Today's New York Times is reporting that the new Amazon Kindle Fire is just shy of a complete failure. David Streitfeld's Personal Tech column is entitled "As Kindle Fire Faces Critics, Remedies Are Promised", but look closely at that url and you can see the original title of the piece: "amazon's-fire-some-say-may-become-the-edsel-of-tablets".
The piece touts user complaints and extensively quotes UI design crank Jakob Nielsen who has said that the Kindle is a "disappointingly poor" experience and that he feels "the Fire is going to be a failure. I can't recommend buying it."
I pre-ordered a Kindle Fire the day that they were announced, even as an Apple fanboy and long-time owner of an iPad and then, more recently, an iPad 2. Do I feel the Fire is "the Edsel of Tablets"? Most assuredly not. In fact, there's lots about it to like.
Key Complaints About the Kindle Fire
Users are criticizing the Android user interface, as adapted to the Kindle Fire. The entire user experience is touch-screen based, including volume control, jumping to the home area of the system, and more. If you're used to the iPad, it's a bit disconcerting to not have any physical buttons on the device itself, but like anything else new, it's just a matter of getting the hang of it. I find the system adjustments (brightness, volume, etc) very straightforward, albeit different than the iPad. For that matter, it's a lot more tricky to adjust the brightness on an iPad than on the Kindle Fire.
There are also what I consider more legitimate gripes, including lack of multiple accounts (a failing with all Apple iOS devices too), sluggish performance and a lack of parental controls. The touch screen is also occasionally slow. I agree with all of those, and add another one: the addition of an SD Card reader would dramatically improve the Fire because then you wouldn't realize it only has a minuscule 5GB of storage. Add a movie, a few favorite CDs and some photos and it's full.
But let's be candid, the biggest thing going for the Kindle Fire is its pricetag. For $199 it really is a sort of iPad Jr. in a lot of ways, including an app store full of great games and utilities, a fully-functional (albeit slow) Web browser, the ability to play movies, stream TV and serve as a beautiful photo viewer and PDF reader, as well as a Kindle ebook reader. Apple has iBooks, but the Kindle experience is still superior and it remains ironic that the Kindle app for the iPad is better -- in my opinion, at least -- than Apple's own solution.
Nielsen raises some good points about the user experience, but I can't help wonder if he's used any Android device prior to his grandstanding predictions about the Kindle Fire. The Android experience is less seamless than Apple's iOS, the apps are less consistent in their user experience, and the Fire itself? It is underpowered. But the pricetag reflects that.
To wrap this up, I'm not sure what the problem is. Could Amazon release a glorious $399 Kindle Fire Plus, with more storage space, external volume control and a faster processor? Of course. But is that what the market seeks, and is that in alignment with its goals to make the Kindle pervasive? I don't think so.
Sorry, on this one, Nielsen, you're wrong. The Kindle Fire won't be the next Edsel by any stretch, but instead an important and valuable milestone on the evolution of tablets, the first viable and popular non-Apple tablet on the market...
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Five problems and their solution.
1) Power button is hit accidentally. Yeah it happens, laugh and start it again. (It's harder to bump in a Fire cover.)
2) Carousel shows my sexually suggestive content. The fix is coming in a week or two just like we all predicted.
3) No volume control button. $5 inline headphone volume control.
4) Hard to control with big fingers. Not really but the Amazon stylus for $10 makes it a bit easier.
5) It does not act like an Ipad and I cannot find the app to wash, fold and put away my clothes. Examine your magical thinking.
These are really funny First World Problems unlike Third World Problems like sanitation and food. Silly people.
Also for those complaining that it's a Amazon ploy for buying merchandise through them, well DUH! Same could be said for any iOS or other Android tablet. The Fire doesn't block you from shopping online at other retailers nor does it stop you from streaming your videos & music from other sources such as Pandora or Hulu. So stop saying it's a locked format.
For $200 it;s quite the deal if you go in with reasonable expectations of what a $200 7 inch tablet can do vs a $500 10 inch one!!
It does all that Apple and Kindle do for a quarter of the price.
www.computergeeks.com
2) The apps are available to anybody with a Kindle Fire. So maybe you are getting mixed up with the monochrome non-Android Kindle devices again?
3) I bought the Kindle Fire because it's a great value for what it can do, not because of some imaginary competition.
4) Micro-USB cables are a common comodity - you can get them at Walmart or Target for a couple bucks. I probably have about a dozen laying around, but I haven't found the need to use them in 2 months of Kindle Fire ownership. I can do everything I need to do wirelessly. Then again, I'm not trying to root it or side-load apps.
5) It was not designed or priced to function as a PC - the Apple & Samsung tablets don't function as PC's either, even though they are priced like them.
6) "The Kindle really is only worth $200.... ". What luck - that's exactly how it was priced!
Think about it -- a bunch of people who own $600+ tablets staring with contempt at what they argue isn't a $200 rival. But isn't that the best part of it?
Sort of like the guy who just dropped $60,000 for a BMW telling his girlfriend why the $20,000 Toyota doesn't compare.
I own all sorts of Apple computer products and love them for what they do. I don't have an iPad because it was ALWAYS too big for what I needed it to do.
Now I have a right-sized media tablet that gives me the International Tribune in Kindle Reader format, movies, the internet - etc etc. I don't see what the problem is.
They guy in the Toyota isn't looking over wishing he bought a BMW -- what the heck you staring at him for???
Now for the issue that the people complaining about drive me crazy - storage capacity size. I knew when I purchased it that it only held 8gb with the ability to interchange with the cloud (for free). So, for people to be complaining that it does not hold much......duh. If you didn't read about the storage size (an important issue that should be considered prior to purchase) and ordered anyway, then it is time to suck it up and admit that you are irresponsible and take ownership of your own actions. I use mine to stream Amazon Prime videos (for free - Apple does not do this), use the Kindle reader for books, and yes, play games. I ran out of icon space on my iPad and was told to create folders. I have been assured this will not happen on my Fire - it will let me keep my icons the way that I want them not the way the company wants them. Amazon even gives away a "paid app" every day to every user.
I am keeping my Fire and giving my wife the iPad.
There will always be people who like the Fire and others who don't. One can only balance the pros and cons and weigh up the product to fit their own circumstances.One review site I liked and helped me make a decision on where to buy the Kindle Fire, was at this link
That said if you can afford something better, go for it!