back to article Amazon's new Kindle Fire stripped naked

Amazon's Kindle Fire – arguably the most-anticipated fondleslab since Apple's iPad – was released on Tuesday, and already the techno-haruspicationists at iFixit have torn one apart and examined its entrails. The Kindle Fire – can we just start calling it the Fire? thanks – is already a hit among developers and has caused a …

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  1. Matt Bucknall

    'although with only 6GB of the internal 6GB of RAM'

    Huh?

    1. Oz
      Pint

      Exactly what I was going to say - word for word. Have a beer on me!

    2. LaeMing
      Happy

      I'm assuming

      the second 6 should have been an 8, from the spec listed lower down the page.

      But it was a rather jarring sentence until I read ahead :-)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Headmaster

        Still bad

        Now it says "flash RAM" which is still wrong. Don't these IT hacks know anything anymore?

        hint: Just say 8GB Flash memory

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    2 year battery lifespan?

    Jeez that's a bit low. Have plenty of > 3 year old gadgets whose batteries are still going strong.

    Are you sure about this?

    "A decent amount of adhesive is used on the battery and motherboard, meaning some prying and gentle working is required for disassembly." - doesn't sound like something I would look forward to do either.

    1. Tom 35

      Worst case

      I have had battries die that fast (overpriced camera battry for one) and others keep going (2nd gen ipad touch). Adhesive on a battery is a bit of a pain but check what you have to do for an ipod or ipad to get at the battery and get the thing back together!

      http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-iPad-2-GSM-Battery/6154/1

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Well for an iPad battery I would just go to Apple, who would replace the whole iPad for £85.

        After >2 years could probably do with a fresh new device in mint condition.

  3. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    FAIL

    Noticeable by its absence

    From Amazon UK...

    1. Tom 35

      Or anything but US...

      I expect it will be some time before I see it on amazon.ca

    2. BorkedAgain
      Thumb Down

      Down with this sort of thing.

  4. Infidellic_

    Rooted too apparently

    Given it's OS it's not particularly surprising but Hack A Day are reporting it's been rooted:

    http://hackaday.com/2011/11/16/i-am-root-kindle-fire-edition/

    1. Charles 9

      Not like Amazon made it hard.

      They conceded (and the Reg reported on this) that the Fire will get rooted eventually. Their attitude is rather cavalier--partly because a rooted Fire is still an Android tablet, and Amazon already has Android apps for those occasions.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Charles 9

        But it's also been reported that Amazon take a loss on each the sale and if users start jumping from their ecosystem how is Amazon going to recoup it...

        They can be put on their cavalier mask all they want but I foresee a cat and mouse game, not unlike other manufacturers...

        1. Mark 65

          @Metavisor

          As stated in the previous article, they've calculated that the percentage of users that will bother doing so is low enough that profit still ensues.

  5. Neil Cooper

    Amazon FAIL doesn;t even match up to a Nook 1

    so wait... if the fire only has about 6GB local storage for both apps and media, then most of your media etc has to be in the cloud....and the only connectivity the Fire has is Wi-fi (no 3G) then this means you can't access your media unless you're in range of an open hotspot which aren't exactly common.

    Also it doesn't have user-replaceable battery?

    FAIL.

    I'll stick with my 2 year old Nook 1 thanks. It has user-replaceable batteries (In stock at any B&N), (free) 3G wireless so I can get to the ebook store so I can purchase and download ebooks no matter where I am. It also has and SD card slot (2 actually if you dig around) so I already have 18GB of storage space (2GB built in + 16gb card) but could go upto a whopping 64GB.

    1. Eddy Ito

      "Also it doesn't have user-replaceable battery? FAIL."

      It sounded to me like it was fairly easy to replace the battery so there's clearly no need to shout. Also, the lack of 3G isn't that much of a non-started as more and more phones have hotspot capability and, frankly, that is the way it should be. It's B.S. that telcos feel I should have separate plans for every device I own and if I can't use my phone line for everything then I move on to a provider who allows it. I don't need to tell you that there really is no such thing as "(free) 3G wireless" do I?

      I do take your point about the lack of an SD card. I always felt it was one of the major shortcomings of the Palm Pre was the card was missing but Palm, HP and Apple all seem to think that storing your stuff on their cloudyness is better than you having direct control over your stuff so why not Amazon, cloudy king on high? Google isn't much better, sure you're free to have a data storage card but they really want you to use the GOOG cloud and/or your employers exchange sever. I wager if HTC, B&N, Samsung, et al. get into the cloud business you can kiss your cards goodbye.

    2. Lance 3

      There is a reason why there is no 3G; they don't want the bill. While your Nook has it, buying a book from them more than covers the amount of data used. The Fire on the other hand, it requires the cloud and imagine people buying a movie, music, or just watching something that has long since been paid for. Amazon would have a huge bill for all the streaming the users would be doing. 3G takes that cost away from them.

  6. JDX Gold badge

    re:2 year battery lifespan?

    They're making an example, not claiming that's how long it lasts.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It is better than iPad2!

    Amazon’s Kindle Fire “is an attractive alternative for many people who might otherwise have bought an iPad” after reading that the Kindle Fire:

    • is much less capable and versatile than the entry-level iPad

    • has a fraction of the apps

    • has a smaller screen; less than half the surface area of the iPad’s display

    • lacks basic built-in apps such as a calendar, notepad or maps

    • for those who don’t care about the above built-in apps, the Fire may seem too heavy and costly (meaning every potential customer is now excluded)

    • has hardware that’s plain and clunky with with zero style

    • has inconveniently located or no essential physical buttons or controls (home, volume)

    • has no cameras or microphone

    • has no GPS

    • has no Bluetooth for headsets or wireless speakers

    • has no included earbuds

    • has no built-in cellular connectivity

    • has no included cable for connecting to a computer

    • has limited memory for storing content such as movies

    • has a frustrating interface

    • has a problem with its touch calibration

    • is difficult to stop scrolling on the desired item

    • requires more pressure than it should to open selections

    • browses noticeably slower than an iPad

    • has inferior display of magazines and newspapers compared to iPad

    • has only 60% of iPad’s battery life

    1. Arctic fox

      For the average punter.

      It is all a question of perception, is it not? The average non-techie simply does not think about his shiny in terms of your gigantic carping-list. The issue is will he/she regard the overall experience (content access included) as enjoyable and acceptable *at that pricepoint*. It is how the punter regards the total package that will determine to what extent the Fire will take sales that the iPad otherwise would have had - not any of us waving spec/performance lists in his/her face. For the money this appears to be a steal - but that's just my opinion. Let's see what the first quarter's sales are, shall we?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Did anyone say it was 'better' than an iPad?

      Nope. Nice list though, +12 fanboy iPoints to you.

    3. Neil Barnes Silver badge

      Don't sit on the fence

      Tell us what you *really* think.

    4. hplasm
      Gimp

      You missed one-

      has no army of whiny fanbois

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        hplasm

        Hahah Amazon has no army of whiny fanbois?

        LOL Have you not met Kindle fans? They would buy Bezos turds if they were branded Kindle Turds.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      An object lesson in how to fail at being a troll.

      Piss poor effort.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      And for not having all that pointless crap....

      ....it's much, much cheaper.

      My Old Ford Focus is far superior to a F1 Race car as that.

      Has no ICE

      Has No Doors

      Has No Windows

      Has Less Seats

      Has No Roof

      And as for "has no included earbuds", then clearly you have no concet of what quality audio sounds like if you class those crap 99p things as a bonus.

    7. peter 45
      Thumb Up

      fine by me

      All good points. Your choice, your money. You want to pay the difference to fix these shortfalls, go ahead. Meanwhile I will be placing an order with amazon.

      See you down the pub later. I will be the one with 300 quid in my pocket.

    8. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Actually, it's an attractive option for those who might have bought a iPad, and then looked at the price and redundancy and said "screw that, what an enormous waste of money."

      It's a fraction of the price.

      And I can fit it into a coat pocket, unlike the iPad. I don't need to carry a bag around.

      And I don't care what it looks like, no more than I care what my hammer looks like, nor the cover of the book I'm reading.

      My 'phone has a calender. And GPS. And a headphone socket. And a mic. And a camera. Why would I need to carry TWO of all of those things? You'd have to be some kind of muppet to want that kind of redundancy, and I seriously doubt that anyone carrying an iPad isn't carrying a mobile phone as well.

      And I can use it in public without being either mobbed by sad fanbois waving their own Jobs devices at me, nor being despised as the pedestrian equivalent of a Porsche driver to the rest of the world.

      And are you *seriously* whining because it doesn't come with a micro USB lead and some cheap headphones? That's like complaining that your tin of beans didn't come with a fork. I have about six of both, and don't need any more. Do you really use the crappy headphones supplied with electronics anyway? You really buy a £400+ bit of kit, and use the tinny pieces of trash supplied with it?

      Not having personally used one yet, I'll have to take comments in interface and touch screen with a pinch of salt, because I don't automatically trust everything that marketing people and journos tell me.

      1. Chris007
        Trollface

        to AC 17/11 12:30GMT

        Well said - was thinking the same myself!

        I'll be waiting for the reviews but if I am going to buy a tablet this is likely to be the one.

  8. Wombling_Free
    Trollface

    "easy to reassemble"

    Unless you took that ram chip out...

    Oh, sorry I forgot, everyone DOES have a solder reflow station and clean room at home!

    1. Steve 48
      Thumb Up

      Actually quite easy - I've sucessfully done it loads of time on similar arrangements using a hot air gun and a pot of liquid flux. You have to be carefull with the temperature, length of time that you blast and the direction of the airflow, but it can be done. You can also get table top ovens for about £100 (£200 with PID power controller) that do quite a nice job.

    2. Richard North
      Happy

      Reflow...

      Why do you need a reflow-station and a clean room?

      All you need is a toaster-grill and the meat-thermometer... if you get any bridging a bit of ordinary solder-wick will fix it.

      Don't people *ever* hack hardware the old-school way on the kitchen table any more?

    3. Sadako
      Boffin

      Expensive tools

      You can solder stuff like that with an old beko toaster oven and some skill, and it won't need a clean room as the ram and CPU won't care if it's a little dirty.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yes...

    Really scraping the bottom of the barrel with some of those. The rest are quite reasonable sacrifices given it's a third of the price...

  10. Jelliphiish
    Thumb Up

    Teal?

    that's Jade. Teal is darker.

    otherwise, nice article.

  11. Matthew 3
    Alert

    "Teal"?

    What the hell kind of colour is that?

    For accessibility reasons I expect El Reg to only use 4 bit colour descriptions so that the male readership has a chance of knowing what you're on about.

    The only time a guy needs to go beyond those basic colours is under *very* specialised circumstances. I remember reading about a chap who used Dulux's colour charts to delay orgasm. If he could get as far as 'burnt umber' he was doing well.

  12. JeffyPooh
    Pint

    Double-check the current price of the RIM PlayBook

    The RIM PlayBook is similar in many way to the Kindle Fire, but with several added features (cameras). Tomorrow (Friday 18 Nov) the PalyBook be on sale again, this time for $200, in stores all across Canada. And that's with 16GB of that new-fangled "Flash-RAM". ;-)

    The USA is likely to see similar PlayBook pricing this coming Black Friday.

  13. Alan Denman

    cRetina logic means...

    Its superior by far having a higher ppi count.

    Welcome to the retina fan club,

  14. Chris Gray 1
    Happy

    RAM => Flash

    Nice little article.

    You should fix the references to RAM to be Flash as well - its a tad confusing as is. As any geek will tell you, RAM is the stuff that doesn't keep its data when you power it off.

    The Fire has 8GB Flash, with apparantly about 2GB used for the OS and installed apps, leaving 6 GB for the owner's books, apps, music, videos, etc. About the same as the Kobo Vox, except you can expand the Vox with an additional 32GB via a micro SD card.

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