It seems pretty clear that Amazon's market strategy with its Kindle Fire has been all along to tap into the niche for budget tablets. At the level of quality, it has never really measured up to the standards of the competition. The price, though, is hard to argue with at $229 for the current edition.
As expected, with the coming of the holiday season, so too comes Amazon's new shot at the brass ring. The 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX hit the market on October 18 followed by the larger 8.9-inch screen version in November. There are a couple interesting additions, such as the free Mayday feature, on this Android-based system.
Hopes for dramatic improvements in the Kindle Fire's functions and capacity, though, will be sadly letdown. The improvements are minimal in the third-generation model. Actually, some might even think the situation worse than that. Though the system is based on the Google Android the new owners of the Kindle Fire find themselves lacking in all the great Google apps and services that the standard Android user enjoys.
Rather, these new Kindle Fire owners have to download any apps from Amazon. (This all reminiscence, by the way, of the whole mess around activating the Flash Player , which does not come activated, to the perturbation of many new owners.) And it's not just a convenience problem, but also a selection one: compared to nearly a million apps for the Android, Kindle Fire only has around 85,000 available. Nor is it merely numbers; many of the most popular Android apps, such as Google Maps, Gmail, and YouTube, are not on offer.
And this brings us to another problematic matter, which can't be glossed over. Like its predecessor, this version of the Kindle Fire is calibrated to a relentlessly fevered sales pitch for Amazon products. You can't brush your mouse over anything without the Amazon hawker springing into action, pointing out some nifty similar Amazon product you should be buying.
I find this immensely annoying and distracting. Obviously, it's a matter of personal taste. Some folks, I expect, find real value in this endless exposure to new product opportunities. For me, it just gets in the way of what I'm trying to do. Like commercial television, though, this is the monetizing strategy: you suffer through the ads to get the product at such a low price.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. There are some genuine improvements. Happiest of all is a noticeable reduction in how buggy is the software. This has always been a problem with this tablet and while Amazon hasn't entirely remedied the situation, the reduction of glitches is much welcomed. Also, a thumbs-up for the "carousel" style view finder: it allows you to find apps, movies, books or any other offering with ease and a visual flair. The navigation bar at the bottom of the screen accesses the full assortment of content on the tablet.
And let us not forget what some people might find the coolest feature of all. At the press of a button this Kindle Fire version provides you the Mayday service, in which you are immediately hooked up with a live service representative. The rep appears in a corner of your tablet's screen and addresses any problems or concerns you have. And your little corner friend, who you'll know on a first name bases, can even take control of your Kindle Fire, should that prove the most efficient manner of resolving your issue. There's no question this is a cool feature and the commitment to customer service makes a statement
Yet, for all that, there's a kind of paradox, here. After all, one of the main selling features of these tablets is their intuitive qualities. They're supposed to be very high on the user friendliness scale. So all the effort and expense put into this live rep feature almost leaves me wondering if the poignant "Mayday" is meant less to evoke the user calling out to the rep than Amazon calling out Mayday to the market. They surrender: as in, okay, this is the best we can do, here's the workaround our inability to come up with a tablet that actually fulfilled the promise of intuitive function. Sorry. I know, I'm a cynical old dog.
At the end of the day, I'll say the same thing about this newest version Kindle Fire as I have about its forerunners. If you're into big time, long term loyalty to Amazon and its products -- and nothing is wrong with that -- you'll find some appreciated improvements in the newer version. If your priority, however, is a good budget tablet, you can do better .
As expected, with the coming of the holiday season, so too comes Amazon's new shot at the brass ring. The 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX hit the market on October 18 followed by the larger 8.9-inch screen version in November. There are a couple interesting additions, such as the free Mayday feature, on this Android-based system.
Hopes for dramatic improvements in the Kindle Fire's functions and capacity, though, will be sadly letdown. The improvements are minimal in the third-generation model. Actually, some might even think the situation worse than that. Though the system is based on the Google Android the new owners of the Kindle Fire find themselves lacking in all the great Google apps and services that the standard Android user enjoys.
Rather, these new Kindle Fire owners have to download any apps from Amazon. (This all reminiscence, by the way, of the whole mess around activating the Flash Player , which does not come activated, to the perturbation of many new owners.) And it's not just a convenience problem, but also a selection one: compared to nearly a million apps for the Android, Kindle Fire only has around 85,000 available. Nor is it merely numbers; many of the most popular Android apps, such as Google Maps, Gmail, and YouTube, are not on offer.
And this brings us to another problematic matter, which can't be glossed over. Like its predecessor, this version of the Kindle Fire is calibrated to a relentlessly fevered sales pitch for Amazon products. You can't brush your mouse over anything without the Amazon hawker springing into action, pointing out some nifty similar Amazon product you should be buying.
I find this immensely annoying and distracting. Obviously, it's a matter of personal taste. Some folks, I expect, find real value in this endless exposure to new product opportunities. For me, it just gets in the way of what I'm trying to do. Like commercial television, though, this is the monetizing strategy: you suffer through the ads to get the product at such a low price.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. There are some genuine improvements. Happiest of all is a noticeable reduction in how buggy is the software. This has always been a problem with this tablet and while Amazon hasn't entirely remedied the situation, the reduction of glitches is much welcomed. Also, a thumbs-up for the "carousel" style view finder: it allows you to find apps, movies, books or any other offering with ease and a visual flair. The navigation bar at the bottom of the screen accesses the full assortment of content on the tablet.
And let us not forget what some people might find the coolest feature of all. At the press of a button this Kindle Fire version provides you the Mayday service, in which you are immediately hooked up with a live service representative. The rep appears in a corner of your tablet's screen and addresses any problems or concerns you have. And your little corner friend, who you'll know on a first name bases, can even take control of your Kindle Fire, should that prove the most efficient manner of resolving your issue. There's no question this is a cool feature and the commitment to customer service makes a statement
Yet, for all that, there's a kind of paradox, here. After all, one of the main selling features of these tablets is their intuitive qualities. They're supposed to be very high on the user friendliness scale. So all the effort and expense put into this live rep feature almost leaves me wondering if the poignant "Mayday" is meant less to evoke the user calling out to the rep than Amazon calling out Mayday to the market. They surrender: as in, okay, this is the best we can do, here's the workaround our inability to come up with a tablet that actually fulfilled the promise of intuitive function. Sorry. I know, I'm a cynical old dog.
At the end of the day, I'll say the same thing about this newest version Kindle Fire as I have about its forerunners. If you're into big time, long term loyalty to Amazon and its products -- and nothing is wrong with that -- you'll find some appreciated improvements in the newer version. If your priority, however, is a good budget tablet, you can do better .
About the Author:
Mishu Hull writes on electronics at a range of blog sites. For more valuable information about the product discussed here, see Kindle Fire Updates .
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