Amazon Tablet news

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Can't at this point, since the actual price and specs aren't available.

I'm still extremely skeptical about that TechCrunch article being legit. I suspect it wasn't. We won't know anything until Amazon actually releases specs and photos through legitimate means.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I'm still extremely skeptical about that TechCrunch article being legit. I suspect it wasn't. We won't know anything until Amazon actually releases specs and photos through legitimate means.

I think $250 is too high. I'm pretty sure Amazon will sell for a lower price to undercut the Nook Color.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I'm still extremely skeptical about that TechCrunch article being legit. I suspect it wasn't. We won't know anything until Amazon actually releases specs and photos through legitimate means.

Another update to your location. I sense a mood change.

Originally Posted by SCION

Another update to your location. I sense a mood change.

Cooler weather now--for a while anyway!

[captkjaneway]

Originally Posted by captkjaneway

Still not sure what an AMazon tablet will give us over a. n. other tablet personally - can someone convince me?

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Can't at this point, since the actual price and specs aren't available.

Fair point - but I meant generally.........what can an Amazon Android tablet give me over a Samsung/Acer/Asus/Blackberry/HP/a Shanzhen special which can all cost less and can all have the Amazon software on it?

[reech]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The NC is only sold in the US and is, therefore, irrelevant to most of us. Amazon will, I'm sure, sell their tablet world-wide, and hence a comparison to the equally world-wide iPad makes more sense.

I'm not sure they will; the Amazon Android App Store isn't available in the UK, so until Amazon make clear WHERE they're going to release the Tablet, current availability of their apps suggest America only...

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by captkjaneway

Fair point - but I meant generally.........what can an Amazon Android tablet give me over a Samsung/Acer/Asus/Blackberry/HP/a Shanzhen special which can all cost less and can all have the Amazon software on it?

Price is the key selling point. Amazon, B&N, and Lenovo will each have a tablet for under $250. You have to decide for yourself whether you want iPad 1 specs for $250 or iPad 2 specs for $400 and up.

[OtterBooks]

If it's dual-core, $250 is far from too expensive. Hell, iPods are around that price. I'm gonna stick my neck out and speculate that it will be so. Or at least a high-end single core, like 1.5ghz.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by captkjaneway

Fair point - but I meant generally.........what can an Amazon Android tablet give me over a Samsung/Acer/Asus/Blackberry/HP/a Shanzhen special which can all cost less and can all have the Amazon software on it?

I can't answer about you in particular, but, from just a business standpoint, they probably have mixed feelings about satisfying the existing customer base.

Sure, some of us buy a heck of a lot of ebooks. But those same customers tend to be, well, older, patient, and smart shoppers. The black and white Kindle couldn't lock out public library borrowing forever, and when that lock out ends, the existing customer base will instantly become less valuable. So Amazon cannot, and will not, be loyal to their existing customers.

Maybe I'm saying this because I'm older than most, and more inclined to Project Gutenberg than most, but Amazon managers would be fools not to fear being pegged as a manufacturer of computers for old fogies. They must be praying they can get that tablet out in time before their products get pegged as the Oldsmobiles of the computer world.

As for me, when my 3G K3 wears out, I expect to have the option of buying a replacement, in close to new condition, for a reasonable price, through eBay, Amazon, or successor. Whether I will want to depends on how long the infrastructure that makes the Kindle great lasts. That means the New York Times $1.99 a month breaking news blog, ReadingTheNet.com, klip.me, and, especially, Calibre.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

They must be praying they can get that tablet out in time before their products get pegged as the Oldsmobiles of the computer world.

E-ink readers are not a part of the computer world. Yes they're electronic and contain a microprocessor, much like a thousand other things that aren't computers. Hell, the display is even closer to being "mechanical" than electronic, and the technology is newer than personal computers.

[emellaich]

Well, I don't think this is a tablet if tablet means iPad competitor. I suspect it's primarily a media consumption device plus a few game apps. It's not clearbit even has email. This means there is no real need for dual core processors or for full blown Android.

I think it is simply a distribution channel for Amazon's intangible products.

[CHunter_Author]

All I ask is that it goes toe to toe with the nook color. At least give me that. Otherwise it's back to wanting the IPad.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

E-ink readers are not a part of the computer world.

I'd agree it isn't marketed as a general purpose computer. But neither were the first real programmable stored program electronic computers that, in the late 1940's, calculated missile trajectories. And neither were the Palm PDA's I used before getting the Kindle. Automotive GPS? Similar story. They are general purpose computers which the manufacturers lock down for marketing reasons. Then, independent programmers find ways around the superficial lockdowns, so that some people read books on their GPS while others use their Kindle as a calculator.

Yes they're electronic and contain a microprocessor, much like a thousand other things that aren't computers.

Well, yes, an airliner, say, isn't a computer. It has a bunch of computers inside it, though. Some are truly single purpose at a hardware level, but others are rootable general purpose computers, running general purpose operating systems and programmed with general purpose languages despite being locked down for a specific use.

In theory, people could design a electronic eReader that wasn't a lightly locked down general purpose computer. But you would have to do so much specialized engineering that it would be too expensive.

I've seen people here say what you are saying before and, as a computer programmer professionally, am genuinely missing the point.

[captkjaneway]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

If it's dual-core, $250 is far from too expensive. Hell, iPods are around that price. I'm gonna stick my neck out and speculate that it will be so. Or at least a high-end single core, like 1.5ghz.

Believe me I am lucky to live where I live, and $250 is expensive for a tablet (why does everyone read Apple for comparison on this, there are far better and cheaper products to compare to) - dual core or not. Why would you need a dual core processor to read books on?

I wish Amazon luck with this, but I will stay with my K3 and hope they continue to support and develop the e-Ink products as well as the proposed tablet.

[joenunya]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

You'll need to hack it first. Netflix and Nook are two of many apps missing from Amazon's Appstore. Also missing is Google's entire app suite.

The absence of Netflix is a deal breaker for me and I am a huge Amazon person. I've been a Prime member since they began the program and am only holding off renewing because of the pending tablet and potential connection. But I won't pay for a device I cannot use as my own. I won't buy Apple for that and won't buy any device if it restricts me from how I am able to use the thing.

So thanks for mentioning that Netflix is among the missing so far. I'll admit I am getting too old to keep chasing this dragon as implemented by these companies today. I'm a old hacker from the early Homebrew Club and just see things differently but are sort of tired of having to hack apart everything we spend our hard earned cash on while thinking we are actually buying it. I never thought I would reach this level of fatigue in IT or tech.