At $200 the Kindle Fire is one of the cheapest tablets out there. Keep in mind that it can do quite a few things, but mostly the focus is content consumption on ebooks, movies, and music. Box Contents:
Hardware Features:
Thoughts: Personality When you launch the Kindle Fire it may be a bit weird that it knows your name. There's no need to login because that has been done already. (different, a bit weird, but rather convenient and pleasant) Your files can be accessed from the cloud, and you can download them to the device. With only 8GB of internal memory those with big media collections will have to rely on a wifi connection and view their files from the cloud. PlayBook The Kindle Fire has a 7 inch screen and it reminds me a lot to the BlackBerry PlayBook. I do love the 7 inch slates because they are very portable compared to the bigger tablets. There are obvious differences between these two devices but the biggest thing will be the Amazon ecosystem (in which I tend to spend my money). GUI The user interface is very good. They really put some effort into simplifying it and it makes sense. The interface is mostly smooth, but sometimes it does get laggy when playing videos. Screen The screen is ok. When you look at the Kindle straight on the screen will be at it's best. If you lay the system down on a flat surface and you look at it from an angle you will notice a "tint" of blue on one side and the other will be orange. The dark color range is also very low, meaning that details in dark colors are lost. So overall not the best screen that I have seen, but it's not completely terrible either. Speakers And Audio Amazon decided to place the two speakers on the top side of the system. This makes sense for portrait mode, but for landscape mode you will be better off using earphones/headphones to appreciate movies. Audio quality from the speakers is ok. The speakers of the BlackBerry PlayBook are superior to the Kindle Fire. Some apps don't switch audio sources correctly. For example, plug in earphones and play Audible audiobook, and then unplug the earphones. The audio will remain on the 3.5mm stereo port and not switch to the speakers. Back Texture I do like the texture found in the back of the system. If I could change something to it... it would be to remove the KINDLE letters that you can feel and therefore are a distraction. Apps Some apps are more graphically intensive than others. This will have an effect on the Kindle Fire's experience. If they are intensive the system will lag. Browser This is not a strong feature of the Kindle Fire. Expect to be rerouted to mobile versions of websites, CSS not rendering properly (like DIV boxes). Embedded Youtube videos do work. The Bed Computer The small form factor of the Kindle Fire makes it very convenient to hold. With this you can read books, listen to some audio book, or watch a movie before going to sleep. Bigger tablets are less convenient in this situation. Conclusion If you like Amazon you will also like the Kindle Fire. It is designed for content consumption and it does a good job at it. At $200 this is incredibly affordable. This post is a quick overview of the system, the true value of this tablet is in the content. Personally I can do most media consumption with the systems I already have, but there is no doubt that the portability of the Kindle Fire make it convenient to carry around. Links: Amazon Kindle Fire |
The Samsung Series 7 Slate looks a bit big doesn't it? The Kindle Fire has a 7 inch screen, and the Series 7 has a 11.6 inch screen. The Series 7 Slate is a few millimeters thicker. | Buy a Kindle Fire through the image above to support this blog. |
1 comments:
Waiting for someone to root it and put CM on it (CM9 ICS, anyone?)
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