Kindle Blog
Is it a jumped-up e-reader, a cut-price iPad or nothing more than a portable shop window for Amazon’s endless shelves? The Kindle Fire blunders into the tablet wars with something to annoy everyone: an LCD screen to irritate E Ink fans; a GPS-less, camera-less, Bluetooth-less spec to infuriate the techies; and a closed, corporate retail interface that makes a mockery of Android’s open source roots.
And yet Jeff Bezos can’t seem to make enough of them: Amazon will ship several million Fires to cash-conscious consumers this Christmas. At 7-inches in size and under $200 in the US (no UK release plans yet), this top-of-the-range Kindle could be the perfect stocking filler for the mass market eager to embrace our tablety future. Or at the very least, the first in a new wave of tightly integrated devices that don’t need a second mortgage to buy in to.
Substance over style
Anyone hoping for a design as ground-breaking and eye-catching as the original Kindle should adjust their expectations. Whether or not the Fire was designed by Amazon’s ultra-secret “Lab 126” just up the road from Apple in Cupertino, it has all the charm and subtlety of Yorkie bar.
Its best angle is from the rear, where a hard rubberised case has nicely rounded corners and a Kindle logo etched into it. Around the front, it is at least clear and functional, with a small bezel and a tiny rubber seal between the glass and the glossy surround.
The power button, micro-USB port and headphone socket are on one short edge - the Fire’s lack of directionality means you can call it the bottom (if you want the Kindle logo to read the right way up to others) or the top (if you want the headphone cable out of the way). Despite its low price, build quality is very good. The Fire’s 413 grams and 11.4mm thickness are more than you’d want for extended reading with one hand but they do at least provide solidity and rigidity.
Lucky seven
You can look at the 7-inch, 1024x600 display as either a serious step down from 10-inch tablets for viewing websites and videos, or a jump up from previous Kindles’ 6-inch screens for reading. Either way, it’s hard not to be impressed at the colour, clarity and viewing angle that Amazon squeezes from what must be a budget display.
The power button, micro-USB port and headphone socket are on one short edge - the Fire’s lack of directionality means you can call it the bottom (if you want the Kindle logo to read the right way up to others) or the top (if you want the headphone cable out of the way). Despite its low price, build quality is very good. The Fire’s 413 grams and 11.4mm thickness are more than you’d want for extended reading with one hand but they do at least provide solidity and rigidity.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment