Teardown of Amazon's Kindle Fire reveals Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 chip
A teardown of Amazon's new Kindle Fire showed that the online retailer went with the 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor for its entry into the media tablet market.
iFixit took apart the device, undertaking in the process the publication's first in-house chip unmasking. The Kindle Fire proved to be relatively easy to tear down and earned a score of 8 out of 10 for repairability. By comparison, Apple's iPad 2 received a 4 out of 10 during its teardown.
In addition to the TI OMAP 4430 chip, the teardown of the Fire found 8GB of Samsung Flash memory, 512MB of Hynix RAM and several other Texas Instruments chips on-board the Fire.
Earlier reports had suggested that Amazon would go with the same chip as Research in Motion's PlayBook tablet in order to keep costs down and move the project along. The PlayBook does, in fact, also use the TI OMAP 4430 chip.
The teardown also noted that the tablet's only button is a power button, a fact that has drawn some criticism from reviewers. Reviews for the device have been generally positive, with most noting that the Fire is a good deal but no "iPad killer."
According to the report, the capacity of the 3.7 volt battery stands at 16.28 Watt-hours, significantly less than the iPad 2's 25 Watt-hours. iFixit also pointed out that charging the Fire over a computer USB port will take longer than the advertised four-hour charge time for when the device is plugged into an outlet.
A recent survey of more than 2,000 developers found growing interest in the Kindle Fire, with 49 percent of those surveyed indicating they were "very interested" in developing for the device. Meanwhile, Apple maintained a dominant share with 88 percent of respondents interested in developing for the iPad.
As for consumers, 26 percent of Kindle Fire buyers say they delayed or put on hold an iPad purchase, according to a survey by ChangeWave and RBC Capital Markets.
Amazon revealed last month that it is building millions more Kindle Fires than originally planned. One recent report claimed the company is looking to build 5 million units by the end of the year.
But, Apple has said it is not worried about the Fire affecting iPad sales. Company executives recently indicated that they believe Amazon's tablet will further fragment the market because it is a fork off Android. Apple reportedly believes the more fragmentation the better, as it will drive customers toward its stable iPad platform.
iFixit took apart the device, undertaking in the process the publication's first in-house chip unmasking. The Kindle Fire proved to be relatively easy to tear down and earned a score of 8 out of 10 for repairability. By comparison, Apple's iPad 2 received a 4 out of 10 during its teardown.
In addition to the TI OMAP 4430 chip, the teardown of the Fire found 8GB of Samsung Flash memory, 512MB of Hynix RAM and several other Texas Instruments chips on-board the Fire.
Earlier reports had suggested that Amazon would go with the same chip as Research in Motion's PlayBook tablet in order to keep costs down and move the project along. The PlayBook does, in fact, also use the TI OMAP 4430 chip.
The teardown also noted that the tablet's only button is a power button, a fact that has drawn some criticism from reviewers. Reviews for the device have been generally positive, with most noting that the Fire is a good deal but no "iPad killer."
According to the report, the capacity of the 3.7 volt battery stands at 16.28 Watt-hours, significantly less than the iPad 2's 25 Watt-hours. iFixit also pointed out that charging the Fire over a computer USB port will take longer than the advertised four-hour charge time for when the device is plugged into an outlet.
A recent survey of more than 2,000 developers found growing interest in the Kindle Fire, with 49 percent of those surveyed indicating they were "very interested" in developing for the device. Meanwhile, Apple maintained a dominant share with 88 percent of respondents interested in developing for the iPad.
As for consumers, 26 percent of Kindle Fire buyers say they delayed or put on hold an iPad purchase, according to a survey by ChangeWave and RBC Capital Markets.
Amazon revealed last month that it is building millions more Kindle Fires than originally planned. One recent report claimed the company is looking to build 5 million units by the end of the year.
But, Apple has said it is not worried about the Fire affecting iPad sales. Company executives recently indicated that they believe Amazon's tablet will further fragment the market because it is a fork off Android. Apple reportedly believes the more fragmentation the better, as it will drive customers toward its stable iPad platform.
Comments
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Color-M...owViewpoints=1
The customer reviews on Amazon are overwhelmingly positive, with a clear majority giving the Kindle Fire 5 stars. The most valued critical review still gives it 3 out of 5 stars. It seems that Amazon did it right, despite the modest HW specs.
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Color-M...owViewpoints=1
They did do it right cuz they kept it focused and did a great job on the UI as opposed to the typical clunky Android UI.
They focused on making sure the device was great at ebooks, magazines, music, video, games, email, web browsing, & apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, etc.. (your typical content consumption apps)
Good for them.
Saying the Kindle Fire contributes to Android fragmentation is like saying OSX is fragmenting Unix.
MacOSX is almost never seen as part of the Unix world, when comparing market share.
Why? Because MacOSX blows away Unix/Linux on the desktop. MacOSX doesn't really "suffer" from this fragmentation, does it?
In contrast: there are many small players in the Android world, which gives the term "fragmentation" quite different ring.
One should notice that the Linux/Android community is trying very hard to make it appear that all Androids effectively form one platform.
Luckily for Apple, it turns out that MacOSX only needs to compete with each Android incarnation separately, much unlike what the Android advertising machine wants you to believe.
The customer reviews on Amazon are overwhelmingly positive, with a clear majority giving the Kindle Fire 5 stars. The most valued critical review still gives it 3 out of 5 stars. It seems that Amazon did it right, despite the modest HW specs.
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Color-M...owViewpoints=1
We are seeing "PC" all again.
History is repeating it self.
These people who gives 5 stars reviews have used their Fires for minutes and have used about 0 Apps. But ignorance is bliss. If you have not used an iPad, of course the Kindle Fire rulezzzz.
Just like PC. The wast majority of people have never used a mac. They only have used windows. They think windows is great. Rebooting, crashing, viruses are natural part of computing. Nobody screams at their PC if it crashes, they are used to it.
At work I have a Sun Workstation. It crashes about 1 each year. Since I am not used to crashes I go berserk each time its happens. I don't accept crashes, viruses, malware or other stuff since all that is Windows related, no real computer have those problems.
This is also the reason why Windows Phone does not sell well. Most people have used Android/iOS. They don't accept a subpar product. Here people have something to compare against.
Kindle is good enough = people does not try iPad that is way better. Since they don't know is better, they are content and happy.
PC (especially Win7) is good enough = people don't try real computers. (anything *nix based). They accept viruses and so on.
Mobile phones. Android is good enough = people does not try iOS. Fandroids are fanatical. (like all surveys have shown. Most Android users would NEVER use an iPhone. Most Apple users would use an Android if it was better.
So.. this is a sad world that accept second grade products because they never have tried anything else.
The Amazon cult will burst someday. The share price have a P/E over 110. Appel have a trailing P/E of 9. With money 6. Somehow people values Amazon 20 times more then Apple shares. These Wall Street idiots still believe that market share is everything. Its the .com bubble all again. Amazon looses upwards 100 dollar on each Fire sold. Wall Street is happy since they gain market share. Just give away the product and have 100% market share?
Lets hope Apple does not do the same mistake they did in mid 80is. I want to have 1 company that does fanatical, perfect, elegant, art products.
But Apples track record since Steve left early 2011 is not promising....
We are seeing "PC" all again.
History is repeating it self.
These people who gives 5 stars reviews have used their Fires for minutes and have used about 0 Apps. But ignorance is bliss. If you have not used an iPad, of course the Kindle Fire rulezzzz.
Just like PC. The wast majority of people have never used a mac. They only have used windows. They think windows is great. Rebooting, crashing, viruses are natural part of computing. Nobody screams at their PC if it crashes, they are used to it.
At work I have a Sun Workstation. It crashes about 1 each year. Since I am not used to crashes I go berserk each time its happens. I don't accept crashes, viruses, malware or other stuff since all that is Windows related, no real computer have those problems.
This is also the reason why Windows Phone does not sell well. Most people have used Android/iOS. They don't accept a subpar product. Here people have something to compare against.
Kindle is good enough = people does not try iPad that is way better. Since they don't know is better, they are content and happy.
PC (especially Win7) is good enough = people don't try real computers. (anything *nix based). They accept viruses and so on.
Mobile phones. Android is good enough = people does not try iOS. Fandroids are fanatical. (like all surveys have shown. Most Android users would NEVER use an iPhone. Most Apple users would use an Android if it was better.
So.. this is a sad world that accept second grade products because they never have tried anything else.
The Amazon cult will burst someday. The share price have a P/E over 110. Appel have a trailing P/E of 9. With money 6. Somehow people values Amazon 20 times more then Apple shares. These Wall Street idiots still believe that market share is everything. Its the .com bubble all again. Amazon looses upwards 100 dollar on each Fire sold. Wall Street is happy since they gain market share. Just give away the product and have 100% market share?
Lets hope Apple does not do the same mistake they did in mid 80is. I want to have 1 company that does fanatical, perfect, elegant, art products.
But Apples track record since Steve left early 2011 is not promising....
Comedy hour on AI?
Most Android users have used iOS. A lot have iPads (and even consider it the only tablet worth owning - like I do)
I've seen hundreds of comments from people here who have not used Android at all. And considering the religious like following Apple has most will never try Android.
People do not like the same things. I do wish Android was as smooth an experience as iOS. It isn't. However I do not like iOS. I do not want a 3.5 inch screen. I do not want an app launcher for a homescreen. I want and enjoy tinkering and control. I like the pseudo open nature of Android and the community always pushing the envelope.
Even then I don't agree nor like everything about Android. I do not like the lack of at least an app icon template. I do not like the overwhelming number of poor quality apps (luckily the apps I use are high quality)
When I pick up an iPhone I know how to use it. It is okay IMO. But too small. And too limiting (which is why I can't Eben enjoy WP7 as it is so boring despite the fact that I think the UI is the best out there)
I do wish Google would exercise more control of Android. But they don't or won't and I can live with that.
There are specific reasons I don't use iOS (or Mac OSX at home) little things I don't like.
Fandroids overall are a hell of a lot more open minded than iPhanboys.
We tend not to worship Google. You can go to any Android blog then any Apple blog and compare the glorification/complaint ratio of articles on each. Android blogs say a lot more and criticise a lot more. They desire control. We don't need to be coddled and ushered into an age of whitewashed simplicity.
I like that the twitter integration you now have is native on android by simply installing an app. I like being able to completely swap out almost every stock app at my discretion. I can share almost anything through almost any app that adds a line of code. These are freedoms you will never enjoy. My device is mine. Android screenshot threads vs iOS screenshot threads are utterly hilarious. That alone should show you some of why people choose Android. It's not some ignorance of iOS. Who the hell is ignorant of iOS? It is not a hatred of Apple. A lot of the CM team USE macs to make Cyanogenmods.
So what is it? Choice. Freedom. Ownership.
The kindle is not a second rate iPad. It is a kindle. A portal into Amazon's ecosystem. A content streaming device. An e-reader. Not even a competitor to the iPad. No one who wants an iPad would be swayed into getting a kindle. Most who want a kindle could be swayed into getting an iPad. The iPad is scores more useful than a Kindle Fire.
But not everyone needs an iPad or is heavily invested in Apple's ecosystem nor do they wish to be.
Your walled garden is beautiful and landscaped to perfection. Sure.
I like my world just fine.
MacOSX is almost never seen as part of the Unix world, when comparing market share.
Why? Because MacOSX blows away Unix/Linux on the desktop. MacOSX doesn't really "suffer" from this fragmentation, does it?
In contrast: there are many small players in the Android world, which gives the term "fragmentation" quite different ring.
One should notice that the Linux/Android community is trying very hard to make it appear that all Androids effectively form one platform.
Luckily for Apple, it turns out that MacOSX only needs to compete with each Android incarnation separately, much unlike what the Android advertising machine wants you to believe.
Wasn't sure mac osx was even competing with Android. -_-
And there are forks of Android and skins of Android and versions of Android.
A phone running Sense 3.5 and a phone running Touchwhiz 4.0 are both the same version of Android with different skins.
A tablet running Amazon's Android and a tablet running Stock Android are not as Amazon has forked Android into it's own separate entity.
That's what he meant by "calling OSX a version of Unix"
Comedy hour on AI?
Most Android users have used iOS.
This is absolute nonsense.
Look at the figures. The overwhelming majority of iPhone users stick with iPhones. IIRC, the percentage who leave the iPhone to switch to Android is in the single digits.
So if less than 10% of iPhone users switch to Android and Android phones outsell iPhones by a significant margins, how does that work out? Obviously, the majority if Android users are NOT coming from iPhones.
Furthermore, it doesn't take to long to realize that a large fraction of Android fans (certainly on sites like this) absolutely refuse to have anything to do with Apple products for 'religious' reasons.
Sure, they may have seen their neighbor's cousin's sister-in-law's iPhone for 10 seconds and think that makes them an expert, but in reality, most of them have not.
So if less than 10% of iPhone users switch to Android and Android phones outsell iPhones by a significant margins, how does that work out? Obviously, the majority if Android users are NOT coming from iPhones.
I think you're mistaking 'used' with 'owned'.
I think you're mistaking 'used' with 'owned'.
Se his last sentence. He realized his fundamental error, and made ups a"fact" to compensate.
Comedy hour on AI?
There are specific reasons I don't use iOS (or Mac OSX at home) little things I don't like.
Fandroids overall are a hell of a lot more open minded than iPhanboys.
We tend not to worship Google. You can go to any Android blog then any Apple blog and compare the glorification/complaint ratio of articles on each. Android blogs say a lot more and criticise a lot more. They desire control. We don't need to be coddled and ushered into an age of whitewashed simplicity.
I like that the twitter integration you now have is native on android by simply installing an app. I like being able to completely swap out almost every stock app at my discretion. I can share almost anything through almost any app that adds a line of code. These are freedoms you will never enjoy. My device is mine. Android screenshot threads vs iOS screenshot threads are utterly hilarious. That alone should show you some of why people choose Android. It's not some ignorance of iOS. Who the hell is ignorant of iOS? It is not a hatred of Apple. A lot of the CM team USE macs to make Cyanogenmods.
That is a lot of crap I say. When going to android based forums the apple bashing is even worse than on vice versa on this forum. I have been to many....
And many G-worshipers (and there are a VERY large number out there) that dont see google ever doing ANYTHING bad. And if you ask google is doing this all out of their goodness of heart (developing android). But like always you CANT pull everyone through your stereotypical mold by makeing an asumption of everybody on this forum isnt discussing features without criticism. There are many here that can criticize Apple on a large number of choices. Most fo them arent any dealbreakers. Some might be for some people.
There are those that have jailbroken devices and think thats enough for some. I for one have compiled enough kernels and sources to appreciate that something works (mostly) without bugs and debuging and you dont need to read the manual to use a function (nor edit 200 lines of configs). I have no want to use the terminal on my phone if I dont need to. And you shouldnt need to on a phone. In my humble opinion android is not so polished that I would use it but thats a personal choise, Amen! Many mac enthusiasts like the polished user interfaces and
especially LOGICAL interfaces. And you can still hack as much as you want IF you want. On a phone i would dare to say test, If you modify software you are going to have to alfatest it and you can usually count ME out on those (alfatesting phone operating systems, i NEED my phone).
And the rooting of android devices. Whats the difference to eg jailbreaking an iphone. Atleast you avoid your warranty in both cases. You could install android on the iphone if you wanted to (yes somebody has already done it) but I cant think of a single reason this would be great (other than maybe for demo purposes).. The bottomline is that you can do anything that you want to YOUR iphone or android phone. Nobody is going to stop you. I dont know what you are rambling about the walled garden. ITS A CHOICE. You dont need to if you dont want to... on ANY platform (you will have to prove me wrong!).
To me it looks like IOS phone folks are _quite_ happy with their user interface and rather not muck around with it too much and instead put the effort on features (via jailbreak community). It puzzles me that so many are unhappy with their android phones that they have to rip everything out and put something else in
What comes down to criticism on this web-forum, I would say that this site is as good or as bad as all the other sites. There are allways those that try to provoke argument for the sake of argument on any site.
...The teardown also noted that the tablet's only button is a power button, a fact that has drawn some criticism from reviewers...
Did we need a teardown to figure that out?
The customer reviews on Amazon are overwhelmingly positive, with a clear majority giving the Kindle Fire 5 stars. The most valued critical review still gives it 3 out of 5 stars. It seems that Amazon did it right, despite the modest HW specs.
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Color-M...owViewpoints=1
FYI, the 1 star movement is growing among actual owners of the device. Amazon fans, no less vociferous than Apple fans, are actually defending the Fire against these attacks by saying things like "What did you expect? A tablet? At this price?" and then saying, as if it's a good thing, that what this device is really made for and really excels at is shopping at Amazon.
This is absolute nonsense.
Look at the figures. The overwhelming majority of iPhone users stick with iPhones. IIRC, the percentage who leave the iPhone to switch to Android is in the single digits.
So if less than 10% of iPhone users switch to Android and Android phones outsell iPhones by a significant margins, how does that work out? Obviously, the majority if Android users are NOT coming from iPhones.
Furthermore, it doesn't take to long to realize that a large fraction of Android fans (certainly on sites like this) absolutely refuse to have anything to do with Apple products for 'religious' reasons.
Sure, they may have seen their neighbor's cousin's sister-in-law's iPhone for 10 seconds and think that makes them an expert, but in reality, most of them have not.
Never said they left iOS...I said they've used iOS...I've never had an iPhone before I bought an Android phone. But I've used them.
And do you really think Fandroids are anywhere near as ravenous and cult-like as iPhanboys? That's like saying a "militant" atheist is as ravenous as a fundamentalist Christian. They may both scream loud and make noise but one is significantly more loyal to their cause.
iFixit also pointed out that charging the Fire over a computer USB port will take longer than the advertised four-hour charge time for when the device is plugged into an outlet.
Could this sentence be anymore awkward? So is the advertised four-hour charge time over USB or outlet?
Reviews for the device have been generally positive, with most noting that the Fire is a good deal but no "iPad killer."
As for consumers, 26 percent of Kindle Fire buyers say they delayed or put on hold an iPad purchase, according to a survey by ChangeWave and RBC Capital Markets.
][/url][/c]
Wrong and wrong. The reviews are generally kind of middling and the 26%, a number highly suspect due to margin of error almost as high as the segment of the sample, were not Fire buyers but people who had ordered or were thinking of ordering a Fire.
That is a lot of crap I say. When going to android based forums the apple bashing is even worse than on vice versa on this forum. I have been to many....
And many G-worshipers (and there are a VERY large number out there) that dont see google ever doing ANYTHING bad. And if you ask google is doing this all out of their goodness of heart (developing android). But like always you CANT pull everyone through your stereotypical mold by makeing an asumption of everybody on this forum isnt discussing features without criticism. There are many here that can criticize Apple on a large number of choices. Most fo them arent any dealbreakers. Some might be for some people.
There are those that have jailbroken devices and think thats enough for some. I for one have compiled enough kernels and sources to appreciate that something works (mostly) without bugs and debuging and you dont need to read the manual to use a function (nor edit 200 lines of configs). I have no want to use the terminal on my phone if I dont need to. And you shouldnt need to on a phone. In my humble opinion android is not so polished that I would use it but thats a personal choise, Amen! Many mac enthusiasts like the polished user interfaces and
especially LOGICAL interfaces. And you can still hack as much as you want IF you want. On a phone i would dare to say test, If you modify software you are going to have to alfatest it and you can usually count ME out on those (alfatesting phone operating systems, i NEED my phone).
And the rooting of android devices. Whats the difference to eg jailbreaking an iphone. Atleast you avoid your warranty in both cases. You could install android on the iphone if you wanted to (yes somebody has already done it) but I cant think of a single reason this would be great (other than maybe for demo purposes).. The bottomline is that you can do anything that you want to YOUR iphone or android phone. Nobody is going to stop you. I dont know what you are rambling about the walled garden. ITS A CHOICE. You dont need to if you dont want to... on ANY platform (you will have to prove me wrong!).
To me it looks like IOS phone folks are _quite_ happy with their user interface and rather not muck around with it too much and instead put the effort on features (via jailbreak community). It puzzles me that so many are unhappy with their android phones that they have to rip everything out and put something else in
What comes down to criticism on this web-forum, I would say that this site is as good or as bad as all the other sites. There are allways those that try to provoke argument for the sake of argument on any site.
Prove your point then. Show me an Android blog, like this site, that has anywhere near the number of Apple articles (often not even related to the site's focus) and the number of posters who are anywhere near as anti-Apple as the Anti-anything-not-Apple-ers here.
When you can find me one forum site, news site that comes even remotely close to what can be seen here I will concede defeat and apologize for wasting your time.
Note, not some random anti-Apple comment, I mean a consistent, anti-Apple atmosphere.
A popular blog site, not some random teenagers rant blog.
That is a lot of crap I say. When going to android based forums the apple bashing is even worse than on vice versa on this forum. I have been to many....
I don't spend much time around Android-specific forums, but from my limited visits I've usually seen civil discourse when Apple/Android comparisons are made. Personally I couldn't agree that Apple bashing is standard fare on Android-centric user forums. Perhaps given a few more years they could become just as pseudo-religious as some (not all) Apple fans. For now I haven't seen it very often other than sites like Engadget.
FYI, the 1 star movement is growing among actual owners of the device...
LOL, true that! The initial 10-20 1-star reviews were almost exclusively from people who didn't have the device. Now the proportion of those who actually own it and give 1 star is, understandably, growing. Nevertheless, those appear to be the most poorly written, misinformed and baseless reviews, and you can see that for yourself.
I do think that the predominant 5-star rating is swayed by the lowered expectations due to the low price. The average 4-star rating is likely more realistic. Still, that leaves us with a better than average product with a below average price tag.