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Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

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Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#121

Post by ssharp »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #117
phillmv wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

I need a good reason to buy a netbook over an iPad? A proper SSH/NX client, full keyboard, full (and choice of) operating system, input/output ports, all for less money?

You're a small, if not tiny, segment of the market. Most of the market doesn't even know what SSH is, let alone require a SSH client in a portable device.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#122

Post by rjd »

jonknee wrote: post #108
rjd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The screen size is important. If you've tried to use the web on a nook its lucky to be an average experience, generally its actually pretty horrible as its so small. The iPad as a slightly better experience due to size alone, but even still I don't like using safari. Anecdotally most people I know with iPads have stopped using laptops outright. Disclaimer here that the majority of owners are older. The interesting th…

The Kindle Fire has nearly the same resolution as the iPad--1024x768 for the iPad and 1024x600 for the Fire. The Fire is higher res (because it's smaller) so text will appear sharper. There is simply no reason that the iPad is a laptop replacement but the Fire is not. In fact, there is a good reason that it would be the other way around--the iPad requires a computer but the Fire does not. Open an iPad up new in box a…

Its not the resolution thats the issue, its the actual physical size thats the problem. The iPhone 4 is 960x640, not too far behind either device pixel wise. But the 3" screen or what ever it is where the problem is.

The tethering is a thing off the past as of next week, its a legacy thing that was left over due to the evolution of the product range.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#123

Post by Steko »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #119
Steko wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Sure, he's very complimentary, in an "imma let you finish, but the iPad is the best laptop replacement of ALL TIME!" sort of way, which is to say rather derogatory at the same time." This is nonsense. It's a 21 paragraph, 1500 word piece and he spends exactly one on "laptop replacement", you're clearly the one hung up on those two sentences. "He tries to place the iPad and the Fire as distinctly different products s…

He has a lot of very nice things to say, certainly, but the actionable thing he says is the most derogatory. How can the Fire and the iPad both service the same market if one is a laptop replacement and the other is not? Yes he dresses it up with a lot of really nice sounding verbiage, but at the end of the day this is a "well, she's really good at {math,sports,engineering}... for a girl" sort of backhanded complimen…

I still can't figure out why you're hung up on this 'laptop replacement' thing as though he dropped trou and took a dump on right on the Kindle Fire itself by saying that. It's not a huge derogatory criticism, it's an observation. You're certainly free to disagree, I do as well somewhat (below) but you're massively missing the point if you think two sentences about laptop replacement is the only "actionable thing he says" and that it's derogatory.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#124

Post by drivebyacct2 »

ssharp wrote: post #121
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I need a good reason to buy a netbook over an iPad? A proper SSH/NX client, full keyboard, full (and choice of) operating system, input/output ports, all for less money?

You're a small, if not tiny, segment of the market. Most of the market doesn't even know what SSH is, let alone require a SSH client in a portable device.

And most people don't produce content on their personal computers, yet this thread screams of people scrambling to justify the purchase of $500-$600 devices that are built to consume primarily and I suggest near exclusively (and dismiss the Kindle Fire because it makes no bones about being media-based). There is this auspice of them being used as "productivity tools" but I can only think of rare occasions where I would agree and they're very highly specialized apps where again, a cheap commodity ARM device could be produced, run Linux and run the application just as easily without major costs to the organizations that are paying Apple an arm and a leg to have a flashy device.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#125

Post by chaostheory »

jonknee wrote: post #108
rjd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The screen size is important. If you've tried to use the web on a nook its lucky to be an average experience, generally its actually pretty horrible as its so small. The iPad as a slightly better experience due to size alone, but even still I don't like using safari. Anecdotally most people I know with iPads have stopped using laptops outright. Disclaimer here that the majority of owners are older. The interesting th…

The Kindle Fire has nearly the same resolution as the iPad--1024x768 for the iPad and 1024x600 for the Fire. The Fire is higher res (because it's smaller) so text will appear sharper. There is simply no reason that the iPad is a laptop replacement but the Fire is not. In fact, there is a good reason that it would be the other way around--the iPad requires a computer but the Fire does not. Open an iPad up new in box a…

> -the iPad requires a computer

may not be true for long

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#126

Post by Oompa »

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.

"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"

Not only does Apple actually make a keyboard dock: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC533LL/B?fnode=MTc0MjU4Nj... but the iPad can also connect to a Bluetooth keyboard, which I've actually used in the past.

"and second, they need to get more apps on iOS that can replace people's need for Windows apps."

They've obviously released some with the iWork suite. There's also simple text editors (and more sophisticated ones, but I'm not a fan). I can easily see the iPad as a laptop killer for some.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#127

Post by kloncks »

Any idea on details around this:

Over 100,000 movies and TV shows, including thousands of new releases and your favorite TV shows, are available to stream or download, purchase or rent - all just one tap away. Amazon Prime members enjoy unlimited, commercial-free streaming of over 10,000 popular movies and TV shows.

As a Netflix user, I know first-hand that quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality. Any idea on what this list actually contains?

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#128

Post by crag »

jonknee wrote: post #108
rjd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The screen size is important. If you've tried to use the web on a nook its lucky to be an average experience, generally its actually pretty horrible as its so small. The iPad as a slightly better experience due to size alone, but even still I don't like using safari. Anecdotally most people I know with iPads have stopped using laptops outright. Disclaimer here that the majority of owners are older. The interesting th…

The Kindle Fire has nearly the same resolution as the iPad--1024x768 for the iPad and 1024x600 for the Fire. The Fire is higher res (because it's smaller) so text will appear sharper. There is simply no reason that the iPad is a laptop replacement but the Fire is not. In fact, there is a good reason that it would be the other way around--the iPad requires a computer but the Fire does not. Open an iPad up new in box a…

"... so text will appear sharper..."

It will also appear smaller. Much smaller. And the Fire requires Amazon. So instead of being tied to a computer you are tied to a website.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#129

Post by colonelxc »

kloncks wrote: post #127

Any idea on details around this: Over 100,000 movies and TV shows, including thousands of new releases and your favorite TV shows, are available to stream or download, purchase or rent - all just one tap away. Amazon Prime members enjoy unlimited, commercial-free streaming of over 10,000 popular movies and TV shows. As a Netflix user, I know first-hand that quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality. Any idea on what…

It's probably all the same movies/tv shows available on Amazon. Note that the 100,000 includes all the ones you can purchase and rent. If you have amazon prime, the 10,000 subset is what you can stream for free to this device.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#130

Post by jonknee »

crag wrote: post #128
jonknee wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Kindle Fire has nearly the same resolution as the iPad--1024x768 for the iPad and 1024x600 for the Fire. The Fire is higher res (because it's smaller) so text will appear sharper. There is simply no reason that the iPad is a laptop replacement but the Fire is not. In fact, there is a good reason that it would be the other way around--the iPad requires a computer but the Fire does not. Open an iPad up new in box a…

"... so text will appear sharper..." It will also appear smaller. Much smaller. And the Fire requires Amazon. So instead of being tied to a computer you are tied to a website.

Why would it appear smaller unless Amazon wanted it to be? It will just appear sharper at smaller sizes. My iPhone is much smaller than either device and has much higher resolution (326ppi!). Text looks great and is sized just fine.
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