Kindle Fire reviews now coming in.

[Doppel]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/amazon-kindle-fire-review/

The Kindle Fire is quite an achievement at $200..When stacked up against other popular tablets, the Fire can't compete...Stacked up against an iPad 2 the Fire routinely got beat in rendering pages -- but often not by much. ...So, the Kindle Fire is great value and perhaps the best, tightest integration of digital content acquisition into a mobile device that we've yet seen.

http://www.wired.com/reviews/2011/11/kindle-fire/

The Fire isn’t a dud, but its real-world performance and utility match neither the benchmarks of public expectation, nor the standards set by the world’s best tablets...web page load times took anywhere from 100 to 300 percent longer on the Fire relative to an iPad 2

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/14/8790557-kindle-fire-review-yes-its-that-good

it's tight...Fire's Silk browser is nice and quick...Kindle Fire is well worth its amazingly low price.

 

[Oyeve]

Nice. I wish they wouldnt be so hard on it tho. Its a reader first and foremost but it appears they review it as a tablet. Still decent tho.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Looks like a good tablet to throw in your bag for work, etc...

That's the plan for mine.

No eTrade app going to send an email to eTrade about that right now

 

[shortylickens]

Those are nice reading but I dont take them too seriously.
They have an agenda.

When it comes out retail and normal people have it & start posting unofficial reviews, then I'll care.
Those folks are much more objective.

Oh, and this is the only device I ever pre-ordered in my whole life, and I intend to give a good once over, twice.

 

[Doppel]

Nice. I wish they wouldnt be so hard on it tho. Its a reader first and foremost but it appears they review it as a tablet. Still decent tho.

That's the market it's in though; it considers itself a tablet even if it doesn't quite call itself one. On amazon's fire page four of the first five pre-release quotes compare it to ipad in price and one of the five calls it a tablet, so it does consider itself one.

 

[shortylickens]

Nice. I wish they wouldnt be so hard on it tho. Its a reader first and foremost but it appears they review it as a tablet. Still decent tho.

Its much more than a reader.
Their reader only costs 79 dollars so they better have a darn good read to charge 200 for this thing. Thats why the reviews are harsh. Color screen, dual core processor, claims of movie watching and android apps. You better be able to stand with the big boys if you're gonna boast those features.
No one is saying it needs to trump the iPad 2, but it better offer good value for the money.

 

[roguerower]

After reading the engadget review (I like engadget, even if they are a bit Apple biased) it sounds like they reviewed it fairly. It's a solid offering for $200 but there are a couple of items missing (had to happen on a budget platform), and there are a couple of tweaks that need to be made by the UI. I agree with their critique of the carousel (from the review only, I don't own a fire), and I agree with their overall review.

You start tacking on the things people are used to seeing in a tablet and the price begins to rise. A solid entry level product establishes them in the market and allows them to move forward with bigger and better devices. Same intro path that Apple followed, i.e. ipod->itouch->iphone->ipad vs. kindle->kindle dx->kindle fire->*who knows*.

Personally I won't be buying one because it's missing a forward facing camera and the storage is limited. I also don't want to limit myself to just Amazon's offerings. If I get a tablet (not probable since I just bought a Thinkpad x120e) it'll be the Transformer Prime or nothing.

 

[ponyo]

man, the reviews have me nervous. Maybe I should cancel my order while I still can. I thought it would be great gift for clients but now after reading the reviews I don't know. I was trusting Amazon for iPad smooth like experience but reports are saying otherwise. Ugh.

I do know after the reviews, Fire is definitely not a tablet for me. Way too limited and dumb down. I guess you do get what you pay for.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Damn it, watched the videos that have been posted, the thing is a lagfest

Now I'm considering canceling the thing...

 

[ponyo]

Damn it, watched the videos that have been posted, the thing is a lagfest

Now I'm considering canceling the thing...

Are there any other videos besides the Engadget browser performance test video? Amazon was touting its Silk browser performance and how it could benefit the end user. I saw none of that. The only thing I saw was major lag while doing basic pinch to zoom. That's unacceptable today even for $200 tablet IMO.

 

[Deeko]

Damn it, watched the videos that have been posted, the thing is a lagfest

Now I'm considering canceling the thing...

Yea, that was mt biggest concern with this thing...that it would have that lag, especially the browser. I was planning on replacing my PlayBook with the Fire, but say what you will about it, the PlayBook (with the same hardware) is incredibly smooth.

Hmm.

 

[Pliablemoose]

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/14/2560084/kindle-fire-review

Josh calls the browser "clunky" That's important to me since I'd be using the browser a lot... Amazon won't go with a different browser since they want to track your use...

Maybe a rooted nook tablet is what I want...

 

[MrX8503]

What kind of dual core SOC does the Kindle Fire have? I would have thought that the lag would be minimal.

 

[Deeko]

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/14/2560084/kindle-fire-review

Josh calls the browser "clunky" That's important to me since I'd be using the browser a lot... Amazon won't go with a different browser since they want to track your use...

Maybe a rooted nook tablet is what I want...

Well, Opera Mobile and Opera Mini are both currently available in the Amazon app store. Solid alternative.

 

[ponyo]

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/14/2560084/kindle-fire-review

Josh calls the browser "clunky" That's important to me since I'd be using the browser a lot... Amazon won't go with a different browser since they want to track your use...

Maybe a rooted nook tablet is what I want...

ok. Thanks for that link. The video review I saw there calmed much of my fears. I did see slight hesitation here and there but the user interface looked decent and easy to use. Overall, the performance looks more than acceptable for the people I'm buying it for. I just don't want people to hate the device I give them. I don't want to be known as the guy who gave cheap iPad knockoff gift.

 

[Dulanic]

It looks very easy to use... the perfect match to Amazon's target. I agree this likely is not a power user's tablet until it gets CM7 etc... However, I think this is perfect for the average user.

However, with that said, I do agree they should have a 16GB & 32GB version.

 

[jaydee]

If you're on wifi all the time, this looks to be it. I am not however, so the Nook Tablet is probably going to be the better option for me. Keep in mind you're getting about 80% of the functionality for 40-50% of the price of the other android tablets.

What I really want to know, is how easy will it be to root either of these devices to get stock android? And do they have the guts to run 3.0 and up?

 

[Pliablemoose]

Too late to cancel for me...

 

[Bateluer]

What kind of dual core SOC does the Kindle Fire have? I would have thought that the lag would be minimal.

OMAP4430, I believe.

They were touting and hyping the performance of their Silk browser, they'd better be releasing some updates/firmware to address this pretty quick.

 

[chinky2]

I did see slight hesitation here and there but the user interface looked decent and easy to use

 

[alent1234]

Nice. I wish they wouldnt be so hard on it tho. Its a reader first and foremost but it appears they review it as a tablet. Still decent tho.

same thing when i bought my CR-V last year. all the auto magazines complained of poor power and other crap that CR-V buyer don't care about. and it's one of my most seen cars on the street along with insane residual values

millions of people bought the Fire because it's good at what it does

 

[AstroManLuca]

same thing when i bought my CR-V last year. all the auto magazines complained of poor power and other crap that CR-V buyer don't care about. and it's one of my most seen cars on the street along with insane residual values

millions of people bought the Fire because it's good at what it does

That's where Consumer Reports comes in. They don't give a crap about power and performance as long as it's good enough to get up to merging speed and won't roll over in an emergency handling test.

 

[shortylickens]

IT SHIPPED! fap fap fap fap!

 

[mashimaroo]

i think ill have to play with one hands on before i really know if i like it or not. It is getting some good reviews though

 

[s44]

(I like engadget, even if they are a bit Apple biased)

Actually, it seems that the hardcore Apple fanboys have established themselves at The Virge. So Engadget is actually readable now.

Obviously these reviews aren't really meant for the average buyer, but they do suggest that a power user might be better off with a NC2 or the Transformer BF deal.