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Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

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Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#61

Post by Steko »

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…

Why would the Fire beat the iPad for "people who care more about content and entertainment"?

Aren't these the people who want the bigger screens, better graphics, cameras, longer battery life? I guess there's price but that didn't seem to be the argument you were making.

I agree with your larger sentiment, the Fire should be a laptop replacement for some people. Heck I think the smartphone is a laptop replacement for some (smaller amount of) people. I guess Gruber is arguing that fire-laptop group to be a rounding error. I don't have any confidence either way.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#63

Post by phillmv »

sliverstorm wrote: post #51
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".

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.

Well, considering the iPad lacks a keyboard, I'd say that's a pretty big issue at least.

>for my parents.

PERSONALLY, I would happily pay the premium if it means I never have to field a support call ever again.

Tradeoffs! Also your parents might not appreciate playing games or watching movies on the couch as much as other people might, yadda yadda.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#64

Post by cageface »

spiralganglion wrote: post #24
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…

I have made a living as a musician, as a 3d animator, and as a software dev. My parents are both teachers. I did a lot of research in my University days. In all of these areas, I can see the potential for multitouch-based applications that go far, far beyond what we're currently seeing, or have ever seen on a traditional mouse/keyboard computer. In fact, in my current line of work as a developer, I'm pursuing these v…

The problem with touch interfaces is that they're low-resolution. Most "professional" software allows manipulation of a large number of parameters. With a keyboard and mouse you can do this fairly efficiently but you just can't pack that many widgets onto a touch screen unless you make it much larger than 10". Compound gestures may be more expressive than mouse clicks but they're also more error-prone and much less discoverable.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#65

Post by watty »

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…

You don't understand because it's bullshit from a notoriously biased source. The iPad is high end, Fire is low end. But if the iPad "replaces laptops" so will the Fire. There's no argument.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#66

Post by InclinedPlane »

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? It's raw, unfiltered bias of course.

There's very little reason why the Kindle Fire won't be a strong iPad competitor. Tablets are primarily used for browsing, reading, and casual gaming. It seems like Kindle Fire will succeed in hitting each one of those bullet points.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#67

Post by cageface »

redthrowaway wrote: post #33
ctdonath wrote: post #6

"You can get a Kindle Fire and a new top-of-the-line e-ink Kindle Touch for less than the price of an iPad. It’s a very different take." But few will want to carry both. This is the one problem with non-general-purpose tablets. Various discussions I've seen today imply, by intent or by chance, getting more than one tablet. To succeed in the long run, users must see the device as My One Tablet - which will include any…

I currently carry around an MBP and a kindle. I could see (in some hypothetical, far-flung future where touchscreen keyboards weren't utter crap) dropping the laptop for a tablet, but I could never see dropping eInk for anything suitable for a general-purpose tablet. Barring some eInk-led hybrid, I simply can't see using a general-purpose tablet as a reading device. The kindle is simply far too good. I've been readin…

I currently have a MBP and an iPad but I really dislike reading on the iPad and I think it's quite likely my next round of devices will be a MB Air and e-ink Kindle. Ironically the new MB Air is so light and portable it undercuts most of the value of the iPad for me but I'd still like a comfortable reading device, preferably one I wouldn't be devastated to lose at the beach.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#68

Post by inconditus »

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.

On a side note, the Fire will not be able to download from the Google Android app store.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#69

Post by gnaffle »

jgmatpdx wrote: post #26
spiralganglion wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have made a living as a musician, as a 3d animator, and as a software dev. My parents are both teachers. I did a lot of research in my University days. In all of these areas, I can see the potential for multitouch-based applications that go far, far beyond what we're currently seeing, or have ever seen on a traditional mouse/keyboard computer. In fact, in my current line of work as a developer, I'm pursuing these v…

I'm pretty sure by "feels like" you mean "is". Maybe multitouch will make all kinds of exciting differences. Maybe it won't. As long as you agree that you can't point to any of these exciting results yet, we're on the same page.

One example: http://www.blogher.com/ipad-nearmiracle-my-son-autism

..and all the stories about grandparents getting iPads. These are all anectodes of course, and we'll have to wait for the peer-reviewed papers to come in some years from now.

You can call the iPad a toy all you want. I'm sure some Delta and United pilots will disagree (hopefully they don't allow games on the iPads they have).

Lots of people called the first Mac a toy with its silly mouse and GUI when it was released, yet here we are.

Re: Daring Fireball: Amazon's New Kindles

#70

Post by [deleted] »

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…

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