An in-depth review of the new Kindle Fire HD 7″
Right now the king of the hill in tablet computers is the iPad. Amazon has recently announced a new line of Kindles, including the Kindle Fire HD 8.9″. This device is a direct challenge to the iPad. There is also a smaller 7″ model and Time technology editor Harry McCracken has been trying out a pre-release model. He reviews it and concludes:
So that’s the 7″ Kindle Fire HD. It offers a lot for the money; it’s full of ambitious features; it provides super-convenient access to a never-ending trove of content. Amazon declares that it’s the most advanced 7″ tablet on the market. From a technical standpoint, that’s a reasonable claim.
But is it the best one?
I won’t even contemplate that question until we know if the shipping software is less quirky than the pre-release version I tried. And even if the company irons out all the bugs, this tablet amounts to a Rorschach test. If the concept of a 7-inch window into Amazon’s vast shopping mall sounds aggravating, you’ll probably be more pleased with the Nexus 7, which remains a fine tablet in its own right. It’s more of a general-purpose computing device.
For happy Amazon customers, though, a Kindle Fire HD could be just the ticket — assuming that Amazon thoroughly polishes the software, that is. Here’s hoping it’s in rock-solid shape by the time the 8.9″ model debuts right before Thanksgiving.
Another review is from Walt Mossberg at All Things D. He concludes:
Amazon is upping its game in the color tablet market. Last year, it launched the 7-inch Kindle Fire, a pretty good, but limited, device mostly distinguished by its low price of $199 and its seamless access to Amazon’s massive ecosystem of e-books, music, videos and periodicals.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.