anyone have any experience of the kindle fire HD ?
looking for a tablet for oldest daughters xmas
kindle £159 V iPad mini £269 she’s 13 an avid reader
but also uses my laptop for watching films and faffing
around on the internet FB,twitter etc would the kindle cut it
rewiews seem pretty good but any real world experience out there?
cheers Ali

There’s a big old recent thread

throw the nexus 7 into the mix too

http://www.hughesdirect.co.uk/computing/tablet-pcs/asu-nexus7-16gb/product

I bought a Nexus from here at the w/e

its for a teenage girl. spec/performance/cost will mean nothing

get the ipad mini.

For less than the price of the ipad mini she could have a 16gb Nexus AND a Kindle reader. Proper tools for the jobs.

weeksy – Member
http://www.hughesdirect.co.uk/computing/tablet-pcs/asu-nexus7-16gb/product

I bought a Nexus from here at the w/e

I would send it back if I were you, £20 cheaper direct from Google.

https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_7_8GB?id=nexus_7_8gb&hl=en_GB

Yeah apart from 2 things.

“no longer for sale”
“8Gb”

Apart from that, exactly the same and cheaper.

Yeah apart from 2 things.

“no longer for sale”
“8Gb”

Apart from that, exactly the same and cheaper.

I think he meant to link to the 16Gb
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_16gb

Bummer lol

To be honest for the ballache of getting the paypal transaction refunded, then waiting 3-5 days for that and then ordering the Google one and getting that shipped… i’ll accept the £20 hit on it.

edit : Just checked and there was anohter reason which was to do with Google Wallet and some of their questions etc to set up my bank card… ALSO the fact i associated this account to my phone and my 4 year old ended up billing me for £30 from China for Apps/games on my Android phone….

Sorry I didn’t check the URL, google just took me straight to the 8GB one. The 16GB is £159 as of last Monday.

Just an oservation, but I nipped into an Apple store yeasterday and had a play on an iPad mini.
2 things struck me, after only ever using a normal iPad a few times:
1) It’s not that small, but would be a piece of cake to carry about, far more portable than a normal iPad IMO.
2) It’s REALLY slim and light. (Specs say it’s less then half the weith of an iPad 4)

I reckon Apple are gonna sell these like there’s no tomorrow.

Funnily enough they had Queues about a mile long for the iPhone….

They had none for the Ipad Mini.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/no-ipad-mini-queue-london-walk-buy-one-110500165.html

They had none for the Ipad Mini.

The analysts reckon it will be a slow burn till Xmas, then they’ll shift in the millions. Most of the tablet frenzie has been satiated with the iPad 3 launch, which was only a few months ago….

The mini is just to mop up the lower end of the market at Xmas.

would be normal for apple to at least wait until version 2 of the Mini

Planning a Nexus here, having seen one rooted to run Ubuntu 🙂

Lol the other analysts say it’s overpriced and not that good. Nexus 7 looks good and properly priced

Lol the other analysts say it’s overpriced and not that good. Nexus 7 looks good and properly priced

The reviewers, as opposed to the analysts, largely seem to have raved about it.

if it weren’t for the fears in my mind there’d be a retina screened replacement in 6 months, I’d have bought one.

“Overpriced” is a funny word. Since it’s widely acknowledged that google and Amazon have priced their hardware at cost or thereabouts, is that therefore ‘proper pricing’?

rumour was Amazon and Google were selling at cost/ under cost to quickly build up market share

The Kindle is a nice looking device, but for me suffers in the same way that apple devices do. Which is the lock-in, Amazon store or i-Tunes, for most people that probably means stability and apps will work, becuase there isnt an infite number of different devices to be tested with and a bigger range of options; cases, adapters etc.
For me Google offer more flexibility in terms of configuration, personalisation etc and will do all that the others will do, but I’m not the mass market.

Teenage girl – Apple she’ll love it, Kindle or Nexus she’ll probably be fine but wish she’d got the apple and Dad’s a bit tight.

Ok I’ll bite….
Retina display just a fancy word for resolution others use.
Do I need to find the interview where he claims apple had spent loads on expensive Pete who said 10 inch tabs were the smallest that would work and otherwise you would have to supply sandpaper to sharpen your fingers….
How about the stupid pricing where £20 worth of memory costs £100
Apple make on hardware and software so killing twice. Others are not so greedy so not making on hardware.
The momentum of the jobbs coffin should sort out energy shortages

For what it’s worth, I had a Nexus 7 for a couple of months, sold it to get an iPad Mini, basically because I’m so locked into the Apple way (iPhone, iMac etc etc) and having a different OS was a bit of a faff.

That said, it really is that much nicer to use than the Nexus – the whole unit feels a lot more professional, just that bit better built. Sure, a Retina screen would have been nice, but it’s still crystal clear and I’m sure I’d only notice the difference in a side-by-side comparison.

Really nice bit of kit.

rumour was Amazon and Google were selling at cost/ under cost to quickly build up market share

It’s not a rumour, their business models are different:

Apples makes most of it’s money on HW.

Amazon makes most of it’s money on purchases from Amazon store, so the tablet is just a conduit to that.

Google makes money on adverts, so wants to maximise user time on it’s online services, so it can maximise ad revenue.

So Apples sells at a premium and the other to sell at or below cost.

Amazon makes most of it’s money on purchases from Amazon store, so the tablet is just a conduit to that.

Doesn’t surprise me, the sheer speed and efficiency with which they replace faulty ones would indicate that they’re keen to have you back spending money ASAP. Not that that’s a bad thing of course.

There was queue for iPad minis where I was. I was in the queue, but to get the full sized jobbie, I was one of the only people getting the new one, most were getting a Mini.

The Mini looks good for carrying about places, it’s a bit more portable. But I found it still a touch too wide to hold in one hand when using it, I do have quite small hands though!

I think a 13yo would prefer an Apple product to the Kindle Fire. However, looking through iBook at the weekend I was surprised at how much the books cost (most were £5), do Amazon sell them cheaper.

Teenage girl – Apple she’ll love it, Kindle or Nexus she’ll probably be fine but wish she’d got the apple and Dad’s a bit tight.

Ha too right …the Nexus is looking good for the £’s

looking through iBook at the weekend I was surprised at how much the books cost (most were £5), do Amazon sell them cheaper.

I take it you get get books from elsewhere to read on the iPad? I seem to recall epub files work fine.
That allows you to swap titles with mates etc. just like with hard copies.
The youngster has an iPad Mini and I’ve ordered a 3G one for myself, so I’ll have a play around but TBH, I reckon I’ll stick to my basic Kindle for reading duties.

Good point jota – there’s a Kindle app for the iPad.

there’s a Kindle app for the iPad.

I guess the question is whether or not you can point the app at the files you want to read?
Easy enough on Android but I suspect not with an Apple product

I’m going to look and see if I can import epub files into iBooks

would be normal for apple to at least wait until version 2 of the Mini

That’s the same with any tech from any company – you have to buy at some time and I can’t imagine his daughter would be happy waiting till next Autumn for v2 of the Mini! And then you may as well wait for v3 or v4 and so on, and so on…

… suspect not with an Apple product

Transfer .mobi & ePub eBook Files to an iPad for Easier Reading & Viewing

for reading – standard kindle
for most other stuff ipad

http://calibre-ebook.com/

footflaps – Member

Most of the tablet frenzie has been satiated with the iPad 3 launch, which was only a few months ago….

The mini is just to mop up the lower end of the market at Xmas.
Is £269 “the lower end of the market” for a toy tablet computer? Good grief!

And we’re supposed to be in a recession… ❓

Is £269 “the lower end of the market” for a toy tablet computer? Good grief!

And we’re supposed to be in a recession…

Lower end for Apple stuff. Android tablets at the same size can be had for half that.

Is £269 “the lower end of the market” for a toy tablet computer? Good grief!

And we’re supposed to be in a recession…

Don;t blame us for you being poor

😉

Even The Register loves the iPad Mini:

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/11/05/apple_ipad_mini_review/page3.html

Is £269 “the lower end of the market” for a toy tablet computer?

Er yes. Do you know how much the top end iPads cost? Up to £659.

Display shoot out ipad mini, vs Kindle Fire vs Nexus 7, surprising result (well for me anyway)