David Streitfeld for the New York Times:
A few of their many complaints: there is no external volume control. The off switch is easy to hit by accident. Web pages take a long time to load. There is no privacy on the device; a spouse or child who picks it up will instantly know everything you have been doing. The touch screen is frequently hesitant and sometimes downright balky.
I haven’t seen a completely positive review of the Kindle Fire yet. Most people are having problems with it and Amazon needs to get that fixed. The company says they have an update coming and many expect a new device next year, but I don’t know if that will be enough.
The tablet market has mercilessly chewed up everything except the iPad.
We can just ignore this article since it must be written by an “Apple fanboy”, right?
I spent some time going through the Amazon reviews and there are a very large number of 4 and 5 star reviews of the “very good for the money” variety. And that’s probably what we should expect.
Those touting it as an iPad killer are very likely to be disappointed. It can’t match the performance or features and I think Amazon is pretty up-front about that.
At the same time I’m sure there will be millions of buyers looking for an upgraded Kindle experience who will be delighted.
When reviewed against the iPad or full-featured Android tablets it sounds like it does have a large number of usability issues, but compared to a Kindle or Nook it opens up a whole new world.
I’m a happy iPad owner but I bought a Nook Tablet just to have a smaller device that I can use as an e-reader. It has a slightly laggy interface but the touch response is good. I’m enjoying it although it comes nowhere close to the iPad.
Geez, I don’t know Jim, an average 4-star rating from consumers on Amazon (not reviewers, there’s a big difference…). Out of 4,869 reviews 2,294 gave it five stars. There’s really a very odd distortion value when it comes to people [like yourself] saying you have seen one positive review. Granted those reviews aren’t from smug gadget freaks and nerds who have blogs, but the Fire can’t be that bad if it’s selling the way that it is…right?? There probably are some very looming shortcomings on the Fire, but even the HP TouchPad got a better average of more positive reviewers online and we all know how that turned out. This isn’t about Apple, this is about representing the big picture accurately and truthfully, and doing actual research, not just going to all your best friend’s personal blogs and relaying their negative findings on your own site.
I think the Fire is more like a Pinto than an Edsel. One of my co-workers who is not at all technically proficient has an iPad and a Fire. He is completely satisfied with the Fire even though he specifically said he sometimes has to hit it three or four times to get it to turn the page.
We avid tech blog readers and the bloggers themselves are, I think, not quite in touch with normal consumers. The iPad competitors are failing because they are trying to compete against a device that is firmly entrenched with a certain type of consumer who appreciates quality. The Fire is aimed at consumers who couldn’t care less about usability or elegance. They care about this: it’s cheap.
Ford sold plenty of Pintos even when people knew they blew up. Amazon is going to sell plenty of Fires.
To be fair, many of those privacy concerns are equally true of the iPad.
I’ve only tried the Fire once for a few minutes, but I don’t think that the problems described will hamper its success.
Yes, there are privacy issues and yes there are issues with in-app-purchases but I believe Amazon will fix at least the latter one fast.
I agree with @SSteve:disqus on the disconnect between regular users and addicts like us: Many people won’t care and I think they realise that the Fire is more of a consumption device than the iPad, which is why they will apply different standards to it.