Amazon looks set to release tablet
Amazon's large order for touchscreens implies that a forthcoming tablet may be on the cards.
According to DigiTimes, Amazon has placed an order for a large number of touchscreens. The screens are allegedly going to use Fringe Field Switching (FFS) technology, which has the advantages of offering a wide colour gamut and wide viewing angles.
The report also claims that Amazon is feeling bullish about the tablet's predicted success, and is expecting to ship up to 800,000 units a month.
The company is entitled to feel confident too, as its first foray into consumer handheld devices, the Kindle, has been a runaway success with over 8 million units sold in 2010 alone.
These rumours come hot on the heels of information given to our sister publication PC Pro from industry insiders, who revealed that Amazon was working on a colour version of the Kindle, based on Google’s Android OS. However, it’s not yet clear whether this is the same development or a different device altogether.
DigiTimes also reports that Amazon is planning to reduce the price of the Kindle to differentiate it from the forthcoming tablet, which will be aimed at the higher end of the market. According to the site's sources, it's hoped that this price drop will ‘attract consumer demand from the education and consumer market.’
Would you invest in an Amazon tablet? Is a price drop for the Kindle enough to make you take the plunge with one? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyThen again, I believe we lack the free-Wikipedia-connection, which makes it a lot less attractive
As for the new one? Meh. The Kindle's advantage is e-ink, giving it superior readability and massive battery life. A tablet with an FFS screen is going to only get the 10 or less hours we're seeing as tablet battery lives these days, not weeks or months a la e-ink. It'll just end up as yet another Android tablet on the market, most of which can run the Kindle app anyway.
Colour e-ink screen? Now I'm interested!
EDIT: Hahaha, FFS screen. I had a chuckle at that.
Xir: Kindles are great. I use mine all the time for travelling (saves all the heavy, bulky paperbacks), reading at home and so on. I do have the 3G model though, and occasionally use it for the odd Wiki lookup or email reading.
I was very adverse to the idea at first and still buy a few authors' hardcovers, but everything else has been sapping my wallet straight to my Kindle.
If they can bring a tablet out at around £149-£199 then I think itll really fly off the shelves and be a worthy alterantive to the iPad
um, you can browse wiki on a kindle. its one of the few websites that is somewhat reasonable to read/browse on a kindle.
I also want a tablet. Something that is viewable in the dark (sunlight would also be nice, but I care a lot less about that). Something with good hardware specs. I want something with a bigger screen, 7" at least. I don't mind having to recharge it every couple of days with moderate use.
To me what I want in an eReader is almost completely incompatible with what I want in a tablet. Something like a Nook Color wouldn't work at all as an eReader. Would I ever use a tablet to read books? I am sure I would occasionaly. I also read books on a PC as well sometimes. It doesn't replace an actual book. Just like a tablet isn't going to replace an eReader for me. It might supplement one though.
I just hope if this is an FFS eReader for Amazon, they basically make it a full featured tablet with an emphasis on its abilities as an eReader as well. Take a page from the Nook Color. A lot of people bought thing so they could root it immediately and run Android fully on it. People are "rejoicing" (okay a little strong) now that BN has made it "native" android 2.2. If you are going to do your own Android based eReader...just make it a real tablet, maybe with a reskinned Honeycomb (or whatever) with an emphasis for eReading or something.
Do that and you probably have my order.
The big plus with the current kindle is the battery life - HUGE. I use mine every day and charge it about once a month or three weeks. Without that it would be nice to read but a a pain in the butt as yet another thing to charge every day.
The catch is that e-newspaper subscriptions have an additional fee for me if I travel outside the zone. So if I had NY Times from the US I would get a small fee everytime I downloaded the paper here in the UK. However if I could (and I don't know if it's possible as I don't use these features) get a sub via the .co.uk site it wouldn't have said fee unless I went back to the US.
So books are free anywhere. Subscription based content MAY have a fee when traveling.
That's what I meant
Wrong. The Kindle 3g is free globally.