The Kindle Fire

Marco Arment tried out the Kindle Fire and loves it:

I expected the Kindle Fire to be a compelling iPad alternative, but I can’t call it delightful, fun, or pleasant to use. Quite the opposite, actually: using the Fire is frustrating and unpleasant, and it feels like work.

For most people, every other computer in their life feels like work, and they don’t need another one.

It’s not an iPad competitor or alternative. It’s not the same kind of device at all. And, whatever it is, it’s a bad version of it.

That’s probably all you need to know about the Kindle Fire. Below is a detailed account of the issues I ran into, but I won’t take offense if you’re burnt out on long Kindle Fire reviews and stop here.

One of my coworkers happened to bring his new Fire in to the office yesterday and I got to do a little test drive and I came to a similar conclusion as Marco. The device is just meh. It’s ok. It does the job. There’s nothing delightful about the device. Aside from smooth scrolling on the content ‘carousel’ on the main screen, everything else on the device is choppy.
The Kindle Fire is mediocre in every aspect, from Human Experience to motion and transitions.
As with the HP Touchpad, I was hoping for a real contender to the iPad. But like the Touchpad, the execution is poor.

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