Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#291

Post by wmboy » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 2:35 AM 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.

The majority of people (that I know) with iPads are using them for consuming content or playing games - something they could easily do for $300 less with a Amazon Fire.

No 3G, not much storage space, lower resolution (as soon as Apple releases iPad's with retina display) and lack of an Apple logo make the Fire inferior, but with a much lower price it could make things interesting.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#292

Post by whatusername » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 2:50 AM UTC

babblefrog wrote: post #116

mhw wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in London. Where's my nearest B&N so I can go and pick one up?

Right next to the Amazon store ;-)

I'm in Australia. My local supermarket sells Kindles (woolworths). So does the local electronics store owned by the same brand (Dick Smiths).

What's this Nook thing you're talking about?

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#293

Post by vacri » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 3:09 AM UTC

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…

Americans do not pay $89, they pay $89 + tax. Any time you see a price for Americans, remember that they do not include tax in their final prices. The equivalent here for you is the import duties.

Your comparison is still apt, but the apples-to-apples comparator is $89 to $119 (I'd exclude shipping too - international shipping is harder to get nicer deals on than domestic shipping)

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#294

Post by mikeash » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 3:18 AM UTC

leviathant wrote: post #186

mikeash wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPod Touch is a considerably worse iPod than its predecessors. This doesn't seem to have hurt its sales much, nor the iPod brand.

Define worse. When I got an iPhone, my iPod went into complete disuse, and I ended up giving it to a friend. The iPhone/iPod touch interface is, to me, far and away better than the original iPod interface. This was then bolstered with the new earbuds that added volume control to the pre-existing track control on the mic/clicker. It certainly has less drive space than older iPods, but I have yet to fill up my iPhone.…

Obviously it depends on personal taste and use, but I think the Touch has a couple of serious deficiencies compared with the others. First, I believe that battery life isn't as good, although I could be wrong on that one. Second, it's impossible to play, pause, or switch tracks without actually looking at the thing unless you're using a compatible headset. Plus the storage space you mention.

I think the Touch and iPhone are more than adequate for the task, but they're not quite as good as the pure iPods, and that functionality is completely eclipsed by their other capabilities. I haven't used an iPod since getting an iPhone either, but that's just because it suffices, not because it's equally good.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#295

Post by pkulak » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 3:48 AM UTC

Does anyone know what Amazon's plans are for merging in the latest Android releases into their fork? It would be a real shame if it took off in an entirely new direction from this point on. A shame for me, because I don't want to develop for a brand new OS.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#296

Post by mrb » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 3:57 AM UTC

How does the split-browser architecture of Silk handles HTTPS?

Everything the EC2 backend does, like recompressing images, pre-rendering pages, resolving DNS records, etc, would require man-in-the-middle interception and decryption of TLS/SSL connections. Not good. I hope they leave HTTPS connections untouched.

That said, for plain HTTP traffic, if they can manage to significantly reduce page loading times, well done. I would prefer to see the fundamental problem resolved of course (lower latency on wireless networks), instead of relying on a complex back-end which will no doubt have issues of its own (availability, bugs, etc).

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#297

Post by swah » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 4:04 AM UTC

Hold on, brazilian fellas... One day the Kindle will be sold on Brazil, and we'll no longer have to buy the ones smuggled from Paraguai from that famous auction site.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#298

Post by tszyn » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 6:56 AM UTC

ableal wrote: post #207

tszyn wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have an opinion about what size Kindle (e-ink) is best for Web browsing? You'd think the DX would be better, but what about the weight?

I wouldn't recommend trying web browsing on E-ink, unless it's through some Readability filter or similar. The screen updates are too slow for it, and the DX browser didn't render perfectly. I suspect the CPUs don't have the oomph for the modern web. Note that my experience is on a 2010 vintage DX with no WiFi - it is limited to 3G on Amazon's dime. In Europe that's only Wikipedia and the Amazon store.

Thanks. Reading from LCD screens gives me eye strain, so I was thinking of reading blogs, news and software docs on the Kindle. Do you think that might work?

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#299

Post by OstiaAntica » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 7:56 AM UTC

kanamekun wrote: post #240

pork wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You jest, but I think an Amazon store could be a cool idea -- they simply stock a revolving selection of their best rated books from every genre.

Opening physical Amazon stores would trigger a sales tax requirement in every state where it operates, regardless of whether or not Amazon is able to negotiate a federal override of the state right to collect taxes on e-commerce.

States do not have the right to tax Amazon, if Amazon does not have a physical presence in their state. That's not a "federal override" but rather is part of the constitution and is a protection against every state collecting taxes on every business across the country. No taxation without representation.

States do have a right to tax their individual citizens who purchase online. Unfortunately, most citizens do not comply with these state taxes (called "use taxes" because they aren't on a sale, the sale occurs out-of-state).

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#300

Post by yardie » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 8:12 AM UTC

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…

For electronics you'll always be dinged on shipping and duty. For dead tree books, there is nothing better than Amazon US. The EC versions seems to be 2x the price and months late if you need a translation.