5 Viable Alternatives to Kindle Fire

Is Amazon Kindle Fire the most affordable tablet on the market?

I am trying to answer this question so stay with me while I go through the list of the main price/features competitors. Although Kindle Fire is currently the most brilliant diamont available for tablet fans, there are a lot of tablets out there at a similar price or less that can successfully replace it.

Below I will present six alternatives for Kindle Fire:

Asus Transformer

Asus Transformer is a real bargain. Asus is fighting for top positions in the Android tablets for some time. Transformer is offering an amazing screen and many ISP ports and is a safe tablet with a low price that runs Android Honeycomb.

And, like all other Android tablets on the market, it can run all Kindle reader applications.

BlackBarry Playbook

It's hard to fall in love with Playbook, but if you're a Blackberry fan and you want a tablet with a light OS and an amazing screen this is the right choice for you.

BlackBarry Playbook comes with preinstalled reading software called Kobo but if you want to read Kindle books you can use Kindle Cloud Reader (avialable for download).

Dell Streak 7

Although Dell tablet Streak tablet 7 is the oldest from the tablets presented here, it manages to keep up pretty well. Android 2.2 has lots of applications, including Kindle app that can satisfy even the most fussy users.

It is rumored that Dell Streak 7 will receive a big upgrade, much needed for Honeycomb users.

Archos 80 G9

Archos 80 G9 is equipped with a 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex processor, 8-inch screen and 8 GB internal memory.

Technical specifications are pretty good, but we can't say the same about the final product. However Archos 80 G9 can perform relly good the tasks of a Kindle Fire.

Nook Color

Nook Color is one of the cheapest tablets on the market. It comes with preinstalled Android 2.2 OS that features many applications, email and web browser. If you don't like the pre-installed reading application you can install the Kindle app right away.

Those from Barnes & Noble were the first to to release a complex e-reader device that acts just as a tablet at half the price of an iPad. Wee see the same move today from Amazon with the release of the new Kindle Fire.


Conclusions:

Kindle Fire will penetrate the tablet market really fast. That's a fact. This means it will take a huge bite of competitors' market share. Amazon's strategy is based primarily on the quality of its long lasting brand, quality and price. For those who want more from a tablet that Kindle Fire can offer, remember that there is always an alternative, but not necessarily a cheaper one.

Click here to see how the Kindle Fire's specs compared to other popular tablets.

Amazon Kindle Fire vs. iPad 2 vs. Nook Color [image]

Amazon Kindle Fire is almost here, and wee need to see more about its performances and features compared to iPad 2 and Nook Color. Although the comparison with iPad 2 is not fair, I still love how Amazon Kindle Fire looks and performs. And the best part about this new tablet is the price: $199.
via thisismynext

The future of CPU Efficiency

Men of science at Intel developed a new project involving an experimental CPU that may conduct to gadgets and computers with importantly lower energy usage.

The chip is codenamed “Claremont” and is acknowledged as a near-threshold voltage processor, which grants electronic transistors to engage at super-low, near “verge” emfs to increase efficiency and diminish energy consumption. This degree is very close to the electric potential at which transistors turn on and start conducting current (“threshold” voltage). This brings a 500% increase in energy efficiency.

In the presentation, the prototype low-power CPU was exploited on a PC running Linux Operating System, powered exclusively off a photovoltaic cell the size of a stamp. The CPU was utilized in alignment with other experimental project, a prototype DRAM named the hybrid memory cube (ultra-effective computer memory interface).

“We used a solar cell in the demonstration to show how little power was required,” said Intel spokeswoman Connie Brown in an interview. “But it could run on anything that has power.” Like lemon juice, or perhaps a potato as Brown suggested. “The key message is the low power and how much more transistors would be power-efficient running at near-threshold.”

Numerous years of exploring unknown territories in research have conducted to Intel’s near-threshold voltage-processor design. Claremont changes into NTV mode (under 10 mW in power consumption) when its workload is light.

This implies, besides powering off entirely, a CPU can remain in an “ultra low-power state,” conserving open applications and active processes — “always-on” devices. The technology could even be applied to produce “zero-power” computer architectures powered by solar power. The future is bright!

Watch the presentation here


image credit: intel.com

New Toshiba AT200 tablet

Toshiba is ready to launch it's latest ultra-thin tablet: AT200. As you can see in the video, this tablet is a serious competitor to Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Features:
- 10.1 inch display (1280x800), 7.7mm thick
- ultra-thin design, metal backing, well built
- runs Android 3.2
- TI OMAP 4430 1.2 Ghz processor
- up to 64GB memory
- 5 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front camera
- up to 8 hours of battery life promised

Read the press release here

More pictures after the jump

HP TouchPad for $99!

I'm not sure if you heard about it, but HP is killing webOS. This means it will discontinue all the phones as well as the HP TouchPad tablet. I don't necessarily consider this a good decision, because I really think webOS was amazing.

The good part about all these is that HP TouchPad is blowing right now! It might not be a perfect tablet, but for the new price they are selling ($100), it will be hard to beat even by iPad 2.

The HP TouchPad can be bought from:

Bestbuy.com / Bestbuy.ca
Futureshop.com / Futureshop.ca
Hp.com / Hp.ca

Hardware acceleration to Honeycomb tablets

Zinio and NVIDIA have brought hardware acceleration to the magazine reader app Zinio for Android. That means increased performance, smoother page turning, zooming and panning for Honeycomb tablets with Tegra.

via Android Market

India will release a $35 tablet this month

The project was put on hold for a while, but the Indian Government backed it again and it's ready to see the light of day. This low cost table is codenamed 'Sakshat' and is expected to launch by the end of this month.
read more here

USB stick PC for $25

David Braben is a very known game developer, the chief of the UK development studio Frontier Developments, but is even as known for being the co-developer of Elite.

The studio he's working in brought Rollercoaster Tycoon series, Thrillville, Lost Winds, and most lately Kinectimals. Along these functions, he's trying to get programming and general computer learning back in schools.

Braben debates that pedagogy since we acceded the 2000s has converted towards ICT which instructs utile skills such as composing documents in a word processing system, how to make presentations, and primary computer use skills.

His answer isn't to create his personal trend, but alternatively to construct a very low-priced microcomputer that can be donated to kids and classes built up around their use. When we state low-priced, we think of so low even the OLPC would be struck.

David Braben has produced a small USB stick PC that features a HDMI port in one end and a USB port on the other. This microcomputer can be plugged into a HDMI socket, then plug in a keyboard via the USB port applying you a fully running PC running a version of Linux. The cost for this device? $25.

features:

• 700Mhz ARM 11 processor
• 128MB of Ram
• OpenGL ES 2.0
• 1080p output
• 12MP camera
• Ubuntu OS

This Tiny PC will be distributed through Raspberry Pi Foundation
via BBC News

Folding laptop concept

This amazing concept is called LIFEBOOK X2 and starts from an amazing idea: a folding laptop. The best thing about this laptop is its compactness and it's amazing design.

As you can see in the pictures, the laptop has 4 superimposed components that could be opened in two ways.

What I like about this concept design is that you have a full size laptop if you unfold all the components, but you can have a compact laptop if you unfold only two components.

The downside of this design is the middle line of the screen. When in full size, a line can be observed in the middle of the screen. This cannot be avoid due to the unfolding concept. But I'm sure you'll get used to it!

How do you like the folding laptop concept?

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 preview

This is the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 preview. It features a 8MPx camera with LED flash.
read more about it on PCMAG

The best tablet of 2011 Comparison

This is a short comparison between Apple iPad 2, Motorola Xoom, HP TouchPad and BlackBerry PlayBook.


When it comes to platform, I really think iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom are the best because you can find plenty of apps for iOS and Android.

Motorola Xoom  has the highest resolution (1280x800) on a 10.1 inch display.

If we talk about CPU speed, HP TouchPad stands up with its 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon. It's almost certain that every of these tablets will feature 1GB Ram, so it's a tie here.

The camera winner is BlackBerry PlayBook with a 3 megapixel front camera, and 5 megapixel rear camera being able to record 1080p videos. As you've seen in my previous post, iPad 2 is thinner than iPhone 4, and that also makes him the thinnest tablet PC available so far.

Which is the best Tablet PC of 2011? I really think it will be a fight between Apple and Motorola, but if we take into consideration the large fan base Apple has gathered over the years, it's certain it will be the most talked about tablet this year.

image source: engadget.com