3 ms·

> 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: Pe

> 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.
    - rkudeshi 15y ago
      Little-known fact: the Nook Color (vastly) outsells the e-ink Nook. I was surprised too.
      - ronnoch 15y ago
        Maybe people who want e-ink just buy a Kindle.
        CamperBob 15y ago
        Or maybe people who want e-ink are a single-digit percentage of the market.
        torial 15y ago
        If a consumer does research, as I did, and looks for comparison of the eInk of the Nook and of the Kindle, you quickly discover side by side photos of the Nook and Kindle and conclude that the Kindle eInk is better (it does use a more current version of eInk than the Nook after all). If you wanted color - you with w/ the Nook because that was the option you had out of the big two, otherwise, with the Kindle.
    - officemonkey 15y ago
      I love eInk, but after reading the entire "A Song of Ice and Fire" series (all 5000+ pages) on my iPod Touch using the Kindle app, I think the right form factor and good software make a big difference.
    - kellishaver 15y ago
      eInk isn't the best solution in a lot of instances. A back-lit display is a lot more visually accessible. http://kellishaver.tumblr.com/post/10646083786/my-ipad http://kellishaver.tumblr.com/post/10646083786/my-ipad
- blinkingled 15y ago
  That's exactly right. Even the cheapest Android tablets from Archos feature 3.2 - 80 G9 for instance at $299. And you can have Kindle, Amazon MP3 and Instant Video on it as it supports Flash. So why would I want to buy a $300 Amazon tablet? That's not to say it won't sell well - brand and integration might make it work and Amazon never discloses how many Kindles they sell - but it's hard to argue Apple is going to sweat. B&N may be but not Apple and not any other Android Tablet maker.
  - danilocampos 15y ago
    Were you guys asleep when iPad launched to almost identical criticism, then sold 30 million units? The game is not about specs anymore. It's about experience. Amazon has banked a lot of credibility with regard to making great portable hardware and streamlining the content consumption experience. You're seeing this the wrong way around. People aren't going to buy this because they want a tablet. You and a few hundred thousand other people (technophiles) are the only ones who care about "tablets" that aren't the iPad. People are going to buy this because they love reading books and love watching movies. And oh, what a convenient and neat way to accomplish that task! What a great gift! etc. It's going to feel good to use. If that didn't matter to Amazon, it would be running the latest OS they could slap on it, it'd have a spec sheet a mile long, and it would cost a nose more than the iPad. But that's not their game. They're coming at it from the opposite direction. And fucking finally – Apple will have a competitor in this space who isn't a complete joke. I'm very, very excited to watch this unfold.
    - blinkingled 15y ago
      I never understood why people insist on intentionally crippled specs before jumping on the experience is everything bandwagon. Amazon has good specs for the hardware there - it would not have altered their proposition drastically to ship modern OS on it along with support for Email client and many other experience enhancing things that it comes with - UI acceleration, more app compatibility etc. It's nearly free for them. At $300 price point it behooves them to make it a full tablet along with a reader and media player. Without that it's just not a good value in my mind.
jmelloy 15y ago
Which is why it's 7", and why it doesn't have an email client on it. They're directly competing with the Nook Color, and positioning themselves as a multimedia tablet that's cheaper than an iPad. Which is in my opinion a much better idea than trying to compete on price, features AND software with the iPad. Get a couple clear differentiators - price, Kindle bookstore, multimedia content, etc - and actually compete.
- hollerith 15y ago
  Is Kindle bookstore really a differentiator? What will Kindle bookstore do that Kindle for iPad does not?
  - jonknee 15y ago
    Well for starters it will be an integrated experience, something Apple has made sure Amazon can't do on iPad. Amazon also has a lot more than books to fill the Fire with--they have a much more extensive collection of video than Apple (including free streaming content for Prime members).
    - hollerith 15y ago
      Got it. Thanks.
CamperBob 15y ago
Enough to make Apple sweat a bit. Rest assured, nothing based on Android 2.1 is going to do that.

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.
  - rkudeshi 15y ago
    Little-known fact: the Nook Color (vastly) outsells the e-ink Nook. I was surprised too.
    - ronnoch 15y ago
      Maybe people who want e-ink just buy a Kindle.
      - CamperBob 15y ago
        Or maybe people who want e-ink are a single-digit percentage of the market.
        torial 15y ago
        If a consumer does research, as I did, and looks for comparison of the eInk of the Nook and of the Kindle, you quickly discover side by side photos of the Nook and Kindle and conclude that the Kindle eInk is better (it does use a more current version of eInk than the Nook after all). If you wanted color - you with w/ the Nook because that was the option you had out of the big two, otherwise, with the Kindle.
  - officemonkey 15y ago
    I love eInk, but after reading the entire "A Song of Ice and Fire" series (all 5000+ pages) on my iPod Touch using the Kindle app, I think the right form factor and good software make a big difference.
  - kellishaver 15y ago
    eInk isn't the best solution in a lot of instances. A back-lit display is a lot more visually accessible. http://kellishaver.tumblr.com/post/10646083786/my-ipad http://kellishaver.tumblr.com/post/10646083786/my-ipad
blinkingled 15y ago
That's exactly right. Even the cheapest Android tablets from Archos feature 3.2 - 80 G9 for instance at $299. And you can have Kindle, Amazon MP3 and Instant Video on it as it supports Flash. So why would I want to buy a $300 Amazon tablet? That's not to say it won't sell well - brand and integration might make it work and Amazon never discloses how many Kindles they sell - but it's hard to argue Apple is going to sweat. B&N may be but not Apple and not any other Android Tablet maker.
- danilocampos 15y ago
  Were you guys asleep when iPad launched to almost identical criticism, then sold 30 million units? The game is not about specs anymore. It's about experience. Amazon has banked a lot of credibility with regard to making great portable hardware and streamlining the content consumption experience. You're seeing this the wrong way around. People aren't going to buy this because they want a tablet. You and a few hundred thousand other people (technophiles) are the only ones who care about "tablets" that aren't the iPad. People are going to buy this because they love reading books and love watching movies. And oh, what a convenient and neat way to accomplish that task! What a great gift! etc. It's going to feel good to use. If that didn't matter to Amazon, it would be running the latest OS they could slap on it, it'd have a spec sheet a mile long, and it would cost a nose more than the iPad. But that's not their game. They're coming at it from the opposite direction. And fucking finally – Apple will have a competitor in this space who isn't a complete joke. I'm very, very excited to watch this unfold.
  - blinkingled 15y ago
    I never understood why people insist on intentionally crippled specs before jumping on the experience is everything bandwagon. Amazon has good specs for the hardware there - it would not have altered their proposition drastically to ship modern OS on it along with support for Email client and many other experience enhancing things that it comes with - UI acceleration, more app compatibility etc. It's nearly free for them. At $300 price point it behooves them to make it a full tablet along with a reader and media player. Without that it's just not a good value in my mind.

jmelloy 15y ago

Which is why it's 7", and why it doesn't have an email client on it. They're directly competing with the Nook Color, and positioning themselves as a multimedia tablet that's cheaper than an iPad. Which is in my opinion a much better idea than trying to compete on price, features AND software with the iPad. Get a couple clear differentiators - price, Kindle bookstore, multimedia content, etc - and actually compete.

hollerith 15y ago
Is Kindle bookstore really a differentiator? What will Kindle bookstore do that Kindle for iPad does not?
- jonknee 15y ago
  Well for starters it will be an integrated experience, something Apple has made sure Amazon can't do on iPad. Amazon also has a lot more than books to fill the Fire with--they have a much more extensive collection of video than Apple (including free streaming content for Prime members).
  - hollerith 15y ago
    Got it. Thanks.

CamperBob 15y ago

Enough to make Apple sweat a bit. Rest assured, nothing based on Android 2.1 is going to do that.