-on review of the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet. The article I excerpt below beats me to the point I was going to make — it is no iPad and anyone who wants an iPad as a holiday gift will be disappointed.
This might be an option for those who want an e-reader — watch out, Nook, I now agree with our Dino Londis — but think about it. If you get a Kindle Fire as a reader, are you going to be carrying your smartphone, tablet and laptop, too?
My review is coming later.
So far, I’m pretty unimpressed. Unless you have $199 to burn for the fun of it, I’d wait for the 10-inch Amazon tablet coming in 2012 (code-named Hollywood) or the Apple iPad 3. This one is too chunky (heavier than a RIM PlayBook), the screen quality isn’t that excellent and — though Amazon has done a great job of integrating the streaming music and video features — the speakers suck. Excuse the former-Yugoslavian. It’s as if Amazon has never put together a user experience that combines communications and content — oh, wait, it hasn’t. I wish it sported a better version of Android, too …
Photo courtesy: Gina Smith
I’m going to run it through some more tests and give it a little more time for the sake of fairness today. In the meantime, check out Shelly Palmer’s excellent review, excerpted below. So far, I’m not recommending the Amazon Kindle Fire. Other reviewers at aNewDomain, I know, disagree with me vehemently. You’ll hear about that. Watch for my review and Brian Burgess’ counter to it later today.
I Want An iPad: How About A Nice Amazon Kindle
Fire?
Source: Shelly Palmer
Kindle Fire vs. iPad 2“Mom … you bought me the wrong one!” Yep, that’s the thing about kids and stuff. They know what they want. And, more importantly, they know what they don’t want. According to Nielsen Media Research 44% of kids between the ages of 6 and 12 years old want an iPad 2. So, how about a nice Amazon Kindle Fire? After all, it’s $300 cheaper and it does a lot of the same stuff. You can make this argument until you are blue in the face, but – after “death and taxes” there is now a third certainty … “If you want an iPad, nothing else will do.” It has gotten to the point where I am now quite sure that there is no such thing as … READ the rest of Shelly’s review here.
How much time do you spend listening to music through the iPad’s speakers, rather than through headphones?
Get real, please.
And the point of a tablet — as you well know — is that it’s for situations you don’t want to carry around a laptop with you. You could make the same argument against an iPad, and the last time I checked, iPads were selling just fine.
You have completely prejudged this piece of hardware. From your “review”, it’s pretty clear the only thing you’ve done with it is turn it on and listen to music (without the benefit of even headphones).
The point of the tablet is to create another way for Amazon to get it’s products in front of people. There is NOTHING special about this tablet, and the price is proof of that. I’m sick of people lowering their standards saying, well it’s only 200 bucks. NO, for 200 bucks I want something that’s going to be worthwhile, and for me, this IS NOT IT. Keep your standards. Don’t lower them because it’s cheap. That’s the whole fake louie purse argument. Well, it was only 30 bucks, yea no kidding, but ITS FAKE LOUIE. I’ll have a better idea once I get one in my hands for the tear down, but so far all this tablet looks to do well is give you a direct path into buying more crap from Amazon you probably don’t need. I’ll hold out for a transformer prime.
Full review to come. To be fair, two weeks is the minimum amount of time for a fair and accurate review — one that is encompassing. I’ve had it five days. So far not wowed. Let’s see. gs
Hi Gina,
I bought a Kindle Fire for Betsy, who you may recall is really not a technology person, and it seems to meet her needs. It’s not a real tablet, or at least not a full one, but I suspect she’ll get lots of use from the Kindle Reader and Pulse and EverNote. I might crack it for her enough to get the Google apps installed, since as far as I’m unconcerned Amazon’s decision to lock users out of the “Google Experience” is the one unforgivable mistake in the Kindle Fire.
Personally, though, I’m still looking for my tablet. I have to admit I’m tempted by the new Nook Tablet — I loved the form factor, the hardware’s pretty decent, and I suspect we’ll see an Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for it very soon. Plus I love the fact that B&N just refuses to roll over and die — I feel like I ought to support any company that sues Microsoft for being a patent troll and goes head-to-head with Microsoft… On the other hand, there are a bunch of pure tablets that intrigue me, and there’s another thread running through my head saying I should really just invest in a better laptop… So I continue to fence sit.
of course, by “head-to-head with Microsoft” I meant “head-to-head with Amazon” …
I’m lucky enough to be living in a household with two kids and an iPad2, and a Kindle Fire will be joining us in 18 days. From watching the usage patterns of the 3 year old, I am convinced the Fire will carve out a good spot in our daily life. A big use of the iPad2 is for PBS Kids streaming video, and Amazon Prime offers quite a bit of educational content. The Kindle’s 0.9 lbs vs the 1.4 lbs of the iPad may be enough to be easier for the 3 year old to hold for long periods.
I think this will be interesting.
I am no fan of this device. But I brought one out here to Boston for the holiday week and everyone ELSE seems to love it. Maybe I am spoiled by the iPad experience?