Amazon's Kindle Fire Tablet

[Bryancd]

As of now, I don't think a full wireless version is in the cards.

[Jobydrone]

I don't understand why there's no option on this (or the iPad for that matter) to read from an external storage device.  How difficult would it be to add an SD slot or something?

[Bromptonboy]

I don't understand why there's no option on this (or the iPad for that matter) to read from an external storage device.  How difficult would it be to add an SD slot or something?

I agree - it would be great to have a slot for expanding storage, or for carrying around lots of content.

[Ktrek]

People talk about what the Fire won't do that the Ipad does and I have yet to hear of any valid examples besides that it doesn't have a camera. Yes the keyboard is smaller but does that make it impractical? No! I see hundreds of people typing away on Iphones all day long but nobody says... "uh  the keyboard is too small". Give me some real examples of what the Ipad can do and the Fire does not do at all. My Nook Color is softrooted and it does everything I have ever seen done on an Ipad. It's just smaller. I like it smaller. The Ipad is awkward and bulky. And in case anyone missed it B&N just released the Nook Tablet. It outperforms the Fire just a little but costs $50 more.

Kevin

[Jobydrone]

Give me some real examples of what the Ipad can do and the Fire does not do at all.

There's a bunch of great games for the iPad that couldn't run on the Nook or Fire because of hardware limitations...Dead Space, Need for Speed, Infinity Blade are three examples that I've downloaded and really enjoy.  Also Apple's Game Center keeps track of game progress through leaderboards, achievements, friends lists...no equivalent for your smaller tabs.

Take a look at some of the videos our friend Rick has filmed and edited on his iPad 2...pretty cool stuff, impossible on the Nook or Fire.  Video conferencing, Skype video chat, Face Time...not possible on those devices.

GarageBand for iPad offers the ability to record, compose, edit, and produce songs and albums.  Not sure if there is that type of software available for the Nook or Fire.

These are just a few examples that immediately spring to mind.

[Bryancd]

iPad has the App Store, game over. By that I mean the sheer volume of available content via the App Store has and will continue to push iPad as the go to portable media device for a long time to come. And most people prefer the iPad form factor and larger screen.

[Rico]

As Scotty would say, "the right tool for the right job."

I there's a place for all these devices.  Now if the iPad were to shave the price by say $100, I'd expect the Kindle to drop it's price then too.

My big question about the Fire is this talk about simple web browsing being a bit slow, etc.  Pete (Bromptonboy) can you confirm or deny this??

[X]

I can see where Joby is going, but iPAD was a success and can't do a 10th of what a netbook can do. Bryan is right about the apps, but I'm not convinced that people looking for a portable media device is looking for all the apps to go with it. The Fire is a great addition to the tech of someone that already has other tech. The iPAD is a good stand alone device for the most part, but I don't see anyone moving exclusively to one single device any time soon.

In the end, it's apples and oranges. They aren't designed to do the same things and both are pretty much gateway devices to the services of their creators. I'm pretty sure that the Fire will be quite successful for what it's designed for and while the screen isn't huge, 9.7 was also crapped on in the beginning for not being laptop sized.

It also doesn't have to be an either or situation and I really don't think that it will be given the price point and options.

[Rico]

I can tell you size is a bit of a factor for reading things like magazines, comics, etc.  I find the iPad about the lowest I would go for screen size to read these types of things.  Think about the size of a typical magazine or comic book.  The Fire pushes this a little bit for easy viewing of a single page.  Yes, I know you can zoom and all that but it's annoying to do in my view for page after page.

[X]

I can tell you size is a bit of a factor for reading things like magazines, comics, etc.  I find the iPad about the lowest I would go for screen size to read these types of things.  Think about the size of a typical magazine or comic book.  The Fire pushes this a little bit for easy viewing of a single page.  Yes, I know you can zoom and all that but it's annoying to do in my view for page after page.

I agree, but I've tended to read my comics on a 10.1 tablet and novels on a smaller screen. I don't try to read picture books on the smaller screens and I don't like reading my books on the larger ones.

[Bromptonboy]

I have only done some simple web-browsing - and I was satisfied with the speed.  It didn't knock my socks off as the Amazon ads would suggest (with their back-end servers doing the heavy lifting).  The screen is too small for me to enjoy real surfing.  The Facebook page was nice.  TreksInSciFi forum didn't look very good - but perhaps I should be hitting a mobile-friendly address -  I had to do a reverse pinch on the screen to expand the view.
When I get some time this weekend, I will experiment some more,

[KingIsaacLinksr]

People talk about what the Fire won't do that the Ipad does and I have yet to hear of any valid examples besides that it doesn't have a camera. Yes the keyboard is smaller but does that make it impractical? No! I see hundreds of people typing away on Iphones all day long but nobody says... "uh  the keyboard is too small". Give me some real examples of what the Ipad can do and the Fire does not do at all. My Nook Color is softrooted and it does everything I have ever seen done on an Ipad. It's just smaller. I like it smaller. The Ipad is awkward and bulky. And in case anyone missed it B&N just released the Nook Tablet. It outperforms the Fire just a little but costs $50 more.

Kevin

iWork Suite works great on the iPad, doesn't exist on the Fire.  (Which is Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Apple).  And the screen space really makes the apps look snappy.  Games like Infinity Blade which have 3D models would not run on the Fire, though I know it has apps like Angry Birds.  Video editing or audio editing.  The iOS App store continues to be the main pushing point because the apps can do so much.  I mentioned hardware strictly as a comparison point between the two devices.  The software makes a lot of difference.  And I'm repeating what Bryan and Joby have said. 

But I'm not saying that the Fire is bad.  If I was more of an Amazon consumer, I would be tempted by it.  But its a very narrow product compared to the wide range of applications that the iPad can do and we're just beginning to see what the iPad can do considering its only been out for a couple of years for developers. 

As far as your keyboard comment, students like myself wouldn't do a lot of text writing on a small screen like that because we can't hope to get close to 50+ WPM.  I think I get...up to 30 WPM on the iPad screen and that's at best.  And I'm talking strictly in the sense of writing long papers or taking notes.  So having a physical keyboard is definitely helpful, especially if we're editing on an iPhone (which is possible with iWork). 

As far as the Nook is concerned, I haven't really looked at it as I'm not a customer of B&N often.  There's no particular reason beyond I'm not much of a book reader.  Don't have the time or energy especially after reading boring text books for hours on end x_x. 

King

[Ktrek]

Well I got to spend some time with the Kindle Fire today in the store where I work and I have to say it is sleek but I don't care for the design nor the functionality. The Samsung Galaxy is a better device and the Amazon Fire seems to be patterned quite a bit after it. Same type of casing but smaller. I did not find it as intuitive as the Ipad or the Nook Color or the Nook Tablet. In fact the Nook tablet seemed way faster to me on web browsing, scrolling and general application loading. The design and feel of the Nook Tablet feels better in your hand and safer. I found the fire kind of slippery and not at all easy or comfortable to hold. The beveled edge of the Nook Tablet and the Nook Color are much more stable in your hand. Now that may be a mute point because most everyone would buy a cover for these kinds of devices but I have found that while at home I prefer to use my Nook Color without a cover. It's very comfortable to hold in your hand. The design of the Nook Tablet is basically the same as the Color but slightly thinner. Not enough to be noticeable to me. Having had a chance to spend some time with the Nook Tablet I found it to be very fast. It streams Netflix really really well and the picture quality is quite good. The built in apps are nice and convenient. The navigation on the Nook Tablet is also much more intuitive and easier to get around on than the Fire. Having been able to use them all I still prefer my softrooted Nook Color but if I were in the market to upgrade I would buy the Nook Tablet before I would even consider the Kindle Fire.

Kevin

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Well I got to spend some time with the Kindle Fire today in the store where I work and I have to say it is sleek but I don't care for the design nor the functionality. The Samsung Galaxy is a better device and the Amazon Fire seems to be patterned quite a bit after it. Same type of casing but smaller. I did not find it as intuitive as the Ipad or the Nook Color or the Nook Tablet. In fact the Nook tablet seemed way faster to me on web browsing, scrolling and general application loading. The design and feel of the Nook Tablet feels better in your hand and safer. I found the fire kind of slippery and not at all easy or comfortable to hold. The beveled edge of the Nook Tablet and the Nook Color are much more stable in your hand. Now that may be a mute point because most everyone would buy a cover for these kinds of devices but I have found that while at home I prefer to use my Nook Color without a cover. It's very comfortable to hold in your hand. The design of the Nook Tablet is basically the same as the Color but slightly thinner. Not enough to be noticeable to me. Having had a chance to spend some time with the Nook Tablet I found it to be very fast. It streams Netflix really really well and the picture quality is quite good. The built in apps are nice and convenient. The navigation on the Nook Tablet is also much more intuitive and easier to get around on than the Fire. Having been able to use them all I still prefer my softrooted Nook Color but if I were in the market to upgrade I would buy the Nook Tablet before I would even consider the Kindle Fire.

Kevin

I kinda suspected that internet browsing wouldn't be all that fast on Silk.  Opera is the best example I can point to that shows that tech not being all that fast.  But maybe results will vary.  But considering that none of the other browsers use that tech, there is probably something to my thinking. 

King

[Ktrek]

I kinda suspected that internet browsing wouldn't be all that fast on Silk.  Opera is the best example I can point to that shows that tech not being all that fast.  But maybe results will vary.  But considering that none of the other browsers use that tech, there is probably something to my thinking. 

King

It is possible that ultimately Silk would be faster for websites that you frequent often, I just don't know. I tried several of my favorite sites and did not see any improvement over my browsing experience in the store compared to my Nook Color. But I did find the Nook Tablet considerably faster overall. Not just web browsing but opening apps, magazines and books. It's really too bad that B&N let Kindle get first call on the tablet this time. It really is a better device in my opinion. At least from the short time I have been able to spend on each device.

Kevin