
Kindle Fire is sold out forever, Kindle Fire 2 expected next week - ukdm
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/amazon-announces-kindle-fire-is-sold-out-forever-kindle-fire-2-next-week-20120830/
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potatolicious
Count me out - I was a launch-day customer for the Kindle Fire 1, and I will
frankly never trust Amazon again when it comes to devices. I still have a hard
time believing that Amazon willfully and knowingly shipped such an awful
product.

With excellent 7" tablets like the Nexus 7 out in the wild, I have a hard time
seeing why someone will buy a crippled, less featured, less responsive, slower
device with god-awful usability.

~~~
jd
I agree that the Kindle Fire is awful, but the Kindle 4 (the small one without
the keyboard) is brilliant. And I'm eagerly awaiting next year's version.

And if buying a dud upsets you, why buy fancy new gadgets on launch day in the
first place? Just wait a week or two for the reviews to come in. That's just
common sense.

~~~
potatolicious
IMO the Kindle Fire dropped below the generously low bar for a dud - I've
bought plenty of dud devices before without feeling too raw about it (the iPad
1, for example, which didn't really find a solid use until the second
iteration).

My issue with the Kindle Fire is that the "dud-ness" of the device seems
willfully negligent as opposed to merely missing the mark.

It's like buying a video game that just didn't turn out to be very fun, vs. a
video game that's no-fun and crashes every 5 minutes. One is disappointing,
the other is infuriating in its unprofessionalism and lack of respect for
their own product.

~~~
reefoctopus
Specifically what did you find so awful about the Kindle Fire? I bought one
and I'm quite happy with it.

I've experienced some problems with connectivity and the browser freezing
occasionally but that's it. A hard reboot every once in awhile seems to solve
both.

What makes the other tablets so much better? I haven't used them so I have no
point of reference.

~~~
eropple
The Kindle Fire is very slow, runs an old version of Android (seriously, 4.1
on the Nexus 7 is _fantastic_ ), and is maliciously limited: the Fire disallow
installing Google Play if you install it yourself unless the device is rooted,
for example. And it feels ridiculously cheap in the hands compared to a Nexus
7 (which isn't perfect, but the 7" size is great) or an iPad (which feels much
better but the 10" size is like carting around a small dinner plate).

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pragmatic
I have the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire.

A bonus of the Kindle Fire is the battery life. It seems to be better than the
Nexus 7 (I need to measure this).

One problem with the N7 (an otherwise fantastic device), I can't get the
screen dim enough for reading in a dark room.

The screen always seems too bright even on the lowest setting.

So I still use my Fire for night time reading and taking to the Gym.

Perhaps that is why the battery of the Fire seems to last longer (I need to
check the devices when I get home).

While the fire is clunky, tt gets the job done.

I just can't believe how good a $200 tablet can be (first the Fire was good
enough, then the Nexus 7 which as just short of amazing)

~~~
skystorm
Regarding screen brightness at night, you could give this a try:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.haxor>

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w1ntermute
The Kindle Fire 2 had better be some hot shit, because competing with the
Nexus 7 isn't going to be easy.

~~~
mmahemoff
That was my thought. Nexus 7 took everyone by surprise. I finally got my hands
on it and was blown away by how much better it was than the cheapo Android 7"
tablets I've previously used.

Nexus 7 came out at IO, 2 months ago. So it's hard to believe Amazon could
have done much with the Fire 2 after they saw the Nexus 7 (unless they managed
to see it before it came out, unlikely). It would be nice to believe they
could independently come up with something as great as Nexus 7, but coming
from the baseline of Fire 1, we'll probably have to wait for v3 for the
competition to get serious.

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ChuckMcM
_"Even so, why has Amazon chosen to announce its tablet has sold out
completely rather than continuing to manufacture it or having the Kindle Fire
2 ready to announce?"_

Well most everyone believes that Apple is about to announce a 7.85" iPad which
would be a competitor, perhaps Amazon wants to put some 'doubt' into the minds
of folks who are using their iPads primarily as e-readers?

My speculation would be that the competitive threat of a 7" iPad is that its a
good e-reader, _and_ it does all the other cool stuff an iPad can do. Vs a
Kindle Fire (one or two) which is primarily an e-reader, and it can browse the
web a bit, and oh yeah its really cost effective for that.

Depending on the price difference between the Fire/iPad this exchange might
'price out' the value to consumers for the extra features the iPad offers.
Should be interesting to watch.

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neovive
This is shaping up to be a interesting fourth quarter for the 7" tablet
consumer market. Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft are finally going head-
to-head with their own devices (where they control both the software and
hardware). It will be interesting to see how consumers respond.

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programminggeek
I really enjoy my Kindle Fire, as an ebook reader, rss reader, and web browser
it is awesome. 7" form factor is great. Comparing the Nexus 7 to the year old
tech of the Kindle Fire (it was originally the BB Playbook), is a bit silly.
I'm sure the Kindle Fire 2 will be faster, better, etc. I wonder how long til
a Kindle Fire Phone....

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makmanalp
I always thought putting a tablet against your face was a bit awkward, which I
assumed was why all these tablets didn't have phone features.

~~~
icebraining
My boss uses his as a phone, and it _is_ awkward. That said, a bluetooth
headset should work fine.

~~~
rooster8
The current Kindle Fire does not support bluetooth.

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icebraining
Well, it doesn't support making calls either. We were talking about an
hypothetical Kindle Fire Phone.

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manojlds
Aren't the Fires loss-making? That may be the reason for it being "sold out"
till the Fire 2

~~~
polshaw
They _might_ have been on launch (although i strongly doubt it personally- see
cost of Chinese tablets- which also get no benefit from market sales), but
they certainly aren't now.

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cek
I've never gotten a Kindle prediction right. But that doesn't mean I won't
keep trying:

This time:

    
    
        Fire 7" @$129
        Fire 10" @$299
        Still &roid. 
        Color-e-ink-touch model: $89. 
        No phone.

~~~
simon
You may not be right, but you can always be wrong with style! :-)

I like your numbers. I hope you're right.

Now, if Amazon would just add EPUB support to the Kindles, I'd buy that
largescreen DX in a heartbeat.

~~~
chimeracoder
They may not have it natively, but you can download epub readers (or
alternatively, Calibre can be used to convert epub -> mobi).

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simon
I really don't want to convert to mobi, because it's a less expressive format.

Are these epub readers downloadable without having to root the device? That
would be worth considering.

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chimeracoder
You can sideload an .apk without rooting the device, yes.

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mhd
Wonder whether the availability of the Amazon App Store in Germany (starting
today) is a coincidence, or whether the Fire 2 will become international (IIRC
the same as happened with the regular Kindle).

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polshaw
I wonder how much they will target increased performance vs cost/power
reduction. After all, the original fire was fast enough for the basic content
consumption which seems to be the core idea of it.

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sudonim
Sold out? Or taken off the market? I wonder if they have any remaining
inventory that they're deciding not to sell and "selling out" is to try to
create demand for the next device.

~~~
runevault
I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case, and they use a woot! daily
deal/part of a wootoff to clean out remaining stock later after the 2
launches.

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kmfrk
Did Amazon ever fix the problem where your bookmarks would disappear, if you
downloaded an update for a book?

