Amazon's new tablet, the Kindle Fire

cioni2k · Sep 29, 2011

Huge fan of my 3G+Wifi Kindle 3, especially with all the international business travel I do. I was in Thailand on vacation in August, saw an interesting book in a bookstore, pulled up the Kindle Bookstore over 3G (On a ferry to a small island nonetheless), and purchased said book for $4 instantly. Very cool! Anyways, preordered mine. will probably just give my Kindle 3 to the GF. Very excited for November 15! :slayer:

javyn · Sep 29, 2011

Definitely going to kick ass, I'm sure there's a huge market for this thing, I just don't happen to be in it heh.

Still looking for the cheapest 8.5x11 color PDF reader myself.

Jr Mouse · Sep 29, 2011

Rambo said:
Interesting to think of the privacy implications of this thing...

I assume you are talking about the Silk web browser and that blog post that got floated around yesterday. Yeah I read it, but it seemed like a bunch of hyperbole to me. What Amazon is doing is not that different then what Opera did with their mobile browser years ago. It's just a much more advanced implementation of it. Amazon has already confirmed that any data stored will be anonymous and the user can always turn the feature off if they want. Honestly, your ISP gets far more data then this from you everyday and we already give up a lot to Google.

NorCal · Sep 29, 2011

Can these be used for torrents?

Jr Mouse · Sep 29, 2011

NorCal said:
Can these be used for torrents?

You mean the media you download over it? Sure, but you need to store it all in Amazon's Cloud service in a format that the tablet will understand.

I know it has a mini-USB port, but they didn't talk about side loading media that way. We should find out soon.

Xericx · Sep 29, 2011

hope it has swype. :nodding:

UnFacconable · Sep 29, 2011

JMRouse said:
The thing to remember is this device is being sold at a different angle then the iPad. The iPad is being sold as a laptop alternative. They position it as a possible productivity device. This Amazon Fire is much more about media consumption. There is no reason you couldn't be productive on it with the right apps, but that's not really how Amazon envisions it.
I actually think this looks like a MUCH better experience then the iPad from that key standpoint. The UI is fantastic and is built around your media that is displayed front and center all the time. Easy to find and use. Individual movies, books and songs are just as prominent on the “desktop” as the apps are. Contrast this to the iPad. Media on Apple’s device feels like a more disjointed experience. You have to open different apps to access different type of media. It's secondary to the overall experience with the OS. Each strategy has advantages and disadvantages, but I think Amazon is really onto something here with the UI.

Yeah - this seems more like an iPod killer than an iPad killer. When you are cloud accessible this certainly seems like a nice, simple media consumption device and it'll be interesting to see how people use it. In my house, our kindle gets more usage than our iPad because the kindle fits in my girlfriend's purse and it's lightweight. This isn't in the same category weightwise as a kindle, but is still far more portable than an iPad.

javyn · Sep 29, 2011

Anyone actually excited about the new e-ink readers? I got excited initially until I realized how married I am to the epub format.

the_drizzle · Sep 30, 2011

javyn said:
Anyone actually excited about the new e-ink readers? I got excited initially until I realized how married I am to the epub format.

You can always convert the files.

I'm considering the new touch screen e-reader; however, it feels like a waste since I bought the older model a year ago.

MikeDT · Sep 30, 2011

Rambo said:
Interesting to think of the privacy implications of this thing...

Probably no better or worse than any other Android tablet. Just be careful and don't write anything that you don't want to become public at any time.... e.g. Facebook and stuff like that.

cioni2k · Sep 30, 2011

the_drizzle said:
You can always convert the files.
I'm considering the new touch screen e-reader; however, it feels like a waste since I bought the older model a year ago.

I Kind of agree. If I wasn't going from Kindle 3 > Kindle Fire I probably wouldn't upgrade, but that Kindle Touch is one sweet device! Why not see if you can't sell the Kindle 3 for $50-$100? That way the cost to upgrade would be <$50. Thats less than it costs to tailor some items of clothes :slayer:

javyn · Sep 30, 2011

the_drizzle said:
You can always convert the files.
I'm considering the new touch screen e-reader; however, it feels like a waste since I bought the older model a year ago.

Oh yeah, I have Calibre, but I've done a bit of converting already and it's been mobi --> epub. Would seem silly getting something else and having to go the other way after all this. If my Nook dies, it would just be easier for me to get a Nook Touch.

Rambo · Sep 30, 2011

MikeDT said:
Probably no better or worse than any other Android tablet. Just be careful and don't write anything that you don't want to become public at any time.... e.g. Facebook and stuff like that.

No, not in that way. The Amazon Silk browser runs all of your data on the Amazon servers. It also stores and remembers your "habits" over time. That's a ******* GOLDMINE of personalized user data.

Jr Mouse · Sep 30, 2011

Rambo said:
No, not in that way. The Amazon Silk browser runs all of your data on the Amazon servers. It also stores and remembers your "habits" over time. That's a ******* GOLDMINE of personalized user data.

Did you read my reply to this concern? I don't think it's nearly as big of a deal as that blog post tried to make it out to be. Hell, read some of the comments to it and people are presenting good reasons as to why it's not.

Imhoff · Sep 30, 2011

Pre-ordered one yesterday. Since I was never able to snag an HP touchpad, this will work fine.

Was planning on getting an iPad, but forking over $500+ for something to simply surf the web and watch netflix on was tough to swallow. The Fire will be perfect to do this.

Also, hearing rumors about Amazon *possibly* purchasing Netflix (streaming, not that other half, Qwikster). This makes sense that Netflix spun off their mail order stuff so abruptly as I am sure Amazon (or whoever buys them) is only interested in the streaming portion, as that is the wave of the future.

Amazon's new tablet, the Kindle Fire

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