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Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

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Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#51

Post by davidw »

tghw wrote: post #11

Many of his main points are vacuous at best. "Adding insult to injury, it’s an extremely simple and ugly unlock-gesture, just the sweep of a mono-color bar from right to left." Since when is a function being simple a problem? And he's comparing it to a Windows phone, where the entire interface is based on "mono-color" tiles. The Fire is a $200 tablet, and aside from a misplaced On/Off button (not sure how that got pa…

I love my Kindle, but the Fire is... ok. Part of what irritates me about it is that with some software fixes it could be a lot more. Having the Google apps for instance, would be a huge improvement. Hardware wise, a microphone would have made it into a convenient device for making Skype type calls.

My guess is that the next generation will be a lot better.

Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#52

Post by coderdude »

jrockway wrote: post #23

Companies need to stop copying Apple, because if they don't, every review will be tainted by why Apple did X better than they did. Apple might not have actually done X better, but they did it first, and people like what they already know. The comment about the unlock gesture is especially relevant; there is no need to stipe something across the screen to unlock a tablet. If people copy that, though, the reviews will…

Apple has been telling us the key to beating them all along: Think different.

Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#53

Post by ljf »

budu3 wrote: post #41
tghw wrote: post #11

Many of his main points are vacuous at best. "Adding insult to injury, it’s an extremely simple and ugly unlock-gesture, just the sweep of a mono-color bar from right to left." Since when is a function being simple a problem? And he's comparing it to a Windows phone, where the entire interface is based on "mono-color" tiles. The Fire is a $200 tablet, and aside from a misplaced On/Off button (not sure how that got pa…

> it’s an extremely simple and ugly unlock-gesture, just the sweep of a mono-color bar from right to left I often wondered why a tablet would need such an unlock gesture. It makes sense on a cellphone because you don't want to accidentally unlock while your phone is in your pocket but can't we come up with a different gesture for the tablet form factor?

Protect against claims of pocket purchases? To stop media playing in your bag and draining the battery. Screens can work again skin though thin cotton trouser pockets.

Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#54

Post by bd_at_rivenhill »

jrockway wrote: post #23

Companies need to stop copying Apple, because if they don't, every review will be tainted by why Apple did X better than they did. Apple might not have actually done X better, but they did it first, and people like what they already know. The comment about the unlock gesture is especially relevant; there is no need to stipe something across the screen to unlock a tablet. If people copy that, though, the reviews will…

Who cares about the reviews, building cheap ripoffs of Apple products is now a time-honored route to success, just ask Bill Gates.

Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#55

Post by potatolicious »

miles_matthias wrote: post #21

I couldn't agree with this more. My grandma recently bought one and I spend all of Christmas getting it set up for her and teaching her. She's gotten really frustrated and would probably return it if it hadn't been free from her company. This part especially is what I agree with: "Yet, the drive to quickly release a product in a hot field is almost irresistible. Amazon believes growing marketshare is more important t…

> "I do need to correct the author on one point though - I did find a native email client on it."

Which is nigh unusable. I set up my email account on it and went to bed with it at 70% charge. I woke up with the Kindle Fire at 20%. It drained 50% in about 8-9 hours doing nothing more than email.

Yes, idle email checking uses power, but I have never seen it that bad on any device. The battery is no slouch either based on normal reading/video drain rates.

My Fire's battery has been dry for 4 weeks and counting now. I have no felt even the slightest urge to recharge it and use it. Considering this is a low-margin device designed to hook people onto Amazon's profitable content pipeline, this is an utter and abject failure. Others I know who got the Fire at launch have all either returned it, or their Fires have a fate similar to mine - forgotten in a drawer.

Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#56

Post by alexholehouse »

chuinard wrote: post #18

I read the first few sentences of this and stopped when he said it was downright terrible. Having just received one for Christmas myself, I really have no idea where all the Fire hate is coming from. Sure, it's not an iPad, but it is absolutely a gap between my phone and my MacBook that I am now happy to have filled. Laying in bed watching Arrested Development, playing Angry Birds on a slightly larger screen, or brow…

Completely agree - I've found the battery outperforms the 8 hours advertised (with Wi-Fi off and lowish brightness, i.e. the kind of settings you're likely to have while travelling, which is presumably when battery would be most important).

Also the weight is such a non-issue - it's lighter than most hardback books, whereas I found trying to read off the iPad waaay more clunky (from a lying position).

Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#57

Post by alexholehouse »

wallflower wrote: post #14

I have a Kindle Fire. I actually like the fact that it is an imperfect product - lags in switching tabs, occasional lags so long in loading websites that you wonder if your wifi has gone dialup, the dang "Carousel". I do like the reading experience and pocket-ability - it fits into a winter jacket easily - though you need to weigh down your opposite pocket to avoid lopsided-ness. The Kindle Fire is the first credible…

For the record, in terms of metros for ease of use I'd have to say Paris > NYC > London (having lived in all three cities).

Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#58

Post by martincmartin »

Consumers are snapping the Fire up because it’s $200, but they expect a tablet. Not a black brick that plays movies.

Some do. But a lot expect an e-reader that also plays movies. That's how Amazon is marketing it: just one of their many kindle devices. My mother-in-law has a Kindle and reads a lot of books, and I keep trying to tell her that it's more similar to an iPad than her Kindle, but I don't think it sinks in because, well, it's a Kindle.

Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#59

Post by jsankey »

The return rate will be high and Amazon will suffer for it.

The Fire currently has over 8000 reviews on Amazon with an average rating of 3.9. Over 5500 of those reviews give the device 4 or 5 stars. Something tells me the average Fire customer does not have such high expectations.

Re: Launching the Kindle Fire was a mistake

#60

Post by DiabloD3 »

The only thing that killed the Fire for me (and sadly I now own one, got it as a gift), is they reneged on their 1 year of Amazon Prime free deal. Now, you only get a month.

Screw that, the tablet is next to useless without Prime unless you like buying movies/tv shows that are DRMed up.

Also, why the hell does it have stereo speakers that are only on the left side of the device in landscape orientation? What use is stereo in portrait?

And on top of that, mine was shipped from Amazon with a defective LCD and now I have to deal with that.

Honestly, I am not impressed.

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