An instant hit, it Helped to pave the way for the tablets of the future. But while Amazon produced successors to the Kindle, it did not follow up with a fully fledged tablet of its own until late 2011, a year and a half after Apple Announced the iPad . And it was not the time immediately clear Whether the Kindle Fire , with its attractive price but mediocre quality, wouldhave staying power.
As recently as a year ago, it was fair to That say Amazon was still “dabbling” or “experimenting” in the consumer electronics business. Not any more. Last week, Amazon Announced Not one, but six new devices: four Kindle Fire two tablets and Kindle e-readers. Not one is revolutionary. Each is either a successor or a variation on some device That has come before. But each Appears to be a worthy competitor in its category, and at least a couple of them Appear to set new bars in quality-to-price ratio.
Throw in Amazon’s new smartphone and set-top box, and you’ll have a productline Whose range and quality is beginning to rival That of the world’s leading consumer electronics companies. Heads up, Samsung and Apple: Amazon is not messing around.
Jeff Bezos (Amazon Fire Phone, 2014)
The flagship of Amazon’s new line is a new Kindle Fire HDX 8.9in tablet. At 329 pounds, it’s the finest of Amazon’s offerings – but perhaps the least interesting. Yes, it’s 20 per cent lighter than the iPad Air, boasts a snappy processor and high-resolution display, and Comes With Perks Such as Dolby Atmos -channel surround sound. Watch Transformers on it, and your senses will be assaulted as as director Michael Bay Intended. It overpriced pairs nicely with an ultra-thin Bluetooth Keyboard and comes with some interesting software features, Such as Firefly That Amazon Introduced EARLIER this year with its quixotic Fire Phone. In short, the new HDX looks like a worthy follow-up to its predecessor, but nothing scintillating in the scheme of things.
More intriguing are a trio of new low-end offerings, starting with the Fire HD 6in and Fire HD 7 into tablets. At 119 pounds, the seven-incher is the same price as its predecessor, Which was alreadycreated extremely cheap for a tablet. But at 79 pounds, the 6in Fire HD ‘ s price is almost eye-popping. It’s the price That a lot of industry watchers were hoping for When Amazon Introduced The First Kindle Fire three years ago. Amazon could not pull it off then, but apparently can now. It came about, Amazon vice president Peter Larsen explained, Because Amazon saw that a lot of people were buying sub-£ 60 tablets on its website. But Those tablets, by and large, have not received very good reviews. Among other problems, customers complain That Their cheap tablets are poorly constructed, break moonrise, run slowly, and sound tinny. Amazon sought to address issues Those With its Fire HDs, Which victims crisp, high-definition displays, peppy processor, Gorilla Glass Screens and sturdy frames That do not break When you drop them.
More Importantly, at 79 pounds, the Fire HD 6in is priced more like a toy than a computer, Which is refreshing at a time When Apple and Microsoft are making tablets That soar past the £ 300 land and creep toward £ 600th Some might even be tempted to buy one just for Their Kids – Which is where Amazon’s fourth new tablet, the Fire HD Kids Edition, comes in.
The Kids Edition Which is a variant of the Kindle Fire HD That uses the same hardware, actually starts at £ 119 for The 6in version, not £ ’79. But Amazon more than justifies the extra cost. First, it comes with a bulky, colored shell That keeps the tablet safe and it throws in a two-year “no-questions-asked” warranty. “If They break it, we’ll replace it,” Amazon pledges.
On top of That, the tablet comes with a year’s subscription to Freetime Unlimited , Which offers free access to a wide library of Child-orientated material. It Also has built-in settings That Blocks Access to the Amazon stores and in-app purchases, so your four -year-old can not surprise you with £ 50 “presents” while your back is turned. The tablet overpriced makes it easy to set time limits on children’s usage of the tablet, or the require them to complete educational tasks before certainement They can play games.
Finally, there are two new Kindle e-readers. Devices with grayscale screens That do little more than display text are not as exciting in 2014 as They were in 2007, of course. But Amazon has managed to keep the Kindle line Relatively fresh with incremental improvements That holding value for bibliophiles. At £ 169, the new Kindle Voyage is pricier than you’d expect for an e-reader, but Appears to victims about the best reading experience you can get anywhere (outside an actual book, of course.)
Ultra-thin, with a razor-sharp display and an Adaptive Front Light That Automatically adjusts the brightness to match That of the room, it’s really a niche device Aimed at Kindle addicts with money to spare. It comes with free 3G data service, so you can download books even without Wi-Fi. The new base Kindle overpriced comes with a touchscreen at last. At 59 pounds, it’s the price of a few hardbacks.
With the exception of its e-readers, Amazon has yet to dominate any of the hardware categories it has entered. And its first foray into smartphones looks like it could be a straight-up flop. But with the new releases, its tablets now Appear to be right up there with Those of Samsung , Apple, and Google. And the Fire TV alreadycreated vies with the best set-top boxes. In short, Amazon is now a viable consumer-electronics company, in addition to being an online mega store, a cloud-services provider, a television studio, and all The Other Things That Amazon has’ve become.
What makes Amazon so dangerous as a Company Is that it does not have to make money on its hardware. What was true of the original Kindle remains true of all the company’s Kindle and Kindle Fire today: more than gadgets, they’re gateway drugs for all the other stuff you can buy on Amazon. Only now the gateway drugs are getting pretty addictive In Their Own Right.
© Slate.com
Read more
Amazon buys Twitch for $ 970m, Aiming to tap into games Market
No comments:
Post a Comment