I want a kindle fire

[physicspirate]

I never did get an ipad or ipad 2, but I after seeing the short promos for the kindle fire, I really want one. As usual, the product is not available in Canada at launch, which sucks, but I'm still looking forward to picking up at least three of these units, and having the sum cost less than an ipad 2.

What you think aboot it?

The Kindle Fire

 

[Floris]

I have the iPad2, I am confident this won't replace it, but I would like to have one. The new Kindle Touch is pretty nice actually. Maybe it's time to start saving money and get the KT3G next year. For all the extras I probably will stick to the iPad2. Hopefully I will have a family member or a friend that invests in the Fire and I can play with hit - which perhaps changes my mind.

A very smart move by Amazon, and a very very good one.

Disclaimer: I am a bit hesitant about investing in Amazon hardware, because Amazon is basically unavailable in the Netherlands; kinda rendering the device useless for 50% (anything we get here comes from amazon.co.uk, which is 'limited'.)

 

[physicspirate]

Yeah, I know what you mean about limited content, we get some of the same up here. The device looks cool, and as much as I appreciate the ipad 2, they are too expensive. The only thing I don't like about the fire is all your browsing goes through the cloud so you don't really have any privacy.

it would be really good for them to serve some ads though. Really targeted advertising.

 

[Dragapult]

I don't see much point to tablets, but this is kind of neat.

 

[Shelley]

Reading the specs and watching the video the tablet is actually not bad at all especially for the price. I'm wondering what the price will be if and when it hits the uk market. Any info on it coming to the uk?

 

[Jason]

If you wait long enough there will be another price cut, and eventually they'll just start giving them away with every Amazon purchase

But in all seriousness, I'm slightly tempted to get one as well.

 

[captainslater]

You only can access Amazon from this Kindle device. Other websites are delivered via Amazon's EC2. It stores information of your favorite content and everything you'll do is saved and controlled by Amazon.
Seems to be a privacy nightmare.

 

[Jason]

It supports sideloading, but granted you might have to find your own apps to actually be able to use that content.

 

[Floris]

If you wait long enough there will be another price cut, and eventually they'll just start giving them away with every Amazon purchase

But in all seriousness, I'm slightly tempted to get one as well.

To be honest, seeing how HP has made a loss dumping theirs, and how much of a run there was on those 99$ ones.
Amazon could have considered (probably have I guess) to just include a free kindle for prime customers that have made say 5 purhcases in the last 6 months or something. Or a 50% discount on the touch version.

 

[Lisa]

Not available in the UK yet *sniffs* I want one too!!

 

[Dean]

It can only be used for Amazon content? Seems that way from the promotional video...

 

[Jason]

To be honest, seeing how HP has made a loss dumping theirs, and how much of a run there was on those 99$ ones.
Amazon could have considered (probably have I guess) to just include a free kindle for prime customers that have made say 5 purhcases in the last 6 months or something. Or a 50% discount on the touch version.

It wouldn't surprise me, and I somewhat expect even more aggressive pricing down the line.

 

[Floris]

It wouldn't surprise me, and I somewhat expect even more aggressive pricing down the line.

Hope so! =D

 

[Jason]

It can only be used for Amazon content? Seems that way from the promotional video...

Pretty much. It does allow sideloading, but you might have trouble finding an app that supports your stuff.

The most interesting aspect about it has nothing to do with the iPad either, but rather the Silk browser, though Opera Mini functions in a similar way.

 

[Jason]

Hope so! =D

Me too! I'm trying to hold off...

 

[Rho Delta]

It seems to be lacking a lot of iPad2 features, but the price is actually fairly reasonable.

 

[Shelley]

 

[AdamD]

I Want a job, so I can pay my bills and mortgage, not get reposessed...THEN I might think about a Kindle fire!

 

[Floris]

It seems to be lacking a lot of iPad2 features, but the price is actually fairly reasonable.

Well, it isn't trying to be an ipad, or tablet.

It's a modern gateway to people that buy a lot on amazon already, or want to, and want to use that media, such as books, tv/film, and music.

The additional features are missing on purpose, to help keep the price low and to show it's not trying to be an ipad killer.

Indirectly it's an ipad killer because their view is now perceived by people as "look, amazon tablets are the affordable mainstream solution, if you want premium, you get an ipad2, and you pay premium, we're at least 50% cheaper than apple's cheapest model" <-- facebook users fall for that.

 

[wrx1]

The other thing to remember is that at this price point the hackers will get their hands on it. Amazon has already stated that it is rootable and unlockable. They also said that there were not going to try and close those "features" off. So once someone unlocks the bootloader and has root access, now you have a completely open table to load any firmware on it. And with the low price point, you know there will be TONS of people working on fulling unlocking the device.

Russ