By Rachael Bentley
With the arrival of the Kindle Fire, analysts have projected the device to sell stronger than the Apple tablet, the iPad. While this is making many of the Apple executives squirm in their seats, this is good news for the millions of consumers that are rejoicing over the price. The $199 price tag is enough to make anyone swipe their card or type in their credit card number with a smile, which is saying a lot in this economy.
After having my kindle for over a month, I can say without a doubt, it is one of the best gifts I have ever recieved. I specifically asked for one for Christmas from my parents, but was more than prepared to pay for one myself if I did not get it on the big day. Luckily for me, and both of my siblings, we had three, identical blue boxes wrapped in yellow ribbon waiting under our tree, courtesy of Amazon’s gift wrapping team.
Online reivews from websites like MeanPC.com and The Wall Street Journal praise more than the device’s price. A review by Walt Mossberg of the WSJ claimed “Amazon is the only major tablet maker other than Apple with a large, famous, easy-to-use content ecosystem that sells music, video, books and periodicals. The Fire can be thought of as a hardware front end to all that cloud content.”
The light, compact and easy to handle design of the Kindle Fire is one of its most favorable features, especially for someone like me who is constantly on the go. The lack of a camera or a microphone is not really a great loss in my eyes, mainly because I have a cell phone and a computer that have both of those features. Some would see this as a deal breaker, but for its ultra reasonable price, sacrifices had to be made.
Being a commuter, the Fire is a great thing to have when you have two to three hour breaks between classes. You can read a book, watch a movie or tv show, surf the web or play many of their free app games like ‘Angry Birds’ and ‘Words with Friends’. The screen, although smaller than that of other tablets, is very clear and easy to view movies on. I had heard rumors that the touch screen capability was not as sensitive or as quick as that of the iPad or the Nook, but I have yet to encounter this problem.
Overall this is device has made my life a lot easier, from being able to check the news while I’m on the go or at the gym to being able to watch a movie in bed without falling asleep with my laptop on my chest. Obviously there are some cons to the Kindle Fire, but when you factor in that you are saving yourself $249 dollars by not buying the iPad, the cons tend to become much less of an issue. In an economy where you have to make your money stretch as far as you can, the Kindle Fire is a great option for anyone who is trying to keep up with the times but also keeping their bank account happy.
