Kindle kindle kindle

[Lemur]

Amazon unveiled their new tablet/e-reader offerings this morning, a B&W e-reader, a touchscreen variant, and a big colorful tablet, priced around $80, $100–$150 and $200, respectively.

Here's an initial analysis:

Amazon can hit Apple low with the $79 Kindle. Because so many gadgets are sold to price-insensitive early adopters, we all tend to underestimate the effect that a sub-$100 price has. The lower the price, the bigger the market. For tablet owners like myself, the new Kindle could be that cheaper device we carry on the subway or to the gym. For people who don't own an e-reading device, a device that is substantially below the $100 barrier may be just the move they need to make the switch to digital reading. HP couldn't move many Touchpads at $400, but at $99 they sold out so quickly that online retailers had to refund people's money because sales outstripped supply. For the mass-market, a double-digit purchase feels more accessible.

Amazon can also hit Apple on the weight of the iPad 2. The iPad weighs 21.6 ounces. The Kindle fire weighs 14.6 ounces. It doesn't seem like a lot, but when you're reading with one hand. those 7 ounces are big. Put it this way: the iPad is the weight of a sizeable hardcover book while the Kindle Fire is the weight of a paperback. Which do you like to carry around more?

Unlike other companies who are trying to knock off the iPad, Amazon seems to have a strategy here that plays to its strengths: readers, cloud computing, e-retailing, end-to-end media services. If nothing else, that should make Amazon a real competitor. You get the sense from the company that they are trying to do something rather than copycatting something that's worked.

So ... the beginning of some real competition for the iPad? Thoughts?

-edit-

Full specs of the Kindle Fire, which is the most intriguing of the lot.

[frogbeastegg]

I spotted the title on the forum menu and had to come take a look. I'm a hardcore bookworm, always reading at a furious pace. I've been known to go through three 800+ page books in a single day and then begin on a fourth. I enjoy both traditional books and ebooks, but am not impressed with a lot of the reader models available. They aren't designed for my needs. I've liked the Sony PRS 505 and the kindle I was given as a present.

So, a hardcore bookworm's snap judgement on the new kindles:

The $79 model is missing the keyboard so that it's now going to be very difficult to browse the kindle shop without a PC. Before I owned a kindle I didn't think that would matter; I changed my mind within 2 days of ownership and now consider it a strong feature. Design-wise it looks very cheap and nasty. This has now appeared on the UK amazon kindle list. It's ok if you are on a tight budget I suppose, but if you are on a budget then you shouldn't bother with an ereader as it will take an awful lot of 99p book sales to make back the initial outlay.

The touch screen model is also cheap and nasty in appearance, and it's a touch screen. When I'm reading the last thing I think is "I wish I could have more fingerprints and smudge marks on the screen!" It doesn't matter how clean and careful you are, it's impossible to avoid. Also, it's more effort to swipe a screen than press a button which naturally lies underneath your thumb. When you read as fast as I do that's a real consideration; 1 page every 5-10 seconds depending on formatting means a lot of page turning. Not currently available in the UK.

The expensive tablet model is a tablet, and thus no use as an ereader IMO because it lacks the e-ink screen. Bad for your eyes and shorter battery life makes for an unpleasant combo for a hardcore bookworm. That said, it's a nice enough device if you want a tablet. Also not available in the UK.

I shall happily stick with my adored kindle, now dubbed the kindle keyboard.

[CBR]

Might be tempted to get the Touch but I don't know...e-ink is just so slow compared to the iPad. Oh and you don't need to swipe because video of the Kindle in actions shows a tap works fine.

[frogbeastegg]

Slow? The current e-ink displays update in a split second. The originals were very slow, I agree. My Sony took several seconds to draw each page, whereas my kindle produces the page in no time.

Tapping still results in fingerprints, and is still less comfortable than having a button under your thumb. If you use the multitouch at all you'll get more marks on the screen.

[CBR]

I'm sure it is faster than the older versions but compared to LCD it still is slow based on the video I have seen http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/28/k...essions-video/ Even the Kindle app on the iPad is slow at flipping pages compared to the Ibooks app. It of course has something to do with what I read and the need to check various pages in a book and why PDFs on the iPad still feels fine to me.

I'm already used to smudges on a tablet so I have no problems with that

[Furunculus]

looks great........... for my parents.

seriously, great hardware and slick interface at a great price.

parents will appreciate the decent browser and amazon tie-in, but i personally hate media that is locked down in this way.

i'd rather go kobo myself.

[frogbeastegg]

After watching that video, I've got to say that touch version is a little weird compared to my kindle. It's much closer to an ipod running the kindle ap than what I think of as an ereader, both in terms of interface and in terms of how it handles page turns etc. Definitely a tech toy rather than a hardcore reading tool. Out of curiosity I did a side-by-side comparison of page turn speeds. Admittedly it's an imperfect test as the turn commands aren't synchronised. Even though I was issuing my page turn command fractionally after his, my next page was ready before the one in the video. That's not at all what I expected; increasing refresh speed has been one of the goals for each e-ink generation.

I'm not a fan of the kindle ap to be honest. It's not a comfortable reading experience. It's ok for emergency reading at a bus stop, no more.

PDFs are definitely best on a tablet or PC IMO. The larger filesize means that readers like the kindle tend to struggle to process page turns and so it takes several seconds each time, it feels like running a program on a PC which barely meets the minimum specs. There can also be issues with display quality and text size scaling.

[Zim]

Just to clarify for a clueless husband whose wife has been wanting a kindle forever this would be the froggy recommended model?

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Keyboar...7369928&sr=8-2

I shall happily stick with my adored kindle, now dubbed the kindle keyboard.

[Catiline]

That's the one I have, and generally it's superb. It's definitely worth spending the extra to get the 3G model, though of course that does translate to a lot more impulse purchasing when you're on the go and finish one book. Worse you can buy stuff online and send it to yourself so it's ready and wating when you pick up the kindle. Amazon must be laughing all the way to the bank.


My only gripe with the whole system is that they don't seem to have got the connection between my reading habits and wishlists for physical books and the kindle fully sorted. You get pretty generic recommendations on the kindle, and occasionally the search can be glitchy

[frogbeastegg]

Just to clarify for a clueless husband whose wife has been wanting a kindle forever this would be the froggy recommended model?

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Keyboar...7369928&sr=8-2

That's the model; mine is the cheaper wifi version. If it is likely to be damaged or carried around, get a cover. If not, there's no need for one and it's very comfortable to use without a cover. My gift kindle didn't include a cover and I haven't picked one up yet, too expensive.

My only gripe with the whole system is that they don't seem to have got the connection between my reading habits and wishlists for physical books and the kindle fully sorted. You get pretty generic recommendations on the kindle, and occasionally the search can be glitchy

My recommendations are rubbish as well. It crams way too many self-pub books in there, and random categories which have nothing to do with my purchase history. "You purchased a book about ancient Rome? You will love this urban vampire p0rn written and published by Billy-Bob-Joe!"

It also annoys me how difficult it is to track book prices. Titles are constantly, randomly changing price. The wishlist is only useful if you view it via the amazon website, and it doesn't display ebook prices. So I have to keep viewing books in order to add them to my browsing history, then view my browsing history to monitor prices. Problem: I have a 6 page wishlist. Browsing history cuts off at 3 pages, and the lowest item is deleted each time you look at something new. You can't set up an alert for a price drop either. Considering how well they have done with the majority of the experience, it's shocking that basic areas like this are lacking.

Minor annoyances included, it's cumulatively miles ahead of my old Sony.

[Zim]

Thanks. Looks like I have a goal to save up for. Good thing I have about 40 hours overtime scheduled next month.

[Gregoshi]

...I've been known to go through three 800+ page books in a single day and then begin on a fourth.

...When you read as fast as I do that's a real consideration; 1 page every 5-10 seconds depending on formatting means a lot of page turning.

If only I could read that fast. I get frustrated seeing all the books I want to read and realizing I don't have the time because I read too slow.

[frogbeastegg]

If only I could read that fast. I get frustrated seeing all the books I want to read and realizing I don't have the time because I read too slow.

I read circa 200 books a year and it's still nowhere near enough. I've got hundreds to read, and hundreds more I want to read. Literally. Each time I make headway they bring out more books, or I discover some I didn't know about. It's fantastic! There was a point when I struggled to find anything to read at all. The local bookshops were closing down, internet bookshopping hadn't taken off yet, and the libraries were so badly funded I'd read their entire interesting stock multiple times. That was a dark, dark time.

One can never have too many books. Instead one has a lack of space, money and time.

[Lemur]

A discussion of the shortcomings of the Kindle Fire:

[N]ow that some of the euphoria over the launch has ebbed, folks are starting to look more closely at some of the potential shortcomings of the device.

Big on my list is the limited 8GB of storage, with only 6GB usable (and no expansion slot) and the apparent lack of Bluetooth (Amazon does not list it in the specs).

Others have mentioned the fact that there's no camera or GPS. Those feature may be important to some, but you just wouldn't expect them to be there in a product at this price point. After all, the $249 Nook Color also left off the camera and Bluetooth. Interestingly, that device apparently has a Bluetooth chip, but Barnes & Noble has chosen not to activate it, so who knows, maybe Amazon is hiding one, too. [...]

As I said, for some people, these possible shortcomings will seem minor or not an issue at all. (Our Molly Wood shrugged them off.) But for others, they might be deal breakers.

[Furunculus]

if i was an android fan, and i am not, i'd be more tempted by the lenovo A1 tablet and the kobo ebook app.