Kindle Fire ICS VS Eee Pad Transformer ICS

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bolt_of_thunder

Senior Member
Mar 18, 2011
441
17
You should give us a written review. Even just some main points. Your video looks very detailed. I'm in a place where I can't listen to audio right now :p

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2
 

CrazyPeter

Senior Member
Sep 1, 2010
1,256
466
What's the point in comparing hardware when the key problem with the Kindle fire is the **** content selection and locked in ecosystem.. Frankly only an idiot would buy one.

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asdfuogh

Senior Member
Jun 22, 2011
573
66
Doesn't rooting solve the problem? Not sure, I don't have one, but I want to know for future reference..
 

bsoplinger

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2011
1,477
338
Doesn't rooting solve the problem? Not sure, I don't have one, but I want to know for future reference..

You're correct that rooting it will get you a more or less ”generic” Android experience. But you'll still be left with a device that was designed with the closed Amazon ecosystem in mind, limited RAM, only 1 button (power), no expansion (microSD or SDHC), etc. Not a horrible choice if you're looking for Android cheap but there are a number of $250 ”real” Android devices available with GPS, vibration, full sensor array, some flavor of Android from the start instead of the Amazon overlay etc.

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CrazyPeter

Senior Member
Sep 1, 2010
1,256
466
Lol.. You just branded a few mil folks

Yep, too many people only buy what they know.. Kindle owners are, really no better than ipad owners in this respect.

What idiot would buy a new car that you could only gas up at a specific filling station? That no different to the ipad and kindle.


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Anodibu

Member
Dec 31, 2011
8
5
I think some of you are missing the point of the video.
On both devices ICS was installed and the performance was compared doing the same tasks.
In most cases the kindle held up with the transformer and in some it was even faster! Not bad for a device half the price.
 

getbuzzin

Senior Member
Oct 26, 2011
408
173
This video on the TF forum, what did you expect people to say? It would be a totally different story if posted on kindle fire forum. Pointless topic in my mind, just saying.
 
D

Deleted member 4151041

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My eee pad was 250 at best buy on black Friday 2011. Who would ever buy a kindle lmao?!

Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA
 

CrazyPeter

Senior Member
Sep 1, 2010
1,256
466
Sorry to say but this is pointless and strange. The Transformer is a real tablet and if you want that, there's no comparison. On the other hand if you want to read ebooks only and byuing from Amazon only, then you go the Kindle way.

Again, there are a whole load of BETTER e-readers than the Kindle.

Just because that's the only brand you know, doesn't mean it's the best..

Sony do very nice e-readers, the Kobo are the same price as the kindles, and both support the superior EPUB format.
 

GenghisKhan67

Senior Member
Dec 8, 2010
404
44
Sherbrooke
New Transformer user here. I had a Kindle Fire until recently (sold it on eBay) and tried a few ICS builds after rooting the tablet. Sure, ICS worked on it, but the video in the OP definitely doesn't tell the whole story. Stability certainly was a problem: I experienced many FCs and a lot of tablet-specific apps just wouldn't run properly on it.

Devs (as usual) are (still) doing great work to make the KF a nice entry-level tablet, and for the price, you won't find a better deal (especially if you are willing to buy a used or refurb model). The KF community at XDA is VERY responsive, which is a definite plus. However, I just didn't find it as fast as when I was using the stock ROM or alternate GB-based ROMs available for the KF (Hellfire's builds were really good). Without the availability of a 3.x kernel offering full HWA (I know devs are working on this), performance wasn't that great, especially after I loaded up the tablet with 60-70 apps I typically use on my phone.

I parted with the KF mainly because I found its screen size too small (I've developed a taste for reading magazines and the like). At the end of the day, I was willing to sacrifice portability for more screen estate, as well as better storage options and support for future Android updates. Time will tell if I made the right choice.

---------- Post added at 09:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 PM ----------

Sony do very nice e-readers, the Kobo are the same price as the kindles, and both support the superior EPUB format.

I've used all three, and frankly, the best e-reader I owned was (by far) the Kindle 3 keyboard. If you know what you are doing, you can convert books in the proper format (using something like Calibre) or use a third-party ROM to read .epub files on it natively, so file format wasn't an issue for me. Amazon's online selection is top notch, way better than anyone else out there including Barnes and Noble, Chapters, etc.

The Kobo Touch was a close second, but had a lot of firmware issues: the last version I used before giving mine away seemed to fix most of them (especially the highly annoying page turning bug that crept up at some point). The hardware is nice though, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one.

The Sony e-reader was just garbage, I had to return it twice after both units died on me. I will never buy any other e-reader from the company.
 
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ssl123

Senior Member
Feb 18, 2012
185
48
Sorry to say but this is pointless and strange. The Transformer is a real tablet and if you want that, there's no comparison. On the other hand if you want to read ebooks only and byuing from Amazon only, then you go the Kindle way.

To call it "pointless and strange" comes off pretty harsh, but I sort of agree a little. It is a bit of an apple to oranges comparison, I think, mainly because the screen resolutions aren't the same. The ASUS has to produce 1280x800 (1,024,000 square pixels) output all the time while the Kindle produces 1024x600 (614,400 square pixels). In their respective web browsers, for example, more of the page has to be rendered on the ASUS display than on the Kindle's. Yet, the pinch zoom is a bit stuttery on the Kindle, as the video mentioned. I wonder if it's because something on the Kindle's ICS is not optimized for the device.

For the best e-readers, I think they have to be the ones with the e-Ink displays. It's both because of the display and because of their extremely light weight. They are lacking multi-functionally, but they do their one thing (e-reading) extremely well.
 
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gunz.jones

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
1,238
220
Athens, TX
My mom has a Kindle, I have a TF101 w/ dock. The differences between the two are almost night and day in some aspects.

I can do anything I want with my TF101. The dock helps with battery and some other things such as office suite on the go and gaming. Streaming movies through Netflix and watching Youtube. Hooking the tab to a TV with the HDMI support. It is the optimum tablet style for any uber geek and Android fan. There are still kernel issues due to being an outdated kernel without fixes from ASUS or a real update that helps to correct any of the core problems and even created more under 4.0.3. AOKP, CM9 and Megatron are sorting them out as well as Guevor and Testymeh kernels in development. Others are working as well, but not as quickly as the current scne is developing for the TF101. Great things are still to come.

The Kindle ICS is missing some driver support due to an outdated kernel and no ICS source available from Amazon. Hash and other developers are all working on getting HWA to work, which does cause quite a few issues all around in ICS since it uses a different process to manipulate hardware and software. They are modifying source from similar devices with matching hardware and going from there. The Kindle is just as well to play games or download movies and books. Now that HWA is getting out, Netflix and other things, even the web browser, should start working as intended. You're also running hardware with limited memory than to how it was designed. I think they had to engineer a driver that would allow hardware to run at it's full potential with smaller ram and swapability due to Kindle limitations. (I spend a lot of time with my mom's Kindle to make sure it runs at least similar to how I would run it.

Either offering is good depending on the person's wants and needs. I do admit, after seeing a Kindle in action, I am glad I have a much higher expectation of my electronics. No respect lost, but I'm not on the same spectrum.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium