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Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

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Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#131

Post by niels_olson »

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…

My wife hasn't picked up a laptop since we got the iPad at Christmas. She uses the iPad daily. More than I do. And she's the one who gave it to me. Meanwhile, I have a MacBook and a Cr-48 and use them both daily. I also have a TouchPad that neither of us use. (tangent: I really hope cyanogen mods gets ice-cream sandwich running on touchpad).

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#132

Post by malyk »

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?

Most of the world doesn't need an ssh client, they hardly type much at all, don't care that they can put uber-linux 2.8.7.rockin-beta.rc18 on it, never hook anything more than a camera up to it and, well, yes, there is the money bit.

I'm a developer and the last thing I want when i'm relaxing on the couch, on a trip, etc. is a laptop that gets hot, has a tiny screen, and has a horrible form factor for consuming the tubes. The Fire is a credible alternative for most of that with the possible exception of casual gaming (which i love to do).

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#133

Post by drivebyacct2 »

malyk wrote: post #132
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?

Most of the world doesn't need an ssh client, they hardly type much at all, don't care that they can put uber-linux 2.8.7.rockin-beta.rc18 on it, never hook anything more than a camera up to it and, well, yes, there is the money bit. I'm a developer and the last thing I want when i'm relaxing on the couch, on a trip, etc. is a laptop that gets hot, has a tiny screen, and has a horrible form factor for consuming the t…

No, no, you misunderstand me. Tablets are absolutely superb at consuming content. I make no bones about that. I have an Android phone that is used almost exclusively for consuming content and I picked up a TouchPad to surf the web with on my balcony. I just don't get the people here trying to act as if they're productive with their iPad in a way that is impossible to do on the Fire.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#134

Post by olefoo »

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 can get SSH clients for iPad. If you need a keyboard, Apple sells one for the iPad and they and several other manufacturers make bluetooth keyboards that are perfectly adequate.

I chose not to go that route because I wanted more power and storage. But it was definitely under consideration.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#135

Post by omaranto »

spiralganglion wrote: post #9
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.

As soon as we see people getting work done on the Kindle Fire, I'll grant you that. If your work involves a lot of writing, then the iPad isn't an obvious boon [1]. But if you can do your work more efficiently by treating data and actions as symbols, the iPad is just overflowing with potential, much of it already being realized. Musicians, artists, animators, logicians, teachers, doctors, researchers; the list of pro…

It seems useful to mathematicians: they spend most of their time reading, thinking and writing. An iPad can help with the reading, which is one activity out of the three!

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#136

Post by malyk »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #133
malyk wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the world doesn't need an ssh client, they hardly type much at all, don't care that they can put uber-linux 2.8.7.rockin-beta.rc18 on it, never hook anything more than a camera up to it and, well, yes, there is the money bit. I'm a developer and the last thing I want when i'm relaxing on the couch, on a trip, etc. is a laptop that gets hot, has a tiny screen, and has a horrible form factor for consuming the t…

No, no, you misunderstand me. Tablets are absolutely superb at consuming content. I make no bones about that. I have an Android phone that is used almost exclusively for consuming content and I picked up a TouchPad to surf the web with on my balcony. I just don't get the people here trying to act as if they're productive with their iPad in a way that is impossible to do on the Fire.

Misunderstanding reconciled!

I think "laptop replacement" isn't talking about me and you, it's talking about my mom who spends all her time on facebook or email and casual games and doesn't do a whole lot of other things.

I can use google docs on my iPad, I can type emails, I can consume. That's about all 80% of home computer users need generally, so that's why it's a laptop replacement. Not sure you'll have a lot of luck making a presentation on a Fire or updating a spreadsheet, but those things are doable on an ipad even if they are a little cumbersome. (80% obviously made up!)

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#137

Post by Caballera »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #124
ssharp wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wou…

Most people don't produce content? Hello most people are emailing, writing things out on 'Pages' or other Word Processors, perhaps even Google Docs. I don't understand what you mean by most people don't produce content. Hell the iPad has two cameras which product content.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#138

Post by doron »

krishna2 wrote: post #2

From another daring-fireball article: Q: How many times does the word “Android” appear on Amazon’s Kindle Fire page? A: Once, in the following sentence: “Additional email apps are available in our Amazon Appstore for Android.” It’s a Kindle tablet, not an Android tablet.

From a development perspective its an Android. Write once,.sell in two stores. Let's see how it goes

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#139

Post by Harkins »

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…

What is it that makes the iPad a possible laptop replacement, but the Fire not?

The iPad has an SDK and app store. The Kindle has an SDK that's been in closed beta for something like two years and a bookstore that also happens to sell apps from a handful of companies.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#140

Post by jonah »

phillmv wrote: post #48
jonah wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Apple's pricing in relationship to other brands is changing. They have historically been seen as a premium brand and were priced accordingly. These days though, they tend to be much more on price-parity or even winning on price. Take a look at how the iMac compares to other premium all-in-one machines? Fairly close. Then the iPad - when the Android competitors were coming out we kept saying how they'd have to…

I think they're still the consumer electronics premium brand par excellence, but they've dominated their supply chains so thoroughly that they've found savings other companies just can't compete with. You can still buy a laptop for a lot less than $999, though, and that's where other people will come out of the woodwork to show you loud, clumsy looking Acer and HP machines.

You can still buy a laptop for a lot less than $999, though, and that's where other people will come out of the woodwork to show you loud, clumsy looking Acer and HP machines.

Yup, that's why I specifically mentioned the Air vs. Ultrabooks, a $399 Acer isn't in the same class.

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