I thought about posting an article consisting of a single word to describe my first impressions with the Kindle Fire. The word is:
Wow
Figuring this might be a lacking a little in the detail department, I decided to write something longer. So here you go:
Wow!
Kidding aside, the Kindle Fire arrived at my doorstep in an unassuming brown cardboard box yesterday afternoon. I've spent several hours playing with it, trying different apps on it, and hooking it up to Eclipse to see if I could write and debug programs for it. And let me just say, I'm impressed.
The Kindle Fire is a sweet little tablet, exceeding my expectations in almost every way. Especially considering the $199 price. Where do I start?
Using instructions at Amazon I was able to set up a USB driver and plug the Kindle Fire into my PC with a micro USB cable I had laying around. I took 3 programs I had written for the Nexus One and ran them on the Kindle Fire with no problems whatsoever. The Kindle Fire is not a threat to Android at all. Quite the opposite - it's a sterling example of what can be done with the Android and Linux underpinnings.
There are a few negatives and tradeoffs, which I'll talk about in a later article. But overall, I'm amazed that Amazon was able to put together such a gorgeous device for such a small amount of money. Watch out Apple, Samsung, Icona, and RIM - the Kindle Fire is smokin' and heading your way.