Credits: Amazon.com
No. This is not a post about courthouses and their records that have burnt to the ground leaving many genealogists crying amidst their research on the wrong side of a brick wall. I thought I’d take a look at all the brouhaha being made over Amazon’s Kindle Fire and what it can mean for a genealogist and their research. Kindle Fire’s Specs:
Some say the Kindle Fire is in direct competition with Apple’s iPad, and others are saying, “Are you crazy?” Here’s how they measure up on the specs:
Clearly Apple’s iPad outdoes Amazon’s Kindle Fire, but how does this translate to a genealogical researcher? Well, there are 2 questions to ask yourself. First, what does a genealogist want to be able to do on a tablet or tablet-like device? Here's what I came up with [Feel free to leave me a comment if I forgot something.]:
Don't forget the Apps One thing to keep in mind is the Android Apps that the Kindle Fire can download are those only available in the Amazon App Store. If there is an Android app available elsewhere but it’s not in the Amazon App store, then it can’t be used on the Kindle Fire. In my opinion, this seriously hinders you because what makes tablets and Smartphones so handy-dandy are the apps. They bring ease and functionality to tasks that would otherwise be cumbersome in a browser on a small screen. And compared to the iPad, which has over 425,000 apps available to it, the Amazon App store has only several thousand. However, taking a closer look at the Android apps available in the Amazon Store, there are ones for photo editing and productivity that can help to make your research easier, including the Evernote app. Therefore, part of your analysis of the Kindle Fire should include what's available in their app store. That Pesky Budget And the second question you need to consider? What can you afford? The Kindle Fire is just $199 while the iPad starts out at $500. And these prices are where things get a little murky. With the economy the way it is and if you already have a Smartphone, is the Kindle Fire a more affordable option to Apple’s pricier iPad for a genealogical researcher? ~Caroline
3 Comments
10/3/2011 05:06:05 am
Caroline, I would say some of those Kindle Fire abilities are also limited by one's ability to get onto wifi. If I want to update my tree on my iPhone, or handle email, or use social media, I can pretty much do it anywhere because I pay for a phone data plan. On a Kindle Fire, I can only do it if I can access wifi - which is hard at an older relative's house, or a courthouse, museum, etc.
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Caroline Pointer
10/3/2011 05:25:50 am
Agreed, Diane. I was mainly comparing the Kindle Fire to the iPad. With many companies switching their offerings from unlimited data plans to limited only data plans as well as my experience on my iPhone with what I can afford in a data plan and the Wifi services being less than superb in public places and conferences, I think Wifi and 3G is a whole other problem that needs to be addressed. For example, more and more retailers and restaurants are blocking wifi altogether, which is fine from an employer/employee perspective, but not so much from a customer perspective. This forces me to use my data plan more, but at the same time providers (and husbands) are capping data plans. What's a mobile mom genealogist like me to do?
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10/3/2011 12:58:30 pm
The iPad will never take the place of a laptop or desktop, for me, in doing "research". The iPad is convenient if you need to look something up online, social media and pulling up documents you've saved to Dropbox or Evernote. However, if you are trying to browse records, say census records on Ancestry.com, it's very inconvenient. I would imagine the Fire, as well as all tablets, will be the same. It's the nature of a touch screen, not everything can move, some part of the screen has to be stationery. The Ancestry images are apparently not scanned in to enlarge with your fingers and then refocus like other images are online. You have to use their zoom dropdown, make the image bigger with your fingers, zoom some more etc. In a pinch, yes they get you what you need, but looking up multiple records just isn't fun! I think the Kindle Fire will do just fine...$199? You betcha, I'd like one!
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