New Kindle Fire (HD) Reviews Thread

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by joehunt

I'm waiting to see if the iPad mini is attractively priced to compete with other 7" tablets.

What "iPad Mini"? Have I missed an announcement?

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Hmm, MiniPad or MaxiPad ..., well, kindle my fire.
Luckily once a month I'm used to this conundrum, I will have no problem making the right choice.

Apache

[obsessed2]

Looks like some Fire HD owner reviews are starting to trickle in on Amazon.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Hmm, MiniPad or MaxiPad ..., well, kindle my fire.
Luckily once a month I'm used to this conundrum, I will have no problem making the right choice.

Somebody's been spending too much time around the monkey.

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by joehunt

I'm waiting to see if the iPad mini is attractively priced to compete with other 7" tablets.

Think of a reasonable price for it, then double it and that's what Apple will be charging.

[robertc88]

Originally Posted by obsessed2

Looks like some Fire HD owner reviews are starting to trickle in on Amazon.

With the $75 trade in I know I will cave at Best Buy. Then I will add another review to Amazon. If I liked the original, .....

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What "iPad Mini"? Have I missed an announcement?

No announcement but 'wide expectation' such a thing will be announced next month. E.g.:

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/mob...umours-1076821

I'm surprised we don't have a thread here to discuss the rumors (or I can't find it).

The usual idea is that it will be 1024x768 in a 7" screen so iPad2 apps will run without modification. And that it would be priced to 'compete', i.e. $200 for base model. That pricing doesn't seem at all likely, but I could see this replacing iPad2 in the lineup and starting at $300-350.

[detayls]

Originally Posted by kevinp

Think of a reasonable price for it, then double it and that's what Apple will be charging.

kevinp,

Your statement flies in the face of the truth. Apple was the one to start the low prices on tablets. You can buy an iPad 2 for $399, which is a great deal.

Apple used to charge a lot more but they are much more competitive now.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by detayls

kevinp,

Your statement flies in the face of the truth. Apple was the one to start the low prices on tablets. You can buy an iPad 2 for $399, which is a great deal.

Apple used to charge a lot more but they are much more competitive now.

I dunno, I still think they price on the high side, especially with the new Fire HD coming out. I just don't see the iPad 2 16GB at $399 being a great deal in comparison to the 8.9" Fire HD 16GB at $299. It has a bigger screen, but trades off for lower resolution. I just don't see enough benefit from a larger screen without at least comparable resolution to justify the $100 price premium.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I dunno, I still think they price on the high side, especially with the new Fire HD coming out. I just don't see the iPad 2 16GB at $399 being a great deal in comparison to the 8.9" Fire HD 16GB at $299. It has a bigger screen, but trades off for lower resolution. I just don't see enough benefit from a larger screen without at least comparable resolution to justify the $100 price premium.

Tablets are highly price sensitive. You can't just dismiss the screen size difference as no big deal. What is the price for other 9.7" tablets? And how do they compare to the iPad 2?

In much the same way, I wouldn't be singing the praises of the price of a 9.7" iPad 2 compared to a more expensive Galaxy Tab 10.1 simply based on believing that the screen size/resolution difference is no big deal.

Apple really did shock the tech world with the iPad (particularly with the pricing). First people dismissed it saying that it was simply a larger iPod Touch. Then they made fun of the name. Companies who had similar products in the development pipeline scrapped their plans once the iPad hit the streets.

Although I just a few minutes ago upgraded my KF for the 16GB HD, I don't see the 8.9" model being a particularly good value.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

Although I just a few minutes ago upgraded my KF for the 16GB HD, I don't see the 8.9" model being a particularly good value.

I disagree, I think that at $299 it's excellent value. I'm not in the market for one because I don't like these forked versions of Android, especially when you can't have widgets and the Play store, but for folks that are deep into Amazon's ecosystem and that simply want a consumption device, it's a great deal.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

Tablets are highly price sensitive. You can't just dismiss the screen size difference as no big deal. What is the price for other 9.7" tablets? And how do they compare to the iPad 2?

In much the same way, I wouldn't be singing the praises of the price of a 9.7" iPad 2 compared to a more expensive Galaxy Tab 10.1 simply based on believing that the screen size/resolution difference is no big deal.

Apple really did shock the tech world with the iPad (particularly with the pricing). First people dismissed it saying that it was simply a larger iPod Touch. Then they made fun of the name. Companies who had similar products in the development pipeline scrapped their plans once the iPad hit the streets.

Although I just a few minutes ago upgraded my KF for the 16GB HD, I don't see the 8.9" model being a particularly good value.

For me it is an excellent value because of the resolution:

1920x1200 on an 8.9" tablet is 254 pixels per inch. 1024x768 on a 9.7" panel is 132 pixels per inch.

For me, that extra 122 pixels per inch is worth much more than the 0.8" additional diagonal that you get for going to the iPad 2. The Kindle Fire HD's 8.9" screen is almost as crisp as the later generation iPad's. I'll happily admit that the third generation iPad with the retina-class display is notably better than the Fire HD, but the iPad 2 isn't in the same class.

Here are some more numbers to put it in perspective.

The 8.9" Fire HD has 79% of the total viewable area of the 9.7" iPad, but the difference in aspect ratios means it has 95% of the usable area when watching widescreen video. It also has 192% of the pixel density of the iPad 2. For anyone watching HD video (or anything else in 16:9 widescreen), trading a 5% decrease in viewing area for a 25% drop in price and a 92% increase in pixel density sounds like a pretty reasonable choice.

Put more simply, the 8.9" Kindle Fire HD screen can do 1080P native resolution, while the 9.7" iPad 2 cannot manage 720P natively.

For anyone interested in watching HD video (which may not apply to at least some members of this forum) the size vs. resolution tradeoff comes down firmly on the side of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" against the iPad 2, even without counting the hundred dollar price advantage.

As for comparisons with other tablets, the real competition for the iPad is the 10.1" class, as there are very few Android tablets at 9.7" because of the aspect ratio. Also, a 10.1" tablet is within 1% of the screen area of Apple's 9.7" display. While there are some 10.1" tablets that are close to the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" in price, they fall short in resolution. The only 10.1" tablets currently on the market with the same near-retina-class resolution are the latest Acer A700 and Asus TF700, which are priced at $450 and $500 respectively. They are bigger, but also much more expensive than the 8.9" Fire HD.

The 8.9" Fire HD is at least $150 cheaper than anything else with a similar resolution. Yes it is smaller, but the difference in screen area between 7" and 8.9" is much greater proportionally than the difference in screen area between 8.9" and either 9.7" or 10.1"

The 8.9" Fire HD is going to be a very good value for many customers.

[detayls]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I dunno, I still think they price on the high side, especially with the new Fire HD coming out. I just don't see the iPad 2 16GB at $399 being a great deal in comparison to the 8.9" Fire HD 16GB at $299. It has a bigger screen, but trades off for lower resolution. I just don't see enough benefit from a larger screen without at least comparable resolution to justify the $100 price premium.

Yes, but the truth is that you are not really buying a tablet. You're buying into a community. If you are already a Kindle customer then I agree that the Kindle Fire is a good deal. If you are not then the iPad 3 16gb is so much more in every way and you can still read your Kindle books. The iPad 2 is OK but stretch your $$$ and get the 3. It trounces the Kindle when viewed as a system.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by detayls

Yes, but the truth is that you are not really buying a tablet. You're buying into a community. If you are already a Kindle customer then I agree that the Kindle Fire is a good deal. If you are not then the iPad 3 16gb is so much more in every way and you can still read your Kindle books. The iPad 2 is OK but stretch your $$$ and get the 3. It trounces the Kindle when viewed as a system.

I agree that the iPad 3 is better, it simply is not $200 better for my needs, and as an iOS and Mac owner, I can say that the Apple System is not enough better for what I need to justify the premium.

That and $299 is just inside my price range and $499 is right out for the foreseeable future.

[fjtorres]

Getting back to the reviews business, here's a couple of Hands-on reports on the shipping FireHD 7:

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ly/#more-39455

http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...ned-by-amazon/