Comments on: Avid Reader? Kindle Fire’s not for you

By: seo service provider

seo service provider — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:50:00 +0000

Should this not offend you, I hate the way you write

By: Dick

Dick — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:28:00 +0000

What a bunch of hooey. An entirely new generation is going to start using this as their first e-reader and will be fine with it. Many people sit in front of LCD screens all day. If you don’t already have an e-ink reader, this will be the obvious choice since it does so much more.

By: Dick

Dick — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:28:00 +0000

By: Larrydoyle13

Larrydoyle13 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:24:00 +0000

How would you do that? Can’t find documentation to change background?

By: Abneryoyo

Abneryoyo — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:39:00 +0000

Should this not offend you, I hate the way you write, it’s obscure and confusing and I quite after the first paragraph. You are not writing poetry, but an article.

By: Lou

Lou — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:05:00 +0000

I own an Kindle, and use it only to read books, where the new Kindle Fire seems to be more of a tablet computer than can also be used for reading books. I don’t see how you can call it a limited device when it has far more functionality than the original kindle, and if fact competes with the iPad at a much lower price.

By: Nikki

Nikki — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:45:00 +0000

P.s sorry if I made typos below- I have been up since 5 am :)

By: Nikki

Nikki — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:44:00 +0000

I will love this kindle- I know if! P.S….here is a tip for pre-ordering your kindle fire- pre order it online. Thats the best choice! :)

By: Robert Perez

Robert Perez — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:25:00 +0000

e-Ink kicks tablet a$$ when it comes to reading. I much prefer reading on my Kindle than my ipad2. For starters you can eat a slice of pizza and not get your screen smudgey. I HATE it when I accidentally turn a page cuz of an errant touch. The eye-strain is real. However, I prefer the ipad in low-light conditions.

By: Ross Voorhees

Ross Voorhees — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:26:00 +0000

I think everyone should hold on for a second and look at the fact that most likely you’ve been reading this long list of replies on a tablet or a pc. The length of this thread is about the length of an average chapter of a book. I don’t think anyone has complained about eyestrain or lack of readability on their tablet reading all this ( as I’m doing), and I think the Fire will work just fine as an ebook device. Will it be as good as an e ink device? No, but there are plenty of avid readers, myself included, who will gladly put up with the slight difference in order to enjoy a full tablet experience.

By: Castaway

Castaway — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:14:00 +0000

Surprisingly few people seem to realize that the Kindle app’s background can be set to black (the text will be grey) in iPad and other tablet devices. Perfect for reading in the dark, much better than using an e-ink display and an external light source.

By: Castaway

Castaway — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:14:00 +0000

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:14:00 +0000

The all in one, fix all is never up to standard. HORSES FOR COURSES. So a Kindle for reading books and newspapers etc and a Tegra 3 for blasting the web in a chair or bed and the monster desktop for graphics and work. (Then planes and cars when no one is around to see I never really grow up.)

By: Sum_arig

Sum_arig — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:11:00 +0000

I think the article has some very key points to make, especially for old farts like me, who are challenged with electronic screen eye-strain. However, the article is a bit confounded and implicit about its points (like an ‘arts & literature’ article), why not be more explicit and clear.

By: buzzpark

buzzpark — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:28:00 +0000

I disagree that the Kindle Fire is not for avid readers. I own both a nook color and an iPad and read on both, on average 3 books a month. The Fire has the same screen resolution as the nook color, which is easier to read than a cheap paperback. The iPad has a lower resolution, but is still fine.

As far as reading on a back-lit LCD screen, the studies are mixed. Some prefer LCD’s, some don’t. While I agree that the e-ink screens are much easier to read in direct sunlight, and the text looks beautiful on the screen, I have had little problem withe the LCD at night where I do 50% of my reading. To solve any strain on the eyes in the dark, I simply turn the brightness all the way down on the device AND in the reader itself. Viola! No eye-strain and no supposed bio-rhythm disturbances.

Now if Amazon is REALLY smart, they’ll offer the nook app on the Amazon app store. B&N should do the same with the Kindle app.

By: buzzpark

buzzpark — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:28:00 +0000

Now if Amazon is REALLY smart, they’ll offer the nook app on the Amazon app store. B&N should do the same with the Kindle app.

By: some_sense

some_sense — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:09:00 +0000

The millions of kindles and other e-readers sold show that millions of people “still read” you doofus.

By: geolemon

geolemon — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:40:00 +0000

As a proud owner of a new Galaxy S II, I have to toss in a third option in the e-Ink argument:
This AMOLED is far superior to LCD, I’m truthfully, unbiasedly (is that a word?) blown away by how the phone does NOT just blast light into your eyeballs. Blacks are BLACK. And I mean, even in a black room with the lights out -black. As in “as black as off-state” I don’t think there’s a backlight on AMOLED, I believe each pixel is essentially an LED. It’s VERY easy on the eyes.

It’s so good, I might become a Samsung convert (I had HTC Android phones prior).

I’d think for reading, you’ve got this:
eInk > Galaxy Tab (uses AMOLED?) > iPad/others

By: Vijay Venugopalan

Vijay Venugopalan — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:24:00 +0000

Thanks for your reply, Chris. I see where you are coming from. Amazon might have done better if they called it something different so as not to confuse the brand but as any marketing department theirs would also want to ‘leverage’ the goodwill and visibility of the brand…

Still, I would have thought that you have to explain that “Kindle Fire is not a e-reader but a tablet” to less tech-savvy readers (like some daily newspapers or TV networks which I cannot name) as I was thinking slashgear readers to be able to know the differences in the display without spoon feeding as this has been one of the most expected after the spectacular folding of touchpad and sufferings of playbook.. Probably I was not aware of the audience for whom the article was directed.. apologies in such case..

By: Vijay Venugopalan

Vijay Venugopalan — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:17:00 +0000

Hi Yfkyf, as it stands now Amazon has released e-ink readers and a tablet.. My point was that the tablet has been always noted as the ‘tablet from Amazon’ and runs andriod etc etc and has been very much anticipated after the spectacular failure of hp and blackberry (to see if it can stand up or fold in three weeks).. It is not a surprise that it is not e-ink which was obvious for the last two months with all the leaks (most of it appeared here in slashgear). So what is point of bashing it as ‘not fit for reading as it is not e-ink’ just before the event?

By: Deep_spaceus

Deep_spaceus — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 01:53:00 +0000

If you are an avid reader, then why is it that you did not mention the other Kindle eReaders that Amazon announced today? Amazon is not pulling out of the eReader market. In fact, it is making it even more widely available with a $79 Kindle. But the Fire is a content consumption device that obviously goes beyond ”avid reading”. In fact, the Fire is probably the best example of what cloud devices are going to be in the near future: no content management headaches, get everything from the cloud when you want it, where you want it. This is just the first iteration; revolutionary like the original Kindle. And it brings us closer to “the network is the computer” paradigm. It may not be the device for you, but it will be the device for millions of others that want more than just a reader. Then again, who actually reads anymore?

By: Rfwinans

Rfwinans — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:01:00 +0000

Thanks for deflating the balloon I’d blown in my head: gotta have the latest! Very instructive, the eye strain issue. An expert once told me e-books would not take off until they could deliver natural eye-equivalent resolution. Now I understand why I enjoy reading on an e-ink device. Love me my Kindle 3G.

By: Joe Shuren

Joe Shuren — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:35:00 +0000

You might ask Amazon to order from Qanta the Pixel Qi transflective display for next year’s models. You can try such a screen on a OLPC XO-1 today, as in PDF mode it is the equal of an E-Ink Kindle. You can switch from color video with backlight, to reflective grayscale (with some color) without backlight for text. Batteries last longer if not as long as with E-Ink.

By: Ncbill

Ncbill — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:32:00 +0000

I’ve found that both an iPod touch & Android phone are great for reading e-books from Amazon, especially at night given the built-in back-light.

I only use my Kindle outside now (e.g. beach)

I’ve pre-ordered the Fire and look forward to games & streaming Prime videos away from my HDTV or computer.

By: Ric Desan

Ric Desan — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:45:00 +0000

I hate to say it, but the narrow appeal of these devices ensures many conventional computing consumers like myself never stop and drink the coolaid! I may try one out if you give it too me for free, but otherwise like many who arent apple devoted, I just cant be bothered and am not willing to spend that kind of money on such a limited device!

By: Adrian Werner

Adrian Werner — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:37:00 +0000

Avid Reader? Kindle Fire’s not for you…unless what you read is mostly magazines that is :)

By: Adrian Werner

Adrian Werner — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:37:00 +0000

Avid Reader? Kindle Fire’s not for you…unless what you read is mostly magazines that is :)

By: Adrian Werner

Adrian Werner — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:37:00 +0000

Avid Reader? Kindle Fire’s not for you…unless what you read is mostly magazines that is :)

By: Yfkyf

Yfkyf — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:48:00 +0000

Er yeah Vijay the point is that Kindle has until now been solely an e-reader using e-ink, but the new one will not be for “avid readers” as it’s not e-ink. Don’t see any problem with the article. I for one have been holding off buying a Kindle in the hopes that Amazon would release a new improved Kindle – instead they are releasing a tablet which is useless for me as e-ink is a must.

By: Chris Davies

Chris Davies — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:46:00 +0000

Thanks for your thoughts, Vijay. I use both a dedicated ereader and various tablets every day, and would like to think I’m no more biased to one or the other beyond using them for their best purpose.

What I do think is that people will be confused by the growing range, and won’t necessarily understand the differentiators between traditional Kindles and the new Fire version. Perhaps I’m arguing for a completely different name for the Fire, but even then I think many would automatically see it as being the “best” option (just as many people judge devices’ relative merit based on which is the most expensive) without necessarily considering whether the hardware/software is right for what they actually want to do.

I’m enthusiastic about tablets, and I’m enthusiastic about ereaders. I’m also an “avid reader” just as my title suggested, and because of the amount of time I’ve spent reading on the Kindle (and trying to read on smartphones and tablets) I felt it was important to point out that “newest” and “most whiz-bang” wasn’t necessarily best for other people who love reading.

By: Vijay Venugopalan

Vijay Venugopalan — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:22:00 +0000

Chris, the article is more biased and negative from the title onwards. Kindle IS the ebook reader. And Kindle fire IS the tablet from the same company.

Ebook reading experience is not guaranteed or promised (heck, not even announced) by Amazon on Fire. So the total point of this article is a huge FAIL. If ebook reading is the primary objective, people go with kindle (or other ebook readers). That is why ebook readers are selling in spite of the all singing and all dancing ipads and other tablets. If people want to listen to mp3 and news and flash and games and apps they go to the tablets or desktop or laptops as appropriate.

hmm.. rant over.. back to work.. but it really irks when seeing titles and content like that in a site where I come regularly and also tell people about as one of the unbiased and enthusiastic sources..