New Kindle has arrived! (Pre-orders £89)

skibster

hellyhelix wrote: »

The Kindle Fire is the colour one due for release in the US in November. It is able to play movies, music, etc and has a fast web browser.

Edit : Tried to post a link but not working. However if you visit Amazon.com and type Kindle Fire in the search box, you can have a look at it!

We're waiting to upgrade our Kindle for the new tablet. It'll cost $199 in the States, details are out now. No idea when it comes to the UK, though, and to get it from the States (have a friend send it as a gift even) is to incur fees, so not sure when we'll get it.

princesswoo wrote: »

My 9 year old book mad son has asked for a kindle, but whats this about amazon releasing a rival for the ipad, Im so confused with all this technology.

If someone could explain i'd be grateful.

The Fire isn't quite a rival for the ipad. It's for people who want a souped up Kindle, one that's very nicely got some features of a tablet but not all the full-on features. The one flaw I see is that people picked the kindle over the ipad typically because it has e-ink, much better for reading books. The Fire (this first version at least) doesn't have e-ink. We'll have to wait for reviews that address how it is to read on this vs. a regular kindle. If it's still better for reading than the ipad, I'd definitely get this. In a year or so when they come out with the Fire that has e-ink and 3G, well, it'll be time to upgrade again, lol.

Basically, if your son wants a kindle AND an ipad or other tablet, but you're not about to spring for both, maybe spring for the kindle or Kindle fire. It's really about what you want to spend and what he wants/needs to use it for. Here's a comparison.

Jazzy_B

princesswoo wrote: »

My 9 year old book mad son has asked for a kindle, but whats this about amazon releasing a rival for the ipad, Im so confused with all this technology.

If someone could explain i'd be grateful.

The kindle is purely a device for reading, and it's brilliant at that. You can still buy a kindle with a keyboard if you want one .It has a web browser, but it's not very good, but it's ok for checking emails etc. Amazon has been selling refurbs for £80, and they have a 12 month warranty and are as new. The price of these will probably drop soon, to clear stock.

The kindle fire is a tablet device similar to an ipad, but much cheaper. The ereader is also in colour, and the kindle is is black and white. You can do so much more with a tablet, which is basically a mini laptop.
I love my kindle and don't need or want a tablet, and I think the kindle fire looks a great product.
I don't claim to be an expert, but it depents on what your son actually wants, and how much you want to spend.
Lucky boy, whichever you choose

Aidy

$109 = £69.69 at todays exchange rate (via xe.com) so it is £20 (or nearly 25%) more expensive.

Unfortunately it seems to be the same story for most consumer electronics - ipads, ipods etc.

pretzelnut

Hmmm decisions.

He has asked for (wait for it) a Laptop, a nintendo 3ds or a kindle.

He loves reading, we have so many books I am running out of space. We buy him books when he doea well at school or is really well behaved (much cheaper than magazines)

I really dont want to get a 9 year old a laptop and im trying to stay away from the whole gaming thing as he has an xbox to play on.

I think i'll hang fire on ordering a kindle for now. As he reads a lot of illustrated and educational books with diagrams and stuff in do these show on the current B&W kindle , or is would that work better on the fire version.

spikejrt

Aidy wrote: »

$109 = £69.69 at todays exchange rate (via xe.com) so it is £20 (or nearly 25%) more expensive.

The US price is never including local sales tax, which always bumps up the price so that needs to be taken into consideration. We also have a better minimum wage and lots more holiday so this cost is never going to be absorbed by retailers etc.

I think all considered, it's alot closer than most people give credit.

skibster

princesswoo wrote: »

Hmmm decisions.

He has asked for (wait for it) a Laptop, a nintendo 3ds or a kindle.

He loves reading, we have so many books I am running out of space. We buy him books when he doea well at school or is really well behaved (much cheaper than magazines)

I really dont want to get a 9 year old a laptop and im trying to stay away from the whole gaming thing as he has an xbox to play on.

I think i'll hang fire on ordering a kindle for now. As he reads a lot of illustrated and educational books with diagrams and stuff in do these show on the current B&W kindle , or is would that work better on the fire version.

Sounds like the Kindle Fire will be perfect. On the regular Kindle you get maybe a couple of the pictures that would be available in the actual book, and they are black and white. On the Kindle Fire they will be color and I assume you'll see all of them as they appear in a book (not positive, though). AND he can do a little web browsing, etc, on the Fire, and play a few games. So it gives him a touch of what he wants in a laptop without giving him an actual laptop just yet.

However, if you don't like the idea of him doing any unassisted Web browsing/email at all just yet, then I'd go with the regular kindle. He could go on the web with that too, but it's VERY limited and crazy slow and irritating. I tried it once and gave up, so no real worries about what he'd get into there.

WishI'dReadSooner

spikejrt wrote: »

The US price is never including local sales tax, which always bumps up the price so that needs to be taken into consideration. We also have a better minimum wage and lots more holiday so this cost is never going to be absorbed by retailers etc.

I think all considered, it's alot closer than most people give credit.

Amazon doesn't charge local sales tax (except to 2 maybe 3 states where they are MADE to) there has been a lot of discussion in US about that.
We are FAR higher taxed here - look at fuel!
We also work more hours - many people working unpaid hours.
It's swings and roundabouts. I often think we'd be better off living in the US (hubby is from US) if I didn't have to swing through hoops for a green card to enable me to work there.

I want a Kindle but I don't think the Fire is something I'd go for at the moment. Going to wait until we go to the US to visit family and also wait & see what people think about the new touch ones. I'd be happy having the one with ads - as long as when we get back here it'll work OK.

Personally I think the 3G ones are the ones to buy - free albiet slow internet BUT if you go on holiday it's a GREAT free way to keep in touch with peeps. I don't want to yank a heavy laptop or tablet around, I also don't want to do much web browsing BUT the fact it's there if you need it is a great bonus and well worth the small extra.

Apart from that I normally take at least half a dozen books with me and often swap so I bring the same back home with me. I can easily read a book a day on holiday (speed read) WHAT a boon to take a thin Kindle with far more than I'd ever read with me.

spikejrt

WishI'dReadSooner wrote: »

Amazon doesn't charge local sales tax (except to 2 maybe 3 states where they are MADE to) there has been a lot of discussion in US about that.
We are FAR higher taxed here - look at fuel!
We also work more hours - many people working unpaid hours.
It's swings and roundabouts. I often think we'd be better off living in the US (hubby is from US) if I didn't have to swing through hoops for a green card to enable me to work there.

Well I wasn't aware they don't, but if it's anything like the UK you can buy Kindle's at the same price on the high street which I suppose would be taxed.

As for people working unpaid hours, well that's up to them - I certainly wouldn't be working for free.

But as you say it's swings and roundabouts, I expect it works out the same in the end. We have a free health service after all, and they don't! (Despite what people think of ours :-))