The Kindle Fire – Can it compete?

I’m a serious gadget geek, so I’ve been reading about the speculation about the new Amazon tablet for the last several months. It’s finally here, and it definitely looks interesting. Here are the quick specs for the Kindle Fire:

  • 7″ Display (smaller than the 9.7″ iPad screen, but much bigger than large 4″ cell phones)
  • 8 Gig of internal memory, but you can also utilize Amazon Cloud Storage
  • you can read books, magazines, newspapers, play games, browse the web  and more
  • wifi only, no 3g support
  • battery life: 8 hours of continuous reading
  • dual-core processor, so it’s fast enough to run games
  • it runs a special version of Android 2.3
  • fast web-browser in addition to multiple Android apps
  • all at a price of $199

So what do I think? I like the price and I like the device. The iPad still will have many more apps, so this is definitely not an iPad killer, but I do think they will sell a lot of these devices. It will become even more attractive once the hard-core enthusiasts figure out a way to root the device and install custom roms like they have on the Nook Color.

For ministry, this would be a great book reader, but I still think I would prefer a non-color Kindle because of the longer battery life.  I think the Fire is also too small to preach from with the 7″ screen. I really can’t think of a many cases where I would use something like this. Overall, I really like it, but I don’t have a reason to buy one. I already have a great android cell phone, and my wife’s iPad has everything I need and more.  If you are interested in the Kindle, be sure to check out the new cheaper $79 & $99 versions on their website.  Here’s a video for the new Kindle Fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUtmOApIslE

Mike

I am a former design engineer who now pastors Cornerstone Community Church in Galax, Virginia. I'm passionate about following Jesus and I love technology. I've been married to Jennifer for 28 years, and we have three adult children.

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