On 27 January 2010 Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPad and the modern day tablet was
born.
That original device cost $499 dollars and was seen as a big gamble in a market that
have failed consumers time and time again.
The rest is history of course.
The rise of the tablet has been so fast that experts already believe the industry has peaked
and may even start to decline.
How do you solve that?
Amazon believe the answer is in a product that costs a mere tenth of that original tablet.
I’m Rob Wilson, you are watching the Video Gadgets Journal, and this five things you
need to know about the Amazon Fire.
There’s no point leaving this until the end since it is no big secret.
It’s the main selling point infact.
A tablet from a reputable company for just $50.
Quite what that will translate to outside of the US is unclear yet (probably, annoyingly,
£50 back in the UK) but $50 absolutely insane!
For every iPad Mini 4 that was announced at the same time, you can buy eight Fire tablets.
Eight.
This is the world’s first widely available, disposable tablet: so cheap that if you break
it, you can go out and buy another without too much thought.
You’re absolutely right to raise an eyebrow at the cost.
Purchase a tablet from a random Chinese website for $50 and no doubt about it you will be
scammed with some dubious knock off.
But surely not Amazon right?
Correct.
Here are the important specs laid bear with the eye catching ones being a quad core processor
and a micro SD card slot to expand storage from the internal 8gb.
The eye gouging points being the very mediocre cameras (although there are two of them) and
the low resolution screen which you will be able to spot pixels from.
But this would be a mixed bag sort of outline for a tablet three times as much as this.
As for the little things, expect everything you would expect: bluetooth, a microphone,
90 day warranty.
But don’t expect anything special: hdmi port, NFC, or an IR blaster.
You’ve seen it before right?
The main attraction appears to be cheap but the content costs a fortune.
Think Nintendo consoles and cartridges.
Well the good news is you can easily enjoy using a tablet these days without ever spending
another penny.
You do have to use the Amazon App store but it offers half a million apps with around
half of those available for free.
All the popular stuff is readily available like the BBC, Facebook, Twitter, and the new
Amazon Underground feature offers some paid apps and content for free.
It’s a similar story with kindle books, a lot of good content is free to download.
What Amazon are offering here is a free platform with lots of paid content or subscription
based content that’s locked into their eco system that will earn them lots and lots of
money.
For $50 it’s a fair trade to at least test the waters.
4.
The Amazon Environment is Content Rich
While many of us gadgets enthusiast will dislike the locked down nature of Amazon products,
they are just a software platform like any other, one which connects with a mass audience
and it is improving.
I’ve already mentioned the new Amazon Underground which adds to existing services such as Prime
TV to stream tv shows and films offline and unlimited cloud storage for photos and content.
Mayday Screen Sharing offers free on-device technical support and to coincide with the
release of this new tablet they are launching new features like On Deck that automatically
manages downloaded content and Word Runner that only displays one word at a time.
Sounds odd but look, it really does work.
You may also notice that the User Interface looks a lot more Androidy now.
Just remember you’re still in Amazon though!
Amazon don’t just want the individual, they want the entire family which is why they have
this bonkers offering just to cap things off.
If you buy five Fire tablets you get the sixth one free.
That’s right and rather unbelievable.
Six tablets for $250 dollars.
That’s a classroom full of tablets for one iPad Air 2.
Alternatively you can buy a special kids version which comes with a big rubber case, a two
year worry-free guarantee and a year’s subscription to some Kids Unlimited service.
That rocks in at $100 however.
Hmmm, me thinks that’s only going to work in single-child families.
Quite rightly the star of this bargain basement show is the $50 Amazon Fire tablet.
Cost is a now a tiny barrier to entry and I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes
the number 1 seller this Christmas?
But what do you think?
Has Amazon pulled off an irresistible deal or does this tablet offer nothing to those
who already know a thing or two about touchscreen devices.
I’ve love to hear from you in the comments section below.
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