Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Ships Early!

[kennyc]

Amazon ships 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD tablets a week early

Amazon has begun shipping the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, which originally was to go out to buyers Nov. 20. (Amazon)

By Salvador Rodriguez

November 15, 2012, 11:21 a.m.

Amazon.com has started shipping the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet, a week earlier than it had promised.

The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD is Amazon's entrant in the large tablet market and will compete with the Apple iPad, the Google Nexus 10 and the Microsoft Surface for sales this holiday season.

It also is now being sold on Amazon's website. Orders made today are expected to be shipped by Dec. 3, the online retailer said.

The large-size Amazon tablet starts at $299 for a Wi-Fi-only 16 gigabyte model. A 32 GB model can be purchased for $369.

Amazon began taking preorders in September when it said the tablets would be shipped to buyers Nov. 20.
The tablet will also be available for purchase at Best Buy stores starting Friday and at other retailers, including Staples and Radio Shack, in coming weeks.

Amazon said the cellular-connected 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE will begin shipping next week. It starts at $499 for a 32 GB model and goes up to $599 for a 64 GB model.

The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD has a 1,920 by 1,200 resolution screen as well as dual speakers. It also comes with ads that can be disabled for $15 more.

http://www.latimes.com/business/tech...,2700518.story

[holymadness]

Under-promise, over-deliver.

[Prestidigitweeze]

I suppose it's inevitable that, after endless trolling on Apple threads by Android advocates, disgruntled Apple advocates would troll Android threads.

Where's the payoff in dampening someone else's enthusiasm, though? Does it yield some sweet and secret frequency of joy which I haven't been able to hear?

[holymadness]

Trolling? What I wrote is praise. I am a fan of Amazon.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

I suppose it's inevitable that, after endless trolling on Apple threads by Android advocates, disgruntled Apple advocates would troll Android threads.

Where's the payoff in dampening someone else's enthusiasm, though? Does it yield some sweet and secret frequency of joy which I haven't been able to hear?

Prestidigitweeze, I think you misunderstood what holymadness was saying. It is indeed high praise to say of a company that they under-promise, but over-deliver. In other words, their performance exceeds their promises.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by holymadness

Trolling? What I wrote is praise. I am a fan of Amazon.

I did not think that your original post was trolling.

[BenG]

They had them at the local Best Buy this morning. They were so light compared to last years models.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Prestidigitweeze, I think you misunderstood what holymadness was saying. It is indeed high praise to say of a company that they under-promise, but over-deliver. In other words, their performance exceeds their promises.

I'm quite familiar with the phrase, especially after hearing a producer I worked with use it every time we negoted a new project.

My mistake was in reading rather dismissive posts by holymadness on other non-Apple threads and assuming he was using the phrase ironically. My mistake, and for that I apologize to HM, the recipient of my misdirected ire.

[fjtorres]

CNET has a fairly detailed review up:
http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/amaz...-35437746.html

The good: The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 has zippier navigation than its 7-inch counterpart, a beautiful high-definition screen, incredibly fast 4G LTE speeds, seamless streaming performance, and access to one of the best media eco systems available. The new Fire HD interface feels better suited on the 8.9-inch screen.

The bad: Web performance is lacking compared with that of other tablets. Its physical design is fairly plain with buttons that are too flush with its chassis. The curated Appstore means many games and non-entertainment quality apps are not available. There's a $15 opt-out for ads.

The bottom line: If you're looking for a pure media consumption experience, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 delivers better than any tablet before it. People looking for something more utilitarian, however, will want to look elsewhere.

[OtterBooks]

Got mine Saturday. Gorgeous display and surprisingly high quality build quality. Clunky, unintuitive OS; apps right from the Amazon store that didn't work, clumsy navigation. Many of the news apps/tablet versions of magazines felt very non-optimized; app content all felt like it was being viewed through a browser rather than a program made for the device. Hard to explain, but the entire experience felt like an Amazon.com simulator, to an even higher degree than I expected. Returned it. Just one consumer's experience; your mileage may vary.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Thanks for the warning, OB and fjtorres. I've complained about Amazon App Store issues in the past but received blank stares from the Kindle community and departed those discussions feeling like either like an anomaly or a rube.

Good (but sad) to know said issues can exist for other people. If only you could buy apps through Amazon but download them directly from Google Play without additional copy protection calisthenics.

Pity, because the KFHD looks especially nice and I considered picking one up myself during Black Friday sales.

[SeaKing]

I was trying to sell a friend on one two days ago.

Trying to steer him away from the iPad.

His wife needs one to play bridge on.

[misling]

I believe the app problem is pretty well known: the developers didn't get the specs for the 8.9 or the new KF-HD 7" in time to do updates to the apps before the device was delivered. So the apps you see out there were written for the year-old KF1.
I think this will improve with time, but for now it's surely a bummer.
That said, most of my existing apps, originally purchased for my KF-1 do work on my KF-HD 7". I expect the 8.9" has more of a problem.