Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#31

Post by AndreiVajnaII » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

acabal wrote: post #25

kyleslattery wrote: post #3

Apparently there will be a $79 regular Kindle as well: http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/28/amazon-launches-79-kindle...

Kindle Touch looks really similar to the Nook Touch, which is a truly excellent product. But Nook Touch still has a killer feature for a ebook nerd like me: it reads epubs. I'm assuming the KT will still be locked in to Amazon's ridiculous .mobi format, so I'm sticking with my NT for now.

The Kindle Touch's killer feature would be better PDF support. The Nook Touch looks totally unusable for PDFs.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#32

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

acabal wrote: post #25

kyleslattery wrote: post #3

Apparently there will be a $79 regular Kindle as well: http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/28/amazon-launches-79-kindle...

Kindle Touch looks really similar to the Nook Touch, which is a truly excellent product. But Nook Touch still has a killer feature for a ebook nerd like me: it reads epubs. I'm assuming the KT will still be locked in to Amazon's ridiculous .mobi format, so I'm sticking with my NT for now.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#33

Post by estel » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:40 PM UTC

Lewisham wrote: post #20

kyleslattery wrote: post #3

Apparently there will be a $79 regular Kindle as well: http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/28/amazon-launches-79-kindle...

Great price point. It's basically in impulse zone: "This book is 6 dollars cheaper at Kindle price... if I buy 12 it pays for itself..." but note there's no physical keyboard. Without a touch screen, it looks like it won't do note-taking, which is a bummer.

I'd be interested to see what % of Kindle users make use of the Keyboard. I'm pretty sure that I've only ever touched it for inputting URIs when web-browsing from abroad.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#34

Post by Lewisham » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:41 PM UTC

AndreiVajnaII wrote: post #26

Lewisham wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great price point. It's basically in impulse zone: "This book is 6 dollars cheaper at Kindle price... if I buy 12 it pays for itself..." but note there's no physical keyboard. Without a touch screen, it looks like it won't do note-taking, which is a bummer.

But there's also a $99 touchscreen e-ink reader, so there you go. :) http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/28/amazon-touchscreen-kindle...

I'm not too hot on the touchscreen. I don't need it. I like the physical page turning buttons on my wife's Kindle 3... they have a satisfying weight to them and they sit nicely where your fingers already are. I don't want to tap tap tap my e-ink screen all day.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#35

Post by latch » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:42 PM UTC

CodeMage wrote: post #14

latch wrote: post #11

Kindle Touch is what I wanted..yay. Now, if only they would open up their KDK and give it useful API calls, I'll be happy.

My reaction to the "Kindle Touch" concept: Ewwww, fingerprints all over my precious books. I can't help agreeing with muxxa.

The e-ink screen doesn't have fingerprint problems the way tablets/phones do. It's more plastic, no gloss..(of course, I'm assuming the Touch is still like that).

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#36

Post by jkincaid » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:46 PM UTC

achompas wrote: post #28

Bezos, on Amazon's refreshed e-Ink readers: So meet the family. These are premium products at non-premium prices. People are going to love these products. This is Amazon's mission statement for product development. They will not compete with Apple's "revolutionary, magical" phones and tablets; instead, they'll sell quality tablets and readers to the average person at great prices. This populist attitude has been miss…

"With this price, though, Amazon won't steal Apple's customers.."

I think a lot of people with iPads would have been more than happy to spend half as much to get an easy-to-use tablet.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#37

Post by Nate75Sanders » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:47 PM UTC

Anybody know if there are comprehensive specs anywhere? I can't find information about the resolution anywhere. Additionally, it looks like most sites thought it was going to cost $250.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#38

Post by tjogin » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:47 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #29

smackfu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't making an Android table, they are making a Kindle tablet that runs some Android programs.

I imagine thats what they said in the boardroom. But its still a layer ontop of Android.

It isn't, really. They've built their Kindle product on the Android codebase, but it isn't Android and they won't be allowed to even call it an Android tablet, because they're not dancing to Google's tune.

The new Kindle tablet may be sort-of compatible with Android today, but this isn't likely to remain the case since there is no feedback loop or collaboration between Google and Amazon in this.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#39

Post by sgentle » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:48 PM UTC

orenmazor wrote: post #27

cbs wrote: post #15

So I'm reading along... getting interested... sounds promising... purchase might be on the horizon... Amazon has painted over the rough surfaces of Google’s Android operating system Now I won't even consider buying it until the cyanogenmod port is in decent shape. Why do manufactures always do this to android? The custom UI looks nicer (arguable, roll with it), but always kill usability because they don't understand…

why do people get upset by this? Android is a nice baseline. Think of it as the tide that raises all ships. What's wrong with a manufacturer experimenting? NB. I don't support lock downs or anything like that, of course. my point is that there's nothing wrong with them customizing and branching it off into something else. isn't that the whole point?

I agree with you, except that years of painful Windows crapware experience has taught me that manufacturers don't often do a very good job at "value adding", unless you define value as meddling pointlessly with things that work, or lining their own pockets through pre-installed junk software partnerships.

That said, Amazon have a solid reputation so I don't think any of that applies in this particular case.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#40

Post by achompas » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 2:49 PM UTC

jkincaid wrote: post #36

achompas wrote: post #28

Bezos, on Amazon's refreshed e-Ink readers: So meet the family. These are premium products at non-premium prices. People are going to love these products. This is Amazon's mission statement for product development. They will not compete with Apple's "revolutionary, magical" phones and tablets; instead, they'll sell quality tablets and readers to the average person at great prices. This populist attitude has been miss…

"With this price, though, Amazon won't steal Apple's customers.." I think a lot of people with iPads would have been more than happy to spend half as much to get an easy-to-use tablet.

I hesitate to agree because it seems like the iPad and Fire will provide different experiences.

For what it's worth, I couldn't justify an iPad for $500. I would absolutely consider a Fire for $200 (or a Fire 3G for $250-300).