Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet: $199

[Sunray]

I am unsure about having all my web requests going through AWS EC2. Its a huge system that is very impressive and very useful, but what they are saying is that they will be the tablets ISP because even if its on wifi it will still be going through Amazon.

I wonder what they will be doing with that data?

 

[cliche guevara]

I am unsure about having all my web requests going through AWS EC2. Its a huge system that is very impressive and very useful, but what they are saying is that they will be the tablets ISP because even if its on wifi it will still be going through Amazon.

I wonder what they will be doing with that data?

Collecting information on shopping habits I expect.

 

[editor]

I am unsure about having all my web requests going through AWS EC2. Its a huge system that is very impressive and very useful, but what they are saying is that they will be the tablets ISP because even if its on wifi it will still be going through Amazon.

You can opt out, so it's entirely up to you.

Fortunately Amazon will support an "off-cloud" mode for Silk. This lets users opt-out of the benefits of using EC2 while retaining the traditional privacy benefits of connecting directly to remote web sites.

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/201...ires-silk-browser-sounds-privacy-alarm-bells/

 

[elbows]

Cloud is great in opening some things up; but it comes with a different set of limitations to inbuilt memory. Limitations that are particularly pertinent when someone doesn't have direct internet access. Like when they're traveling.

Its a bit too early to judge quite how well cloud stuff of this sort is going to work, how often people will become annoyed by limitations.

I think I will struggle to fully embrace the idea that I don't have my own local copy of lots of stuff, Im pretty strongly wedded to collecting things and keeping them close at hand.

So I like to ponder hybrids. Maybe I would like a small battery powered solid state device with quite a lot of capacity and built in wifi, that I could slip into my bag if I was going to venture into a could less environment for an extended period and wanted lots on hand to consume, and then I would access this device from my tablet via wifi. But in some ways this is silly overkill, and Id be better off with a device that let me insert memory sticks.

 

[ChrisFilter]

You can opt out, so it's entirely up to you.

That's the Facebook line too.

 

[editor]

That's the Facebook line too.

Failed comparison. I can't opt out of people joining me up to their shitty groups, for example.

 

[editor]

Check out the video preview. It's good:
http://gizmodo.com/5844742/video-of-the-amazon-kindle-fire-in-action-up-close

 

[mack]

Phone apps because the Fire tablet is running a modified version of Android 2.1 (which is a phone OS).

I think it's running with gingerbread 2.3 - and according to this article should be easily hackable which will mean keep the good shit and get rid of the bloaty stuff

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393740,00.asp#fbid=zZ1FtwyYyV9

 

[editor]

That earlier link said 2.1 but I don't think anyone's sure yet.

 

[Lazy Llama]

So the $79 Kindle is £89 in the UK.

Which will make the $199 Fire about £229, I guess?

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

under 250 for the fire... thats kinda doable.

i'm not sure if i would just because i'm teched up to the eyeballs. but i might get the kindle touch. i really like the kindle and touch makes sence., i wonder what the browser is like

 

[Vintage Paw]

So the $79 Kindle is £89 in the UK.

Which will make the $199 Fire about £229, I guess?

*sigh*

That doesn't even wash with the whole "but add 20% VAT" argument, which would translate as under £70 after conversion.

Fucking US-UK electronics rip-offs.

 

[mrs quoad]

8GB can provide a hell of a lot of content for offline use ("80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books")

Is that 80x100mb apps? Yeah, ok, I can see that working. Given the state of android apps

But then you don't have the films. (My bad - I tend to think of 1gb as about 1hr, when - ok - it's more like 1gb to 1.5hrs, looking at my library).

If you have the films, then you don't have the music. Or the apps.

If you have the films or the music or the apps, then you don't have the books!

By the time most people've put a bit of each of those on their tablet, IMO they'll be proper bashing up against the limits of 8gb.

ATM, I've got 22 albums on my iPod; that's 3gb. And, tbh, that's a pretty bare minimum (IMO) for having a reputable variety of music available. (And there's another 3 or so gb stored separately, in apps that'll allow me to up the pitch; but let's forget those for the mo).

Notch on, what? A conservative 1gb of apps? And that's down to 4gb available for other media... Books, ok, trivial.

But... yeah... On the basis of apps and music alone, I've struggled to keep an 8gb iPod to its limit. In fact, I failed dismally; which is why I got a 32gb one.

I can see the cloud working ok for shifting things in and out a whole lot, and - obv - the apps are likely to take up a whole lot less space. I will be blates interested in seeing how they manage apps with the cloud, too - and whether or not anything's lost when an app's moved 'to the cloud' and then transferred back to the tablet again. Or whether the 'state' of the app and the 'state' you left it in (IYSWIM) is taken off and on with it.

But... yeah. IMO, the memory is the main point that leaves me thinking 'eep.'

Might still get Artichoke one, on some convenient occasion. It does look eminently well suited to how she tends to use her iPod atm.

 

[editor]

By the time most people've put a bit of each of those on their tablet, IMO they'll be proper bashing up against the limits of 8gb.

ATM, I've got 22 albums on my iPod; that's 3gb. And, tbh, that's a pretty bare minimum (IMO) for having a reputable variety of music available. (And there's another 3 or so gb stored separately, in apps that'll allow me to up the pitch; but let's forget those for the mo).

Are you really this incapable of realising that not everyone will use a tablet in the same way as you, and for many, 8GB will be absolutely plenty when it's accompanied by unlimited online storage and streaming services?

 

[mrs quoad]

Are you really this incapable of realising that not everyone will use a tablet in the same way as you, and for many, 8GB will be absolutely plenty when it's accompanied by unlimited online storage and streaming services?

Clearly not

Might still get Artichoke one, on some convenient occasion. It does look eminently well suited to how she tends to use her iPod atm.

 

[editor]

Actually, it's obvious why there's no version with free built in 3G being offered - this thing is going to hog data like a mutha'. Any 3G offering would have to charge monthly along the lines of the iPad contracts.

 

[Vintage Paw]

That's a good point. Downloading ebooks doesn't take much at all, in comparison.

 

[editor]

I just like it a little bit more already.

Amazon: The Kindle Fire Will Get Rooted

Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet has a great user interface, but many of our readers already want to get rid of it. That's OK. Amazon isn't doing anything special to prevent techies from "rooting" and rewriting the software on its powerful yet inexpensive new tablet, Jon Jenkins, director of Amazon's Silk browser project said.

"It's going to get rooted, and what you do after you root it is up to you," Jenkins said.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393740,00.asp#fbid=ZNkBj-k968a

 

[pinkmonkey]

Actually, it's obvious why there's no version with free built in 3G being offered - this thing is going to hog data like a mutha'. Any 3G offering would have to charge monthly along the lines of the iPad contracts.

Yep this is my point - Using 3g to access stuff from the Cloud - a recipe for bankruptcy IMHO. It varies from £5 per gb for most PAYG deals to £15 for 15GB a month on a 2 year contract from 3 If you are accessing music and films you will burn through your allowance.

 

[kropotkin]

8GB can provide a hell of a lot of content for offline use ("80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books"), but if you're hooked to the web, then you've got access to 100,000 movies and TV shows, 17 million songs, Kindle books and full-colour magazines stored for free on Amazon Cloud Storage.

Well, you have access to those things if you are a subscriber to Amazon Prime. And only if.

 

[kropotkin]

So to make this a useable device out of the house there are two options.

1. you pay amazon to buy (again) all your digital content from them. Then it is stored for you for free on their cloud drive and you can copy it to the kindle at will for offline use.
2. you just copy the content to the kindle and have to swap things on/off "tethered" to a computer
3. you pay an additional fee on a yearly basis for the cloud drive, starting at $20/year for 20gb and laboriously upload your mp3s and videos to make them wirelessly available
4. you pay $79 a year (until they ramp that up!) to be a member of Prime, and then the video content is largely cloud based. Music still not included.

This just doesn't seem workable to me.

 

[BoxRoom]

So the $79 Kindle is £89 in the UK.

Which will make the $199 Fire about £229, I guess?

I think it's the $109 version (without ads) that is on sale here for 89 quid.

I'm only keen to get a new kindle because it's new but I'm still very happy with my Kindle Keyboard (as they call it now). I really like the cover I've got for it which isn't one of those ones that hold it in place by elastic on the corners. For some reason I've taken a bit of a hatred towards those.

 

[Lazy Llama]

I think it's the $109 version (without ads) that is on sale here for 89 quid.

Yeah, noticed that and mentioned it on the other Kindle thread. No ad-supported version available in the UK.
I wonder whether the Fire is similarly ad-supported, or whether they're relying on selling everyone an Amazon Prime deal on those.

 

[editor]

you just copy the content to the kindle and have to swap things on/off "tethered" to a computer

Only if you need GBs of content on your tablet. For a lot of people, I suspect that the tablet will be perfect for most day to day needs (music, browsing, watching TV, Spotify, reading books etc).

 

[grit]

Amazons cloud has come down a few times this year,

The five 9s uptime is a myth that no one is capable of doing, AWS has had about 3 outtages this year which were relatively minor, its still a fucking amazing service.

Typical all this talk a bout the tablet and the one thing I'm interested in, battery life, is not mentioned

 

[magneze]

8 hours apparently

 

[editor]

Typical all this talk a bout the tablet and the one thing I'm interested in, battery life, is not mentioned

It's around 8 hours, 7.5 hours video. Easily good enough for me.

 

[Crispy]

This will sell very well indeed.

 

[editor]

This will sell very well indeed.

The argument isn't quite so persuasive here, but in the States - where Amazon have a shedload of services for the thing - it's going to be the perfect first tablet for an awful lot of people, and the price point is just right.

It's going to be huge.

 

[mrs quoad]

Fully agreed.

Shame there's no SD slot, but ay!