http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/02/amazon-kindle-tablet/

Techcrunch got a chance to actually see and play with the Amazon tablet, but they couldn't take any pictures of it. There are some things that sounds great and some things that don't sound so great in my opinion.

It sounds like it is going to be very similar to a Nook Color. It's a 7 inch tablet with LCD display, probably a single core processor (he wasn't sure). And it's OS is a very customized version of Android 2.x. And sadly there appears to be no micro SD slot, he said there are references to SD but it's normal for Android to refer to internal storage as SD, and only 6GB of internal storage. The price tag is $250.

The customized OS is skinned all over with the Amazon looks and colors and users may not even recognize it as Android under it. There are no Google apps, instead Amazon uses their own Appstore, music and video player apps. Fortunately the Amazon Appstore is pretty big, so I don't think that's a big problem. Though no YouTube app will make me a little sad.

There have been quite a few reports that Amazon expects to sell millions of these before the end of the year, which would mean they expect it to be the most successful Android tablet ever. And because of the Amazon branding and low price it could be.

This report knocked my excitement level for the tablet down a few notches. Running an older version of Android 2 and a single core processor just sounds so 2010 to me. And having no micro SD slot really bugs me. The tablet is a bit lower end that expected. Though this was a pretty rough preview of the tablet without any specifics, so maybe it's not as bad as it sounds.

But we'll have to wait until November if he's correct.

Oh, no 10 inch version this year.

The single core processor may not be a huge issue as it seems to be more of an eBook reader that has tablet capabilities than a tablet that can act as an eBook reader. The older version of Android could be helping in keeping the price down. I will definitely consider getting one down the road.

 

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The Lenovo Ideapad A1 has better hardware, newer OS, and micro SD and micro HDMI ports. And you get twice the internal storage space for the same price (Ideapad A1 16GB and Kindle Tablet 8GB both $250).

We were expecting Amazon to sell the tablet at almost no profit in order to get as many of these out there and put it's Appstore, book store, video, and music services.

I can only guess it's got to be all about the Amazon customized OS. Maybe they've made it really pretty and colorful and easier to use, something that will appeal more to the general public that obviously prefers Apples brightly colored iOS to stock Android (I agree, Google has left Android looking a bit dull and geeky). So it's possible that this won't really be about the somewhat dated hardware and OS, but maybe something really special Amazon has done with the OS. But I'm not exactly thrilled about more Android fragmentation as a result.

It seems to be aimed squarely at the Nook Color which also uses Android 2. I would expect to see price drops on both shortly after release as the two companies compete.

 

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It's probably not Amazon's fault. But this was hyped up to be something pretty amazing. Instead it looks pretty average so far. It'll probably be a pretty decent $250 7 inch tablet. I don't think I'll be replacing my Nook Color anytime soon apparently.

PS. One big thing I missed is that the $250 price include an Amazon Prime account ($80 value).

I shop quite a lot from Amazon and had been thinking about getting a Prime account for the free 2 day shipping (or very cheap next day shipping) and it gets you access to Amazon's on demand video library too, which might be able to replace my Netflix subscription.

So if I think of it as I might have bought the $80 Prime account eventually anyway, then I could kinda look at this tablet as only costing me $170.

In related new. There is a rumor that a new Nook Color is coming in September. Unfortunately there is pretty no more info than that. Though I'm thinking if this was real, we'd probably have heard more about it. So I'm skeptical. But if it's real, you should see it before the Amazon Kindle Tablet arrives.

that alone would have made me pick the amazon thing over the nook color. although i'm going to wait since i don't have a nc yet to see if it's easily hackable the way the nc is before i decide i want a 7" tablet.

 

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Love my amazon prime!

 

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