Tallon:

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Treyson:

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I may have to purchase a second Amazon Kindle Fire tablet because the one I bought is being monopolized by my wife and three year-old granddaughter.  My wife is using the Kindle Fire to read a novel and play games and our three year-old granddaughter is playing games, looking at books for children,  and watching a streaming “Angelina Ballerina” movie from Amazon Prime.

I have a 10.1″ Android tablet (the ASUS Transformer with the keyboard/dock) and I had some reservations about a 7″ tablet.  I have found, however, that the Kindle Fire is fun and easy to use.  I have looked at books and magazines and the 7″ screen is large enough for my old eyes.  My wife says it’s easy to read her book and the Kindle Fire is easy to hold.  I’ve also found that the onscreen keyboard is fairly easy for me to use as long as I hold the device in landscape mode (which provides a larger keyboard).

I think Amazon has the right idea in selling a tablet for $199 with just those features that people want and use.  I’m not sure why most other tablets, both Android and iPad, duplicate the features found in smartphones.  Most of us carry our smartphones with us and it makes sense for the devices to include a good camera and GPS.  Tablets, on the other hand, are used around the house and don’t need those features that won’t be used and add to the cost of the device. Here is an interesting excerpt from a post on kindle-fireforum.com: “My granddaughter has an iPad .. and she really likes the FIRE better .. because it fits in her hand better, weighs less and she has a smooth operating experience zipping and doing everything she normally does with her iPad .. (Uses it in school to do notes and research too).”

By the way, I spoke with a relative who is considering giving her children Kindle Fires for Christmas and was concerned about Amazon’s 30-day return policy.  I checked with Amazon and they will accept returns of Kindle Fires shipped between November 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011 until January 31, 2012 for a full refund, subject to their other return policies at:

http://www.amazon.com/help/returns/

If you are thinking about purchasing a Kindle Fire I would appreciate it if you would use my Amazon Associate link below.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Fire display has 16 million colors, 169 pixels per inch, protective Gorilla Glass.

When playing music, you can see the album cover art on screen. Users can also pull up the menu while reading and pause music from top menu from wherever you are.

Bezos also demonstrated games with a round of Fruit Ninja. “You can see my Fruit Ninja skills are lacking,” Bezos jokes.

The device will sell for $199 and ship Nov. 15.

Amazon unveiled a Kindle Touch with a touchscreen for $99, and a 3G version for $149.

The company will also sell a version of the original Kindle for $79. It’s available starting today. The Kindle Touch will launch in November.

“Amazon.com is expected to reveal its entry in the volcanic tablet computer market on Wednesday, a $250 gizmo analysts say could be the first real threat to the iPad’s market domination. And even Apple appears to be getting worried.
“The company has reduced orders from Taiwanese manufacturers for new Apple iPads by as much as 25 percent, according to a JPMorganChase analyst cited by Bloomberg. Other analysts cited the aggressive initial pricing of the Kindle — the ebook reader designed by the world’s largest Internet retailer — as evidence that we can expect a similar price tag on a tablet device from the company.”

I’d be surprised if any one Android tablet turns out to be an iPad killer. According to the reports I’ve read, the ASUS Transformer is the second-best selling tablet after the iPad. ASUS, with virtually no advertising other than word of mouth, has been shipping over 400,000 units per month and has had trouble meeting the demand. Still, I don’t think Apple is worried about ASUS. Cisco Systems is introducing an Android tablet. Called the “Cius”, Cisco says it is the first business tablet built for the enterprise from the ground up. I have read about businesses experimenting with both Android and iPad tablets but with Windows 8 coming next year, I would think that most businesses would wait before any wide-spread adoption of tablets.

I have read articles projecting that Amazon could sell 2 to 4 million tablets during the remaining three month of the year. I find those projections hard to believe, but I have been wrong at least once or twice in my life. I didn’t think the mouse made sense when it was introduced, and not too long ago I remember scoffing at a prediction that by 2015 the most popular mobile operating systems would be Android and Windows. I had not read any good reviews of Windows Mobile and I couldn’t believe that Windows would become that popular on smart phones and tablets. It appears I was wrong because while Windows 7 Mobile isn’t that good, the reviewers have been raving about the advance releases of Windows 8. Apparently, Windows 8 will be a great mobile OS.

On the other hand, I was right about HP making a mistake when the company introduced a tablet with a proprietary OS. Also, it looks as if the Blackberry PlayBook may not be long for this world. I just read that Blackberry will be slashing prices on the PlayBook tablet. The company confirmed that price drops were imminent after the company reported just 200,000 units shipped into channels during the tablet’s first full quarter of availability. I thought the PlayBook would do better just because of the large Blackberry user base.