Comments on: Gallery: Kindle Fire HD 8.9, Kindle Fire HD 7, and Kindle Fire 2

By: 640k

640k — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 10:12:00 +0000

I let gravity do most of the work. The creases in my hand do the rest. Even if I hold the tablet landscape and with one hand, I’m able to hold it with the silver bezel itself and not by touching the black edge of the screen.

Still, as I sit here and type this, I notice that holding the 7 with just one hand requires touching a little of the screen. If the screen were edge to edge, I could see this as a problem, so the bezel makes sense.

However, if the screen WERE edge to edge, I’d bet people would be holding the tablet by the edge and with two hands more often than not.

By: Alan Paone

Alan Paone — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:00:00 +0000

In portrait I just hold my N7 by the edges, but in landscape I stick my thumb on the bezel and sort of cup the speaker with my hand. I can read or watch movies forever that way. How do you hold it without touching the bezel?

By: ChristopherCorpening

ChristopherCorpening — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 08:32:00 +0000

Speakers on the front of the device! How hard is that?!?

By: youdoneyo69

youdoneyo69 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:56:00 +0000

That bezel is huge! I’d rather have my Prime!

By: yamaha83

yamaha83 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:53:00 +0000

seems like a design excuse to me… not ever have i held a tablet and thought… i wish the screen was smaller so i could put my thumb here… or… I wish the device was even bigger so i could put my thumb here…

By: CopierITGuy

CopierITGuy — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:05:00 +0000

@zepfloyd:disqus My wife is not a geek – only a geek-lover (and a might fine one at that!) but she has been begging me to get her a Nexus 7 because of the limitations of her Kindle Fire.

As far as content goes, Amazon does offer more books & music titles, but there is nothing that I can’t buy from Amazon and read/play on my Android device until Google Play catches up. TV/Movies is the only area where I cannot access all the same content as Amazon – for some stupid reason. Patiently waiting for this…

By: dms

dms — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:27:00 +0000

the bezel is the width of a human thumb. seems like a reasonable design decision to me.

By: ozo012

ozo012 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:09:00 +0000

Are there still no physical volume controls on these? It doesn’t look like it from the shots.

By: Lance Kortesoja

Lance Kortesoja — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:03:00 +0000

yes because the android market isn’t a good content ecosystem

By: Dan-O

Dan-O — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:00:00 +0000

7 inch screen, with a 12 inch bezel.

By: 640k

640k — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:00:00 +0000

I disagree. As I sit here, holding my Nexus 7, I have not reason to touch the bezel. Nor doing have a reason to hold the device by the bezel while reading content in either portrait or landscape. In fact, I avoid touching the bezel because it interferes with the light sensor.

By: mustbepbs

mustbepbs — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:56:00 +0000

The Nexus 7 is just a better package all around. You’re getting pure Google. That means when the next updates come out at Google conferences, guess what? You’re getting it first. You aren’t attached to a carrier, you don’t have to wait for hacked together builds that have issues and need tweaking every night. Google has your back.

Amazon’s ecosystem can’t hold a candle to Google’s. You’re getting a bastardized version of Android with a handful of features. I can’t even recommend something like this to my parents. Google’s offering is just better. It’s much more supported in every aspect.

By: MikeCiggy

MikeCiggy — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:51:00 +0000

This is an android tablet.

By: zepfloyd

zepfloyd — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Perhaps from a ‘geek’ perspective. But pound for pound, Amazon has a much much better content ecosystem, and toss in the parental controls, kids’ options, profiles and other features and you have a more competitive mainstream product.
..Not to mention said ‘geeks’ will CM the heck out of this thing anyway.

By: Jason James

Jason James — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:48:00 +0000

i wonder if the people ever notice that apps barely get updated on their appstore