(image source: Wired)
BY EVAN THOMAS
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Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet officially ships today. And tech bloggers have already put the Fire through its paces.
The Fire is a 7-inch tablet running a heavily customized version of Google’s Android operating system. It’s very focused on media consumption-- users can stream Amazon’s considerable music and video catalog straight to the device.
MSNBC says the Fire can dish out a lot of what the iPad can-- with less sticker shock.
“The Fire’s $199 price tag has a lot to do with it, so does Amazon’s full-court press of magazines, books, games, movies, TV, you name it. But the device itself also has a lot to do with the appeal. .... This isn’t an iPad. But it’s a media consumption device. And if you look at it that way, its hard to find anything wrong with it.”
But The Verge says if you want anything more than just media, you may want to look elsewhere.
“In all, the Fire is a really great tablet for $200. But it is not an iPad killer. I’m not even sure if it’s a Honeycomb killer. It’s a great little package, it will make an awesome holiday gift for a lot of people, but it doesn’t have the app support right now to warrant recommending this over something like an iPad.”
Wired says-- never mind stacking up against the iPad. The Fire won’t be able to compete at all with such anemic hardware.
“...its real-world performance and utility match neither the benchmarks of public expectation, nor the standards set by the world’s best tablets. As an assembly of physical components, the Fire lives at the bottom of the tablet food chain.”
Well, $199 only gets you so much. CNET says that may not be a lot of hardware, but the Fire does pack a lot of entertainment.
“As for what’s missing, well, there’s no GPS, no maps, no bluetooth, no cameras, no microphone, no video output, no calendar, no card slot for extra memory, and I’m probably forgetting a few things. But let’s go back to my original point. It’s $199. At that price, I think it’s a slam dunk.”
It looks like consumers think it’s a slam dunk, too. The Fire got more than a quarter million preorders, and analysts expect Amazon will ship between three and five million Fires by the end of the year.
