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Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

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Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#51

Post by sliverstorm »

phillmv wrote: post #45
sliverstorm wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is it that makes the iPad a possible laptop replacement, but the Fire not? I don't think the iPad is that much more a real laptop replacement than the Fire. I think people bill it as one to themselves to help justify paying for an iPad.

It's not so much a real laptop replacement as it is a "computing device while on the go". Whereas four years ago you'd get a netbook, now… you kind of need a good reason not to get an iPad/Fire. It's a subset of computing. I have my main work laptop, which I'm not going to take camping or up to the cottage. In this space, a tablet is perfect but we used to settle for a "meh laptop".

What you say would be very astute, if the iPad price range was not $500-800, compared to the $380 I paid for a relatively high-end dual-core netbook with discrete graphics not 6 months ago, or the $300 I paid for a middle-of-the-road dual-core netbook for my parents.

I also really needed a keyboard, but that's not even the main issue.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#52

Post by tomkarlo »

vailripper wrote: post #7

I don't understand this:"The iPad is a credible laptop replacement for many people and with iCloud and another year or two of hardware improvements, that’s going to be true for more and more people. The Kindle Fire is a laptop replacement for almost no one. It’s a peripheral, not a second computer and it’s priced accordingly. " What is it that makes the iPad a possible laptop replacement, but the Fire not? To me, the…

I love the Kindle, and I've already pre-ordered the Fire, but I can't see how it's a decent laptop replacement compared to the iPad. First off, there's no 3G, which is one of the major reasons people like using the iPad as a portable computing device. Also, while it does have a browser and email clients, I'm guessing it won't have nearly the level of support from Exchange and other corporate email systems that the iPad does. Beyond that, I doubt it's going to have any of the "Office" type functions (besides maybe working with Google Apps) that the iPad has via the iWork suite.

Amazon's not position the Fire as a computer replacement, and they're not really providing the components necessary to use it that way. Apple clearly views the iPad as a a laptop alternative for either ultra mobile, or casual, users.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#53

Post by gnaffle »

alex_c wrote: post #21
ASDASDSDA wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musicians, artists, animators, ??? Any serious professional will have a maxed out task specific equipment. logicians?? Lol I take it that you are not being serious! teachers, doctors, researchers! haha Doctors need to enter lots of information and prefer a laptop / proper keyboard. As far as researchers are concerned any serious researcher will be either using legacy software or cutting edge software that runs on spe…

>Doctors need to enter lots of information and prefer a laptop / proper keyboard. Any reference for that?

Well, an anti-reference: The (admittedly few) doctors I know enter simple keywords into some predetermined fields - perfect for an iPad. For anything longer they record a message that someone else transcribes.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#54

Post by technoslut »

vailripper wrote: post #7

I don't understand this:"The iPad is a credible laptop replacement for many people and with iCloud and another year or two of hardware improvements, that’s going to be true for more and more people. The Kindle Fire is a laptop replacement for almost no one. It’s a peripheral, not a second computer and it’s priced accordingly. " What is it that makes the iPad a possible laptop replacement, but the Fire not? To me, the…

It's certainly possible for it to be a laptop replacement but I don't think it's ideal with a 7" screen and aspect ratio. The shape of this device lends itself to be used more towards consumption of content.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#55

Post by bsuto »

mrchess wrote: post #31

I think the Kindle light is a great idea. I just scooped one myself. I rarely used the keyboard on my original Kindle, plus this one is much slimmer and compact -- awesome. Can't wait for the light to come in. Personally I think a touchpad Kindle with eink is overkill. The touchpad is nice, but I don't see why I would ever need it if I'm just casually reading. That plus I'm a sucker for slimness and the added dimensi…

Ditto. There've already been multiple posts saying "don't get the base model instead of the touch" that I don't understand.

Their "touch" screen uses infrared instead of a capacitive or resistive panel, and I anticipate lots of accidental and frustrating page turns. It looks like the touch model has no side buttons from the press photos, so tapping on the screen is necessary instead of applying slightly more pressure to the bezel you're already holding. This may just be me, but I find that to work just fine.

The battery life of the base model is half that of the touch model, sure, but it's still a month. Is that really a problem for anyone? They can't use an outlet or USB port four hours a month?

Trimming space by getting rid of the keyboard and speeding up page turn "flashes" are great upgrades to an already great device.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#56

Post by nextparadigms »

jeffreymcmanus wrote: post #4

He's crazy to assume that the Kindle Fire isn't competitive with the iPad, or that the $199 price point isn't going to at least partially inform the pricing of the iPad 3. The days of the $700 tablet are over.

I agree, the HP Touchpad firesale, and the Kindle will have serious long term impact on the public's perception of what a tablet (any tablet) should cost.

According to some surveys[1], most people view the $500 price for a tablet as premium anyway, and it's about the maximum price they would pay, which might mean even though Apple sells most tablets right now, they're probably selling them only to that niche market that think a tablet is worth $500.

The $200 pricing range hasn't been explored properly yet, and I think when it will be, a lot more people will become interested in tablets. We'll probably see an avalanche of "good enough" $200 tablets next year.

[1] - http://gigaom.com/mobile/heres-how-much-consumers-will-pay-f...

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#57

Post by mechanical_fish »

jmonegro wrote: post #43
vailripper wrote: post #7

I don't understand this:"The iPad is a credible laptop replacement for many people and with iCloud and another year or two of hardware improvements, that’s going to be true for more and more people. The Kindle Fire is a laptop replacement for almost no one. It’s a peripheral, not a second computer and it’s priced accordingly. " What is it that makes the iPad a possible laptop replacement, but the Fire not? To me, the…

Well, the iPad has many more apps (at least for the moment) and a bigger screen, both of which make it more suitable for light-to-medium work stuff. For example, I can perfectly imagine (and there are many cases of this) a college student passing up on buying a laptop for class and opt for an iPad with a bluetooth keyboard instead. In this scenario, this setup can effectively replace a computer for most students most…

How does one type on a seven-inch tablet? Typing on the iPad is bad enough, but at least its long dimension is about the right size.

Presumably typing on a seven-inch tablet is reminiscent of typing on the iPad in portrait mode. Which is annoying. To the point where I'd rather type on the iPhone, where at least I can reach everything with thumbs alone.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#58

Post by tomkarlo »

burgerbrain wrote: post #41
guywithabike wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember when people said the iPod was doomed because of cheaper competition? That didn't work out so hot, I hear.

And yet apple still released the shuffle... Weird huh?

Did they release it because they were losing money to competitors, or because they were leaving money on the table with their existing price points? I suspect the latter.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#59

Post by burgerbrain »

tomkarlo wrote: post #58
burgerbrain wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet apple still released the shuffle... Weird huh?

Did they release it because they were losing money to competitors, or because they were leaving money on the table with their existing price points? I suspect the latter.

They were losing out on customers so they released an el-cheapo piece of crap. This is my point.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#60

Post by technoslut »

nextparadigms wrote: post #49
vailripper wrote: post #7

I don't understand this:"The iPad is a credible laptop replacement for many people and with iCloud and another year or two of hardware improvements, that’s going to be true for more and more people. The Kindle Fire is a laptop replacement for almost no one. It’s a peripheral, not a second computer and it’s priced accordingly. " What is it that makes the iPad a possible laptop replacement, but the Fire not? To me, the…

The iPad is not a laptop killer for people who want to be productive on it. Period. If they want to make the iPad a laptop killer, they first need to make it more like Asus's Transformer, with a keyboard dock, and second, they need to get more apps on iOS that can replace people's need for Windows apps.

>they first need to make it more like Asus's Transformer, with a keyboard dock

These already exist from Zagg and Logitech.

>they need to get more apps on iOS that can replace people's need for Windows apps

This takes time. Hardware and software will progress to allow this.

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