A Kindle Fire for Christmas - The Associated Press

Have you started Christmas shopping season -., and Amazon has a new tablet color

This is the Kindle Fire HDX. It costs $ 230 and is awesome. The battery lasts about 11 hours, or 17 in economy mode, read-only. The sound from the stereo speakers is excellent. The plastic weighs less than the previous version and the edges around the screen are narrower. Has a mediocre camera ahead to chat video (not behind, the 7-inch model). The only big mistake was putting the power and volume keys back:.’ll Spend the first week to press the Off button by mistake while trying to put the loudest sound of
OX “HDX” refers to the clarity of screen, whose 323 tiny dots per inch make it clearer than high definition 163 dpi and popularize the iPad Mini.

The display of HDX is truly spectacular, although annoyingly reflective. The problem is that one can only appreciate the new clarity if we are to see the source material with an equally high resolution. The letter books and magazines is ultra-precise, but most 150 000 television programs and videos from Amazon’s catalog do not improve. The films also have the wrong format for the screen:. See black bars on top and bottom
Although the Kindle is based on the Android operating system, Amazon disguised it well

Screen. Home continues to present a “carousel” horizontal sliding of all that we have recently opened: books, movies, music, applications. Under this carousel now finds itself a traditional grid of icons, as in other tablets -. What is good

Parental controls are simple and effective. We can limit the amount of daily use by kids and what they can use, see or read.

Amazon began to introduce its X-Ray function in music and movies. Some of the songs that repurchase the company (a few thousand, it seems) now feature sliding letters. And to see a film with the X-Ray panel open is great fun: it identifies the actors in the scene you are watching, with their biographies with just one touch, and tells you the title of the background music

The company announced that a software update to be done soon, we will move the video to a PlayStation 3 or a Samsung TV as we continue to read the X-ray information on the Kindle Fire. This does not fully compensate, however, the loss of any other way to connect the Fire to a TV (HDMI port disappeared).

But the most daring and amazing of all is the Mayday button, establishing a immediate and free connection to a service center available 24/24 hours. Technicians can see the screen of our Kindle. They do not see us, but we see them (a removable small window with an inch) and accept your invitation to take control of the device or drawing with virtual markers around the screen elements.

Now $ 230 is a great price for a tablet as good and as fast as the HDX – and this tablet Amazon finally includes a charger outlet. It costs $ 30 more than last year’s model, but bargain hunters may be satisfied with the refurbished Kindle Fire HD, which is for only $ 140, though, as a representative told me, “best performance” (I’m pretty sure that means “faster”).

But it turns out that $ 230 is also the price of tablet of the Google Nexus 7, which is also good and fast, and also has a screen of 323 ppi. On the Kindle, however, sees an ad for full screen whenever we connect, and to see ourselves free of it forever have to fork over $ 15. Other 50, we can buy a cover that attaches magnetically and bends in strange ways to function as support.
So what is the best deal?

It depends what we seek. The Nexus is a true tablet , with all the flexibility and complexity that entails. The Kindle Fire continues to be intended to clearly present the books, television programs, songs and videos to buy at Amazon.

Still does not look like a “real” tablet . Still do not have GPS navigation, voice recognition, task list, or memos application. Android does not run common applications and can not access the Google Play Store, which has for a million of them out there. About 100 000 applications were designed for the Fire, but it lacks many important, including Dropbox, SkyDrive and all that is Google.

But this is also not a boot below. The simplicity and dedication to the purpose it was intended always been the main virtue of the Kindle. Amazon should proceed cautiously; heaping functions, you risk cluttering this efficient and focused reader

As it stands, the Kindle Fire HDX is a light, crisp and super-fast treat

columnist David Pogue left the New York Times. This is the latest in chronic PUBLIC

Translation:. Eugenia Maria Colaco

© 2013 The New York Times. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate.