Kindle Fire Reviews Rolling In

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by SCION

Because more than a handful of folks prefer reading on a backlit screen (great resolution, high ppi, IPS, etc). If I'm not in the direct sun, that's my preference as well. Some are turned off by the black on grey experience of eink. If there was a way to lighten the background so it looked more like a book, more folks would be attracted to them perhaps. It's simply about preference, not about paying more or getting less battery life. Those aren't concerns when you simply aren't turned on by the eInk experience.

I see your point.

However (and that's probably me or my own opinion) I believe e-ink is the closest thing to a regular paper book, not an LCD screen, including iPads.

The e-ink background probably is not totally white, but the overall experience is closer to reading a book. Real books do not emit light ....

Anyway, back to topic. I think the Kindle Fire is a good value. Some of the minor imperfections will be fixed with 1st patch, that's usually the case, it happened to Nook and Nook Color as well.

It's up to people to decide if the lack of SD card is something to consider or not. Let's see ...

[SCION]

Originally Posted by jocampo

...

The e-ink background probably is not totally white, but the overall experience is closer to reading a book. Real books do not emit light ....

I certainly agree. Just wish we could get rid of that drab dull look you get when not in strong lighting conditions. On my tablet I use a grey background sometimes with dark black text to resemble an eInk screen. It's very comfortable on the eyes with dimmed brightness. That's really why I sold my Sony 950 a few days ago, just a couple of months after buying it. I just wasn't using it as much as I thought I would. I always reached for my tablet. I'm getting a Kindle Touch to replace the Sony though for those conditions when it's a must have.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by SCION

I certainly agree. Just wish we could get rid of that drab dull look you get when not in strong lighting conditions. On my tablet I use a grey background sometimes with dark black text to resemble an eInk screen. It's very comfortable on the eyes with dimmed brightness. That's really why I sold my Sony 950 a few days ago, just a couple of months after buying it. I just wasn't using it as much as I thought I would. I always reached for my tablet. I'm getting a Kindle Touch to replace the Sony though for those conditions when it's a must have.

My K3 doesn't have that issue but my K4 does look dull when not in full light so the Touch might too. They seem to have the same screen. My place doesn't have good lighting at all. It's dreary.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by Blossom

My K3 doesn't have that issue but my K4 does look dull when not in full light so the Touch might too. They seem to have the same screen. My place doesn't have good lighting at all. It's dreary.

My place has dreary lighting but it generally fits my mood.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by TimW

My place has dreary lighting but it generally fits my mood.

Bright lights and sunlight hurts my eyes so I prefer it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by SCION

You can dim the screen until you can't see anymore. Does that count?

Thats what I do on my IQ when I read in bed: run the brightness to near minimum. The contrast ends up at first-gen eink levels, which is okay for a dark room.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by wizwor

seems like everyone reviewing the Fire has an agenda. I think I'll just pick one up and see for myself.

I stopped by Staples to grab one this morning. They were still waiting for the shipment to arrive. When I returned to the store after work, Fire posters were in the windows and there was a demo unit on display. After playing with the demo unit for a half hour, I bought two. I used Discover cash back to pay for the Fires, so my cost was $160/unit (Discover lets you purchase $25 Staples gift cards for $20).

My Fires were #2 and #3 sold at that store, so they are not exactly flying off the shelves.

I unboxed the unit when I got home. It was bigger and heavier than I expected. It's not TOO big or TOO heavy -- just a little bigger and a lot heavier than the Kindle I have been carrying around for a month. You won't slip it in a shirt pocket, but it easily slides into my front or back pants pocket which is nice if you are dashing through an airport.

Setup took just a few minutes. The keyboard is much better than my Storm2. Turns out bigger really is better and I like that the pressed key pops up above my fingertip as I type. It was painless to enter my wireless password and amazon credentials. My library loaded almost immediately. The Fire is a good ereader. It works in both orientations and the sepia color scheme is very comfortable for me. When you click a link in a book, the web integration is much better than on my Kindle.

I loaded the free Netflix app and watched an episode of The Office. This caught the interest of my oldest. He had 'no interest' in any tablet until tonight (he has a 14" laptop and a Droid2 phone), but monopolized the Fire for a full five hours. He gave Prime a thumbs up (better app than netflix and a surprisingly large library), installed some games (including a free version of Angry Birds), and surfed the web.

My wife also used the Fire for a half hour declaring it, "Awesome."

I didn't carefully measure the battery life, but 7-8 hours seems to be right on. College Boy returns to school tomorrow. I'll give this thing a thorough once over and post a followup. My first impressions are very positive.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by wizwor

After playing with the demo unit for a half hour, I bought two. I used Discover cash back to pay for the Fires, so my cost was $160/unit (Discover lets you purchase $25 Staples gift cards for $20).

Great deal ...that's the way to shop.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by wizwor

He gave Prime a thumbs up (better app than netflix and a surprisingly large library), installed some games (including a free version of Angry Birds), and surfed the web.

I have Prime and stream it on my TouchPad. I chose it over Netflix because it was cheaper and offered 2-day free shipping for Amazon purchases; and now it offers free library books. Netflix can't compete with that.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

It offers all of your browser traffic (URLs entered, clicks, form information, passwords, etc...) to Amazon by default - even SSL communications (they are basically a man-in-the-middle: it goes to them, is decrypted, then reincrypted and passed on to the destination you were intending. Same goes for the path back to you). That's what the Silk browser offers and one of the reasons why, even if they remove all geographic restrictions, I will never get a Fire.

As someone else has already pointed out, that can be turned off (I think it's on by default). You're entirely wrong about SSL traffic, however. SSL traffic is not routed through Amazon's servers, even if cloud acceleration is enabled.

The EFF says:

Amazon does not intercept encrypted traffic, so your communications over HTTPS would not be accelerated or tracked. According to Jon Jenkins, director of Silk development, “secure web page requests (SSL) are routed directly from the Kindle Fire to the origin server and do not pass through Amazon’s EC2 servers.” In other words, no HTTPS requests will ever use cloud acceleration mode. Given the prevalence of web pages served over HTTPS, this gives Amazon good incentive to make Silk fast and usable even when cloud acceleration is off. Turning it off completely should be a viable option for users.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Truthfully, I'll be getting a Vita before thinking about one of these. Games need to be immersive, complex and/or read like hypertext novels to hold my interest, and Angry Birds on a larger screen can't cover that.

Now that the PSP's controls have been sorted on the Vita, I'm hoping for updated versions of SMT: Nocturne, Persona 4, Ico, and a host of Japanese horror franchises (SH2, Fatal Frame 1-4, etc.). No one else likes Rule of Rose, but I'd kill for that on a portable. The battles are clumsy, but I look at games as a writer and musician, and RoR feels a collab between Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Varo, Bela Bartok and Edward Gorey.

An iPad would be useful to me as a musician, but not as a writer. I don't like the resolution of the screen or the word processor's editing UI.

I'm not a pure consumer -- I get ideas and have to write them out in the middle of watching films, listening to music and reading books -- so neither the Fire nor any other Android Tablet is a viable solution for multi-tasking. So far, a Win8 tablet with a matte IPS sounds like the best compromise for users like me.

($500 non-Apple tablets too expensive? Then be patient and wait for them to get remaindered if a KF won't scratch your itch.)

[Tony1988]

Originally Posted by jocampo

The e-ink background probably is not totally white, but the overall experience is closer to reading a book. Real books do not emit light ....

I agree. Though I dont think e-ink needs to be white. All the paperbacks I have the pages are not bright white they are a either a creamy color or a grayish color. Than they turn yellow after a few years.

So I am totally agree that if you want a device that is closer to reading real books eink is the best you will get today.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by jocampo

The e-ink background probably is not totally white, but the overall experience is closer to reading a book. Real books do not emit light ....

Most real books aren't glossy either ... I never have any "glare" or "reflection" issues with a paper book.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by graycyn

Most real books aren't glossy either ... I never have any "glare" or "reflection" issues with a paper book.

Right, but the glossy effect is more noticeable on an LCD screen than e-ink.

By the way, a scientific, just for fun, lol ...all surfaces must reflect light in some way or another, so we can see those, including paper. If there is no light reflection at all, or a poor one, we can't actually see the object.

That's why when is dark or night (no ambient light) our eyes can't see very well. The light reflection is min or very low.

[mayoi]

Originally Posted by jocampo

The reason is simple and the same I gave here when I returned the Nook Color: it is too small for PDFs and Magazines.

Let's face it, most magazines were designed to be displayed or read on a 10" size; a real paper magazine is about that size as well. Pictures look better at that size. So, trying to display that on 7" is not going to work.

Exactly. This is the main reason why I'm going to get a tablet. Reading PDFs on a Kindle3 is a pain and just about the only thing I dislike about the Kindle. I was hoping that Amazon was going to announce their 10" Fire, but the projected 2012 launch, possibly at 8.9", is too little and too late for me.