The Amazon Kindle Fire: Benchmarked, Tested, And Reviewed

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JeTJL

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Should of done other comparisons with Tablets around the Kindles Price range like the Coby Kyros. I personally don't have either the Kyros or the Kindle Fire. But recently My sister bought it and she is thoroughly enjoying it. I received a Ipad2 though because of the Academy at my School that I belong to and I'm quite pleased with it, even though I'm a big android fan.
 

Goldengoose

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[citation][nom]acku[/nom]Ummm.... what? This is a Kindle Fire review.....Cheers,Andrew KuTomsHardware.com[/citation]
Just give him the 6990, the poor fellow just wants to play BF3.
 

amk-aka-Phantom

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[citation][nom]acku[/nom]Ummm.... what? This is a Kindle Fire review.....Cheers,Andrew KuTomsHardware.com[/citation]

Ever heard of bots? There're tons of those on Tom's nowadays.

[citation][nom]Goldengoose[/nom]Just give him the 6990, the poor fellow just wants to play BF3.[/citation]

A GPU of a 560 Ti level maxes it out @ 1080p, no need for a 6990.

Back to topic...

Notably, it's missing a slew of features, including a GPS, front- and rear-facing cameras, and a microphone.

ROFL, and who needs a tablet without all that? That's right, Amazon fanboys. That company is an utter POS that is not unlike Apple, designing underpowered useless products and delivering them as "innovative". The only "innovative" thing here is a complete dependency on the company's online services... oops, nevermind, Apple did it first :kaola:
 

donovands

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The iPad took a part of the market away from the PC, in the sense that there are folks out there who don't need the full functionality of a PC and the media consumption tablet gave them a device more suited for their needs. The same thing is happening here, if not as dramatically. The Fire may not have all the functionality of an iPad, but there's a lot of folks out there that will get the Fire *instead* of the iPad because it provides all the functionality they need. It isn't an iPad killer. But it *is* going to hurt iPad sales.
 

SneakySnake

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I think it's hilarious how the best selling droid tab this year is completely closed off, limited, and controlled. Sounds familiar doesn't it :p

And do not say "ya, but you can root it!!!". That's nice, people can jailbreak their iPads. You cannot include rooting and jailbreaking when you talk about something being open
 

acku

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[citation][nom]__-_-_-__[/nom]"That rules out video conferencing using Skype or mapping out directions to the bar across town."There are some new devices called WEBCAM and bluetooth or usb GPS that would enable that. you might want to check this huge innovation. -.-[/citation]

The Fire doesn't have either of those things. Not going to work. You should check out the specs of the Fire first.
 

acku

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[citation][nom]BlackHawk91[/nom]Actually this tablet surprised me, I didn't expect that much from the kindle fire.[/citation]
Oh yeah? You bought a Fire?

Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com
 

eklipz330

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i was playing with my classmate's kindle fire yesterday, an amazing little device. despite all the negative reviews ive been reading, it just showed me that we've been seriously spoiled with some amazing technology.... it's really an amazing piece of tech
 

jla0

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At that price ($199), why not buy a 16GB Playbook? At least it's a "real" full featured tablet. The QNX OS rocks too. Anyone who's tried it loves the interface compared to an Android tablet...

This article is a big fail.. they should have included it to compare.

Just sayin...
 

JeTJL

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[citation][nom]josh jones[/nom]Like the author implied, the fire will make a great Trojan for amazon store[/citation]

You can say the same thing with the Ipad and the Itunes store. Except for the fact that Amazon isn't making money with just selling the Kindle Fire alone.

Still though I like both the Ipad and Kindle Fire.
 

quantumrand

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Is the A5's RAM really clocked at 1066MHz, or is it actually 533MHz and 1066 after the DDR conversion? It's a little unfair to list it after the DDR conversion and the others before.

Also, I want to elaborate on the GPU. The OMAP 4430's SGX540 runs at 300MHz, not 200MHz, so those figures are a little misleading.
 
A very informative review. I was interested in the Kindle Fire for a while for its super-cheap price tag, but didn't pull the trigger on it because I don't really need a tablet.

It seems like a good product from Amazon, but for my expected use, it isn't sufficient. I mainly use my iPod touch to read comics in JPEG format, so not being able to install many apps + having limited space really hurts.
 

acku

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[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]A very informative review. I was interested in the Kindle Fire for a while for its super-cheap price tag, but didn't pull the trigger on it because I don't really need a tablet.It seems like a good product from Amazon, but for my expected use, it isn't sufficient. I mainly use my iPod touch to read comics in JPEG format, so not being able to install many apps + having limited space really hurts.[/citation]

Glad you liked it! Most of the time I cringe when the table discussion turns to tablets. A lot of tech reviewers aren't even really technies. They come from a Communication background, which is why the Fire is always pitted in a iPad 2 fight. Plus, the investors want the Apple fight cause they only see things in terms of units sold.

The engineers and consumers want a comparison based on features and usability. And the executives and PR people want a comparison based on demographics.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle. For me, this tablet is very attractive, but then again, I like amazon. If you're not part of that crowd, it's a harder purchase to justify in the long run.

Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com
 
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I pruchased on, love it! no need to root. Just sideloading is all you need. The interface is easy, quick, fun. My mom loves it and is getting one for xmas. My phone has a camera plus who uses video conferencing apps anyways? I'd rather wait for a Dick Tracy watch.
 

melgross_85

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I find the WiFi throughput tests to be odd. According to Anandtech and others, the iPad and iPad 2, which has slightly better performance, have the best WiFi throughput at over 30Mbs, but here, it's about a third. Something's wrong with those tests.
 

acku

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[citation][nom]melgross_85[/nom]I find the WiFi throughput tests to be odd. According to Anandtech and others, the iPad and iPad 2, which has slightly better performance, have the best WiFi throughput at over 30Mbs, but here, it's about a third. Something's wrong with those tests.[/citation]

I'm not sure what the setup of other sites are. I specifically. tried to create a real-world scenario of testing, but since you pointed it out, I'll retest the iPad 2 for our next article.

Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com
 
The Fire is significantly better when rooted. Amazon's interface makes mine lag, but I have SetCPU running the CPU at a faster minimum clock to keep things snappy. I also have all of the standard Googlegroups apps, which actually work really well once you tweak it properly. I'm hoping for a CM ROM based on ICS!
 
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Ah, glad to hear that this tablet is fine. Because the only reason I want it is for a backlit, color e-reader with a medium screen, and minimal features. For many years I've been using the Nokia N800 for my reading, maybe this can finally replace it.
 
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