Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It. • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#91

Post by saturdaysaint » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 10:55 PM UTC

ugh wrote: post #60

joebadmo wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creation is much easier today, it's true. And for a while, it looked like the old model of a few rich broadcasting/production companies making things for the rest of us to sit at home and passivel consume was going away, replaced by a model where we all have the means to produce better and better stuff, where merit, originality, expressiveness, communication were rewarded more than the means to invest the necessary c…

The iPad and other tablets are not great tools for writing. Emails or comments on HN (another one of those things that wasn’t possible for very many people one or two decades ago) work great, longer or more complicated stuff quite often not. There are, however, quite a few use cases where tablets are better tools for content creation than, say, a PC or at least could become better tools given time and software. But I…

I agree with the thrust of your argument. Many are drawing a false sense of opposition between consumption and creation. Listening to music (consuming) became insanely easy in the last decade, but, surprise surprise, the tools to create music improved just as dramatically. Just as importantly, the ease of consuming enabled musicians to draw on an unprecedented pool of influences - many genres have undergone wild transformations as artists have been able to access more inspiration with increased ease.

Some here might dismiss TV completely, but many consider this a "Golden Age" for television writing, too. Is it a stretch to think that almost unlimited access to the history of film might actually be inspiring more and more people to write smarter material for popular media?

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#92

Post by joebadmo » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 10:57 PM UTC

cwe wrote: post #77

joebadmo wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creation is much easier today, it's true. And for a while, it looked like the old model of a few rich broadcasting/production companies making things for the rest of us to sit at home and passivel consume was going away, replaced by a model where we all have the means to produce better and better stuff, where merit, originality, expressiveness, communication were rewarded more than the means to invest the necessary c…

This whole trope about creation vs consumption is pointing fingers in the wrong direction: why blame the iPad, when a lot of the creativity is going into tweets and likes? You mention 3 older social networks as being some kind of revolution, well, what about FB, twitter, G+, etc? We are all consuming each others creations, so the whole centralized authority bit is overblown. That's not to rip on social tools, or the…

I think the iPad is one vector. I think the social networks you mention are another. That also feels to me like a closing down, or a narrowing. I think Facebook, to take the biggest example, restricts and narrows and makes shallow our communication.[0] It reduces our interactions to shallow, superficial comments, likes, low-fidelity photos, etc. In its way, I think the move toward closed social networks is also a step backward from the open exchange of ideas that blogging represented. And I think this is partially due to the tools we've made, too.

[0]: I wrote more on that here: http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/3112676038/the-end-of-comment... which was a response to an essay by Zadie Smith.[1]

[1]:http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/25/generat...

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#93

Post by estel » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 10:57 PM UTC

mootothemax wrote: post #8

I've been sorely tempted to pick up a Kindle for the last few months, and had thought it'd make a nice Christmas present. I know - I'm so considerate. Given that the present version has been out for a while, I was wondering if an updated version would be released in time for the Christmas rush. 10 hour battery life, not going to fit in at the beach, nor the less safe parts of the city? Nah, I'll go for the current Ki…

This doesn't negate releasing an update of the e-ink Kindle; though I don't think this will necessarily happen.

I can definitely see another Kindle pricedrop on the cards for the Holiday season though.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#94

Post by frou_dh » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 10:59 PM UTC

rshm wrote: post #28

$250 is too much. Ebay/Amazon has similar specs 800MHz/7"/Android 2.2 for $87 and below with a free shipping.

Is it remotely possible that an $87 tablet from eBay won't be complete garbage?

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#95

Post by scarmig » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 10:59 PM UTC

mrinterweb wrote: post #16

I heard a lot of rumor that the rumored Amazon tablet would use a Qualcomm Mirasol passive color display technology with a refresh rate capable of running video. I wonder if this rumor is still circulating or confirmed.

Unfortunately, last I heard was that the Mirasol project had in some way been cancelled, though the technology is still actively being improved. It'll be awhile before we get Mirasol =(

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#96

Post by estel » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 10:59 PM UTC

wccrawford wrote: post #6

Lewisham wrote: post #3

If Amazon are going to maintain an Android fork, I wonder how well Android apps will be able to play with it. It would be a huge disappointment if 2.2+ apps were unavailable (or installing Google Market for that matter). I can see why Amazon has gone down this path, but I do wonder if it's the right thing, rather than doing everyone's favorite/most hated carrier-specific bolt-ons instead. I also hope that Amazon does…

The article says there's no Google Market. Only Amazon's. As for forking, I'm guessing it's not really a fork. It's just got their own UI on top, but they'll continue to get the rest of the updates from Google.

If this device has no physical buttons, then it seems likely that it would have to be a true fork.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#97

Post by siglesias » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 10:59 PM UTC

sodiumjoe wrote: post #2

In certain ways, this "post-PC" era that Apple's brought us into with the iPad seems like a step backward. We're going back to something more like the broadcast television model, where a more or less centralized authority produces the content for passive users to consume. These tablets just keep getting more and more optimized for that. I suppose it's somewhat natural, given the way the market works, but it seems our…

Two factors have led to the perception that tablets are "consumption" devices.

1) A tablet is a computer you can hold. Books and magazines have over time become optimized for holding (see size and weight) precisely due to the ergonomics of reading. Thus one would expect that tablets, which can store a vast number of books and magazines, would be "optimized" for such content.

2) Due to (1) it makes sense to trade power for battery life and thus iPad-era tablets use ARM processors. Word processors, music editors, video editors do exist for tablets and each has full privileges to have any interface it wants by assuming the full screen. Over time that software will get more powerful as these low-power processors advance. It can't be argued that iOS itself hinders content creation, but it can be argued that slow processors do. Time will take care of this.

Also I don't see consumption--by which you mean reading--to be a bad thing to do with a computer. Amazon's stated purpose for the Kindle is to enable every book in every language ever printed to be available in under a minute. That's an extraordinary vision if you think about it, and we're getting there very quickly. Hardly a step backwards.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#98

Post by joebadmo » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 11:02 PM UTC

OWaz wrote: post #80

sodiumjoe wrote: post #2

In certain ways, this "post-PC" era that Apple's brought us into with the iPad seems like a step backward. We're going back to something more like the broadcast television model, where a more or less centralized authority produces the content for passive users to consume. These tablets just keep getting more and more optimized for that. I suppose it's somewhat natural, given the way the market works, but it seems our…

If you don't mind would you elaborate on what type of content you meant when you said: "centralized authority produces the content for passive users to consume". When I think of content the first thing that comes to mind is stuff like image editing (Photoshop, LR3,Aperture etc) and video editing because those are two realms I spend my free time in. I didn't get what you meant by your statement so that's why I asked.…

I was referring to big studios producing expensive movies, tv shows, albums, music videos, book, and magazines.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#99

Post by mstolpm » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 11:05 PM UTC

chc wrote: post #76

joebadmo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you on the extreme ends of the spectrum. But there are plenty of people in the middle who can be encouraged in either direction by the way we construct our tools. I think the explosion of content on the web, or Web 2.0, is all the evidence you need.

The iPad has also had an explosion of content. Why is that not all the evidence you need?

I can't speak for chc, but content creation on tablets and smart phones is real for joe average. Maybe not the kind of content joebadmo is thinking about, but the iphone 4 is the most popular camera on Flickr: photo and video editing power is given to the normal user without learning Photoshop or Avid. Even the customizing of your "personal" news magazine in apps like flipboard, Zite, ... is some kind of "content creation". Moreover, social media doesn't need keyboard and PC - most content on SM sites is created/shared "on the fly". I could go on. And lets wait for the integration of voice recognition in iOS 5 (and coming Android versions) - I don't thing the post-PC area is a step backwards. Content and content creation is changing for the non-power user ... and tablets and smart phones are heading to fill this niche.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It.

#100

Post by cpeterso » Fri, Sep 02, 2011, 11:05 PM UTC

estel wrote: post #90

officemonkey wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're seeing this as a crippled android tablet. It's not. It's a kindle. There's a big market out there for people who just want to read a book. They don't want to GPS with Google Maps, they don't want to install Yelp, or Trulia, or GrubHub apps. They just want to read, listen to music, and watch a video when they're on the bus or on the couch. Amazon has done well by providing focus to the Kindle. Where I commute i…

I'm not convinced that Amazon will be marketing it in the Kindle sector. Kindle at the moment is very much associated as a device incredibly well suited to reading a book, and the existing third generation one is incredible at this. If I'm paying three times as much for a Kindle tablet, they've got to be selling it me on features that compensate for the less-optimal reading screen and massively reduced battery life.…

> They've got to be selling it on the basis of tablet-like apps.

Mom 'n' pop users don't care about "apps". They want books, email, web browsing, music, free streaming movies, and whatever silly game is popular at the moment (Angry Birds, Sudoku, and Bejeweled). A Kindle tablet can do all of these.