
Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It. - ssclafani
http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/02/amazon-kindle-tablet/
======
joebadmo
In certain ways, this "post-PC" era that Apple's brought us into with the iPad
seems like a step backward. We're going back to something more like the
broadcast television model, where a more or less centralized authority
produces the content for passive users to consume. These tablets just keep
getting more and more optimized for that.

I suppose it's somewhat natural, given the way the market works, but it seems
our tools for consumption are advancing at a significantly greater rate than
our tools for production.

I guess the opposing side is the Web. Amazon seems to be shaping up to be
solidly on the side of the centralized authority-type cathedral builders,
while the Web and Web technologies are more bazaar-like. It seems more and
more like Google is the only powerful singular force whose incentives align
with the Web instead of with more centralized production hubs.

~~~
beaumartinez
> _our tools for consumption are advancing at a significantly greater rate
> than our tools for production_

Our tools for production have advanced as far as they can—what _major_ changes
have the desktop and laptop PC had over the last five years?

~~~
joebadmo
That's part of my point. The R&D is going into optimizing consumption instead
of enabling production. I think there's still room for making it easier for
people to produce expressive content. I don't think I'm necessarily
imaginative enough to think of many, or the best, but I've started to try.[0]
I think some people, particularly those working on Web stuff, are also trying.
But I think web software is only one vector. Other vectors include: hardware,
operating systems, native applications.

[0]: [http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/9325300749/a-different-
kind-o...](http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/9325300749/a-different-kind-of-gui)

~~~
9999
In terms of desktop publishing you might be right, but I think we've seen
amazing strides in the realms of audio and video production in the past ten
years. It's now possible to buy cameras and audio recording gear for pennies
on the dollar of what you used to pay for tools with similar capabilities.
Meanwhile the software side of things has advanced just as rapidly... For
example, I had to do some noise reduction on some audio recordings a couple of
weeks ago and what used to take hours to do in early iterations of Protools
now only takes a few clicks in Adobe's Audition (and probably in the latest
version of protools too...). Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash... All of these
tools have advanced considerably in the last few years, much less the last
decade.

Tablets have any number of interesting productivity software being developed
for them (innovative word processors spring immediately to mind), but
developers are severely limited by the hardware capabilities of those
platforms... Obviously we won't see a full fledged version of Photoshop or
Final Cut written for a tablet for many years to come, but I think we might
see that eventually.

~~~
joebadmo
I imagine developers will produce interesting productivity software for these
platforms, but I think the form factor inherently privileges consumption.
There are the ergonomics, for example. Also limited screen size, and
necessarily limited input. Maybe my overall point, though, is that with
development going into optimizing consumption, less goes to figuring out more
robust ways to interact with a more powerful platform. I feel like the desktop
GUI has stagnated over the last couple of decades, and now there's less hope
than ever that there's going to be any significant innovation in this vector.

~~~
dogwelder
It might be just an inherent lag between optimized mass consumption, and new
innovative production. Scaling the Web out to the mass market happened first,
next-generation innovations like Google showed up later. It is discouraging
the direction is moving toward walled gardens. But there's a plus side to
getting the platform out there to millions, making it more valuable to build
innovations on. I can live with it as long as it's not one company owning the
whole market, or a hundred small incompatible ones.

Machines optimized for creating stuff keep getting better, and aren't going
away. I don't think it's necessarily bad if those machines drop to a smaller
market share. It's usually a much smaller percent of people who create the
apps and content that aren't crap anyway, and most of the consumer audience
goes to them. Getting optimized video production machines out to the masses
via cellphones is cool, but it's not really improving the average video on
YouTube.

For creative ideas at the OS and interaction levels though... yeah, the
platform owners need or want to own most of it. I think they're OK with
jailbreaking the platform to the extent it creates a testing ground for new
ideas, that they can then adopt.

------
achompas
By far the most interesting quote from Siegler's article:

 _Overall, the UI of this Kindle felt very responsive. You can flick through
the carousel seamlessly. This is something Amazon has apparently been working
on quite a bit, I’m told. And they continue to._

If Amazon gets this right, they're a long way towards recreating the iPad UX.
In fact, this entire article suggests that the Kindle tablet will be the first
widely adopted non-iPad tablet. In addition to the above:

1\. The interface sounds great. I am a humongous fan of the Kindle Cloud
Reader and iOS interfaces, and I believe they're designed very well. Users can
expect a well-designed tablet from Amazon.

2\. Users can draw from a central source for their content. Amazon will
provide all the movies, music, and books you need--something every other
Android tablet has lacked so far. Mainstream users will appreciate the
centralized content provision, especially from a company as respected as
Amazon.

3\. Cutting the Android Market solves _a lot_ of potential issues: no spyware,
no OS incompatibilities, no apps with large hardware requirements. Everything
in the Amazon Appstore will work on this Kindle (I expect it to be a
requirement for admission).

This tablet sounds very... _Apple-like._ A very closed ecosystem with access
to interesting content and a curated app store. I would buy it if I was
shopping for a tablet.

~~~
enjo
But we already have that. Why woud you buy it? Is it just that it's cheaper?
Are developers going to want to build apps for it?

I think breaking away to complete Android incompatibility is a huge mistake.

~~~
achompas
It's not just cheaper--it's 50% less than the price of a new iPad. That's a
substantial difference.

~~~
bradleyland
I think you're the first person in this thread to really "get it".

To answer some of the parent's questions:

Q) Why would you buy it?

A) Because it's significantly less expensive (more within reach). Because it's
Amazon, and it will have ready access to: music, movies, books, and an
exemplary shopping experience for a wide variety of products. This experience
will be well integrated with the device, and in the traditional Amazon way,
everything will be extremely easy. "From the people that brought you 1-click
purchasing."

Q) Is it just that it's cheaper?

A) You say "just that it's cheaper" as if that's insignificant. Did you see
the way HP TouchPads flew off the shelves at $99? Do you know anyone smart
enough, or with enough experience, to say that a properly priced Amazon Tablet
won't fly off the shelves at half the cost of an iPad?

Q) Are developers going to want to build apps for it?

A) On a cached copy of their "Inside Amazon" page [1], they state: "Over 137
million active Amazon customer accounts". If I recall correctly, Steve jobs
was proud of the fact that iTMS had over 100 million customers with credit
cards on file. With 137 million active customers, they've got a massive base
to which they can market.

1 -
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CwHkwbS...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CwHkwbSb-
IIJ:www.amazon.com/Inside-Careers-
Homepage/b%3Fie%3DUTF8%26node%3D239367011+amazon+active+customer+accounts&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari)

------
Lewisham
If Amazon are going to maintain an Android fork, I wonder how well Android
apps will be able to play with it. It would be a huge disappointment if 2.2+
apps were unavailable (or installing Google Market for that matter).

I can see why Amazon has gone down this path, but I do wonder if it's the
right thing, rather than doing everyone's favorite/most hated carrier-specific
bolt-ons instead. I also hope that Amazon doesn't give up on color e-ink,
because reading on a Kindle is so much nicer.

~~~
rryan
This seems like a misstep to me that will ultimately hurt users and
developers.

If any API incompatibilities emerge (beyond the normal API level that Android
uses to distinguish between release APIs) then developers will be forced to
fork their own products and maintain 2 separate release channels -- one for
the Android market and one for the Kindle market.

Beyond that, Android will continue to fly ahead with each release and the
Kindle won't be able to keep up without significant time pulling and merging
changes from upstream. I'm not looking forward to continually only having
access to last years apps because the Kindle is a year behind the mainline
Android release.

Unless Amazon goes through the Android certification process, and keeps their
"fork" as a pure UI modification, I'm going to pass on this. It might be
bright and shiny on day 1, but on day 365 it could be a different story.

~~~
officemonkey
You're seeing this as a crippled android tablet. It's not. It's a kindle.

There's a big market out there for people who just want to read a book. They
don't want to GPS with Google Maps, they don't want to install Yelp, or
Trulia, or GrubHub apps. They just want to read, listen to music, and watch a
video when they're on the bus or on the couch.

Amazon has done well by providing focus to the Kindle. Where I commute it's
more popular than the iPad. They may someday decide to take Apple head-on with
an Android tablet, but it's not gonna be this year.

~~~
estel
I'm not convinced that Amazon will be marketing it in the Kindle sector.
Kindle at the moment is very much associated as a device incredibly well
suited to reading a book, and the existing third generation one is incredible
at this. If I'm paying three times as much for a Kindle tablet, they've got to
be selling it me on features that compensate for the less-optimal reading
screen and massively reduced battery life. They've got to be selling it on the
basis of tablet-like apps.

This might mean a focus on magazine/more graphically designed newspapers,
perhaps distributed through the Kindle Store, that take advantage of the
nature of the Tablet's screen; but at the very least it will have to be a
tablet with an exceptionally capable browser.

~~~
cpeterso
> They've got to be selling it on the basis of tablet-like apps.

Mom 'n' pop users don't care about "apps". They want books, email, web
browsing, music, free streaming movies, and whatever silly game is popular at
the moment (Angry Birds, Sudoku, and Bejeweled). A Kindle tablet can do all of
these.

~~~
estel
Against the baseline of an existing Kindle, email, web browsing, music, movies
and Angry Birds are all apps.

~~~
officemonkey
Existing Kindles have email, web browsing, music, and games. True, there are
limitations. Movies are the only "new" thing.

~~~
DasIch
You can't seriously use any of them though, it's far to slow for that.

You buy a Kindle because you want to read books, if you really wanted all
those other features you would buy an iPad which is actually good at them.

~~~
officemonkey
Actually, the music player is fine. It's just like an iPod shuffle. They just
didn't bother to put any features in it.

------
Steko
Five or Six Things That Occurred In My Brain When I Read This Article:

(1) $250 with free Prime? Buying one for sure, maybe two.

(2) No camera? Ugg. At least a front facing camera for Skype pls, I'll pay
extra.

(3) November, meh I was hoping late September.

(4) Eclair fork? That has to be wrong lots of optimizations made in Froyo
which has been available for over a year.

(5) Maybe this provided some additional incentive for Google to withhold
Honeycomb source?

(6) MG Siegler continues to break character and occasionally commit actual
journalism. Would love to see this trend continue.

~~~
kemayo
I'm very interested to hear the details of "free Prime". Depending on the
implementation then this might suddenly become a thing I will buy because it
makes financial sense, regardless of its technical merit.

~~~
mortenjorck
1 year? Nice perk. 2 years? Effectively sub-$100 tablet. 3 years? Paying for
itself.

------
superuser2
E-ink made the Kindle. Tablets are exciting, but reading a novel on a backlit
screen is no fun, and if it were, we'd read on our cell phones, because
they're easier to carry around.

This is disappointing. The Kindle 2 (the model I had) did one thing, and one
thing phenomenally well. I don't want my kindle to be a Swiss army knife.

~~~
moultano
>but reading a novel on a backlit screen is no fun, and if it were, we'd read
on our cell phones, because they're easier to carry around.

Speak for yourself! I do this and love it. I find that the faster page
flipping more than makes up for the slightly less readable text. The thing
that I think most phone/tablet makers get wrong at the start is not putting it
in "night mode" by default. White text on a black background on a phone screen
is so much more pleasant (at least for me) that it wouldn't surprise me if bad
defaults are a large part of people's aversion to it.

~~~
roadnottaken
It's impossible to read a non-e-ink screen in bright sunlight. I love my iPad,
but I'm considering buying a Kindle just so I can read at the beach at my next
vacation.

~~~
scotu
It's also not healthy for your eyes to stare at a lamp... we already do it
long hours in front of a pc. Better not to do so also for reading books...

------
SwellJoe
I was momentarily excited...until I read the description of the new Kindle.

I played with a Nook a few weeks ago, and _almost_ bought one. $249 is nearly
an impulse purchase price point. But, I already had a netbook, a Kindle, a
laptop, a Nexus One (which broke a few days ago, to be replaced by a
Sensation), a desktop, and a DS, so I talked myself out of it.

One of the big reasons is because I wouldn't be able to get rid of my existing
Kindle. The Kindle has a killer feature, which I can't replicate:
International 3G Internet for _free_. It's a piss poor excuse for a web
browser, but when I'm out of the country, I can google "wifi hotspot city-
name" and find a place to connect my netbook or laptop and get some work done.
This is a miracle for someone that travels as much as I do.

The battery life is also spectacular. Since I travel in a motorhome, and
sometimes go days without plugging in, the ability to read books without
having to think about charging my ebook reader is awesome.

So, the two really awesome things about the current Kindle that I have, are
not present in the Android Kindle. Also, the fact that they've forked Android
hard makes me more than a little hesitant to consider it. My new phone is only
a slight divergence from standard Android, and I find it annoying as
hell...I'll probably be rooting it and putting a more standard Android on it
when I have more free time. The notion of a total fork without a standard
Market and all the Google apps (Maps is my lifeline when travelling), and
possibly without some of the other apps I rely on, is just crazy. It's hard to
imagine such a thing not sucking.

In short, it sounds like I'll be better served by a Nook, should I decide to
buy a little ebook/tablet. At least it is readily converted to a standard
Android device. Or, maybe I'll just wait out the next round of tablets...or,
maybe I'll just not buy a tablet. I still have yet to figure out what I'd use
one for. They seem to be highly focused consumption devices, and I do enough
consumption as it is.

~~~
rwmj
I'm liking (not "loving") my rooted Nook Color with CM7 nightlies. It was,
above all, a cheap tablet, and given the limitations of the price it works
rather well.

However for the reasons you outlined in your comment, it's not a great
e-reader. The Nook is better as a sort of cheap web browser for looking up
recipes in the kitchen, looking at Google Maps, and web browsing when my wife
is using the main computer.

------
ajg1977
If there's one thing they need to nail on this device (beyond the Kindle app)
it's web browsing.

a $250 7" tablet with a top class browser is a hugely compelling product all
by itself.

~~~
sandGorgon
There have been several white-label 8'' multitouch tablets for a long time.

[http://www.androidtabletspcs.com/8-Inch-
Android-2-3-Tablet-P...](http://www.androidtabletspcs.com/8-Inch-
Android-2-3-Tablet-PC-Capacitive-Touch-Screen-Digital-TFT-1024-768-Camera-
WIFI-Bluetooth-CR-8002HD.html)

For example - the tablet above has A8 Cortex, gingerbread and dual-cameras.

~~~
shinratdr
Not to mention this:

> resolution 800*600(4:3)

Yeah, I think I'll pass. This is the problem with all of those off label
Android tablets (and the cheaper brand name ones too, looking at you Viewsonic
& Acer) they have runoff parts from production of knockoff phones so they
frequently have serious issues, they can be completely unusable depending on
how much or how little slack the community picks up, and without exception the
screens are absolutely atrocious.

I just picked up an Acer Iconia A100 for $300 and it has the shittiest TFT
screen I have seen on a tablet, ever. It's going right back to the store
because of it. A tablet comes together. It's not a good screen, a good OS, a
good CPU, a good GPU, etc... It's all of those things executed well and
working harmoniously.

If it's not, it might as well be a paperweight. If you like screwing around
constantly to get things working, inconsistent features and completely random
manufacturer support, then grab an off label tablet or a cheap non-Google
sanctioned tablet. You want a device that can do more than read e-books,
browse the web poorly and play Angry Birds at 75% framerate if you're lucky,
then consider waiting a month or two and saving up the money for something
that you won't grow to hate.

~~~
sandGorgon
actually this is the 1024x768 res display. I dont know why the disparity in
description.

------
psychotik
This could become a potential nightmare for app developers. Assuming they
don't break public APIs in their custom fork, developers are still going to
need to worry about backward compatibility and not being able to provide
advanced features for their apps on Android devices. Couple that with problems
with payments/in-app purchases and this is just a nightmare waiting to happen
for Android developers.

If the forked-OS stuff is true, this feels like a bad move by Amazon.

~~~
bishnu
Or, It's a nightmare for Amazon's competitors making Honeycomb tablets, the
sales of which are so mediocre that if the Kindle Tablet gains any traction at
ALL developers will wonder why bother with any other Android tablet?

------
jmelloy
I think it's interesting that everybody is attempting to differentiate on top
of the Android kernel, and are forced to build their own skin to compete.

Free Prime memebership (for life?) is interesting. Amazon has a big content
catalog, and it makes a hell of a lot more sense for them to go this alone and
not be forced to use Google's shit app store.

Overall, I think they'll have trouble differentiating between them and the
iPad and them and the nook Color, and it doesn't seem like they've really
brought anything new to the table.

~~~
fuzzythinker
No way. It will be a year at best to hook people to it. It will be their
"blade" to the tablet "razor".

~~~
evilduck
Probably true. I have Amazon Mom and the free Prime is only good for a year,
there's no way they'd give away lifetime free shipping on such a cheap device.

------
mootothemax
I've been sorely tempted to pick up a Kindle for the last few months, and had
thought it'd make a nice Christmas present. I know - I'm so considerate. Given
that the present version has been out for a while, I was wondering if an
updated version would be released in time for the Christmas rush.

10 hour battery life, not going to fit in at the beach, nor the less safe
parts of the city? Nah, I'll go for the current Kindle instead thanks :)

~~~
estel
This doesn't negate releasing an update of the e-ink Kindle; though I don't
think this will necessarily happen.

I can definitely see another Kindle pricedrop on the cards for the Holiday
season though.

------
gfodor
This is cool and all, but I'd really like Amazon to make a DX with an extra
inch of space, so it's the size of a real book, and I can read PDFs on it
without squinting.

------
6ren
Won't be as successful as the Kindle, because the kindle is exceptionally
tailored to its usage of buying and reading books - whereas this is android
dragged half-way there. And android tablets haven't been doing well anyway
(20:80), even the very best of them. The 3G kindle's tailoring is:

\- free 3G (yes, free), to buy amazon books

\- black and white E-Ink which is much closer to paper than colour displays.

\- much lighter and slimmer (241grams; 8.5oz)

\- long battery life (2 months - about x60 longer than a tablet), though this
probably overshoots the need. i.e. they'd be better off using a smaller
battery (or even AA batteries).

I'm so impressed with the Kindle because it resists trying to be the best at
everything, but instead makes comprises that optimize it for its purpose.
Whereas the Android tablet described here is much worse on all fronts and
half-hearted as Android: neither fish nor fowl.

------
gamble
This will have a hard time competing with the iPad internationally, if it
really is focused on deep integration with their digital stores. Amazon has
been extremely reluctant to roll out their content stores beyond the US. For
example, they still haven't expanded their mp3 store to Canada.

~~~
xxpor
I doubt it's due to reluctance, but licensing issues.

~~~
gamble
It seems to be standard procedure for Amazon. They carry a far wider selection
of products on the American site than any of their international stores. Until
the last few years they basically only sold media in Canada.

~~~
xxpor
That may be more logistical issues.

------
markgx
Amazon could carve out the "sub-iPad" tablet market if their $250 price point
holds and they release a usable tablet. Look at what happened with the HP
firesale.

------
georgemcbay
Sounds pretty good to me with the exception of "pre-2.2". No Dalvik JIT?
Hopefully that part was a misunderstanding. Having run pre-Froyo and Froyo+ on
the same device, the jit engine is a pretty big deal.

------
ipsin
I'm not interested unless it's:

1) easily flashable with an actual Android ROM (a la Nook/cyanogen)

2) got a 3G data connection, similar to the current 3G kindle

If both are true, it's a really compelling device.

~~~
m0nastic
It sounds like you want a Galaxy Tab 7 for $250.

I'd actually be surprised if Amazon allows it to be reflashed (insofar as you
can actually restrict it). That would eliminate their entire point in selling
it (their ecosystem of content).

------
listic
Does anyone know how durable are the current e-ink readers? May it be so that
Amazon moves away from e-ink readers in particular because they can't be made
reliable?

I like to read books and I was a theoretical fan of e-ink readers, but I never
owned one. My younger brother, on the other hand, was against them: "why buy
the device that _only_ reads books?" On a recent trip to the countryside he
borrowed a (PocketBook 301 plus) reader from a friend and put it in the tent's
pocket together with a phone, iPod and other such stuff. In the morning, he
found that the screen failed because it had a tiny crack. Maybe someone
accidentally kicked it or something, but modern phones, iPod and such
withstand abuse rather well, and this thing broke after one night - it even
was in its own leather case that covers the screen! Googling revealed that
cracking screen is a common issue.

I start to suspect that those e-ink screen are a flawed technology as they
are. There might be a reason Sony makes their readers with a metallic case,
but do they last even then?

~~~
mikecane
>>>There might be a reason Sony makes their readers with a metallic case

Used to. The latest Reader WiFi is all-plastic.

------
AndrewClyde
I think the Kindle-branded tablet will be successful and manage to compete
with the iPad.

However, it's not going to win in the way people expect it to; I think it'll
bring a lot of people into the post-PC tablet world and introduce a cheap
tablet to a lot of people, but it's not going to revolutionize anything major
and won't be able to do anything the iPad and/or TouchPad can't do.

------
johnyzee
E-ink is what makes the Kindle for me, it is such a pleasure to read off a
screen that does not feel 'electric'. The months of battery life are nice too.
I also don't get how TechCrunch has the e-ink devices being the 'lower cost'
models, my DX was around $650, way more than this device.

Lastly, I wonder how the rumored browser will work and how it will affect the
pricing model. 3G connectivity is free with current Kindles. That works for
Amazon because you only ever use the network to download books, and the Kindle
browser is restricted essentially to wikipedia. If unrestricted browsing means
I will have to pay subscription for a 3G data connection that will be a major
pain in the ass compared to now. Particularly since I do not want to browse
the web on my Kindle, I have better options for that.

------
mrinterweb
I heard a lot of rumor that the rumored Amazon tablet would use a Qualcomm
Mirasol passive color display technology with a refresh rate capable of
running video. I wonder if this rumor is still circulating or confirmed.

~~~
scarmig
Unfortunately, last I heard was that the Mirasol project had in some way been
cancelled, though the technology is still actively being improved. It'll be
awhile before we get Mirasol =(

------
blinkingled
* Google’s Android Market is nowhere to be found. In fact,no Google app is anywhere to be found. This is Android fully forked. My understanding is that the Kindle OS was built on top of some version of Android prior to 2.2.*

MG goes on to say it is smooth and responsive. And I think many Apps are going
to be incompatible with anything less than Android 2.2. Given this I would
think Amazon will want to have at least 2.2 on there.

Would be kinda sad if they ran 1.6 on it in 2011!

[Edit] May be it is 2.1 - AWS SDK for Android Requires Android 2.1 (API Level
7) or higher. Oh well may be they will keep it up to date!

------
systems
First you think its a revolution, then it calms down to en evolution. From
tablets to Notebooks

1\. First come tablets

2\. Then tablets gets a stand (so you dont have to hold them all the time)

3\. Then tablets gets a keyboard (so you can type quickly)

4\. Then tablets gets a mouse like device (so you dont have to touch the
screen while on the stand)

5\. Then they run (your favorite distro of) linux

6\. Then they become keyboard-less more portable laptops

7\. Then we call them notebooks

------
Fjslfj
Facebook is forking Android in a similar fashion.

------
AdamGibbins
I really hope they don't hope to make this a replacement for their eink non-
backlit devices. That would be a disaster :(

~~~
docgnome
Agreed. No eink, not interested.

------
mikecane
It will be interesting to see if Amazon permits loading of competitor eBook
apps. Right now, both Aldiko and Kobo are available in their App Store (I
can't find Sony, that might be a search bug, maybe...). And if they do allow
it, are we in for a 30% in-app purchase vig down the road ala Apple?

------
kloncks
A lot of people questioned whether or not there was a market for a CrunchPad,
or a cheap entry tablet.

Looks like this will validate that. Now, if only webOS could chime in and make
this an interesting battle. That would be special.

------
tricolon
I really don't get the point of a Kindle with a battery life of only 10 hours.

~~~
hugh3
Do you read for more than ten hours at a stretch?

Personally I'd kill for a tablet that could last the eighteen hours door-to-
door from SFO to SYD, but hey, ten hours is a good start.

~~~
tricolon
Only sometimes. Right now, though, my Kindle is very convenient: I only have
to charge it every couple weeks or so. Just like my trusty Nokia from 2002.

------
rospaya
Wonder if they'll be selling it internationally, like a Kindle. The major
difference is that this probably won't have a 3G connection so it should be
even simpler.

------
TeMPOraL
I wish they stop making traditional tablets and focus on e-ink displays. Or at
least don't confuse names.

------
rmc
Is this the start of the tablet wars?

------
d0m
Any TL;DR with a picture?

~~~
andrewpi
Gizmodo took the description and created a mock-up:
<http://gizmodo.com/5837061/this-is-amazons-kindle-tablet>

------
eyko
I'm buying.

------
drivebyacct2
Google's applications are not part of Android.

Putting a skin on Android and not shipping it with Google apps is NOT a fork.
Even if you want to consider it one in a technical definition, it's not a
significant one. It's as much a fork of Android as CyanogenMod is. (CM does
not come with Google Apps, though they can be added after-the-fact).

~~~
Adaptive
You made the most important comment in this thread.

I really would like to see TC clear this up. Do they really mean fork or, as I
suspect and as you state, is this just Android without the google apps baked
in?

Market is a bigger question. Without considering manually side loading the
apps, I'm assuming that users will be able to install google apps on the
device as they are, for the most part, all available via Android Market right
now.

Given that Amazon doesn't provide mail, maps or any of the other useful google
apps, I'm assuming that users will be able to download them from Android
Market, somehow.

~~~
trotsky
It won't have android market access without a hack, just Amazon's market. The
lack of a camera (among other things) means it doesn't meet the hardware
standards google requires for shipping google apps which includes the market.
Not that Amazon would want to anyway, they clearly would like to drive traffic
to their store.

~~~
Adaptive
That all sounds right but still, what kind of compelling is an android tablet
without gmail? I can't imagine they expect people to put up with imap. I can
understand the drive-traffic-to-our-content-ecosystem, but there's some stuff
a tablet just has to do these days.

Then again, no camera, maybe they are positioning it as a fancy kindle, in
which $250 is too much.

------
rshm
$250 is too much. Ebay/Amazon has similar specs 800MHz/7"/Android 2.2 for $87
and below with a free shipping.

~~~
potatolicious
All of the below products launched, at the time, with poorer spec sheet
features/price than their competitors, and then proceeded to annihilate said
competitors:

\- MacBook/Pro

\- iPhone

\- BlackBerry

\- iPod

\- Android

\- Wii

When are we as the geek community going to stop worshipping the spec sheet and
realize that mainstream consumers can't give two shits about it?

