Kindle Fire seems to have a poor user experience | Hacker News Reader

Kindle Fire seems to have a poor user experience

nytimes.com

No editorializing in the title, please; that's an HN guideline.

Actual title on the NYT site: "As Kindle Fire Faces Critics, Remedies Are Promised".

I really don't understand the UI/UX reviews. Yes, elements of the interface are bulky and there are certain things that aren't perfect, but I didn't buy the Fire to spend much time using the UI/UX - I bought it to read books and papers on. If I'd wanted a fully fledged tablet computer I would have bought an iPad, but I find it a fantastic form factor to read from and watch the occasional show on. It's compact, a perfect weight to just sit and read, and the video playback works well.

I don't know, maybe I'm expecting too little, but I loved it when I bought it and I still love it. I will probably still buy an iPad at some point, but it has revolutionized my mobile reading experience and I'm one very happy customer because of it (especially with the readability integration, which is awesome).

Every review I've seen has said it has poor user experience. In my 10 minutes holding one, it was janky, clunky, heavy and hot. ("I trust Amazon to fix it!" was the rallying cry of my friend.)

The interesting thing isn't that the UI/UX sucks, it's that this article in the New York Times.

it was janky, clunky, heavy and hot.

Really? I've never felt it get hot. It feels lighter than my iPad2 (although it may be heavier -- but I really don't think so). The UX is almost strictly worse than the iPad2, but at less than 50% the price, its a better deal (given they both have serious deficiencies today -- but $199 for a seriously deficient device feels much better than $499).

Mine has gotten hot once, when I had it in an enclosed space while charging it. If the grandparent had a hot one in his hand, it certainly wasn't from what I've experienced in normal use.

What are some serious deficiencies you've found with your iPad?

As someone else noted, weight is a huge one. In fact the first iPad I bought I returned because it was too heavy. Later got an iPad2, but weight is still an issue.

Web browsing kind of sucks. Like the YouTube experience is crazy buggy.

I find the keyboard hard to use for anything, but the smallest notes.

Getting content on the device, e.g., movies I've transcoded, is an exercise in pulling out my hair. Tedious and time consuming.

And this is just me doing stuff on it that people say I should be able to do well on the device. I don't even include the deficiencies for things everyone knows that it doesn't do well -- so it gets a free pass on it.

Weight is the killer factor for me. I haven't played with a fire, but the iPad is annoying to hold for any significant period of time without leaning or propping it against something.

That said, a Kindle 3 is only 250g and an iPad is 600g which is what the comparison is in my mind. I am not sure where the ~400g Fire lies in that regard.

Given the clunky user experience of earlier Kindle models, did people really expect something on par with an iPad? Trusting amazon to fix it is key - it's fine as long as they move forward quickly.

Given all the interviews I've read with Bezos bragging about their revolutionary new browser, I'd be most disappointed by slow load times. They over-promised on this feature.

> I trust Amazon to fix it!" was the rallying cry of my friend.

You know, I actually do want one of these 7" devices. At the moment, I'm leaning more towards the Nook Color/Tablet since B&N are more favorable towards hacking, but Amazon needs to actually deliver these fixes before folks should parrot that line.

The Nook Tablet's bootloader is locked down. There's been some work on loading custom kernels after the tablet has booted, but it will likely take several months. The developers on XDA are still working on kernel modules and memory management code right now.

The old conventional wisdom with Microsoft products was: "Wait until version 3" and I wonder if something similar is now in effect for Amazon's physical devices.

It is a testament to Amazon's ability to react and adapt that turned the version 1 Kindle (with the awkwardly placed buttons and the weird profile - shaped like half of an open book) into the sleek, inexpensive and generally well reviewed Kindle line of today.

Actually, the kindle 1 was great as a reader, at least if you were right handed.

The kindle fire is horrible; I've owned several of each model for myself, to loan, etc, and the fire (I have 2) is the first I returned.

The DX remains my favorite, with iPad kindle app as number 2.

Forgive me for asking, but if you dislike the Kindle Fire so, why did you buy two (especially when you have multiple Kindles and an iPad/2)?

I preordered two, planning to give one away or jailbreak it, and use e other. Once I got them, I opened one, used it for about an hour, realized it sucked, and let a few other people try it to get their feedback (also entirely negative).

I dunno, the Kindle 2 was pretty much complete- everything since has been incremental improvements[1] mostly based in advancing technical capabilities. Plus the Kindle 1 was absolutely a pioneer, so it's natural it would have some foibles.

[1] E.g. smaller form factor, faster page turning, increased contrast ratio, WiFi.

"No more will wives wonder why their husbands were looking at a dating site when they said they were playing Angry Birds."

Journalism at its finest. I have a Fire and have no other tablet experience with which to compare this. I am pleased by the price point and plan to root it once the warranty expires. I am also annoyed by the clutter that appears as I do more and more with it. This has nothing to do with being concerned that my wife will see what I've been doing. I encourage her checking on things in our relationship that may affect her security in it. It's really just annoying to scroll through the carousel of EVERYTHING just to get to the one thing that I need/want.

> I am pleased by the price point and plan to root it once the warranty expires.

I'm not sure what to make of these reviews either. No external volume control/power switch is something I can live with, but it seems the rest is something that would be irrelevant with a custom ROM. I'm toying with the idea of getting one and flashing it once Cyanogen (inevitably) releases ICS for the Fire.

Reviewers are reviewing the complete package, since most people don't even know what a ROM is.

"According to calculations by the research firm IHS iSuppli, the $79 Kindle costs Amazon $84 to make. That sum does not include research and development, shipping or, with a third-party retailer, the wholesale discount. Add these up, and Amazon might be losing as much as $20 on every $79 Kindle sold at, for example, Best Buy."

The $79 Kindle is subsidized by advertisements, although I'm not what % are Amazon ads and what % are 3rd parties. Ad-free costs another $40.

“In less than two weeks, we’re rolling out an over-the-air update to Kindle Fire,” said Drew Herdener, a company spokesman.

So...everyone that unwraps one on Christmas morning and turns it on will suddenly have to endure an OTA update before using it?

Granted, I've never seen a Fire go through an update, but god help Amazon if that's how they plan to roll this out.

I think Day Zero OTA updates are pretty standard for shrinkwrap software or consumer devices. Manufacturing requires a lead time of weeks or months, so inevitably the software bits sent to the factory are outdated immediately. The developer will keep fixing bugs between RTM (Release To Manufacturing) and final release.

Curious, how would you prefer they do an update? Go to Amazon HQ and have someone replace the internals of the device?

OTA updates are probably the most seamless update experience that exists today. I wish the iPad2 had it in the past -- as I still have one that I haven't plugged in to get iOS5 yet.

My concern was about everyone hitting the update servers at once and yeah, I realize they have a nice little CDN working at their disposal... =)

My question was more about a mandatory OTA update instead of letting you use one out of the box like the original Kindles did. Part of the magic was being able to open the box and start reading within a few seconds. If you're now subjugated to doing a "firstFindMyWifi-Connect-pleasewait-waitsomemore-lowbattery-OOPSBRICKED", you're going to diminish the experience.

I think his point was the idea of everyone hitting it all at once on Christmas morning.

It's just one static set of files. CDNs make this almost brainlessly easy. If Amazon can't handle that then they have no business building Silk at all, much less one of the world's most popular retail sites.

Yeah, and Amazon has a rather...robust...CDN-equivalent. :-)

Also, they're probably going to have plenty of spare capacity on Christmas morning. I'd guess there's a substantial lull in sales then, at least until the post-Christmas markdowns begin.

I agree, but was just hoping to represent his point.

Get it right the first time (or delay the initial release).

If there's anyone ready to handle millions of devices needing an update on 12/25, it's Amazon given the CDN delivery system they have. That said, if there are problems (i.e. hour+ download times, coupled with a requirement to update before using the device), I agree that it would be a huge disaster.

It's not too bad. Not extremely fast, but not painfully slow, either.

I'm keeping mine even though I also have an iPad and an older eInk Kindle. It's handy for reading in bed, if nothing else.

Is it as smooth and generally whizzy as the iPad? Of course not, not at that price point, and I didn't expect it to be. The touch algorithms could be tweaked a bit, but other than that I've found it more than adequate for its intended purposes (consuming Amazon content and light web browsing).

The OS is a bit laggy, but games that run on it native and with OpenGL ES are really fast. Game development on it, once you get to your OpenGL ES render, things are moving swiftly.

Product launches like this make you wonder why removing UI stutter isn't the number one priority for device manufacturers.

Because people will use the product anyway. If you ask someone, "would you prefer a slow UI over a fast one", of course they'll choose the fast one. But that doesn't mean they won't use a device that has choppy animations. Remember, lots of people still use Windows XP and are perfectly happy.

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