I did not want a Kindle to replace the experience of reading tactile books when I wrote about it in February 2009. The majority of your comments agreed with me.
Fast forward nearly three years and I still don’t want the thing.
The Kindle Fire is not for me.
Not yet.
Engadget reviews the Kindle Fire with a concise conclusion:
The Kindle Fire is quite an achievement at $200. It’s a perfectly usable tablet that feels good in the hand and has a respectably good looking display up front. Yes, power users will find themselves a little frustrated with what they can and can’t do on the thing without access to the Android Market but, in these carefree days of cloud-based apps ruling the world, increasingly all you need is a good browser. That the Fire has.
When stacked up against other popular tablets, the Fire can’t compete. Its performance is a occasionally sluggish, its interface often clunky, its storage too slight, its functionality a bit restricted and its 7-inch screen too limiting if you were hoping to convert all your paper magazine subscriptions into the digital ones. Other, bigger tablets do it better — usually at two or three times the cost.
So, the Kindle Fire is great value and perhaps the best, tightest integration of digital content acquisition into a mobile device that we’ve yet seen. Instead of having a standalone shopping app the entire tablet is a store — a 7-inch window sold at a cut-rate price through which users can look onto a sea of premium content. It isn’t a perfect experience, but if nothing else it’s a promising look into the future of retail commerce.
I am typing this sentence on an iMac. I also own a smartphone. And, when mobile and wanting something in between, I have a netbook computer. Where would a Kindle, or a Nook, or an iPad even, fit into my world of technology? To replace the netbook? If I go that route, then sure, I’ll consider something. But a tablet as in a book reader? Not for me.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s not for me either. You can actually read books on an iPhone, so why waste money on a Kindle.
I didn’t think much of the Kindle either until I recently say one out on display in a local store. I really liked the look of the eInk, at least I think that’s what it’s called, and had always wondered how I would be able to stare at the screen of a phone or tablet as an alternative to reading a paper book. Problem solved, the eInk makes it look like paper with no strain on the eyes.
I agree. Amazon seem to have just noticed that Apple make bucket loads of cash by selling apps. So, have decided to sell their Kindle Fire at below cost, the reason being they hope to sell millions, which means millions of customers desperate for apps, and of course books. The Kindle Fire isn’t a tablet pc and won’t compete in exactly the same space as Android and iPads. I happen to think it’ll be a success, but not really for me either,
Typically many people are a going Ga Ga over Kindle, probably just because its a new offering. Not always people stop to think what need it actually satisfy, unless the potential customer is actually considering a purchase and is sensitive about the investment (not all are).
As far as marketing goes, the spotlights all pointed to the Kindle Fire, but the Kindle Touch falls in a category of users who would value the Touch’s simple features like, the multi-touch interface and E-ink screen. The Touch is for buyers wanting the functionality of a dependable, easy to use device with a huge ebook selection and acceptable internet connection, but don’t need the Kindle Fire’s flaming features.
Yes, i am Totally agree with you, i also Think that Kindle Fire is Not Fully Tablet PC as Compared to ipad or Samsung Galaxy Tab.
I think everyone here may have missed the point, besides Mike. It is not intended to be an iPad, a Nook or a Samsung tablet. It is a reader. It is made for people that are mobile but love to read or have a whole stack of reference books with them in a small package.
I love the e-Ink – That is the only reason to buy it in my honest opinion. I can’t read from my iPhone with any level of satisfaction, my iPad hurts my eyes to try and read a book any length of time and I can’t take my bookshelf with me, but I can have them all on my Kindle with e-Ink.
I agree with Kurt Rasche. The Amazon Kindle Fire was never intended to be a replacement for netbooks/laptops/desktops, or even to be an all-in-one tablet. But, for almost anything that average users use their tablets for, the Kindle Fire is suitable and powerful enough. If you want a truly powerful tablet that you can use in place of your laptop/netbook, consider the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime.
@Katie Woodard — I read ebooks on my Android phone, too, but nothing beats e-reading on a bigger screen.
I guess I didn’t realize that the Kindle’s size was only 7″ … most people don’t realize that measurements for devices such as that are diagonal… I know for a fact that my own hand-span, from tip of my thumb to the tip of my pinky finger, is 8″ … I’m sitting here thinking, “Damn, that’s not very big at all.”
Even if it could handle the other stuff, I think the size alone is a deal breaker for me.
It’s never been about the size, but how well it performs.
*cough*
I’m going to do you a favor and NOT reply back with an equally smartass innuendo.
Actually, it is a tactile book-reading experience. You’re just touching plastic instead of paper. Many times, I’ve cuddled into the couch and gotten just as lost in a book on my Nook as I would in a traditional book. In fact, I read more now, because my e-reader is smaller, lighter, and easier to carry and hold than many of the books I like to read–so I use it at times and places that beforehand I wouldn’t have been reading.
I agree it can be hard to discern where an ereader might fit in to one’s collection of digital devices. Personally, I don’t want my ereader to be a tablet–I have a smart phone and a laptop that do everything a tablet would do for me, and a tablet would be a heavier device. Plus, I don’t like reading on an LCD screen for lengthy periods–I find epaper much easier to look at for longer periods.
However, I find that a dedicated ereader with no more bells or whistles than necessary for reading books to be a strong addition to my devices that offers a unique, non-duplicative experience that’s utterly light and convenient to carry around and use. (Especially touch models, and my strong preference remains a B&N Nook Touch.)
Of course, six months ago, I never thought I’d want an ereader. So your mileage may vary.
I bought a Kindle 2 back in 2009 the first day it was available. I had developed back problems carrying all the things I read every day on public transit to work and back.
I fell in love with e-Ink. I realized that, just like the alcoholic who fetishizes the olive, the toothpick, and a particular style glass for containing the alchohol, as a reading addict I had fetishized paper and ink.
The chief advantage of the e-Ink Kindle line over other electronics is that you can read in sunlight. On the beach, at a bus stop, anywhere that an LED or AMOLED screen will fail you. Unlight lit screens, they don’t tire your eyes. They are also a great size and very light weight.
The chief advantages of the Kindle Fire over many other options are the size/weight make it easy to hold for hours while reading, and the ecosystem makes getting to Amazon’s digital libraries or storing your own very easy.
If you like reading book length narrative fiction and non-fiction, it’s more comfortable than a netbook or iPad to spend a lot of time with, and a lot easier to carry with you everywhere and not worry about breaking.
For people who mainly stay in one location, like home workers, it’s not going to have the same appeal. For people who mainly surf and occasionally read a little, it’s not going to appeal to them, either. There are better options.
I love my Kindle Fire so far, but I do miss the e-Ink. I will look forward to the first Kindle or equivalent with a Mirasol screen.