Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#31

Post by gcb0 » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:04 PM UTC

300zxkyle wrote: post #18

tlianza wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biggest downside is the FireOS, Amazon store instead of Google Play, etc. If you want to do basic web surfing stuff, this is a phenomenal deal. I doubt you'll find a better one. If you want to experience all that modern Android tablets are capable of, these tablets will not provide that. In particular anything related to Google services (mail/apps) and Android apps that are delivered through the Google Play store but…

Excuse my ignorance, what prevents a savvy user from flashing it with a different OS?

almost no Android phone allows custom os! understands this.

all Samsung phones can only be flashed because someone leaked a internal tool. and still, there must be a huge community effort to get the kernel and drives for each model.

now keep in mind that this huge community effort doesn't exist even for for-developers v phones, such was the case with the moto x dev edition. with phones like fire, it's practically non existent!

Android devices are not open by any means. they just have a lovely stubborn community.

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#32

Post by protomyth » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:05 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #24

protomyth wrote: post #15

Mono speaker? I guess they expect everyone to use headphones.

No, they expect anyone who cares to pay more than $50.

If your saying its "built for entertainment", a mono speaker doesn't go with that.

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#33

Post by jay_kyburz » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:05 PM UTC

300zxkyle wrote: post #18

tlianza wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biggest downside is the FireOS, Amazon store instead of Google Play, etc. If you want to do basic web surfing stuff, this is a phenomenal deal. I doubt you'll find a better one. If you want to experience all that modern Android tablets are capable of, these tablets will not provide that. In particular anything related to Google services (mail/apps) and Android apps that are delivered through the Google Play store but…

Excuse my ignorance, what prevents a savvy user from flashing it with a different OS?

I savy user probably values their time more than its worth. Spend a little more and you don't have to.

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#34

Post by webwanderings » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:05 PM UTC

Never going to buy a 7" no matter how cheap it gets. The screen resolution is not worth it.

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#35

Post by semi-extrinsic » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:06 PM UTC

borkabrak wrote: post #21

bsilvereagle wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I could tell, (at least) the $50 Fire is currently ad supported, and by default Amazon Underground is ad supported as well.

Ouch. This one landed. If this is true, then I think it would turn me off the deal. Unless I wanted to try what someone else mentioned and flash it with CyanogenMod or something. Never done that before, but this might be a good way to start.. edit: It looks like they've got the same situation vis-a-vis ads as all Kindles - yes they have ads, there is some attempt to make them unobtrusive, and they only have ads in th…

They (Kindle Paperwhite or Fire) only show ads if you are physically in the US? Or if you buy one from Amazon's US site? (Genuinely curious here.)

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#36

Post by byron_fast » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:07 PM UTC

It would be more interesting if Amazon put Flash on it instead of making it a spam delivery device. Swim upstream.

Less work than Amazon Underground, more free games.

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#37

Post by dacox » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:07 PM UTC

Amazon! Won't ship to lonely old Canada.

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#38

Post by jay_kyburz » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:07 PM UTC

Osiris wrote: post #4

EA wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parents. It comes with a two-year "no questions asked" warranty and free access to tons of media curated by an independent third party.

Actually, the "no questions asked" warranty is only on the "Kids edition" which is $100. The Kids edition is the $50 tablet + a case + "FreeTime", and the 2 year replacement warranty.

I don't want my kids bombarded with ads for crap on Amazon.

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#39

Post by bsilvereagle » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:08 PM UTC

eclipxe wrote: post #28

borkabrak wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ouch. This one landed. If this is true, then I think it would turn me off the deal. Unless I wanted to try what someone else mentioned and flash it with CyanogenMod or something. Never done that before, but this might be a good way to start.. edit: It looks like they've got the same situation vis-a-vis ads as all Kindles - yes they have ads, there is some attempt to make them unobtrusive, and they only have ads in th…

Just ads on lockscreen...not too bad.

Ads on the lockscreen may be fine from a UX perspective, however, that tablet is now using data when it's a sleep which becomes a factor when someone is on a capped connection. Sure, it may only be a handful of MB/month, but to some people, every MB counts.

Re: Amazon's New $50 Fire Tablet

#40

Post by Ethan_Mick » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 9:09 PM UTC

What does this mean for Amazon's Fire HD 6" Tablet[0]? Looking it now, the new Fire tablet is about the same in every way (screen resolution lacking), but at $50 more, I'm not sure the better screen resolution will win many people over.

The new Fire Tablet even has features the 6" one is missing! Mayday and an SD card slot.

[0] - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KC6I06S/