7 ms·

"based on Android 2.1" Ugh. Android is after all cursed on the Tablet and Amazon is just doing their bit. Very disappointing - ridiculous in fact given there s

"based on Android 2.1" Ugh. Android is after all cursed on the Tablet and Amazon is just doing their bit. Very disappointing - ridiculous in fact given there should be literally no excuse to put 2.1 on modern hardware. Oh and no Email client and no Google integration if that wasn't enough. [Edit] Consider JIT (2.2+) and low pause GC (2.3+) that they will be missing. Also consider Flash support which is also 2.2+. Then there is competition from the likes of Archos and you can take their $299 Honeycomb 3.2 tablet and run everything Amazon has to offer on it - Kindle, MP3, Instant video etc.

stuartjmoore 15y ago
I'm not an Android dev (yet), but does it matter much outside of the UI? Honeycomb isn't open source, so 2.* is all they can use without talking to Google. Seeing as how Ice Cream Sandwich is meant to better unify the APIs, I don't mind if they skip Honeycomb as long as they do get on track eventually.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- joebadmo 15y ago
  It matters a bit. With 2.2 (Froyo), they added a JIT Compiler that, in my experience (upgrading from 2.1 to 2.2), resulted in a drastic performance improvement. [Edit: This was on my phone. Sibling response from stonemetal provides interesting counterpoint.]
- angryasian 15y ago
  yes android 2.2 and 2.3 introduces significant performance improvements, that are definitely noticeable. Just moving from froyo to gingerbread, feels like a new phone.
  - fpgeek 15y ago
    Ditto. I wasn't expecting much from Gingerbread on my G2 and I was pleasantly surprised.
- stonemetal 15y ago
  When the nook went from 2.1 to 2.2 there wasn't a noticeable difference in responsiveness. So my guess is it was a big benchmark win but not a big usability win unless you were trying to do number crunching on a tablet.
  - blinkingled 15y ago
    I had noticeably less UI stutter and freezes going from 2.1 to 2.2 on my Nexus One. 2.3 made it a new phone - the low pause GC really makes a difference for UI responsiveness.
mcpherrinm 15y ago
2.1 isn't surprising, since they forked a while ago. The GUI will be completely Amazon-built, so the the version of Android probably won't matter all that much to end-users. Since this is all speculation, we'll have to see when the device is unveiled.
- runevault 15y ago
  Except for the massive speed difference that comes from the JIT which arrived in 2.2
  - moe 15y ago
    There's really only two tablet speeds; "smooth" (ipad) and "jaggy" (android). If amazon makes their tablet "smooth" then that will be an achievement independently and despite of android - not due to a specific android version. And before the android-fanboys crawl out of the woodwork: The "next version" is always supposed to finally solve the lags, by virtue of some awesome software-fix or raw dual-core power. However, just today I used an SGS2. The latest "next version", dual-core and all. And guess what: It lagged.
    - CrazedGeek 15y ago
      Having used an SGS2 (the Sprint variant) for the past few days, you're crazy. If anything, it's almost a little too fast.
      - moe 15y ago
        Give it a few weeks. It has an unfortunate tendency to degrade over time.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
danilocampos 15y ago
> Very disappointing - ridiculous in fact given there should be literally no excuse to put 2.1 on a modern hardware. There's a more than reasonable reason: Perhaps Amazon's project froze that portion of the code at some point during 2010. They're shipping v1 of a brand new product based on heavily customized code. At some point, you need to eliminate moving targets if you're ever going to ship. Amazon's use of Android here is almost an implementation detail. They want to sell you a Kindle so you'll buy content. They're not trying to sell an Android tablet. As a result, I think they're going to sell a ton of them. Enough to make Apple sweat a bit. Very exciting. Corresponding edit: >[Edit] Consider JIT (2.2+) and low pause GC (2.3+) that they will be missing. Also consider Flash support which is also 2.2+. Then there is competition from the likes of Archos and you can take their $299 Honeycomb 3.2 tablet and run everything Amazon has to offer on it - Kindle, MP3, Instant video etc. "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
- monochromatic 15y ago
  That line of reasoning might fly for a $100 tablet. For a $300 tablet, it does not.
  - danilocampos 15y ago
    > That line of reasoning might fly for a $100 tablet. For a $300 tablet, it does not. I agree completely. But this isn't a tablet. This is a Kindle. That's why it's the "Kindle Fire" not the "Amazon 7" Tablet Buddy Pro S 1.0." It's going to be exceptionally good at doing Kindle things: reading books, listening to music, streaming movies – and paying for the privilege. They're going to sell a shitload of these things. They know how to make a great experience around content.
    - megablast 15y ago
      Unless it uses color eInk, it is not going to be that good at reading books.
      - 15y ago
sliverstorm 15y ago
Notice their choice in words- it is based on Android 2.1. They didn't say it runs Android 2.1.
kenjackson 15y ago
Very disappointing - ridiculous in fact given there should be literally no excuse to put 2.1 on modern hardware. Amazon's a pretty big SW company. I wouldn't be surprised if they started their fork with 2.1, but will bare no resemblance to it. Amazon may have their own internal Android fork built up now and may not merge back with the Google version of Android. I don't think Amazon wants Google to control their destiny. And considering what Google has done in their 3.x branch (none of which is very impressive), Amazon may well believe they can out execute Google. And considering how few Android tablets have shipped, Amazon could really quickly dominate the Android tablet market -- and then be the one calling the shots.
- blinkingled 15y ago
  Sure, but what happens when Google's Android market place remains dominant, they release new versions of Android for Tablet and SmartPhone that become incompatible with Amazon's version of Amadroid? It doesn't have to be forever - if new games, new high-demand software is released for Android phones and Tabelts, even if it takes 6 months for Amazon to make their OS compatible and 6 more for app developers to put out their apps on Amazon App Store - they lose. Amazon doesn't make phones - Google and its partners do and that's where most of the Android app ecosystem is focused. I honestly don't think Amazon will take that risk - their changes are going to be cleanly designed such that they can pull Google's AOSP code, merge their changes and crank out their own updates. I can't see Amazon developing 2.1 code base without merging Google's bits from newer releases - there is just no way they are going to be able to catch up with all the stuff Google and co. are putting in Android - they will never have that kind of expertise unless they hire people from Google/Android team which I find somewhat far fetched. Keeping up with the releases from 2.1 and going to 4.0 is going to be a huge pain. And that will be required for compatibility sooner or later.
  - jonknee 15y ago
    > Sure, but what happens when Google's Android market place remains dominant, they release new versions of Android for Tablet and SmartPhone that become incompatible with Amazon's version of Amadroid? Nothing will happen. Kindle Fire users will continue to read their books, watch their movies / tv shows and browse the web as before. This is being marketed as a Kindle for a reason.

stuartjmoore 15y ago

I'm not an Android dev (yet), but does it matter much outside of the UI? Honeycomb isn't open source, so 2.* is all they can use without talking to Google. Seeing as how Ice Cream Sandwich is meant to better unify the APIs, I don't mind if they skip Honeycomb as long as they do get on track eventually.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
joebadmo 15y ago
It matters a bit. With 2.2 (Froyo), they added a JIT Compiler that, in my experience (upgrading from 2.1 to 2.2), resulted in a drastic performance improvement. [Edit: This was on my phone. Sibling response from stonemetal provides interesting counterpoint.]
angryasian 15y ago
yes android 2.2 and 2.3 introduces significant performance improvements, that are definitely noticeable. Just moving from froyo to gingerbread, feels like a new phone.
- fpgeek 15y ago
  Ditto. I wasn't expecting much from Gingerbread on my G2 and I was pleasantly surprised.
stonemetal 15y ago
When the nook went from 2.1 to 2.2 there wasn't a noticeable difference in responsiveness. So my guess is it was a big benchmark win but not a big usability win unless you were trying to do number crunching on a tablet.
- blinkingled 15y ago
  I had noticeably less UI stutter and freezes going from 2.1 to 2.2 on my Nexus One. 2.3 made it a new phone - the low pause GC really makes a difference for UI responsiveness.

mcpherrinm 15y ago

2.1 isn't surprising, since they forked a while ago. The GUI will be completely Amazon-built, so the the version of Android probably won't matter all that much to end-users. Since this is all speculation, we'll have to see when the device is unveiled.

runevault 15y ago
Except for the massive speed difference that comes from the JIT which arrived in 2.2
- moe 15y ago
  There's really only two tablet speeds; "smooth" (ipad) and "jaggy" (android). If amazon makes their tablet "smooth" then that will be an achievement independently and despite of android - not due to a specific android version. And before the android-fanboys crawl out of the woodwork: The "next version" is always supposed to finally solve the lags, by virtue of some awesome software-fix or raw dual-core power. However, just today I used an SGS2. The latest "next version", dual-core and all. And guess what: It lagged.
  - CrazedGeek 15y ago
    Having used an SGS2 (the Sprint variant) for the past few days, you're crazy. If anything, it's almost a little too fast.
    - moe 15y ago
      Give it a few weeks. It has an unfortunate tendency to degrade over time.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

danilocampos 15y ago

> Very disappointing - ridiculous in fact given there should be literally no excuse to put 2.1 on a modern hardware. There's a more than reasonable reason: Perhaps Amazon's project froze that portion of the code at some point during 2010. They're shipping v1 of a brand new product based on heavily customized code. At some point, you need to eliminate moving targets if you're ever going to ship. Amazon's use of Android here is almost an implementation detail. They want to sell you a Kindle so you'll buy content. They're not trying to sell an Android tablet. As a result, I think they're going to sell a ton of them. Enough to make Apple sweat a bit. Very exciting. Corresponding edit: >[Edit] Consider JIT (2.2+) and low pause GC (2.3+) that they will be missing. Also consider Flash support which is also 2.2+. Then there is competition from the likes of Archos and you can take their $299 Honeycomb 3.2 tablet and run everything Amazon has to offer on it - Kindle, MP3, Instant video etc. "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

monochromatic 15y ago
That line of reasoning might fly for a $100 tablet. For a $300 tablet, it does not.
- danilocampos 15y ago
  > That line of reasoning might fly for a $100 tablet. For a $300 tablet, it does not. I agree completely. But this isn't a tablet. This is a Kindle. That's why it's the "Kindle Fire" not the "Amazon 7" Tablet Buddy Pro S 1.0." It's going to be exceptionally good at doing Kindle things: reading books, listening to music, streaming movies – and paying for the privilege. They're going to sell a shitload of these things. They know how to make a great experience around content.
  - megablast 15y ago
    Unless it uses color eInk, it is not going to be that good at reading books.
    - 15y ago

sliverstorm 15y ago

Notice their choice in words- it is based on Android 2.1. They didn't say it runs Android 2.1.

kenjackson 15y ago

Very disappointing - ridiculous in fact given there should be literally no excuse to put 2.1 on modern hardware. Amazon's a pretty big SW company. I wouldn't be surprised if they started their fork with 2.1, but will bare no resemblance to it. Amazon may have their own internal Android fork built up now and may not merge back with the Google version of Android. I don't think Amazon wants Google to control their destiny. And considering what Google has done in their 3.x branch (none of which is very impressive), Amazon may well believe they can out execute Google. And considering how few Android tablets have shipped, Amazon could really quickly dominate the Android tablet market -- and then be the one calling the shots.

blinkingled 15y ago
Sure, but what happens when Google's Android market place remains dominant, they release new versions of Android for Tablet and SmartPhone that become incompatible with Amazon's version of Amadroid? It doesn't have to be forever - if new games, new high-demand software is released for Android phones and Tabelts, even if it takes 6 months for Amazon to make their OS compatible and 6 more for app developers to put out their apps on Amazon App Store - they lose. Amazon doesn't make phones - Google and its partners do and that's where most of the Android app ecosystem is focused. I honestly don't think Amazon will take that risk - their changes are going to be cleanly designed such that they can pull Google's AOSP code, merge their changes and crank out their own updates. I can't see Amazon developing 2.1 code base without merging Google's bits from newer releases - there is just no way they are going to be able to catch up with all the stuff Google and co. are putting in Android - they will never have that kind of expertise unless they hire people from Google/Android team which I find somewhat far fetched. Keeping up with the releases from 2.1 and going to 4.0 is going to be a huge pain. And that will be required for compatibility sooner or later.
- jonknee 15y ago
  > Sure, but what happens when Google's Android market place remains dominant, they release new versions of Android for Tablet and SmartPhone that become incompatible with Amazon's version of Amadroid? Nothing will happen. Kindle Fire users will continue to read their books, watch their movies / tv shows and browse the web as before. This is being marketed as a Kindle for a reason.