After months of speculation and intrigue, Amazon finally came through with their first Android tablet, the Kindle Fire at the end of 2011. The speculators were correct in their prediction of a sub $200 tablet. 

Amazon a market leader in the e-book business has been in the e-reader game for a while. It was inevitable that they would develop a tablet for consumers to enjoy the vast catalogue of content, magazines, books, videos and music. 
 
I got to play with the Kindle Tablet and am bringing you a hands-on review.

The boring stuff

The kindle fire is powered by a dual core 1GHz processor, paired with 512 MB of RAM, 8GB of storage space and Google’s Android gingerbread version 2.3 .  Out of the 8GB space, only 6GB is usable as 2GB is used up by system files. Other specifications include , a 7 inch capacitive screen, 2 speakers, a headphone jack, and a USB charging/data port. Connectivity is by means of WIFI and USB. Do not expect 3G, GPS or Bluetooth. 

Neither does the Kindle Fire have a camera.

Files supported include mp3, PDF, mp4, avi, doc, PJG, GIF, PNG, BMP and Amazon’s kindle file format.

Usage Experience

The Kindle has a glossy black finish and matte surface at the back. It is almost identical to the Blackberry playbook in terms of form factor. The 7 inch screen is surrounded by a black bezel all around. 

Turning on the Kindle for the first time takes about 20 seconds to boot to the lock screen. Once you get to the lock screen, a yellow arrow appears. Sliding the arrow unlocks the screen.

If it is the first time you are turning on the tablet, you are asked to register or an Amazon account over a WIFI network.

The home Kindle screen has a simple, clean, grey-scale bookshelf-like layout. The screen is divided into 3 sections. At the top, you have a notifications/settings bar and search window. Below is a shortcut bar that takes you to music, videos, books, documents and the browser. 

In the middle of the screen is a 3D carousel which gives you access to the recently accessed or downloaded content. These could be books, videos, docs or even web pages. This navigation system has a cover-flow like feel if you are familiar with the Apple iPod cover flow.

Just below the carousel is a favourites’ shelf where you can drag and drop items for quick access. 

Being a media-centric tablet, Amazon omitted so many features in order to deliver an affordable tablet. These include 3G, memory card, Bluetooth, cameras etc. I have to admit, for $199 the Kindle Fire is a steal.

Most content is available through the Amazon store. You can buy books, magazines subscriptions, videos and music through the store. You need a credit card to make payments. Your purchased content is stored in the on your online account courtesy of Amazon’s cloud service. You content is accessible any time through your table or computer. A good WIFI connection is required to enjoy the full capability of the Kindle tablet. Besides paid content, there are plenty of free books and other content which you can download to your tablet. 

The Kindle Fire runs a modified version of Android. Amazon didn’t stop at the tablet, they have a dedicated app store. Though not as populated as the official android market, you won’t be running out of apps to install on your Kindle.

I found the Kindle to run smoothly through most of the tasks. I guess the dual core processor is responsible. The touch screen is very responsive and fluid to the touch. The only glitch I had was un-supported video formats and the need to jail-break the kindle to read other e-book formats. PDFs look very good on the Kindle. Though not as polished as the ipad, the Kindle is a very capable tablet.

The good stuff

Affordable, fast and responsive, premium build quality, good battery life (8 hours), simple to use, portable

The bad stuff

Limited storage space, no 3G, cloud storage not ideal for the local user, limited video support, no support for competing e-book formats

Conclusion 

For what it’s worth, it’s hard to fault the Kindle Fire. It is no ipad killer and neither does it pretend to be. It is a great media device coming in at a very pocket friendly $199 direct from Amazon.