Comments on: Seven Inch Kindle Fire HD: First Impressions

By: max

max — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000

OMAP 4460 of Kindle fire HD is no Match for Tegra3 of Nexus 7. If it was a OMAP 4470 then it might be a ‘may be’ equal call.
You can beat software optimization of Google and Nvidia on their own hardware, Unless you are using a significantly higher clock and a QuadMali400 or Mali450 /T604 based processor.

This Kindle HD is a fail.

By: Mco

Mco — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 07:36:00 +0000

I struggle to express how “blah” I feel about the new Kindle Fire HD. I can’t imagine why anyone would chose one over a Nexus 7, or even the upcoming iPad Mini (which, despite my strongly anti-Apple stance, will probably be pretty nice).

Ugh. A totally uninspiring and unimpressive device. From initial impressions anyway.

By: Mapekz

Mapekz — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:10:00 +0000

To be fair: 1) they are running ICS, not JB, and even JB isn’t as lag-free as it should be, 2) with Amazon’s customization of Android transitions seem nonexistent, which makes it seem laggier.

In the video above, outside of the Cover Flow part (which is also laggy on JB devices; it involves loading each picture into memory on demand), all the lag was due to app switching. The difference is when Kellex clicked “videos” up top it highlighted the word “Videos” but didn’t do anything for a few seconds until all of a sudden the app loaded up. On stock Android a transition animation plays during this time and black covers the entire screen (usually the app has a splash screen instead) until the app is loaded.

Even iOS 5 lags when doing certain tasks but you usually doesn’t see this because Apple masks a lot of the wait with transitions and delayed loading of assets. Both iOS and Android (and almost every app and program you’ve ever used in your life, at least after Windows 95 came out) gives higher priority to UI threads than to logic and background processing threads.

For another take on how the perception of delay can be more of a problem than the delay itself check out http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/why-waiting-in-line-is-torture.html?pagewanted=all

By: NicholasMicallef

NicholasMicallef — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 08:02:00 +0000

they use skins to add features and to make the devices more recognizable as their own. I am a fan of pure Google, but some features have actually been copied from skins like touchwiz so I really don’t mind OEMs introdcing their own skins, especially since it’s android and therefore I’m free to install a different launcher or just use CM.

By: michael arazan

michael arazan — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 07:48:00 +0000

why do oem’s think skins differentiate themselves when vanilla android is better. If the skin made it somehow smother or better I could understand but it makes it worse. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!

By: NicholasMicallef

NicholasMicallef — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 07:06:00 +0000

but most of all N7 software> anything as far as android tablets go

By: streetlightman

streetlightman — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 01:03:00 +0000

That makes absolutely no sense. Why would there be lag when scrolling on Droid-life if everyone is using a Kindle?

It’s just slow.

By: smitty

smitty — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:32:00 +0000

Most likely everyone at the event is using a kindle at the same time. That can cause lag.

By: zerocool79346

zerocool79346 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:20:00 +0000

How can it possibly be that laggy?? Talk about shoot yourself in the foot. It’s going to get panned by critics when facing the Nexus 7.

By: TheCheapGamer

TheCheapGamer — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:05:00 +0000

1080 screen would be awesome on the N7

By: Adam Truelove

Adam Truelove — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:59:00 +0000

This, THIS is why Android has a bad reputation. OEMs take Android, F it all up and make it terrible. Stock Jelly Bean running on good hardware is fast, smooth, and every bit as reliable as iOS but most people think Android sucks because they don’t know what it really is.

By: Asmodai

Asmodai — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:35:00 +0000

You have that backwards. Amazon is selling the hardware at little or no profit because they are expecting to earn a profit from your ecosystem purchases. You aren’t wasting money by wiping off their software, you are negating their profit and getting decent hardware for cheap.

By: Robert Jakiel

Robert Jakiel — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:19:00 +0000

OK but it now has to deal with a higher res screen and a larger one at that which would mean that all that power will be somewhat offset by the new display.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:09:00 +0000

No – the Fire is still the paperweight.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:07:00 +0000

I’m more excited to see the Fire get wasted by the N7.