Amazon Kindle Fire "tablet", Amazon Silk EC2 Cloud Browser, dirt cheap Kindles

[Hanni]

Comparison by PCMag. I imagine the Nook price will drop to at least match the fire. Anyone know the difference between the processors that each uses? Expandable memory on the Nook is a nice feature especially if want to have a rooted device.

[HotHotHeat]

It's good to see the competition release a formidable alternative to Apple's devices.

Hard to really be excited about this though.

Also interesting that PCMag's comparison left out Flash support.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Fire is just Wifi, with no 3G option. For something that small, you would think they would try and capitalize on its portability. I guess you just need to use your phone as an AP when you are on the move.

Other than that, it seems like an amazing device for $199, although I wonder about it's power.

I thought that one of the original posts mentioned whispersync though? I wonder if that will work for everything? In essence that is free connectivity that works everywhere in the world (virtually) on my kindle. If this thing has access to that for web browsing they'll sell a lot of them.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Slava

I thought that one of the original posts mentioned whispersync though? I wonder if that will work for everything? In essence that is free connectivity that works everywhere in the world (virtually) on my kindle. If this thing has access to that for web browsing they'll sell a lot of them.

Whispersync is just the synchronization with Amazon servers. I believe you're thinking of the free 3G connectivity that a Kindle has - I'm pretty sure the Fire doesn't include 3G and relies on normal wireless networks (or yes, it would be a fantastic deal).

[MarchHare]

Is 3G really that important of a feature? I have a wi-fi only iPad and have never once regretted not spending the extra money for a 3G version. With most people now having smart phones and data plans, you can just tether your tablet to your phone's 3G connection.

I see the Kindle Fire being absolutely huge for Amazon. They're going to sell millions of these by Christmas. Until now, every Android tablet has been a market failure because nobody has competed against the iPad on price; Amazon just threw down the gauntlet by releasing what appears to be a very feature-complete tablet for less than half the price of the cheapest iPad.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Is 3G really that important of a feature? I have a wi-fi only iPad and have never once regretted not spending the extra money for a 3G version. With most people now having smart phones and data plans, you can just tether your tablet to your phone's 3G connection.

I see the Kindle Fire being absolutely huge for Amazon. They're going to sell millions of these by Christmas. Until now, every Android tablet has been a market failure because nobody has competed against the iPad on price; Amazon just threw down the gauntlet by releasing what appears to be a very feature-complete tablet for less than half the price of the cheapest iPad.

3G is important because wireless tethering is still mostly a "nerd" function. The masses want portable devices that are always connected.

I don't think it's a huge deal since wireless networks are not hard to come by.

And you're not paying very close attention at all if you think this is the first Android tablet to beat the iPad in price.

[Russic]

Can Canadians take advantage of the coolest features? Amazon's music/tv/movie service isn't available here yet is it?

It's great to see something split the market open a bit. The Fire and iPad are still very different devices, but at least they both seem to rock. This will bite into the iPad consumers that don't use the device to it's full potential and just use it to read or check email.

[Tinordi]

Tough to call this an android tablet. Google must be seriously pissed at what Amazon has done.

[THE SCUD]

Any word on if this is gingerbred (blech) or honeycomb (whoohoo) ?

[fundmark19]

engadget was saying it is gingerbread

[Hanni]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

engadget was saying it is gingerbread

PCWorld says the same:

The Kindle Fire uses a variation of Android 2.3, with its own mostly unique interface; I say "mostly" because every so often, in the Web browser or in messages that popped up, I saw hints of the Kindle Fire's Android roots.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/24080...t_limited.html

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Tough to call this an android tablet. Google must be seriously pissed at what Amazon has done.

I haven't exactly seen it in action, but why would they be pissed? Isn't using android how you see fit the point of android?

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Russic

I haven't exactly seen it in action, but why would they be pissed? Isn't using android how you see fit the point of android?

Yeah a lot of manufacturers have already done the same thing. Barnes & Noble's Android OS is almost unrecognizable and I'm not aware of them getting in any trouble. It's an open source OS.

Based on the videos I've seen - Amazon has done a ton of work on graphics acceleration. It looks very responsive in general, aside from a few hiccups. Unfortunately some tablet-targeted apps will only run on Honeycomb so Fire users will miss out on those.

Then again, if these sell like I think they will, I'm guessing a lot of tablet apps will go back and support gingerbread.

[Hanni]

My question is since we can't use Amazon MP3 or movies why would you even keep it on Gingerbread, why not root it to Honeycomb? And if the Nook price drops which is the better choice in that situation?

[sa226]

I could be wrong, but I don't think Honeycomb is optimized for 7' tablets

[KTrain]

Amazon signed an exclusive deal with DC Comics for 100 graphics novels on the Fire. I think the single issues of these graphic novels will be available elsewhere but the collected graphic novels (and discounted price) will only be available on the Fire.

It's a great deal for both companies as DC is probably getting a better than 30% deal that Apple would give them and Amazon gets the exclusive sales. Sucky for iPad comic readers.

Here's the list of graphic novels:

All Star Superman
All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder, Vol. 1
American Vampire Vol. 1
Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn
Batman and Robin, Vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin
Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Batman Must Die!
Batman and Son
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Hush
Batman: R.I.P.
Batman: The Black Glove
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Batman: Year One
Blackest Night
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 2
Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns
Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps
Brightest Day, Vol. 1
Brightest Day, Vol. 2
Brightest Day, Vol. 3
Daytripper
Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile
Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm
Fables Vol. 3: Storybook Love
Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers
Fables Vol. 5: The Mean Seasons
Fables Vol. 6: Homeland
Fables Vol. 7: Arabian Nights (and Days)
Fables Vol. 8: Wolves
Fables Vol. 10: The Good Prince
Fables Vol. 11: War and Pieces
Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages
Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover
Fables Vol. 14: Witches
Fables Vol. 15: Rose Red
Green Lantern Vol. 3: Wanted Hal Jordan
Green Lantern: Agent Orange
Green Lantern: Blackest Night
Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Green Lantern: Secret Origin
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less
Identity Crisis
Kingdom Come
MAD About Oscars
MAD About Superheroes
MAD About Superheroes
MAD About the 50′s
MAD About the 60′s
Marzi
Planetary Vol. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories
Planetary Vol. 2: The Fourth Man
Planetary Vol. 3: Leaving the 20th Century
Planetary Vol. 4: Spacetime Archaeology
Superman for All Seasons
Superman: Earth One
The Dark Knight Strikes Again
The Flash: Rebirth
The Joker
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 1)*
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 2 )*
The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes
The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll’s House
The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You
The Sandman Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections
The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives
The Sandman Vol. 8: World’s End
The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones
The Sandman Vol. 10: The Wake
The Sandman: Dream Hunters
The Sandman: Dream Hunters (P. Craig Russell)
The Sandman: Endless Nights
The Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man
V for Vendetta
Watchmen
We3
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2: Cycles
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 3: One Small Step
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 4: Safeword
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 5: Ring of Truth
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 6: Girl on Girl
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 7: Paper Dolls
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 8: Kimono Dragons
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 9: Motherland

[chemgear]

With Amazon selling it at (what some analysts) see as a loss - I can see it speeding up other tablet makers out of the market. We've already seen HP and RIM essentially fail and leave. The price point from Amazon can't help newcomers just selling hardware - unlike Amazon/Apple who more make a lot of money after the tablet sale in digital content.

[Russic]

Ya if you don't have a plan to make money on digital distribution after you sell your tablet there's basically no point in being in the game at this point. Amazon and Apple will simply choke you out on price point.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by sa226

I could be wrong, but I don't think Honeycomb is optimized for 7' tablets

The 3.2 update included 7" tablet optimizations.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Hanni

My question is since we can't use Amazon MP3 or movies why would you even keep it on Gingerbread, why not root it to Honeycomb? And if the Nook price drops which is the better choice in that situation?

Because Honeycomb isn't open source so it's exceedingly difficult to get it to run on hardware it wasn't written for. There have been some borderline usable ROMs made for the Nook Color that are pieced together from other Honeycomb distributions and the Honeycomb SDK, but none that really approach day-to-day usability.

ETA: With Ice Cream Sandwich so close (and expected to be open source), I expect that we'll see some pretty good ICS ROMs running on the Fire not too long after ICS's source gets released.