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Kindle Fire - ereader vs. multimedia

6K views 33 replies 20 participants last post by  jonathanmoeller 
#1 ·
For those of you planning to get a Kindle Fire, are you planning to use it primarily as an ereader, or for multimedia functions like TV shows and videos?

Or just for Angry Birds?
 
#8 ·
Ann Chambers said:
K3 will still be my main e-reader. Love that e-ink for my old eyes!
Fire is for playing - surfing, games, streaming video, etc. Cannot wait to get my hands on it. Tick tock!
/\ This /\
 
#13 ·
Definitely multimedia.  I adore eink.  I purchased the enhanced version of Keith richards autobiography because it had Johnny Depp in it.  I quickly regretted it.  Still haven't got past the first chapter(s).

I am excited to see how movies, tv, and videos play on it.  I am disappointed in the way my iPad displays movies.  Too much excess screen, it is annoying.  The fire is closer to HD movie ratio.
 
#15 ·
Definitely multimedia. I adore eink. I purchased the enhanced version of Keith richards autobiography because it had Johnny Depp in it. I quickly regretted it. Still haven't got past the first chapter(s).
I've never really had good luck with enhanced ebooks. Sometimes a book just needs to be a book, even if it is on an ereader.
 
#19 ·
KindleChickie said:
I am disappointed in the way my iPad displays movies. Too much excess screen, it is annoying. The fire is closer to HD movie ratio.
Keep in mind there is no single widescreen format. Widescreen movies are shot in many display ratios.

If displayed natively there always will be letterboxing, even on screens which are 16:9 (such as a widescreen TV) or 16:10 (the typical widescreen computer monitor).
 
#20 ·
I will use it for everything but reading. I can't read of anything backlist for leisure fiction reading. Tried it, won't work. So reading books will be Kindle eink. Playtime will be Fire. I hope to stream some of my tennis stuff so I can sit on my balcony and enjoy a cup of tea. Or watch some episodes through Amazon and Netflix. I tried the tennis on my smartphone and its way to tiny for my eyes. Couldn't see the darn ball.  :D I also plan on watching some german channels that stream online. The same ones I also stream on my Google TV. They work if no plug in is required so the same ones should work.

I think the 7 inch will be much better. I want to play some games. I don't have any other tablets or any handheld game console. So this will be such combined media toy for me. Consumption of media other than fiction books.

I have some cookbooks I think will look nice on it too.

There will be stuff I had no idea you could do yet I am sure, as I never had a tablet so I am exited. I haven't pre ordered though, I will wait for release day first without the pressure.  ;D
 
#21 ·
Elk said:
Keep in mind there is no single widescreen format. Widescreen movies are shot in many display ratios.

If displayed natively there always will be letterboxing, even on screens which are 16:9 (such as a widescreen TV) or 16:10 (the typical widescreen computer monitor).
Lordy, you should've heard us trying to explain that to my father-in-law when we finally got him to buy a new LCD TV. :-X He kept going up to the TV (42" screen I think) and touching it and couldn't understand why the picture wasn't always covering the entire screen. Plus he thought the color seemed a little "weak" - because it wasn't jacked up to NEON like their old TV had been.

But I digress....I don't use my iPad a lot for watching videos. I really thought I would, lots of good stuff on HBO Go, old shows that I never got around to watching. Plus Netflix. But I just don't use it a lot for that - DH does, though. Maybe I will more with the Fire, just to take advantage of the Prime videos.
 
#22 ·
Lordy, you should've heard us trying to explain that to my father-in-law when we finally got him to buy a new LCD TV. Lips sealed He kept going up to the TV (42" screen I think) and touching it and couldn't understand why the picture wasn't always covering the entire screen. Plus he thought the color seemed a little "weak" - because it wasn't jacked up to NEON like their old TV had been.
Heh. Modern television has gotten complicated enough that I'm glad my chief form of entertainment is books, e and otherwise (and for the shows I do want to watch, there's usually Hulu on my netbook).
 
#23 ·
Elk said:
Keep in mind there is no single widescreen format. Widescreen movies are shot in many display ratios.

If displayed natively there always will be letterboxing, even on screens which are 16:9 (such as a widescreen TV) or 16:10 (the typical widescreen computer monitor).
Letter boxing is much worse on the iPads ratio. I personally am dissatisfied with how my iPad displays movies. Not telling anyone else how they should feel, simply stating what I personally want.
 
#25 ·
I ordered the Fire as an at home multimedia tablet.  I want to stream movies and play games on it.  It will be primarily for at home because it doesn't have 3G.  I may read on it sometimes just as I do with my touch but I don't think it will become my primary reader.    I will, of course, take it with me when I travel - along with my eink reader.
 
#26 ·
KindleChickie said:
Letter boxing is much worse on the iPads ratio. I personally am dissatisfied with how my iPad displays movies. Not telling anyone else how they should feel, simply stating what I personally want.
I can believe that. The iPad's ratio is better for displaying standard format pages -- I've compared how scanned PDF sheet music shows on it vs my Xoom* -- but I can see that that would also make it not as good for wide screen images. . . . .

*speaking of which: today's WOOT is a WiFi Xoom for $329.99 +$5 shipping. . . good price for a full featured android based tablet. It will have 3.x (Gingerbread) and is supposed to be updatable to 4.x (Ice Cream Sandwich) though that's not come down yet.
 
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