Amazon Kindle Fire Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Vivek Gowri on November 29, 2011 3:31 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Mobile
- Amazon
- Kindle Fire
- Kindle
Final Words
The Kindle Fire is probably the best tablet you can buy at $199. Amazon has effectively defined the new price point and specs for entry level tablets, anything comparable shouldn't even bother with a price tag greater than $199. I'm sure this won't come as welcome news to players in the Android space looking to enjoy Apple-like profit margins, but sometimes the truth is hard to hear.
At $199, Amazon is giving you some of the fastest mobile hardware money can buy today. The reason the Kindle Fire isn't a must buy for everyone is because the software experience layered on top of the hardware isn't yet perfect. The OS is clean and easy to navigate but the UI isn't always smooth, interactions aren't always responsive and the browser isn't as pleasant as what you can get from iOS or newer versions of Android.
The counterpoint is that for $499 you can get this software experience, while at $199 you obviously have to give something up. I'd argue that you shouldn't have to give anything up. Much of the software experience I'm asking for is already baked into current or close-to-shipping versions of Android today. Amazon picked an earlier point in the curve to fork from Android, but what I'm asking for is technically possible today. Amazon did the right thing by including the best hardware possible in the Kindle Fire, it simply needs to follow through on the software side to truly unlock it.
Amazon does deserve points for a job well done in a number of areas. First and foremost, the Kindle Fire's version of Android is really well executed. While there are some navigational hiccups, the experience overall is quite good. I would strongly encourage major players in the Android space to look at what Amazon has done when they are considering their own customizations to Google's OS. Yes, sometimes less is actually more.
As much as I'm not a fan of the Silk browser today, I can see where things could go. I do believe that Amazon really wants to deliver the full tablet experience in a device the size of a regular Kindle. Moore's Law will eventually give us that reality, but Amazon may be able to speed things up by moving much of the heavy lifting into the cloud. I do hope this is the future Amazon is working towards and Silk's cloud-side caching isn't solely a power grab for behavioral data.
The integration of Amazon Prime video streaming and the Amazon stores is extremely well done. If you're an Amazon addict, the Kindle Fire will likely do horrible things to your bank account.
I feel like Amazon believes in the Kindle Fire and thus we will see the software get better over time. As with most tablet recommendations lately, if you can wait, doing so would be wise. Don't assume that things will get better, wait for Amazon to make them better and then reward the company with your hard earned dollars.
That being said, more concrete recommendations are always nice so here we go:
1) If all you do is read eBooks, grab a regular Kindle. The reading experience is far better on those devices. Sure response time is noticeably longer than on the Kindle Fire, but you do get better battery life, a display that's easier on your eyes, etc...
2) If you already have an iPad/Honeycomb tablet, look elsewhere. I appreciate you reading this review but don't buy a Kindle Fire. If you really want something more portable to read books on, see point 1.
3) If you need an entry level tablet, the Kindle Fire is as good as they get for $199. You get the same general purpose compute and memory as an iPad 2, at a far lower price. GPU performance isn't a knockout but as long as you're not a hardcore 3D gamer (do those exist on Android yet?) or high end game developer this isn't an issue.
I'm curious to see how this plays out. The e-ink Kindle has a unique (perfect?) form factor and delivers a pretty good experience. The Kindle Fire has a more generic form factor (perhaps too small for certain uses?) and delivers a varied experience depending on what you're doing. I appreciate what Amazon is trying to do here: good tablet experiences shouldn't cost as much as much higher performing computing devices, and cheap tablets shouldn't sacrifice everything to get there. The Kindle Fire is Amazon's first attempt at bridging the gap between those two extremes. It's the best out today given its price point, but it's not the best Amazon could have done. I'm waiting for round two.
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Reflex - Friday, December 2, 2011 - link
So come back in February. By then we'll be on the cusp of a new generation of devices. Right now the Playbook is defficient. Its a nice set of hardware with a lacking software stack. Out of the box it simply does not do what most people want. When it does, I'm sure AT will check it out, but having them review it now is likely to simply get it slammed since it simply won't work for most people who do not already own a BB.ComputerGuy2006 - Tuesday, November 29, 2011 - link
The "final words" section says "The Kindle Fire is probably the best tablet you can buy at $199.". This is troubling.It was never explained how a $200 playbook isnt as good as the $200 kindle. Seems to me the playbook has double the ram and double the storage space. The playbook has two camera and a micro-HDMI port.
So as long RIM can keep its promise and make the playbook capable of running android apps, I dont see how the kindle can beat the playbook in ANYWAY unless you want to spend lots of money on the amazon app store.
VivekGowri - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
Honestly, as tempting as the PB is at $199, RIM's utter failure to deliver features that were promised at launch even 8 months after release is pretty worrying. The lack of native email, contacts, and calendar as of December 2011 is blatantly unacceptable.doesitreallymatter - Friday, December 2, 2011 - link
It is unacceptable that those key apps are lacking. In 2 months when/if RIM delivers these apps, what will be your opinion then?As long as those apps are delivered along with the android support, I just don't see how the Fire can compete with the playbook.
I just don't understand how the conclusion has no mention of the playbook at all.
Reflex - Friday, December 2, 2011 - link
It also does not mention the Nook Tablet. Why? Because it hasn't been reviewed it. If the Playbook becomes competitive, and thats a big if honestly, I'm sure they'll take a look. But really, February? You mean almost a year after the device they give it basic functionality everyone else has shipped with from the beginning?For me, even if the Playbook was competitive, I just can't see that as a well supported platform worth me investing into the ecoysystem of.
dgburns - Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - link
Perhaps you missed the announce a while ago that RIM has dropped the Android App Player from development? So your touted "android support" isn't coming....dgburns - Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - link
The Playbook will NEVER have the ecosystem Amazon delivers with the Fire. As many commentors have implied, that's a HUGE differentiator.And to those who say the PlayBook is the better device at $199 if you own a BlackBerry smartphone already, I disagree. I've got TWO BlackBerry smartphones (different models, from two employers) and as nice as the PlayBook hardware is I STILL don't want one. Even "bridged" to a BB, the PlayBook is SO limited. Will it get better come February (or whenever RIM REALLY releases a update)? Probably, but even then it won't have the ecosystem the Fire brings.
jedivulcan - Tuesday, November 29, 2011 - link
I wish this review went into a bit more nitpicking with the display like I've seen with the other AnandTech reviews. In my experience with having two Kindle Fires, the displays are so wildly different that it's almost like looking at two different products when you have them side by side.The first Kindle Fire I received from Amazon on the day it came out had a duller backlight, some backlight bleeding when viewing older television shows on Netflix, and warmer, almost yellow colors, one or two dead pixels, and hit or miss viewing angles.
The second one I got a week later had a brighter backlight, a ton of backlight bleeding, bright dead pixels on the screen (very apparent in one location), cool blue washed out colors, and terrible viewing angles.
https://img.skitch.com/20111130-x9fq2qskte8kas62jg...
https://img.skitch.com/20111130-dm18ykeb8kud98w4t2...
Reflex - Tuesday, November 29, 2011 - link
Totally bizarre. I'm not implying you haven't seen what you've seen, but I've handled more than a dozen Fire's now and the screens have been consistent with each other and very very high quality. The one I own and took on trips got noticed repeatedly and the first comment most people had was about how nice the screen looked. Its typically the standout feature hardware wise from most people I've discussed it with.Your situation is odd to me because normally I'd suspect a bad run, but you got them a week apart. I really have no idea, but I will say it does not jive with my anecdotal experience or what I"m reading elsewhere. Anyone else see this issue?
VivekGowri - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
Hmmm mine is totally fine, so was Anand's. I really, really like the display quality, though I would have preferred a more neutral colour temperature. I'm not sure why you had so many issues with the display, that's very very odd.