
Kindle Fire - Full Color Kindle with 7" Multi-Touch Display, Wi-Fi - sant0sk1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051VVOB2
======
blinkingled
Well at $199 with that kind of integrated experience there is little room for
complaints! ($300 would be a different story.) Plus it supports Flash and most
Android games/apps from Amazon app store.

If people put up a better email client on Amazon store for decent price it
would be even better. For someone who already has Prime but no tablet - this
is a no brainer.

Thinking of all this - I think this will eat into the iPad sales. There are
going to be many people buying this instead of the iPad - price, weight,
integration etc. Q4 iPad sales would be worth watching.

The new Kindles also seem to be blazing the new trail - high quality low
price. $79 is just an awesome price and so is $99 for the touch Kindle. (Bezos
took a jab at Apple in two ways - cabled sync/backup and companies that work
hard to make customers pay more vs. companies that work hard to make customers
pay less!)

~~~
there
_If people put up a better email client on Amazon store for decent price it
would be even better._

k9 mail (free, open source) is already available on amazon's android appstore,
and it's a much better client than the stock android email app.

~~~
StavrosK
K9 is much better than anything I've seen. It's all I use, all the time.

------
joshhart
Darn, the Kindle DX is still $379. Everything else got a nice price drop. I've
been waiting for a hardware/software update to the Kindle DX and a possible
price drop for quite a while now, but I'm not sure I'll ever get it at this
point.

~~~
pw
Why do you want a Kindle DX? Reading PDFs in the sunlight? I've always wonder
who's buying the DX, because at price, you might as well get an iPad.

~~~
jbondeson
As a Kindle DX owner, it's all about the form factor and readability.

Back lit screens cause eyestrain for those of us who read quite a bit. With my
DX I can read for hours on end in any environment I could read a dead tree
version in. And with the battery life measured in page turns, even when
reading at a crazy clip I can go more than a week without charging.

Form factor was the other huge sell. If I want the ability to read my
collection of technical PDFs without a microscope (or awkward panning) the
large size is needed. Even with non-PDFs I like the hardback size font and
character count on lines.

The DX is the only game in town to get both of those right.

~~~
tseabrooks
I work in front of a computer and read 1-2 books a week on my ipad.. if I have
eyestrain I'm not noticing it.

~~~
jbondeson
No one has figured out a way to objectively measure eyestrain so it's a
completely personal decision.

As a developer I too spend all day reading and writing text on a screen and I
can can tell you that there are so many things that go into what causes me
eyestrain personally that I'm sure making any of it objective would be tough.

I have tons of problems with eyestrain when reading black-on-white text for
long periods of time, so the kindle works great for me. I'm sure with a
sufficiently configurable reading app I could tweak it until I could stand it,
but I don't know too many PDF readers that allow you to start messing with
background colors and the like.

------
joshaidan
I can't help but think of the Kindle commercial on the beach where the iPad
owner asks the Kindle owner, "It works in sunlight?"

~~~
runjake
Funny tip: It was only last weekend I discovered than an iPad works with
polarized sunglasses on, _IF_ you use it in landscape mode.

That was a major d'oh realization. I hope for Amazon's sake, the Fire works in
sunlight.

~~~
kenjackson
Great tip. Does that work in general (switching a device to landscape)? If so,
this is something that should be more widely known.

~~~
runjake
I'm not sure. I was told that it has to do with the polarization inside the
IPS display, so this tip may work the same for other devices with an IPS
display. Supposedly, it's polarized in landscape orientation, but not
landscape.

That said, I don't know if this explanation is factual as I don't understand
modern display technologies to a deep level.

~~~
mikeash
In my experience, the polarization angle varies a great deal. Some devices are
polarized vertically, some horizontally, and some at about a 45-degree angle.
So, there's no set angle that works for everything, but what will work for
everything is rotating until you find the right spot.

At that point you may end up with your head at a weird angle and decide it's
not worth the trouble, of course.

------
kin
This has such a competitive price point that I think it'll do relatively well.
I know it can watch movies, play music, browse, etc., do all these tablet
things, but I'd definitely like to see it A) execute on those things
(especially the browser) and B) have the apps so I don't feel left out for
owning a non-iOS device all the time. I'm hoping this gets a high enough
market share that Android developers start porting more iOS-only apps over.

~~~
viscanti
The issue with the Android platform, and these new low cost devices
perpetuate, is that Android users spend significantly less on apps. Android is
getting good traction in the low end smart phone market, but those people just
aren't buying apps. The Amazon product seems to be centered around Amazon's
offerings, making it more of a media device than an app device. If having
access to lots of high quality apps is important to you, iOS is the platform
for you.

~~~
joenathan
I don't believe your statement is true, do you have any stats?

~~~
viscanti
[http://www.bgr.com/2011/04/05/mlb-com-ceo-android-users-
less...](http://www.bgr.com/2011/04/05/mlb-com-ceo-android-users-less-like-to-
buy-more-likely-to-pirate-apps/)

The Android platform offers a broad range of possible devices. There's a
plethora of low end devices that account for almost no purchases. If you're
looking anecdotally, more developers are likely to have high-end androids
(i.e. people you're likely to see). Those aren't representative of the android
demographic as a whole, which is less likely to pay for apps.

~~~
joenathan
Pretty weak stuff, here is a counter example
<http://blogs.computerworld.com/17941/android_ios_app_profit>

~~~
viscanti
Not weak at all. There's a bias on the Android platform to the top games (or
apps). It's probably not surprising at all that a top app would do well there.
But overall the platform is less lucrative for the majority of developers.

There's several reasons why there's less developers focusing on Android. One
of the biggest is the way the Android Marketplace updates their most popular
app lists. The list changes much less frequently than iOS. With an overall
bias of all users towards checking out apps on the top list, it's just more
difficult to get seen on Android. Beyond that, there's less demand for apps
outside the top 10 list on Android. Big app companies will continue to support
the platform. Indie developers will continue to make it less of a priority
since they don't make as much money there.

It's obvious you're an Android supporter. There's nothing wrong with that.
There's a lot to like about the platform. If someone's criteria for a tablet
is access to lots of high quality apps, Android is not the platform for them.
There's a reason Disney chose to support iOS for their new Cars interactive
app. That's where the majority of the money is for developers, and where most
developers will focus, for at least the near term.

[http://www.pcworld.com/article/238375/android_users_only_hav...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/238375/android_users_only_have_love_for_top_apps_study_finds.html)

------
perfunctory
What a confusing name. Why do they have "Kindle" in it. For a second I thought
it was a coloured E Ink display.

------
oal
Unlike the other Kindles, the Fire is not available outside the U.S. I had
decided to one, but sadly it looks like that won't happen (at least not as
soon as I hoped).

~~~
diamondhead
same situation counts for the other kindles, too. I bought one last year,
using an extra shipping service.

~~~
riffraff
I don't get it: I bought a kindle from amazon US and they shipped to europe in
two days.

~~~
diamondhead
when? it was being shipped to only usa last january.

~~~
riffraff
I got it in spring I believe. Sorry, I read the previous comment's "counts" as
a statement about current kindle shipping policies.

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axiomotion
I'll definitely pick one up once it runs CyanogenMod. My NookColor has quickly
become my bedside tablet of choice.

------
neovive
I'm assuming it will be available in retail outlets shortly after release.
Hopefully the reading experience is decent, since I've been holding off on a
Kindle purchase until this update. I didn't see any mention of ePub support
... any news on that?

------
nfriedly
> does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks.

That struck me as a little odd at first, but after considering it for a
minute, I think it's probably a smart move.

~~~
exit
why?

~~~
nfriedly
The majority of the time I've seen people connected to ad-hoc wifi, they
thought they were getting free internet access and didn't understand why it
didn't work.

Also, as I understand it, to only plays local content and internet content -
nothing from the local network.

~~~
exit
wait, where did you read that about not playing local network content? how can
it really know the difference?

------
cincinnatus
I wish they would put out info on the development situation for it quicker.
Clearly they've given access to large publishers early, giving first mover
advantage to the incumbents.

------
sidwyn
Interesting. They said that the Kindle Fire will be pre-registered with your
Amazon account out of the box. How do they do that?

~~~
spleeyah
Maybe it associates the Serial Number (or a UUID) of the device with your
account when you buy it, and then when it first boots, it asks Amazon for the
account attached to the device's UUID.

------
colinprince
8 hours reading :(

(vs 3 weeks for e-ink)

~~~
bradleyland
This is not a replacement for an e-ink device. It's not even a competitor.

~~~
twodayslate
Which is why I am excited for color e-ink.

------
digitalpig
I think the battery will be a big drawback of Fire compared to E-ink
"traditional" kindle.

------
ezy
"Supports Adobe® Flash® Player."

------
philbarr
You'd think they'd mention which version of Android it uses.

~~~
bradleyland
Why wouldn't they mention the RAM it has?

Why wouldn't they mention what wireless chipset it has?

Why wouldn't they mention the amount of internal storage?

I can answer all these questions, as well as the hundred other ones that geeks
will ask:

 _Because none of this matters to the millions of people who will buy them._

To understand the difference between a company that "gets it" and your average
geek who wonders why they don't publish these detailed specs, just have a look
at the bullet points Amazon chose to lead with on the Kindle Fire page:

* 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books

* Amazon Appstore - thousands of popular apps and games

* Ultra-fast web browsing - Amazon Silk

* Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content

* Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle

* Fast, powerful dual-core processor

* Amazon Prime members enjoy unlimited, instant streaming of over 10,000 popular movies and TV shows

Notice what makes the top of the list: content. Notice what makes-up the
bottom (with the exception of the last one): Specs.

* Customers don't want a tablet, they want to watch/read their favorite TV show, movie, magazine, or book. (18 million content items)

* Customers don't want an Android tablet, they want to to play that cool game they saw in a commercial (curated Amazon Appstore)

* Customers don't want a Javascript rendering engine, they want access to their favorite websites, and fast. (ultra-fast Amazon Silk)

* Customers don't want to worry about how much space they have left on their device, they want easy access to everything they've purchased. (Cloud storage)

* Customers want to feel secure that the device they're purchasing will look good to their eye. (Vibrant display; iPad is referenced later in the copy, so they can identify with something they know)

* Customers want to feel confident that the device will be responsive. (apt use of the "dual-core" buzzword)

This is how you take on the iPad.

~~~
darrenkopp
Well actually they don't mention what version of Android because they have
modified it so much it probably doesn't matter. On the other hand, they DO
mention how much ram and internal storage it has.

~~~
stonemetal
Where do they call out the amount of ram?

~~~
potatolicious
They don't. They told the tech blogs (512MB), but it's nowhere in their
marketing materials.

------
ck2
micro/SD slot?

I guess after xmas they wil introduce the 3G version with other subtle
improvements - surprised they aren't going to use their whispernet.

~~~
johnpaulett
Up to this point, Whispernet gets relatively little traffic per-device
(initial book download being the biggest bandwidth use). While there is the
experimental browser in the Kindle, it had limited functionality and is fairly
well hidden. With the introduction of Video on Demand and full web browsing in
the Fire, I'm sure Amazon's 3G provider is hesitant to allow lifetime access
to their network for a one time fee of $50.

~~~
lliiffee
Does anyone have much experience with the browser? I've been thinking about
buying a kindle 3 3G, with one of the major motivations being the free
worldwide web access. I know it is limited and slow, but it would at least
allow for email access / chatting / google voice.

~~~
StavrosK
It's free worldwide _whispernet_ access, not _web_ access. Web access doesn't
work in Greece, for example (it _can_ access Wikipedia, though, which is very
useful too).

~~~
lliiffee
From what I can tell, what you get access to depends on where you bought the
kindle more than where you are. Did you buy your kindle in Greece?

~~~
StavrosK
No, the UK. It depends on where you are, as I can access the web in the UK but
not in Greece.

However, last time I was in the UK, they barred access there too, which was
odd. It definitely worked the first time I got it.

------
nakedslavin
Sorry Tim, but looks like Bezos is the new Steve Jobs

------
diamondhead
I think it's not a good move for Amazon. E-Ink kindles are much more useful
and friendly for book readers. They would choose to improve it with an html5
application platform (check this out;
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/azer/5966867029/>)

~~~
adulau
On the other hand, they announced new e-ink version of the standard Kindle
(Kindle, Kindle Touch). It seems they understood that the e-ink is a must to
keep.

[http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Touch-Wi-Fi-Ink-
Display/dp/B005...](http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Touch-Wi-Fi-Ink-
Display/dp/B005890G8Y/)

------
funkah
Just the other day there was a discussion on HN about how the biggest uses of
time on the iPad are email and web browsing. This doesn't have email and it
remains to be seen how well the "cloud web browser" thing works in practice.

~~~
obiefernandez
Actually it does have built in email.

~~~
funkah
So it does! My bad.

