Amazon Launches Volley in Tablet Wars With Steep Black Friday Discount

[MULTIZ321]

Amazon Launches Volley in Tablet Wars With Steep Black Friday Discount - by Denver Nicks/ Everyday Money/ Money/ time.com

"If you’re in the market for a super cheap tablet you might consider holding out until Black Friday, when Amazon promises to further discounts on Fire, a spokesperson for Amazon told Money in an email.

Starting Thanksgiving, November 26, prices for a Fire tablet, the number one best-selling product on Amazon since it’s launch, will drop $15 to $34.99.

At just $35, the Fire will almost certainly be the most affordable major manufacturer tablet on the market. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Fire is not known for high performance on any measure except cost. At its current $50 price tag, the tablet was already dirt cheap before Black Friday discounts — priced not to turn a profit on its own but to woo users into buying Amazon e-books and Amazon Prime streaming video..."


On November 26th, I'm in. The tablet is not for everyone but it is fine for my needs. I'm just going to read my eBooks with it. It's lighter than my Samsung Tablet and will probably give me longer battery life. So, at $35, I'm fine with it.


Richard

 

[SmithOp]

I'd rather have their paperwhite Kindle for reading books, the screen glare is a killer on the Fire. The new one is on sale now for $100, I'm waiting to see what the BF price will be.

Sent from my iPad Mini 4 using Tapatalk

 

[TUGBrian]

for 35 bucks, seems like a no brainer to upgrade my aging original kindle fire.

 

[MULTIZ321]

I'd rather have their paperwhite Kindle for reading books, the screen glare is a killer on the Fire. The new one is on sale now for $100, I'm waiting to see what the BF price will be.

Sent from my iPad Mini 4 using Tapatalk

Dave,

Thanks for the reminder.

I forgot about the Glare issue, although my main intent is to read indoors, so I'm undecided if I'll spring for the extra dollars.


Richard

 

[ace2000]

I'm with Dave. I usually use my other Kindle (DX) because of the glare issue... even indoors. Plus I like the bigger screen.

 

[isisdave]

I got the new Kindle Fire for $50 when they released it, and returned it.

There is just nothing special about it, and I really didn't like that you could only buy apps from the Amazon store, not the Google Android store. The screen was OK.

There are a number of potential applications around the house ... mounted under a kitchen cabinet for recipes, for example, or even carrying a spare around in the car, which I would use a low-price tablet for. But I'd rather buy a used Ipad mini, or a $60 full-fledged Android 7-inch tablet, and know that I can use it for whatever app comes up.

It WAS fine, though, for reading books in a dark room, which my original Kindle is a little lacking for.

 

[TUGBrian]

picture is pretty misleading IMO...as the brightness of the tablet on the left (whatever it is) is pretty much at zero...one would imagine if you turned the brightness up to max, there would be very little glare in the picture.

 

[Passepartout]

Darn. Well, semi-darn. I just bought a new Kindle Fire 8 a month ago. I like it just fine, but might consider a Paperwhite for reading. The Fire does have glare, and needs to be charged every day or two, whereas the Paperwhite will run for a month or longer without recharging.

Jim

 

[laura1957]

I got the new Kindle Fire for $50 when they released it, and returned it.

There is just nothing special about it, and I really didn't like that you could only buy apps from the Amazon store, not the Google Android store. The screen was OK.

There are a number of potential applications around the house ... mounted under a kitchen cabinet for recipes, for example, or even carrying a spare around in the car, which I would use a low-price tablet for. But I'd rather buy a used Ipad mini, or a $60 full-fledged Android 7-inch tablet, and know that I can use it for whatever app comes up.

It WAS fine, though, for reading books in a dark room, which my original Kindle is a little lacking for.

You can use other Appstore, such as aptitude and 1mobile market...

 

[John Cummings]

I got my first Amazon Kindle Fire tablet when they first came out. I loved it and found it very useful. You could load some Android apps from other sources. I got another Amazon Fire tablet last Christmas so I gave my old one to my wife. She uses it just for games. I use mine for e-mail, Internet surfing, and several other things as well as games. I also use it as a reader. I was going to get the new one for my wife but she didn't want it and was happy with the old one.

 

[VegasBella]

That's such a crazy deal! I'll be getting several!

 

[klpca]

What are your thoughts about using this in a guest room? I'm thinking of leaving one of these on the nightstand and skipping a TV. I have a different kindle - the HDX - and I use it every day - and I have been thinking that a tablet would allow guests to access email and stream TV shows or movies.

 

[Passepartout]

What are your thoughts about using this in a guest room? I'm thinking of leaving one of these on the nightstand and skipping a TV. I have a different kindle - the HDX - and I use it every day - and I have been thinking that a tablet would allow guests to access email and stream TV shows or movies.

I think that anyone who wants to use a tablet when they travel, whether to check email, surf the web or stream movies, already has one that they travel with. Put a small, flat screen TV in the guest room. Provide guests with the password to your router for their own use.

Jim

 

[WinniWoman]

I think that anyone who wants to use a tablet when they travel, whether to check email, surf the web or stream movies, already has one that they travel with. Put a small, flat screen TV in the guest room. Provide guests with the password to your router for their own use.

Jim

Well, I don't have one but I am thinking with this deal it might be a good idea instead of lugging my laptop with me every time we go away. I basically just do email and facebook and TUG and so on when I am away- no work, no banking or anything like that.

I have the kindle paperwhite, which is easy on the eyes. But, I do not subscribe to any magazines on it because I do not like the way they format, and there is no color, etc. I assume they would be better on the Fire? In fact, some of the books on kindle are horribly formatted.

I actually stopped bringing my kindle paperwhite with me on vacation as I find I really don't like reading books on vacation, with some exceptions. I like looking through the vacation guides and free tourist magazines for the areas I am staying, etc., but I do not like to be separated from the feeling of being in the moment when I am away, and books do that. (I'm a dreamer- what can I say?). But, I might browse through a magazine subscription while resting in the evening.

A drawback I see for me is that I like a keyboard when I type. Don't like the single index finger typing. I have an Iphone5 and I hate the small screen, the typing and that auto spell thingamajig that always puts the wrong word in for me. 7 inch screen is also small- I like a big screen.

Anyone have any experience with magazine subscriptions on the Fire? Can you keep the fire plugged in when you are using it so the battery doesn't lose charge? (I am not interested in watching movies on such a small screen).

 

[Talent312]

Can you keep the fire plugged in when you are using it so the battery doesn't lose charge?

Yes, but the little plug sticks out from the edge a bit. Protective covers (some have built-in stands) have holes where the charging cord attaches.

BTW, one can install Chrome as a browser on your Kindle, in place of their silly browser. Instructions are on the net.

.

 

[Passepartout]

Anyone have any experience with magazine subscriptions on the Fire? Can you keep the fire plugged in when you are using it so the battery doesn't lose charge? (I am not interested in watching movies on such a small screen).

I have the new 8" very thin Kindle Fire. Magazines look fine on it. My former 6" Fire was just too small for my eyes, though you can double-tap the screen to zoom it into a 'reading' (no pictures) enlarged mode. Yes, you can operate it just fine while plugged in, but why? It only needs to be charged after 8-10 hours' use and I don't care to be tethered to the wall. Plug it in at night. DW uses a Bluetooth keyboard. Around $30 and works just like a wired, permanent keyboard if you don't like the virtual keyboard.

Jim

 

[PigsDad]

If you are an Amazon Prime user, the only tablets you can view streamed movies on are either iPads or the Fire tablets (Amazon Prime is not supported on other Android tablets). Since the Fire tablets cost a fraction of iPads, this makes for an inexpensive alternative for Amazon Prime content.

Kurt

 

[MULTIZ321]

I have the new 8" very thin Kindle Fire. Magazines look fine on it. My former 6" Fire was just too small for my eyes, though you can double-tap the screen to zoom it into a 'reading' (no pictures) enlarged mode. Yes, you can operate it just fine while plugged in, but why? It only needs to be charged after 8-10 hours' use and I don't care to be tethered to the wall. Plug it in at night. DW uses a Bluetooth keyboard. Around $30 and works just like a wired, permanent keyboard if you don't like the virtual keyboard.

Jim

+1 for a Bluetooth Keyboard. If you decide to get one, make sure it has an on/off switch (not all have them).

Richard

 

[Elan]

If you are an Amazon Prime user, the only tablets you can view streamed movies on are either iPads or the Fire tablets (Amazon Prime is not supported on other Android tablets). Since the Fire tablets cost a fraction of iPads, this makes for an inexpensive alternative for Amazon Prime content.

Kurt

Are you sure about this? I seldom watch movies, but I'm pretty sure I've streamed Prime Video to my Nexus 7 via the Amazon Video app.

 

[ace2000]

Are you sure about this? I seldom watch movies, but I'm pretty sure I've streamed Prime Video to my Nexus 7 via the Amazon Video app.

You're right.

Get the Amazon Video App

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/splash/sd/t/appstore?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

 

[Passepartout]

BTW, one can install Chrome as a browser on your Kindle, in place of their silly browser. Instructions are on the net.

I have not been able to accomplish this- though in honesty, Silk works fine for me, and other browsers aren't available through the Amazon app store. I am reluctant to get 'under the hood' to force it to do things that I see as of dubious value. Ymmv.

 

[PigsDad]

Are you sure about this? I seldom watch movies, but I'm pretty sure I've streamed Prime Video to my Nexus 7 via the Amazon Video app.

Did this change? I knew I could not get the app on my Android phone or cheap tablet, but maybe it was just that it is not on the Google Play store. That is good news.

Kurt

 

[Elan]

Did this change? I knew I could not get the app on my Android phone or cheap tablet, but maybe it was just that it is not on the Google Play store. That is good news.

Kurt

Not sure of the history, and I don't have my tablet with me. Makes sense that the app wouldn't be on Google play as they're content competitors.

As I said, I'm not much of a movie guy, but it sounds like ace2000 might know more????

 

[ace2000]

Not sure of the history, and I don't have my tablet with me. Makes sense that the app wouldn't be on Google play as they're content competitors.

As I said, I'm not much of a movie guy, but it sounds like ace2000 might know more????

Not much more. I just figured it was available and looked it up. I don't think you can download it from Google Play (I couldn't find it). But if you download the Amazon Apps - as my link above suggests, you can find it there.

 

[JM48]

4 Hrs.after I ordered one for $49.99 I found this thread!
I tried to cancel it on line but it was already in process & they
weren't able to cancel.
So now I have to hang around tomorrow to catch the delivery
truck to refuse the package.

Thanks for the info, at least I got it before DW had opened & used it.

JM