Amazon introduces 2013 FIRE tablets

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I wonder if the HDX nomenclature will cause any problems from WalMart since it's a trademark of their Vudu service.

Whoa!
Video delivery service vs video playback device?
Looks pretty close...

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Some thoughts:

• rear cam only on the larger, least portable model
  

The Amazon website is saying that there is a front facing HD camera and a rear 8MP camera on the 8.9 inch HDX.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Power adapters are now included in the box. That partially explains the $30 price increase.

Any words on the ads in that price?

If they really were serious about corporate the ads will have to go.
(I can just see it: Coke buys 20,000 tablets for their salesforce and Pepsi buys up a quarter of the Kindle screensaver ads.)

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

The Amazon website is saying that there is a front facing HD camera and a rear 8MP camera on the 8.9 inch HDX.

Uh-huh. But the rear camera is *only* on the bigger model.

Hmm, at those pricepoints, keeping the old HD makes a lot of sense. The odds of software upgrades just went up.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

The Amazon website is saying that there is a front facing HD camera and a rear 8MP camera on the 8.9 inch HDX.

Yep, I know. Adding a rear cam to the 7" model makes more sense.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Uh-huh. But the rear camera is *only* on the bigger model.

Hmm, at those pricepoints, keeping the old HD makes a lot of sense. The odds of software upgrades just went up.

I think I misread monkey's post. I took it that he meant there was only a rear camera on the larger Fire.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Yep, I know. Adding a rear cam to the 7" model makes more sense.

Even though I think taking pictures with a tablet is kinda silly, I agree with you.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Any words on the ads in that price?

If they really were serious about corporate the ads will have to go.
(I can just see it: Coke buys 20,000 tablets for their salesforce and Pepsi buys up a quarter of the Kindle screensaver ads.)

$15 extra will remove the ads.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Some thoughts:

still lacks GPS and compass

the 4G model has GPS

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Istvan diVega

Nice hardware, but no thanks. Forked Android, no folder organization and most importantly no SD card slot means it's of no interest to me whatsoever. And yes, screen resolution is indeed pointless and overkill for screens of that size. It's a shame, since with standard Android and an SD card slot I'd have jumped on it without delay.

No SD card slot means no sale for me as well.

But no device anywhere has gone beyond what would be useful for viewing photo albums. So there is no such thing yet as overkill for screens.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

the 4G model has GPS

I know; and it'll cost an additional $100 to get that feature.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

I think I misread monkey's post. I took it that he meant there was only a rear camera on the larger Fire.

No worries; I can see how misleading it was

[Istvan diVega]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

So there is no such thing yet as overkill for screens.

I disagree. Of course the knee-jerk reaction is always "more is better", but given the limitations of the human eye there is actually a cut-off point where higher resolution becomes redundant. That certainly applies to 2560x1600 on 8.9".

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by jswinden

But aren't they about the same price, and with the new Nexus 7 you don't get the awful Fire interface and limitations.

You forget I own 5 Kindles. I have a library of 5000+ of Amazon content for me the Kindle Fire is the better choice and it has the better hardware and Amazon's Customer support.

I somehow broke my first Kindle Fire and Amazon sent me a new one that I use to this day. If I am going to pay that much money I want it back by a good company. I may or may not get an extra Warranty.

I however don't like those covers. Anything that goes in several pieces will probably stretch after prolong real use.

I might understand buying a Fire if the content was very affordable. I've got Amazon Prime, and I rarely use it for content. Why? Because it is insanely expensive. One episode of a TV series show from five years ago costs $1.99 in SD and $2.99 in HD. Why buy SD when you have mega-pixels? Get the HD, even though it might only be 720p, or it won't look very good on all those mega-pixels! So $3/episode to watch reruns! WTF! With prices like that Amazon can afford to give away the Fires!

I realize the new Fire 7 HDX will have a terrific screen for reading books, but the last time I saw Kindle on a Fire it wasn't anything to get excited about. The iOS app was better. And if you are into non-Kindle reading apps then you don't have any advantage in getting a Fire.

As far as the carousel, the video I watched late last night showed it still there. You can swipe upwards to make it scroll up and out of view to display a screen full of icons, but it is still there. I bet it will be the default view every time you turn the Fire on.