The Amazon Kindle Fire. Wow. Anyone who reads this blog MUST KNOW that I have been harping on for a while – LITERALLY harping on about Microsoft’s need to make their price point lower in order to sell Windows 8 tablets. This is why. The new Kindle Fire will be released on November 15, 2011. Here are the stats
In addition, they claim access to 18 million movies, TV shows, apps, games, songs, books, newspapers, audio books, magazines, and documents.
- Display: 7″ multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors.
- Size: (in inches) 7.5″ x 4.7″ x 0.45″ (190 mm x 120 mm x 11.4 mm).
- Weight: 14.6 ounces (413 grams).
- System Requirements: None, because it’s wireless and doesn’t require a computer.
- On-device Storage: 8GB internal. That’s enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books.
- Cloud Storage: Free UNLIMITED cloud storage for all Amazon content
- Battery Life: Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as web browsing and downloading content.
- Charge Time: Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via included U.S. power adapter. Also supports charging from your computer via USB.
- Wi-Fi Connectivity: Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.1X standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks.
- USB Port: USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)
- Audio: 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, top-mounted stereo speakers.
- Content Formats Supported: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8.
Oh and did I say it was going to be $199?
Hmm, let me see, would you buy a Kindle Fire or a Windows 8 Tablet with Metro for $399? Guess what 99% of the world would say. Basically, here’s the landscape right now – if you want to buy a tablet, there are only 2 categories and players in the market.- “Low” end – Amazon.
- High end – Apple.
screen too small. Like 10 inch are there cameras? Price is good but is it powerful enough for any computeing? Looks like just a pumped up reader. Thus the low price. KNocks Nook around a lot. Where are the complete specs. Going to Amazon to find out Like that price though
I would still get the Win8 for the power of a true pc and it’s software as well as applications and the entertainment. Kindle is a leisure / entertainment device focused on reading, listening or movies. Windows8 should be going well beyond this but kept at a reasonable price point. It does not have to match pricing.
Well Amazon finally got around to announcing the Kindle Fire. Interesting at $199 but still an off the shelf product none the less. At 7” this is not an iPad but a portal to market Amazon goods and services pointed at the US market. Not a real competitor to the iPad world wide. I’d hold off running out and grabbing a copy (only in the US) unless you have a couple hundred extra to spend and want a throw away. The new “Amazon” designed version is rumoured to be coming sometime in Q1. My other guess is iPad 3 is not far off on the horizon and will probably supersede the Kindle Fire 2 announcement at the end of Q1 2012 just to get even. However Amazon is still going to inject 3 million Fire units into the US market for Christmas which is not shabby and will cut somewhat into Apple iPad sales. (Why spend $500 for Christmas when you can spend $200 instead and use the rest for Amazon media purchases?) This is another Jeff Bezos “cut them off at the knees” approach to marketing that has made him so successful. The Fire only costs $180 to produce so Jeff has no interest in hardware profits. Just look at Kindle 1. However it’s a slick entry to a niche market and we’re certainly not talking “apples for apples” (excuse the pun) if you’re trying to compare it to Win 8 capability. Two different animals. Microsoft’s challenge is going to be addressing those additional capabilities and finding a specific remunerative home for them as well as justifying the price point difference.
I agree to some point…remember this is a 7 in tablet, and to me if I am going to buy that small of a tablet than I would just lose the phone and use on board Bluetooth to talk. and it is not a PC
Looks good to me. See this is where the giants Microsoft and Apple fall short. They are producing good technology, but it is overpriced. The IPad is a great tool. but costs as much or more than a laptop or netbook. My money is on Amazon and Google in the future, they seem to have the pulse of the nation, in their business plans. As far as Windows 8, it looks good, however like everything Microsoft does it will be the most costly OS on the market, with too many versions to manage. We have seen this starting with Windows XP. They need to simplify.
This is one “Toy” that I might consider. We’ll see.
Not being one to jump on the latest and greatest device that comes out, I tend to wait until someone else has spent the money and done all the testing work, to see if it really has the look and feel I need. Doesn’t bother me to be getting 2nd generation tools at lower prices because I laugh at the empty bank accounts of those who “just had to have it now.” Like the one comment – looks like a good beefed up leisure reader, but it won’t replace my computer. And people will figure out the limitations here. What if it won’t take other non-Amazon apps? Cannot talk peer-to-peer so we cannot share non-proprietary docs? Or we have to exchange things via cloud? What’s the cloud access and security, especially during power outages like we just had in San Diego and the East Coast? Just thinking out loud ….
looks good a bit small we’ll see but at the price MS will have to do something
but windows have more feature then kindel fire and thwne its (windows 8) realesd it would have an amazon app.
Not for me. I prefer my eRader to be just that an eReader. Too many distractions from what I really want to do and that is read my books. For that reason I am using a Kobo eReader. I already have a tablet (Asus Eee Slate) for my computing needs.
It looks really great. Goes to show that an affordable price can be applied to new products. Seems like most companies want to make a guhjillions dollars profit on every item they sell. I’d be willing to bet that Apple and Microsoft are making their tablets for less than $50 each. I find it hard to believe that I can get a high end laptop for less than a lousy Iphone or crummy tablet.
This is the beauty behind what MS is doing…all these things can already be had on a PC…Google software, Apple software, Amazon software, Spotify, and the related cloud services from these companies…you name it and a Windows 8 tablet will have it. Why buy an Amazon Fire just to get Amazons cloud services when I can get a Windows 8 tablet and get all of that and more? MS has a few key aces up their sleeve, and thats a Win8 tab will run the full web, so with a fully touch enabled browser like IE10 (even in desktop mode), you never have to rely solely on apps like other platforms, and since everyone has a web service, we all automatically benefit from all the hard work of these companies. Google+ – check, icloud – check, Amazon Kindle – check, mags – check.
Having a favorite Windows application for years that can now run in a Win8 tablet? For me nothing still beats that.
Why do you persist to compare W8 Tablets with devices as limited as this one or even the iPad ?
The only W8 Tablets which will have to compete with iPad will be the ARM based ones.And even for them i expect that OEM will not redo the same race to the cheap that is killing and stalling the PC market.If you think that your products worth “shit”, and are litteraly “shit” because of poor quality thanks to too low price, why would customers think otherwises of your products ?
The x86 based one would be good to great laptops replacant and with the correct design and capabilities could triger a significant rise in mobile PC sales. I think that W8 Tablets should take full advantage of the dual nature of the O.S and favor the morphing to a laptop or a desktop with the right dock.
I really expect W8 based tablets not to have to compete with the iPad as they will be so much more powerful and capable that it won’t be even funny. Now it remains to be seen if Microsoft and OEM will manage to market them correctly.
Most people will not try to replace a mature computing experience with a tablet device. I am into high end graphics so I need a powerhouse laptop to handle my mobile computing needs. That is why the high end tablets have 0 appeal to me.
However this is a horse of another color. It’s a cool little entertainment box and the price is attractive. This concept will work for me.
What I will get.
For $99 – a new 7″ RamOS Android Ice Cream Sandwich Tablet IF NO $99 Win8 or Win7 Tablet option
For $150 – a used or refurbished 7″ or 10″ Android Gingerbread or Honeycomb Tablet
IF NO $150 Win8 or Win7 Tablet option
For $200 – a 7″ Kindle Fire or Nook or a 10″ used or refurbished Android Gingerbread or
HoneycombTablet, e.g. Samsung Galaxy Tab IF NO $200 Win8 or Win7 Tablet option
For $300-$350 – a used or refurbished 10″ Win7 Tablet PC that is upgradable to Win8 IF NO
$300-350 Win8 or Win7 Tablet optionFor $400-$450 – a new Tegra 3 Android tablet, e.g. Asus Transformer Prime IF NO $300-350 Win8 or Win7 Tablet option For $500 and up – a new 12″ Win7 Tablet that can be upgraded to Win8 IF NO Win8 Tablet option AND IF my BOSS is going to pay !!!!!!