4 ms·

The big question will is: how long will the Kindle Fire last? That is to say, will this initial model still be the model sold in 6, 12, 24 months time? If Ama

by mdasen 15y ago

The big question will is: how long will the Kindle Fire last? That is to say, will this initial model still be the model sold in 6, 12, 24 months time? If Amazon can make people think of the Kindle Fire not as a piece of technology that is quickly out of date, but a bit of a premium device (albeit at a cut-rate price) that isn't going to feel old in a year, the economics will get much better over the product's life-cycle. Given that the specs on the device are pretty good (dual-core processor, display with IPS) yet nebulous (I haven't seen a stated resolution, processor clock speed, or RAM amount), it's possible that Amazon wants people to think of this as a product that won't change as quickly as, say, Android devices change. Amazon also has the option to exert a decent amount of control over the platform since they're doing both the hardware and the software and I think the Silk browser is part of that desire to move things that would be spec dependent off the device itself to ensure greater hardware longevity. If Amazon is still selling this model 1-2 years from now, they'll be in a decent position. If people obsess over specs rather than wanting to buy into an "Amazon experience" or similar, less-spec-driven purchase process, then Amazon might not be in as good a place given the low to negative margins at release.

av500 15y ago
CPU is an OMAP4, dual core A9 at 2x1GHz. The CPU is pretty good and can e.g. encode/decode full HD easily. RAM should be 1GB which the new iPhone is rumoured to come out with, so it should be good for 2-3 years... In total the HW platform is pretty solid, it's not a relabeled cheap Chinese tablet...
- majorlazer 15y ago
  RAM is actually 512MB. Which is rather low by today's standards. But as long as they strip the Android OS to run only what is needed, not like the bloated crap that's coming from the major carriers, it should be enough for most cases.
  - jonknee 15y ago
    That's what the iPad 2 has and it doesn't seem tight on memory.
- polshaw 15y ago
  I believe these chips can decode full HD in realtime because they have hardware acceleration for this. Remember, not even an intel dual core @ 1ghz could decode full HD in software in realtime.
hugacow 15y ago
Apple made their big money in the past 10 years really because of the combination of content available and style. People still want style, but the style market is already owned by Apple. Apple doesn't own everyone, because not everyone can afford or buy into it. For the past two years, various companies have captured a big part of rest of the market, but data plans, etc. are still prohibitively expensive, so not everyone has either an Android or iOS device. But, here comes Amazon. It has an extremely large part of the market already, and now they are going to pick up all of the people that couldn't drop $500 for an iPad. AND they say if you get Prime, you have unlimited streaming movies. It is a no-brainer.
baddox 15y ago
The screen resolution, according to Amazon's own product page, is a (standard but unimpressive) 1024 x 600.
sliverstorm 15y ago
I haven't seen a stated resolution, processor clock speed, or RAM amount Amazon has already set a precedent of operating like this, so I am not surprised. I am a techie with a head for specs. I've owned my Kindle 2 ever since the day it was released, and I haven't the foggiest idea what CPU it has, how much RAM it's got, or even how much flash it has or what version of the Linux kernel it uses. It's just a Kindle 2. They don't hide the specs, but they (rather honestly) only talk about the specs that actually matter, and leave the other stuff in the wings. I figure it's part of their strategy of marketing to ordinary folk- not too different from Nintendo's marketing of the Wii, as compared to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. To give you an idea of specs that "actually matter"- while I know nothing about the internal specs of a Kindle, I know (thanks to Amazon marketing) that the Kindle 3 has a 50% better contrast ratio than the Kindle 2, page turns were some 20% faster, and battery life was improved. Upon seeing one, I saw it was noticably smaller too. I think you'll agree that in a Kindle, these specs are far more relevant and honest than clock speed or resolution.
- Dylan16807 15y ago
  Still, screen resolution is one of the most important details. Up there with battery life.
  - apetrovic 15y ago
    It's 1024x600. Go to Kindle Fire page, scroll down to "Technical Details". "Battery life" is just a few paragraphs below.
  - smackfu 15y ago
    They never give resolution info for the original Kindle.
brudgers 15y ago
>"The big question will is: how long will the Kindle Fire last?" I'm not convinced that question has much relevance regarding the Fire because it has little relevance in regards to Amazon. If the Fire2 comes out next February, Amazon will still see it as just another device upon which they can sell content and their customers will see it as little more than the latest "super Kindle." Unlike HP, Amazon can make money with content and has the experience to do so (One might even argue that they are in a far better position to make money with content than even Apple given Amazon's relationships with content providers and the extent of Amazon's cloud infrastructure). Of course, one might argue otherwise as well. However, Amazon has a history of investing for the long haul and a more powerful consumer oriented tablet is certainly consistent with that history.
BlazingFrog 15y ago
Don't know where they got the specs or even if they are accurate: http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/28/compare-ipad-2-kindle-fire/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+osxdaily+%28OS+X+Daily%29 http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/28/compare-ipad-2-kindle-fire/?u...
WalterBright 15y ago
>I haven't seen a stated resolution Right from Amazon's page on the Kindle Fire: 7" multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors. Not hard to find.

by mdasen 15y ago

av500 15y ago

CPU is an OMAP4, dual core A9 at 2x1GHz. The CPU is pretty good and can e.g. encode/decode full HD easily. RAM should be 1GB which the new iPhone is rumoured to come out with, so it should be good for 2-3 years... In total the HW platform is pretty solid, it's not a relabeled cheap Chinese tablet...

majorlazer 15y ago
RAM is actually 512MB. Which is rather low by today's standards. But as long as they strip the Android OS to run only what is needed, not like the bloated crap that's coming from the major carriers, it should be enough for most cases.
- jonknee 15y ago
  That's what the iPad 2 has and it doesn't seem tight on memory.
polshaw 15y ago
I believe these chips can decode full HD in realtime because they have hardware acceleration for this. Remember, not even an intel dual core @ 1ghz could decode full HD in software in realtime.

hugacow 15y ago

Apple made their big money in the past 10 years really because of the combination of content available and style. People still want style, but the style market is already owned by Apple. Apple doesn't own everyone, because not everyone can afford or buy into it. For the past two years, various companies have captured a big part of rest of the market, but data plans, etc. are still prohibitively expensive, so not everyone has either an Android or iOS device. But, here comes Amazon. It has an extremely large part of the market already, and now they are going to pick up all of the people that couldn't drop $500 for an iPad. AND they say if you get Prime, you have unlimited streaming movies. It is a no-brainer.

baddox 15y ago

The screen resolution, according to Amazon's own product page, is a (standard but unimpressive) 1024 x 600.

sliverstorm 15y ago

I haven't seen a stated resolution, processor clock speed, or RAM amount Amazon has already set a precedent of operating like this, so I am not surprised. I am a techie with a head for specs. I've owned my Kindle 2 ever since the day it was released, and I haven't the foggiest idea what CPU it has, how much RAM it's got, or even how much flash it has or what version of the Linux kernel it uses. It's just a Kindle 2. They don't hide the specs, but they (rather honestly) only talk about the specs that actually matter, and leave the other stuff in the wings. I figure it's part of their strategy of marketing to ordinary folk- not too different from Nintendo's marketing of the Wii, as compared to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. To give you an idea of specs that "actually matter"- while I know nothing about the internal specs of a Kindle, I know (thanks to Amazon marketing) that the Kindle 3 has a 50% better contrast ratio than the Kindle 2, page turns were some 20% faster, and battery life was improved. Upon seeing one, I saw it was noticably smaller too. I think you'll agree that in a Kindle, these specs are far more relevant and honest than clock speed or resolution.

Dylan16807 15y ago
Still, screen resolution is one of the most important details. Up there with battery life.
- apetrovic 15y ago
  It's 1024x600. Go to Kindle Fire page, scroll down to "Technical Details". "Battery life" is just a few paragraphs below.
- smackfu 15y ago
  They never give resolution info for the original Kindle.

brudgers 15y ago

>"The big question will is: how long will the Kindle Fire last?" I'm not convinced that question has much relevance regarding the Fire because it has little relevance in regards to Amazon. If the Fire2 comes out next February, Amazon will still see it as just another device upon which they can sell content and their customers will see it as little more than the latest "super Kindle." Unlike HP, Amazon can make money with content and has the experience to do so (One might even argue that they are in a far better position to make money with content than even Apple given Amazon's relationships with content providers and the extent of Amazon's cloud infrastructure). Of course, one might argue otherwise as well. However, Amazon has a history of investing for the long haul and a more powerful consumer oriented tablet is certainly consistent with that history.

BlazingFrog 15y ago

Don't know where they got the specs or even if they are accurate: http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/28/compare-ipad-2-kindle-fire/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+osxdaily+%28OS+X+Daily%29 http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/28/compare-ipad-2-kindle-fire/?u...

WalterBright 15y ago

>I haven't seen a stated resolution Right from Amazon's page on the Kindle Fire: 7" multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors. Not hard to find.