Kindle Fire 7" Tablet Now Shipping $199 - New Kindles From $79 - Reviews are out

[quote name='gunm']I'm curious why some people aren't willing to get "two tablets" but are perfectly fine getting an ereader to supplement their tablet.

At least, at these price points, it doesn't seem completely unreasonable to get a Fire to complement your Ipad/Ipad 2...[/QUOTE]

Doing real reading on an ipad, nook color, and amazon fire is not ideal. E ink makes a big difference in terms of eye strain. An e ink reader and ipad can serve different purposes. A Kindle fire on top of an ipad is redundant. Also, for me, I have a ton of iOS apps so I am completely tied to the platform and couldn't switch over to the Fire without losing a ton of content.
 
[quote name='gunm']I'm curious why some people aren't willing to get "two tablets" but are perfectly fine getting an ereader to supplement their tablet.

At least, at these price points, it doesn't seem completely unreasonable to get a Fire to complement your Ipad/Ipad 2...[/QUOTE]
My guess is it's the e-ink screen. It's way easier on the eyes than the kindle fire will be for reading.
 
[quote name='Sir_Fragalot']My guess is it's the e-ink screen. It's way easier on the eyes than the kindle fire will be for reading.[/QUOTE]It's the E-Ink screen that works best for books, plus the battery life.

Also, for the 3G models, being able to buy a book and start reading it within minutes, which the Fire can't do without tethering to a cell phone, hotspot or some other Wi-Fi-able connection.
 
Is it bad that I want one even though I already have an iPad 2? 8GB seems rather lackluster though. That will fill up quickly for me.
 
I'm actually more interested in the new Kindle without the buttons. I have never touched the keyboard on my Kindle because I use it to read and nothing else.

Ideally, I would love for the technology to exist to go from a regular tablet screen to an e-ink screen. Give them a few years I guess.
 
[quote name='WyldRyce']Is it bad that I want one even though I already have an iPad 2? 8GB seems rather lackluster though. That will fill up quickly for me.[/QUOTE]

TBH, I don't use my iPad as much as I thought I would. I use it mostly for browsing, video, pictures, and MLB.tv. Its been a while since I really gamed on it... I'm actually considering selling my iPad 2 to get the Fire.
 
I supported you Cheapy D by buying one and one hot ass pink case. I'm probably gonna dump my HP Tablet to a friend since the wife already has the 16 gig HP touchpad. So I can have the best of both worlds :)

I buy everything off Amazon, and now their damn tablets lol. Wheres my Amazon TV and Bank? How about a Amazon car...
 
I've got an Ipad, but I'm getting the Fire for my kids. It's cheap enough for me where I can get each of them one for Xmas.

I'm also thinking about getting the Kindle $79 for my parents, myself, my sister, and maybe even my wife if she wants one of her own. At these prices, it looks like it will be a Kindle kind of Xmas.

Damn I should've bought stock in Amazon...
 
[quote name='gunm']I've got an Ipad, but I'm getting the Fire for my kids. It's cheap enough for me where I can get each of them one for Xmas.

I'm also thinking about getting the Kindle $79 for my parents, myself, my sister, and maybe even my wife if she wants one of her own. At these prices, it looks like it will be a Kindle kind of Xmas.

Damn I should've bought stock in Amazon...[/QUOTE]

Can I be adopted somewhere in this family?
 
Why does everybody keep comparing this to the iPad but not iTouch? The Touch may be half the size of Fire, but Fire is half the size of iPad. And I know Jobs said no 7" form factor but he also said no video on iPod b/c nobody wanted to watch tv on a screen that small about 3 months before iPod Video came out. I half expect a 7" Touch next Tuesday. I like the Fire. I was in ToysRUs last week looking at the Coby Kyros for $179 for my wife's birthday. It's the perfect size for a woman's pocketbook. The Thrive 7" is also due out.

Typed on my iTouch ;-)
 
I was thinking about getting the Kindle Touch and selling my Kindle 3 but I don't see any good reason since it has the exact same screen. I'll just hold on until the next iteration.
 
e-ink is the technology used for the display in an e-reader. It is much more conducive for reading the text of ebooks/digital text. You would want it if you do a lot of reading on a screen in or outdoors. It's less fatiguing on the eyes than a typical computer/tablet screen.
 
[quote name='rjejr']I was in ToysRUs last week looking at the Coby Kyros for $179 for my wife's birthday.[/QUOTE]

Geez, how cheap are those things going to have to be now that the Kindle Fire is out? Who in their right mind would spend $179 for a Coby Kyros when you can upgrade to the Fire for $20 more.
 
+1 on the e-ink. I wish this new Kindle was the e-ink along the lines of the Pixel Qi screens. Still waiting for a consumer device with those built in...
 
[quote name='BingoBrown']Geez, how cheap are those things going to have to be now that the Kindle Fire is out? Who in their right mind would spend $179 for a Coby Kyros when you can upgrade to the Fire for $20 more.[/QUOTE]

Um, it came with a $25 gift card? (And it was last week, and I didn't buy it, fortunately for me, and my wife.)

My main point was - this is a $199 7" device and everybody keeps comparing it's price to the $499 iPad 2 which has a 10" screen. There are other 7" devices out there this should be compared to, with more coming. The Nook will probably be $199 by Nov. 15th.
 
[quote name='Ionotropic']Okay, what the hell is e-ink exactly, and why do I want it?[/QUOTE]

It's the closest thing to digital paper. It's really much easier on your eyes than an LCD screen
 
[quote name='Sir_Fragalot']The only thing that concerns me about the new Amazon tablet is battery life. I mean I have a Nook Color and doing nothing but standby with it can last a few days, but once you start using anything that battery basically goes to fuck. Reading isn't bad on it but the more intensive things will eat away at it.

If you don't mind charging it often, then sure it's a pretty good deal.[/QUOTE]

This, I'm a little worried about the battery life. I can understand the difference between color screens but still....if you're into reading books I can't see why you'd go for Kindle Fire at all, 8 hours vs...2 months? Goddamn.

I just got a shitload of OT so I might bite on this with my extra cheez....someone sell me on this, I've got a 2004 iBook G4, a iPod nano 5th Gen....convince me to get a Kindle Fire as someone who wants to read some ebooks and browse the web too.
 
Wonder how reading eBooks on the Fire is going to be. Didn't really hear much about it - like how well it'll resist glare, ala the Kindle/Touch.

Pre-ordered one anyway, can always cancel. Rather have a place in line now than order later and have to wait even longer.
 
[quote name='IRHari']This, I'm a little worried about the battery life. I can understand the difference between color screens but still....if you're into reading books I can't see why you'd go for Kindle Fire at all, 8 hours vs...2 months? Goddamn.

I just got a shitload of OT so I might bite on this with my extra cheez....someone sell me on this, I've got a 2004 iBook G4, a iPod nano 5th Gen....convince me to get a Kindle Fire as someone who wants to read some ebooks and browse the web too.[/QUOTE]

If you're mostly reading books on the Fire the battery life will likely be much higher. I'm not really going to sell you on anything, if you want something to read books get a regular E-ink Kindle, it also has a web browser though it'll be in B&W and sluggish. If you want a fuller web browsing experience then you'll want the Fire

Alternatively you can look at the many other Android tablets on the market that are comparable to the Fire and have a longer battery life. Even my older Archos 70 gets about 30 hours rated life
 
[quote name='Kylearan']Wonder how reading eBooks on the Fire is going to be. Didn't really hear much about it - like how well it'll resist glare, ala the Kindle/Touch.

Pre-ordered one anyway, can always cancel. Rather have a place in line now than order later and have to wait even longer.[/QUOTE]


The fire is more for streaming video, web, and apps. It is probably comparable to other tablets of it's size as far as viewing ebooks...which is to say, not as good as e-ink/e-readers.
 
[quote name='gunm']The fire is more for streaming video, web, and apps. It is probably comparable to other tablets of it's size as far as viewing ebooks...which is to say, not as good as e-ink/e-readers.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. Which is why it really bothers me that it's called a Kindle at all...
 
[quote name='WilliamG']Exactly. Which is why it really bothers me that it's called a Kindle at all...[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't say the Fire is more for anything. It can be equal parts reading, equal parts web browsing, media and games. In other words, it all depends on the user. I don't see any fault in adding it to the Kindle line. The iPod touch for instance is used for a lot more than music now but should Apple call it something else? No, because it can still be used for music. The same can be said about the Fire with regards to reading. Hell, I'd argue that having a color screen expands the functionality of it as a reader since it now supports full color comics and magazines.
 
Amazon is far more than books, so it is fair to make the Kindle brand more than books as well.

Kindle is the hardware gateway to Amazon's content and services.
 
I just bought an iPad 2 and think I'm taking it back and getting this. I prefer getting it for 179.99 after gc than $530 at best buy for an iPad 2...
 
Think my mom is getting a fire for x-mas, shes been wanting a kindle and loves those dinky popcap / facebook games, but she hates the size of the HP Touchpad. I think she'd prolly enjoy the fire
 
[quote name='BingoBrown']Geez, how cheap are those things going to have to be now that the Kindle Fire is out? Who in their right mind would spend $179 for a Coby Kyros when you can upgrade to the Fire for $20 more.[/QUOTE]

Amazon will own the Android tablet market by the end of this year.
 
Silly question, but do these tablets store cookies? I remember reading that the HP Touchpad did not remember any information.
 
[quote name='rjejr']

My main point was - this is a $199 7" device and everybody keeps comparing it's price to the $499 iPad 2 which has a 10" screen. There are other 7" devices out there this should be compared to, with more coming. The Nook will probably be $199 by Nov. 15th.[/QUOTE]

The Nook Color seriously has to hit $150 to survive. I own a Nook Color and unless you root it or install Android on a SD card, it can't do video playback, one of the features the fire can do. The Nook Color has some Android apps but the problem is there are no good free ones, they are all paid and I haven't really looked through which apps to buy because well I primarily just boot full Android 2.2 off a SD card with the real app store.

I think the problem this Kindle Fire is going to have is using apps/video playback. If you do simple stuff on the Nook Color, the battery is fine but with the Kindle Fire which will be app ready, expect to recharge it a bit. Nothing against the Kindle Fire, that sounds like a great device, just since it has the same battery life as the Nook Color, I don't expect it to last long for much things besides reading and standby mostly.
 
[quote name='utopianmachine']If the Kindle Fire gets the kind of app coverage as the iPad, I'll be on the scene in a heartbeat.

As it is, I want an iPad just for apps.[/QUOTE]


So do I, just not for the price they're asking, so I'll settle for a Fire and hope they become the go-to device for android's apps in the near future
 
[quote name='utopianmachine']If the Kindle Fire gets the kind of app coverage as the iPad, I'll be on the scene in a heartbeat.

As it is, I want an iPad just for apps.[/QUOTE]
Techinically since it's running Android it could. This all depends on how fast Amazon puts out apps to the thing. With the Nook Color. Barnes and Noble has like 700 apps out but none of them are good free ones. Don't know about paid. With this new Amazon tablet, it will depends how Android the OS really is.

In theory it could have almost full access to the Amazon App store which would be amazing but no clue if it will.
 
[quote name='Paladinion']7" is fine, my gf never complains about it and neither will you : P[/QUOTE]

Seriously, it took that long? (no pun intended)

I really wanted a touchpad but when i found out it was the same size as an iPad, it made me think that's too big. I want something I can just throw in my bag and just whip out for quick web browsing without having to squint using my iPhone. Does anyone know if this thing reads PDF's or PowerPoint for that matter?
 
[quote name='Sir_Fragalot']Techinically since it's running Android it could. This all depends on how fast Amazon puts out apps to the thing. With the Nook Color. Barnes and Noble has like 700 apps out but none of them are good free ones. Don't know about paid. With this new Amazon tablet, it will depends how Android the OS really is.

In theory it could have almost full access to the Amazon App store which would be amaziwng but no clue if it will.[/QUOTE]

The Fire will have complete access to the Amazon App Store. That's the reason they built the store and tablet in the first place.

The thing I wonder about is apps built on Honeycomb instead of Gingerbread. So far Amazon hasn't sold apps built only for Honeycomb, as far as I know. I'd imagine that Amazon's OS will adopt Ice Cream Sandwich at some point, so that would eliminate the problem. Which brings up one of the strange things about the Fire, why didn't they use Honeycomb on a tablet? Maybe the Amazon OS was in development before Honeycomb?
 
Anyone got any opinions on the $79 kindle? I'm not a huge reader, but I'd like to start reading more than browsing the internet so much. I can get it for $59 after some credit. Are they worth that? I've always been mildly interested and for $59 that's very cheap.
 
[quote name='urmomlikesme']Does anyone know if this thing reads PDF's or PowerPoint for that matter?[/QUOTE]

There's an app for that. ;)

(Okay, you may need two apps, but that phrase wasn't used in Apple ads.)
 
7" screen and 8gb of storage space? Thats horrible. Cloud is nice and all but with bandwidth limits it isn't very attractive. I have a 50gb limit on my ISP. I want on board storage thank you. 16 is the standard. Why deviate from that?

also, how locked down will the system be? What video files will it support out of the box?
 
[quote name='lllGurulll']7" screen and 8gb of storage space? Thats horrible. Cloud is nice and all but with bandwidth limits it isn't very attractive. I have a 50gb limit on my ISP. I want on board storage thank you. 16 is the standard. Why deviate from that?

also, how locked down will the system be? What video files will it support out of the box?[/QUOTE]


To price less than half of the cost of an iPad and provide the tablet experience a lot of users are looking for. There's a market of people who want to buy an iPad but won't pay $400-600 for that privilege. They want a vendor to show up with the same promise of smooth, clean experience as Apple with the same content as Apple, the promise of low-power apps (and possibly games), and they want it to not cost $400-600.

This won't be better than an iPad in performance, but as Apple is so fond of saying... specs don't matter.
 
[quote name='lllGurulll']7" screen and 8gb of storage space? Thats horrible. Cloud is nice and all but with bandwidth limits it isn't very attractive. I have a 50gb limit on my ISP. I want on board storage thank you. 16 is the standard. Why deviate from that?

also, how locked down will the system be? What video files will it support out of the box?[/QUOTE]

Isn't it just a customized version of Android 2.1. Honestly, 2.1 just seems "old" for a new tablet. All the new Ice Cream Sandwich OS stuff sounds much more promising.
 
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