meant to include a link

Here is a link that might be useful: Kindle Fire

Pam, I don't need all the functionality that an iPad offers so also have been looking into the iPad vs others too (Kindle, Nook, etc). I heard on the news today that these units are eating into the iPad business because they function relatively the same and at a better price.

Thanks for your question.

Cathy

I also heard they don't have a camera or a microphone.

Pam:
Maybe you can get some answers in " Computer Help ",
Home Forums

They helped me a few times.
LOU

I receive Kim Komando's daily newsletter. Today she responded to a question about the Fire vs iPad. Here is part of her response:

Yes, as I suspected, Amazon did launch a tablet. It's called the Kindle Fire, which is a real groaner. Someone at Amazon must like puns. Still, there's more to a new gadget than the name.

I want to quickly point out that the tablet wasn't Amazon's only announcement. Amazon also refreshed its line of Kindle e-readers. I'll talk more about those in an upcoming tip. Keep an eye on the daily newsletters for that.
Naturally, as with any tablet, the Fire is going up against the mighty iPad 2. Everyone is comparing the two tablets trying to determine which one is better. However, I can tell you right now the Fire doesn't even come close to being an iPad-killer.
For example, the hardware on the Fire is lacking. It has a dual-core processor, which is nice. However, the screen is only 7 inches, it has a mere 8 gigabytes of storage and there are no cameras or microphones. Battery life is 8 hours. Additionally, there is no 3G version, only Wi-Fi.

The iPad 2, on the other hand, has a 9.7-inch screen, starts at 16GB of storage and has two cameras, a microphone and more. Battery life is slightly better at 10 hours. Plus, when the iPad 3 is available, it will increase the hardware gap even more.

Wow! That looks verrrrry enticing! I did not see a key board? So you couldn't type and send emails or post messages here? Did I miss something?

Teresa

Here is the link to the entire response.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kim Komando Comparison

Interesting, but I think maybe the Kindle Fire may be more like what I need than the iPad. Let's face it, I already have a camera and a cell phone that takes pictures, so do I need another camera? I don't talk to anyone via computer, so I don't need a microphone. I could do that on my desktop if I wanted to.

It must have a keyboard because it says you can send email.

It is just hard to rationalize getting an ipad when it would be more of a toy than a necessity. The Fire is less of a splurge. IN some ways, the smaller size is an advantage for carrying it around.

However, I like the 3G on the ipad.

Like most things, by the time I decide to buy it, something better will come along and I will have to start the whole process over again.

Cathy, thanks for that info. I will read the entire article now.

I have an incredibly stupid question, very illiterate, what service do you need to have that thing send email? Is it attached to your home service or something? Or, instead, is there a monthly fee with it? Told you it was stupid!

I agree with your points, dedtired, so I would be interested in your decision. After reading the Amazon info and Cathy's link to Kim's info, the question of a keyboard or text pad still wasn't anwered. The size doesn't bother me and I don't need a camera or microphone either.

My home computer is a hodgepodge of hand-me-down components that I did not have to pay for, so a new toy that I could travel with is enticing.....

Teresa

Rob, you would use your home WiFi system, so there would be no additional cost beyond what you are already paying for internet access. Away from home you would have to find WiFi that you can pick up, such as at Starbucks or a library.

With 3G you have to pay a fee to a company like AT&T. As I understand, you can start and stop this service at any time. 3G allows you to access the internet when you are out of reach of WiFi. My neighborhood lost cable connections for four days during the recent hurricanes. Anyone who had an IPad with the 3G option, could still access the internet. It would also be very convenient for travel. I am no expert at all!) so I hope I am correct.

Teresa, my biggest decision is how to rationalize buying something I don't really need!

I think I though you could use it anywhere anytime, but I see only with 3G which the Kindle does not have. Oh.

Thanks!

Nope, no 3G but that may be coming in the next version. Here's an interesting article from the NPR site.

Still, the biggest attraction for me is the price. Living in the big city, I am close to wireless most of the time, although as I said, 3G would be great for travel.

Here is a link that might be useful: NPR's take on Fire

I LOVE my iPad..... if I didn't have it I would get on the list for a Fire.

I seldom (never) need the 3G. Wifi works for what I do.

ML

Amazon is one of my favorite companies, but they lack sophistication in the technology department. I think the flurry of PR about their tablet is much ado about nothing much. I own the first-generation Kindle - it's ancient now, LOL.

But honestly I haven't touched it since I got an iPad. I have the Kindle app on it so I can read my Kindle stuff. I also have the Kindle app on my iPhone for emergencies!

I am gadgeted up the wazoo but I tell you I am a complete iPad junkie. If you are a reading freak like me, there is nothing like it for reading on the web, reading books, newspapers, magazines, etc. I have a wireless keyboard for it if I want to write more than a rudimentary email - the touch keyboard is not for me - I make loads of typos, otherwise the touch screen is like magic and I love it.

I also have my Youtube subscription channels - mainly cooking and fitness videos. Some music and humor.

And I have the Style.com app so I can view high-quality pictures and videos from the fashion shows the same day they happen - Fashion Week was busy - I could hardly keep up! Priorities y'all!

I have iPad 1 so it doesn't have a camera. Everything has a camera on it now, and the iPad is just too big to be a camera. I also don't have 3G on it - I use it at home with wireless. If I really wanted to I could get the other gadget that turns your iPhone into a hotspot so I could be online with the iPad wherever I go, but I've found that wherever I've been there's been wireless access.

Apple's technology is still way ahead of everyone else by leaps and bounds. When you control and manufacture every part of your technology, this is the beautiful result. The only other companies that have that control is the Japanese gaming companies but they've squandered that benefit by not taking it seriously and indeed, even letting other companies come along and take their technology - companies like Microsoft.

Amazon is trying to be Apple-like in its control of hardware but they are at a disadvantage not being a technology company and trying to play catch up - this new tablet runs on the Google Android open-source software - so it can't hope to be very proprietary in that regard. But I admire the strides they've made in this direction. Bezos is a very clever and entrepreneurial man. Amazon could easily have stayed nothing more than a shopping destination, but the Kindle was nothing short of a revolution. In this day and age, stuff happens so quickly that we forget how profound some of these changes have been - however fleeting in the spotlight so that we don't even catch the magnitude of it. Kindle was BIG y'all - really big.

The Kindle reader is still the head of the pack of eReaders. So if your goal is just to read books, it's the best in show. As far as their tablet - it is just another horse among the places and shows.

I would love an Ipad, but I haven't the money still. So, this may actually be my route. And I'm not really all that tech-ish, so it may be enough for me. I think the wireless is covered at home and work, so every now and again when I am out is all I would have to cover. I may be getting this for myself this Christmas, and a couple of Christmases from now an iPad, who knows what generation it'll be by then! I also sort of see it as a stater, just in case I don't love it. What if I just want something "every now and again" kind of gadget, finally realizing, the computers I already had were enough??? Who knows.

This is a good test tool for me, likley. That's the other side of it. Unless one of you wants to mail me their iPad? HA!

Gina, I agree that Apple really owns this kind of technology. They are also expert at making us feel we really need something that we don't -- or didn't! Everyone I know who has an iPad is in love with it. I know I would be, too. I just can't rationalize spending in excess of $500 for it. I don't even have a smart phone and honestly never have felt that I needed it.

I would like to have a device for web access away from home, and is also small enough to easily carry around, without having to pay some large monthly fee.

dedtired- you can get a smartphone whether iPhone or android based that will give you web access anywhere you have cell service, will fit in your pocket and would "only" cost the data plan (cheapest being around $15/month.

I'm posting from my smartphone as we speak (Android Incredible on VW) but have been looking at an iPad. The Fire is making me hesitate BUT not because I'm now considering a Fire but because I am thinking one of two things, or both, may happen: Apple may bring down the price of the iPads (not likely but a girl can wish) or Amazon will soon announce a second tablet with a bigger screen.

I did notice on the Apple website that the next OS (5, IIRC) will include iCloud, similar to what Amazon is offering with the Fire, essentially making storage as a factor obsolete. Unless, like me, you prefer to have your files where you control them.

Thanks, l2c4s, but I'm not coughing up even $15 a month for a smartphone. I am just tired of being pecked to death by ducks every month for services. I'm already shelling out $170 for cable tv, internet and telephone. I rarely use my cell phone so I bought a pre-paid plan.

As I understand it, the 3G service can be "turned on and off" without a fee, so that is somewhat enticing. However, wireless would cover me 99 percent of the time.

I use Google documents for some things, such as recipes. If I'm at my brother's or my son's, I can have access to them easily. Not sure if I want my tax statements there, though.

Yes, I've read that Amazon may have a bigger and better Fire coming along. We'll see!

Do Any of you ladies go Camping ???
That would solve a lot of your problems. LOL !!!
Lou

I would like to have a device for web access away from home, and is also small enough to easily carry around, without having to pay some large monthly fee.

DH and I bought a netbook a few years ago. We travel with it and can get internet in our hotels, and wi-fi where available. My flight home had $5 wi-fi and that was the best $5 I ever spent, LOL.

This is the model we bought, it has a long battery life. It is three years old hence ancient and outmoded and there are better, cheaper units out there. I would look at cnet for reviews.

Here is a link that might be useful: Samsung N120

Jessy, that could work. I really have to decide between A) iPad, B) Kindle Fire C) laptop or net book and D) facing the fact that I don't really need this at all!

Need? Who said anything about need? LOL! It's like shopping for that cute pair of shoes you didn't need. You might wear those once or twice. With a net connected portable device, you'll use it constantly. I agree about adding more charges on your monthly expenses, but find ways to cut the expense and you'll be amazed how you lived without it! My iPhone has saved my hide so many times in the last 8 months, I don't know how I managed without it! Spoil yourself!(yah, I'm evil too...!)

Kevin had a net connected portable device (Blackberry or similar with GPS) and used it so seldom that he downgraded his phone service to prepaid and now spends less than $10 a month on he cell phone service. I now no longer have a cell phone at all and only miss it about once a month or so - certainly not worth the $10 a month it cost. I'm finding the internet to be more and more annoying and am thankful for the times when I am completely away from it. I'm extremely annoyed with facebook and would like to cancel my account, but it is the only way I can keep in touch with certain people - their choice and not mine.

My parents do not have internet service, no credit card, and no cell phones, but I would admit that they would be better off if they did. Still, I have seen no arguments that would make me want a notebook, and I have plenty of printed books that I have not yet finished reading. I second Lou's suggestion of going camping! Which reminds me, I need to make plans for Thanksgiving. I'm thinking of going to Palm Springs for that.

Lars

OK, please have pity on me and tell me what is the difference between an iPad, a notebook, and a laptop/net book.

I know some stuff about computers, but am sorely lacking in some of the basic stuff.

Teresa - who is not a tech person....she lets her sons handle that part of her life, for the most part

Teresa, I will have to leave that up to someone else! I know one when I see one but not sure I can clearly explain each. I know an laptop and net book can be fold shut and an iPad cannot!

Even the Kindle Touch 3G is very limited 3G:

Posted on Oct 2, 2011 4:42:59 PM PDT
The Amazon Kindle team says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)
We apologize for the confusion. Our new Kindle Touch 3G enables you to connect to the Kindle Store, download books and periodicals, and access Wikipedia - all over 3G or Wi-Fi. Experimental web browsing (outside of Wikipedia) on Kindle Touch 3G is only available over Wi-Fi.

Our Kindle Keyboard 3G will continue to offer experimental web browsing over 3G or Wi-Fi.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon Kindle Forum

Good grief.

Yeah. "Experimental web browsing"?!

I was thinking I might get the Kindle Fire if/when my Sony ereader bites the dust (still working just fine, though), but the Sony is so much more versatile in terms of an ereader. The Sony will read a lot more formats than the Kindle, including all the ebooks available from Overdrive. Kindle is still demanding propietary software, so the user is limited to only a few books from Overdrive.

Guess I won't be getting a Kindle Fire after all.

There are already rumors about Kindle Fire having free 3G in the future. If this comes true - this will be a major revolutionary move. This is something I can see Bezos doing, as he has become a "Disruptor."

Here you go Teresa:

iPad - Apple's "tablet" computer. It is just a touch screen, and you can purchase a separate keyboard for it. You can load it with applications that you download from the Apple app store.

notebook, laptop, netbook - these are all computers where the screen is on one side and the keyboard is on the other and the thing opens and closes like a book. Started out with laptop, then got smaller and smaller and called themselves notebooks and netbooks.

tablet - what iPads are, and everyone is now copying - touchscreens with no separate keyboards. If you want to type - a virtual touch keyboard appears onscreen.

pda - personal digital assistant like the old Casios, then Palms. Pretty much obsolete since the features (mostly address books and notes) are now added to cell phones.

smart phone - cell phone with computing features.

ereader - electronic book readers. You can read electronic books on any computer, tablet and smart phones now. But ereaders like the non-tablet Kindles have a special screen that makes reading easier on the eye.