Amazon tipped to launch three new Kindle tablets in 2012

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by ApK

"We?" If by "we" you mean the broad consumer market, "we" have already spoken loudly and clearly: We want it cheap, quality be darned. Else, Panasonic Toughbooks and Dolch like we used in the military, would be the best selling laptops, and most device casings would be made of metal, not plastic, and new generations of devices would come out years apart after long and thorough test cycles funded by the high prices we are willing to pay.

We have spoken: "We want inexpensive stuff that's just good enough!"

Some things get cheap by sacrificing overall quality, some do it by trimming out features. I personally prefer the latter, hence I have a Fire, and not some $99 no-name tablet found on ebay.

ApK

Yes and no. Military toughness is definitely overkill for the average consumer (not to mention that it adds size and weight), it wouldn't make sense to spend that much extra money just to get those features. And yes, many people prefer cheap stuff or are sucked in by really low prices. However, it is not as if the market place is being dominated by super cheap Chinese branded tablets, phones, and computers. The only time that price really was the main factor in electronics was during the netbook craze. These days a lot of products do command very high prices, but still manage to cut back on features.

With the Kindle Fire the trade off is very clear -- low price for low specs. A fair deal. But with the iPad, the Zoom, Samsung, etc you pay a very high price and they still skimp on the goodies. In those cases the consumer should demand more.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

With the Kindle Fire the trade off is very clear -- low price for low specs. A fair deal. But with the iPad, the Zoom, Samsung, etc you pay a very high price and they still skimp on the goodies. In those cases the consumer should demand more.

I see the cult of Apple as distinct from the general market, and offer no explanation, EXCEPT TO SAY that, when we were shopping for a small portable device for my wife, we researched, and ended up with an iPod Touch, because, while the price jump they demand for a 16GB non-expandable memory increase sickened me, there was nothing else that did what it did, as well as it did it, to be found at any price.

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by ApK

We have spoken: "We want inexpensive stuff that's just good enough!"

yes - a tech author says

For years I argued with notebook PC makers to use higher quality LCD panels but no one was willing to commit to the quantities that would lower costs enough. I was also told that as soon as you put these notebooks on shelves at Best Buy, users wouldn't really care whether they were getting a high quality IPS display or not - all that mattered was the final price.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5688/a...-2012-review/4

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sadievan

Thanks for the links. Beautiful. When the kids were younger, we used to go camping. Started out with a pop up and then got a HiLo.

Would love to get to Seattle some day. Want to visit Pike's Market. LOL

Carol

Try yurt camping - rustic and deluxe. I love it.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jocampo

So, you live in Oregon? hmmm... interesting... I love that state, but no human power will convince my wife to move there. She "hates" peaceful and non-city places.... lol ...

No, I live in Washington; somewhere in metro Seattle; and I love both states. I could easily live on the west side of the Cascades in either state.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Phogg

You left out the steampunk accessories. Victorian era clothes need steampunk accessories.

Steampunk is like cowbells. You can never have too much.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

I have finally come to the realization that the issue around those who do and those who do not require expansion slots is about movies. Never watched a movie on my tablet or laptop. Cant imagine I ever will but then I watch a movie about once a year.

That's me

Until the cloud is readily accessed no matter where I am, I'll always have need for expandable storage.

[sadievan]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Try yurt camping - rustic and deluxe. I love it.

Now days it's hotels for us. In our younger days, maybe. Although we do have a park model trailer in Illinois.

Nice pic of Pike's Market. Used to watch The Frugal Gourmet and he used to go to Pike's Market.

Carol

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

I have finally come to the realization that the issue around those who do and those who do not require expansion slots is about movies. Never watched a movie on my tablet or laptop. Cant imagine I ever will but then I watch a movie about once a year.

I can see how an expansion slot would be important if you watch movies. I was wondering what all the storage space was for. Call me slow

I think...mostly..for the casual user. Although music can eat up space too, especially on an 8GB device. For a tablet I don't think it's a big deal, but my wife needs more like 16GB or so for music + apps, etc on her phone (otherwise it means constant tinkering with what is on it).

PDFs can also be large. Using my tablet for ScummVM could eat up the space also (oldschool PC adventure game emulator).

Honestly I get by fine on an 8GB device day-to-day...but if I was going on a trip...I'd be sure to have some movies on an SD card for the kids.

And power users can certainly use the space. I haven't messed around with getting DOSbox or an Amiga emulator working on my Thrive yet...generally use my laptop for that. I imagine a bunch of CD images or the like would eat into my available 6GB or so of space pretty quickly.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sadievan

Now days it's hotels for us. In our younger days, maybe. Although we do have a park model trailer in Illinois.

Nice pic of Pike's Market. Used to watch The Frugal Gourmet and he used to go to Pike's Market.

Carol

The thing I like about yurts is that you're inside a state park with all of its scenery and they're only about $40 a night. They have electricity, so I can watch movies on my tablet with mSD card slot and still keep it fully charged.

Ah, a local guy. Never saw his show.

[sadievan]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The thing I like about yurts is that you're inside a state park with all of its scenery and they're only about $40 a night. They have electricity, so I can watch movies on my tablet with mSD card slot and still keep it fully charged.

Ah, a local guy. Never saw his show.

The yurts do sound nice. I liked watching Jeff Smith. He used to tell a lot of history with the food and recipes. This was all before the scandal, etc.

Carol

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

I think...mostly..for the casual user. Although music can eat up space too, especially on an 8GB device. For a tablet I don't think it's a big deal, but my wife needs more like 16GB or so for music + apps, etc on her phone (otherwise it means constant tinkering with what is on it).

Audiobooks are another thing that really eat up the GB's.

I have mSD cards loaded with music, audiobooks, and movies. Some of the cards are dedicated to just music or audiobooks or movies; while a few others have a mix. Very handy to swap between my various devices - Sansa Clip Zip, Samsung Galaxy Player 4 and Samsung Galaxy Player 5.

Clouds are great at home, but worthless when wifi is non-existent. Right now, I'm listening to a classical album on Amazon's cloud with my non-Amazon tablet (SGP5).

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

I have finally come to the realization that the issue around those who do and those who do not require expansion slots is about movies. Never watched a movie on my tablet or laptop. Cant imagine I ever will but then I watch a movie about once a year.

I can see how an expansion slot would be important if you watch movies. I was wondering what all the storage space was for. Call me slow

Don't need it for movies but comics/manga and technical PDF's take quite a bit of space.

[Daithi]

I'm remember way back in the day when I got a PC and it had a 10 MB hard drive. I thought it would take me forever to fill that thing up. Now I have over 15 GB in music alone. Start adding PDFs and videos and now I want terabytes. As far as I'm concerned, the more storage the better. Right now I use Amazon's Cloud, but I'd prefer to store it locally.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Daithi

As far as I'm concerned, the more storage the better. Right now I use Amazon's Cloud, but I'd prefer to store it locally.

Tell me about it. I have a 12TB file server at home which I thought would last me quite a while. Ever since I started collecting Blu-ray, the free space is being depleted quite quickly (25-40GB per disc without recompression). Was supposed to switch to 2TB drives but the flood in Thailand drove HDD prices 2-3 times as high.