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Breaking news! The Amazon Kindle Fire is out and I hate to say this but...I think it looks quite cool. It's a huge step up from the old Kindle design where the lack of diversity (one model, one colour) really annoyed me, because it could have been done so much more tastefully.
However, the Fire also has flaws. It's fat (11.4mm, 2.5 mm off the iPad). Interestingly though, it is 200g lighter than an iPad, which is a lot when you're carrying it in your briefcase. The new Kindle lacks a camera and a microphone, a huge omission by Amazon and most importantly, no 3g connectivity! That is pointless. There are basic abilities your tablet must have before it is even considered to be an iPad rival, and two of those are 3g connectivity and a camera. If I were even considering buying a Kindle Fire (which I'm not), those two omissions are dealbreakers for a Facebook addict like me.
It also has poor memory (just 8gb), no bluetooth, no GPS and 2 hours less run time than the iPad. I cannot stand this. I've been waiting to find a tablet where I could honestly say 'This is way better than an iPad', and I really wanted it to be this one. But I can't. The only tablet that the Kindle rivals is the HP Tablet, but I think it loses out on that rivalry as well. The HP is really well priced, and one of the only true iPad competitors (Find a bargain price on the 32gb version here)
Like: Cheap, good for books
Dislike: No 3G connectivity, no camera, a bit fat
iPad rival? No
I've not seen the Fire in the flesh, and being in the UK, I'm probably going to have a long wait.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm intrigued by what you see as shortcomings.
Camera - this is unlikely to replace a phone, and a phone has a much better form factor for taking pictures.
Microphone - ditto. Use a phone. Even a smart phone running Skype.
3G - an Android phone can create a wifi hot spot. Which means that you can connect and use the cell network without having to pay the monthly charges for another 3g data plan.
Memory - ok, I'll give you that one. Are there microSD slots?
Bluetooth - why? Wifi to your phone. Wifi to your home network.
GPS - phone.
Run time - ok, we can always do with more battery capacity.
So, we're down to battery and memory. What's the business case for the others?
Good point John. No, there is no SD card slot. The idea is that you won't be storing dozens of movies on the device, but will instead stream them from Amazon via wifi.
ReplyDeleteShortcoming for some of us, but they did that on purpose to support their cloud model.