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Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

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Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#191

Post by nhangen »

erydo wrote: post #190
nhangen wrote: post #188

I want to buy one, but I now have no idea which one to buy. Is the only difference between the Kindle and the touch the fact that you can touch it? What about the keyboard...is that useful or no? Buying a Fire so I can develop on it, but would also like something with e-ink, now that they are priced affordably.

I have the keyboard version (i.e. Kindle 3). The keyboard is hardly ever used. If I were to buy a new Kindle, I'd probably get the one with the 5-way controller. I don't think multitouch would really be that useful for reading books; your most common action will be "turn the page", which a physical button is just fine for.

Thanks for the feedback. I've also noticed the Kindle Keyboard and Fire seem to be the only ones without "special offers," which is interesting.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#192

Post by nhangen »

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…

"Developers need to think about this as another golden ticket. Here's the iOS gold rush, part deux."

My thoughts exactly.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#193

Post by anoother »

hackinthebochs wrote: post #121
anoother wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nook STP runs Android, and it's pretty trivial to get Android-native PDF readers up-and-running on it. None are yet optimized for the e-ink screen, of course, but some have an option to turn off animation which helps somewhat. Something like mupdf (which has already been ported) combined with some button/touch bindings and perhaps a touch-friendly zoom feature seems to me like it would do the job perfectly... and…

Actually the ectaco jetbook, a cheap ebook reader I got over a year ago as superb PDF support. It automatically zooms in past margins, loads all graphics and text, turns pages quickly, even on monster sized textbook PDF files. This cheap piece of hardware handles PDFs better than my (albeit cheap) android tablet. If only they had a version with a decent screen size, it would be the killer device for textbook reading.

Thanks for the tip, but the jetBook seems to use a TFT screen: "jetBook uses a huge, state-of-the-art 5-inch VGA reflective monochrome TFT screen" (http://www.jetbook.net/specifications). No word about resolution but I'm skeptical that it could compare in any way to e-ink, especially the new Pearl panels.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#194

Post by jodrellblank »

miles_matthias wrote: post #174
schrototo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Apple has ever promoted its products as "luxurious". Jobs introduced the iPad as " a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price ". I think that Bezos quote is actually very Apple-like, what with "people are going to love these" and so on.

From the clip I saw, Bezos looked awkward and nervous. He looked like the wind was already out of his sails, which doesn't help to create that rock concert environment if that's what he wanted. He paused a lot to wait for applause and got crickets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whOlvV3HYFM

He's doing what the RIM CEO did when presenting the playbook!

He's clutching a tablet-shaped-MacGuffin which may as well be a bottle of water for all his body language says about it.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#196

Post by drivebyacct2 »

pork wrote: post #189
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

? How does this relate to Samsung? Their related phone and tablet devices are priced nearly identically to Apple's offerings with nearly identical specs.

In the minds of most people, Apple is sexy. They make stylish products that are easy to use. They have sexy stores and enjoyable ads on TV. The high price makes them status symbols. They are massively entrenched and can take advantage of network effects ("all my friends are ipad owners and they love it"). In the face of that, the only rational area to compete in is offering a functionally similar product at a much lo…

>Riskier move that has now spectacularly failed.

Samsung's sales figures beg to differ. In an extreme, extreme way.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#197

Post by BoppreH »

juliano_q wrote: post #179
gizmo wrote: post #105

People in Europe are getting screwed again . - Small Kindle: $79 - Power Adapter: $10 - Cost in USA: $89 (free shipping) Okay, so I see a banner that they ship to Europe. Excellent, I click it. Then I get a new banner, saying that my country qualifies for free shipping (pending some conditions). I go through the checkout process and I'm faced with the following list: - Kindle + Adapter: $119 - Shipping: $27 (what hap…

If you think you are being screwed, take a look at how it is for Brazil. Items (2): $118.99 Shipping & Handling: $28.97 Total Before Tax: $147.96 Estimated Tax To Be Collected: $0.00 Import Fees Deposit $140.74 --------- Order Total: $288.70 Obviously not Amazon's fault. We have absurd taxes here.

I came here to comment the same thing

The cheapest Kindle is $255.57 with shipping and taxes. Now remember that the Brazilian Real is worth half a dollar, but has approximately the same buying power. In the end the cheapest Kindle costs 472 bucks here.

The monthly minimum wage is 545.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#198

Post by hackinthebochs »

anoother wrote: post #193
hackinthebochs wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the ectaco jetbook, a cheap ebook reader I got over a year ago as superb PDF support. It automatically zooms in past margins, loads all graphics and text, turns pages quickly, even on monster sized textbook PDF files. This cheap piece of hardware handles PDFs better than my (albeit cheap) android tablet. If only they had a version with a decent screen size, it would be the killer device for textbook reading.

Thanks for the tip, but the jetBook seems to use a TFT screen: "jetBook uses a huge, state-of-the-art 5-inch VGA reflective monochrome TFT screen" ( http://www.jetbook.net/specifications ). No word about resolution but I'm skeptical that it could compare in any way to e-ink, especially the new Pearl panels.

Oh definitely not. But its not bad in its own right. It's not backlit, it uses ambient light to display the picture. So battery life is quite good. Personally I found it easy on the eyes, but then again I don't particularly have trouble with backlight LCD's for extended periods of time either.

The resolution of my 5'' is 640x480. The size definitely kills it for anything other than standard novels. If they came out with an 8inch version I would be all over it.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#199

Post by Bud »

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.

Yeah, a lot of people think they know this market and what people "would" buy, and all of them except the guys selling iPads have been wrong so far. Batting average of everyone else: .000.

"Easy-to-use", which is far from a given on a non-iOS device, doesn't mean anything if there is not an attractive application base.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#200

Post by pmsaue0 »

I love that instead of trying to be everything to everyone (a la android/ipad) Amazon is aiming to be really good at a few things, and thus drive price down.

I'm not so interested in movies or ebooks, does anyone know of a tablet that just does email and web? and is cheaper because of it?

BTW, Silk browser seems like a bundle of awesome ideas

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