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I replied in another thread that it seemed the online tech sites peddled a lot of junk at low prices for Cyber Monday and Black Friday to some degree. I thought I heard that retailers did poorly on those two days and the weekend between compared to the prior year. In addition to the slumping economy, I think a big part of this is due to the retailers thinking they could get away with holding back what a lot of people wanted and peddling crap that hadn't been selling for low prices. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it looked like.
I did get a good laptop (amazon) and all-in-one printer (Staples) online on Black Friday. But didn't find much out there for one item I was interested in, an Android tablet.
One area that I think the retailers all erred on was in the tablet market. I'm not referring to the iPad, which has stringent price controls (if you're waiting for a deal for one of those forget about it!), but more the Android tablet market which does not have as much price control. None of the sites discounted any tablets significantly or not at all. Probably the best deal out there was the new Kindle Fire which was offered for just $200, but from what I understand is the going price for the foreseeable future no matter where you buy it. A few retailers had some good tablets for cheap but were in-store only deals which you had to be one of the first 5 to 10 people there to even get your hands on one. Maybe the retailers calculated correctly and those who intend to buy a tablet will eventually do so between now and Christmas and pay close to top dollar. IMO, unless someone has their heart set on an iPad or any tablet to that matter, it might be worth waiting till after the holidays. I think they're going to have a crap load of overstock, but maybe I'm wrong.
As for me, I don't want to shell out 4 to 500 dollars for an iPad or any pad to that matter. There's an Asus Transfer pad that is highly rated, but too costly for what I'm willing to pay. Oh, and I don't want a pad that I need to pay for monthly 3 or 4G connectivity. I just want a wifi connected pad.
The new Kindle Fire is a very good deal for just $200, but has some limitations that I'm willing to wait and see get met with Kindle's next device rumored to be called Kindle Ice. Although the Kindle has the "cloud" that allows you to store just about as much content you might desire, the on-board storage is small (8 GB) and not expandable. As long as you're wifi connected you're good. If you want to use it, say, while flying, well whatever you copy to that 8GB space is all you got. Although you can load and play android apps, there's no camera or microphone. Unless you can read lips and send smoke signals, apps like Skype are out of realm of possibility. It does combine the best of the book-reader world, WEB-Browsing and Android App playing worlds at a really cheap price. Oh, and no HDMI to hook the tablet to my HD TV if I'd like to watch a movie or surf the web on a large screen like I can my Droid Bionic.
I'm torn between getting K-Fire now and upgrading to K-Ice which I bet adds most, if not all those lacking features for what will probably be only a small increase. My guess is since Amazon is willing to sell its tablets for less than or close to less than it costs because it's going to get a ton of your money from what you'll purchase to load and run on their tablets, they're going to sell whatever comes next for $250 to $300 dollars, which will be 100s of dollars cheaper than any other tablet that offers close to its features. Rumors are Ice will be out anywhere from 1st quarter 2012 to end of 2012. If I were to guess, Ice comes out just before the summer, no sooner, unless Amazon planned for a significant reduction in Fire production, enough to hold the market till Ice comes out and takes over as their primary tablet. If I were to guess, their plan was to saturate the pre-Christmas sales with Fire, but then re-kindle...sorry I couldn't resist...the tablet market with ICE sometime around June when users will be itching for something more.
So what should I do? (And, no! I'm not going to shell out 4 to 500 on an iPad no matter what you tell me.)
1. Should I buy, or better put encourage my wife to get me the Kindle Fire for Christmas and my Birthday, unfortunately the same day. Then buy whatever predecessor comes out whenever it comes out?
2. Should wait till the after-Christmas sales when the retailers are stunned at how much tablet over stock they have and want to significantly reduce their inventory and buy a good Android tablet cheap like the Asus Transformer if they drop it below $275.
3. Or should I wait till Kindle Ice comes out which will likely be bigger 10" compared to 7", more memory, more processor, camera & mic, plus HDMI...I hope.
My initial choice is #3, but I might cave and go with 1 for now and worry about 3 later. Really! How often will I need to use the tablet w/out wifi. For $200, 8GM might be good enough to store whatever I need if I know I'll be out of wifi for a spell. How often will I really need to Skype someone. I don't even do it now on my laptop or my smart phone, which doesn't work very well in the first place. If I want to skype, I can just use my laptop. And do I really need to connect my tablet to the TV? I can already connect my laptop and Droid if needed.
I'm ready to be swayed or assured. Fire away!
I did get a good laptop (amazon) and all-in-one printer (Staples) online on Black Friday. But didn't find much out there for one item I was interested in, an Android tablet.
One area that I think the retailers all erred on was in the tablet market. I'm not referring to the iPad, which has stringent price controls (if you're waiting for a deal for one of those forget about it!), but more the Android tablet market which does not have as much price control. None of the sites discounted any tablets significantly or not at all. Probably the best deal out there was the new Kindle Fire which was offered for just $200, but from what I understand is the going price for the foreseeable future no matter where you buy it. A few retailers had some good tablets for cheap but were in-store only deals which you had to be one of the first 5 to 10 people there to even get your hands on one. Maybe the retailers calculated correctly and those who intend to buy a tablet will eventually do so between now and Christmas and pay close to top dollar. IMO, unless someone has their heart set on an iPad or any tablet to that matter, it might be worth waiting till after the holidays. I think they're going to have a crap load of overstock, but maybe I'm wrong.
As for me, I don't want to shell out 4 to 500 dollars for an iPad or any pad to that matter. There's an Asus Transfer pad that is highly rated, but too costly for what I'm willing to pay. Oh, and I don't want a pad that I need to pay for monthly 3 or 4G connectivity. I just want a wifi connected pad.
The new Kindle Fire is a very good deal for just $200, but has some limitations that I'm willing to wait and see get met with Kindle's next device rumored to be called Kindle Ice. Although the Kindle has the "cloud" that allows you to store just about as much content you might desire, the on-board storage is small (8 GB) and not expandable. As long as you're wifi connected you're good. If you want to use it, say, while flying, well whatever you copy to that 8GB space is all you got. Although you can load and play android apps, there's no camera or microphone. Unless you can read lips and send smoke signals, apps like Skype are out of realm of possibility. It does combine the best of the book-reader world, WEB-Browsing and Android App playing worlds at a really cheap price. Oh, and no HDMI to hook the tablet to my HD TV if I'd like to watch a movie or surf the web on a large screen like I can my Droid Bionic.
I'm torn between getting K-Fire now and upgrading to K-Ice which I bet adds most, if not all those lacking features for what will probably be only a small increase. My guess is since Amazon is willing to sell its tablets for less than or close to less than it costs because it's going to get a ton of your money from what you'll purchase to load and run on their tablets, they're going to sell whatever comes next for $250 to $300 dollars, which will be 100s of dollars cheaper than any other tablet that offers close to its features. Rumors are Ice will be out anywhere from 1st quarter 2012 to end of 2012. If I were to guess, Ice comes out just before the summer, no sooner, unless Amazon planned for a significant reduction in Fire production, enough to hold the market till Ice comes out and takes over as their primary tablet. If I were to guess, their plan was to saturate the pre-Christmas sales with Fire, but then re-kindle...sorry I couldn't resist...the tablet market with ICE sometime around June when users will be itching for something more.
So what should I do? (And, no! I'm not going to shell out 4 to 500 on an iPad no matter what you tell me.)
1. Should I buy, or better put encourage my wife to get me the Kindle Fire for Christmas and my Birthday, unfortunately the same day. Then buy whatever predecessor comes out whenever it comes out?
2. Should wait till the after-Christmas sales when the retailers are stunned at how much tablet over stock they have and want to significantly reduce their inventory and buy a good Android tablet cheap like the Asus Transformer if they drop it below $275.
3. Or should I wait till Kindle Ice comes out which will likely be bigger 10" compared to 7", more memory, more processor, camera & mic, plus HDMI...I hope.
My initial choice is #3, but I might cave and go with 1 for now and worry about 3 later. Really! How often will I need to use the tablet w/out wifi. For $200, 8GM might be good enough to store whatever I need if I know I'll be out of wifi for a spell. How often will I really need to Skype someone. I don't even do it now on my laptop or my smart phone, which doesn't work very well in the first place. If I want to skype, I can just use my laptop. And do I really need to connect my tablet to the TV? I can already connect my laptop and Droid if needed.
I'm ready to be swayed or assured. Fire away!