By A lot of people were vexed to find that Amazon would be pushing ads to the lock screen and bottom left corner of homescreens of the new Kindle Fire devices announced yesterday.
The ads are not optional, but Amazon has designed them to be unobtrusive and found a slick way to introduce new content and items to you. Not only will digital Amazon content like books, videos, games, and apps be dangled in your face, but Amazon will also show you deals for consumer electronics and other items available in their online storefront.
A lot of people feel a very particular way about ads, but as these aren’t the usual annoying ads that are of absolutely zero interest to most users I expect a lot of you won’t complain. Is this a deal breaker for you or would you gladly accept ads for an experience that ties into the very backbone of Amazon’s premium services?
Sounds horrible. I’d be disappointed if I had any interest in any of these devices.
Major fail! One of the coolest things of customizing and making the phone “yours” is by putting on the lockscreen and home screen the stuff you like. This is a mood killer
You’ve never been able to customize the lockscreens on Kindle Fire’s original ROM anyway without a lot of rooting and/or special install trickery, so I’m not sure whose mood it will kill.
Ok, well one thing is not be able to customize much another is to have have obtrusive apps cluttering your lockscreen, even if they are presented in a “sleek” manner
I’m confused by your comment. The ads for Amazon’s special offers editions have always been pretty non-intrusive, limited to just to a single panel lockscreen image, which is dismissed in the usual way. What makes you think this would be different from what Amazon has done in the past?
How else are they to make money out of a $159 tablet? It kinda sucks, but I’m sure the folks over at XDA will conjure up something…
By making compelling content available and letting you seek it out. I don’t go to the theater complex and need posters to decide what I want to watch. I already know.
A lot of people want to know. Much better than those ads for online poker and singles matchups you see on Angry Birds
This makes no sense if you are buying the 500$ tablet. Who wants to pay 500$ for a tablet with ads? It makes a bit more sense on the 159$ tablet, but still.
Day one it will be rooted and the ads will be gone for those who care.
If you were going to do that… why not spend an extra 40 bucks and get kickass hardware though?
Good point. It doesn’t invalidate my comment, but it is a good point.
Root is free so the time to root and do a quick mod isn’t equivalent to having the money for a better tablet. Of course with Nex7 out, I’m not sure why anyone would get a fire.
Because it has better hardware? $249 gives you 16 gig Nexus7. For the same money you get 32 gig Kindle with dolby stereo, hdmi out and possibly better wifi and screen (though I would like to see some real comparisons)
rooting is free?
Sure, give me a device with similar similar specs as the Nexus 7 with an HDMI port, and I’m all over it.
Why would I give that to you when I could keep it for myself?
Also I never us the hdmi out on my tf101. Cool feature, but unless you’re using it as a gaming console what’s the point?
I’m not bothered by this, particularly with the $159 or $199 model, if its just the lockscreen. But I would like to know if this will be extended to existing Kindle Fires with original stock ROM as well.
For people who genuinely are butthurt by this, there’s always going the root/install other ROM way.
UNtil is rootable and a pure android rom is available, this thing is off my radar
I lost some respect with Amazon. As a Prime member but an owner of an Transformer Infinity, I really wasn’t considering one of these tablets but the thought of advertising on a lock-screen is definitely reason enough not to gift one of these tablets to a friend/relative. I mean seriously how ghetto is that? Its like if TVs showed an Ad every-time you turned them on before displaying any sort of content and then displaying shows still with commercials or purchased media thru your bluray player… I understand that this is just a media consumption device, but still people should be able to personalize their tablets how they see fit to do so without rooting the device. P.S. give us a damn video player app for Android, you made one for the crappy ipad…
I have no interest in these tablets since I have a Nexus 7. But if I did I would have to remove the ads first thing. And not having the Play Store is my biggest complaint…
Unfortunate move on Amazon’s part. That just shot down what I had planned
as a Christmas present for a family member, guess I’ll have to start
looking again. iPad mini may be on the list, if it comes out at a
similar price point and doesn’t have ads. If you buy the Sunday paper
you have the option of not looking at the ads, and this should be the
same way.
I can’t see why some people are disappointed or call this a fail. What did you expect when they undercut the Nexus 7 price which was already set at zero profit in hopes of driving Play Store revenue. You know the saying, if something sounds too good to be true… Yup, should have known something was up.
Fortunately, I’m quite happy with my N7.
And just like that I am not buying one.
Thanks amazon for making that decision so easy.
I would never buy this or anything else similar solely due to the ads.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hopefully they do it ‘classy’… this is amazon after all, if ads are gonna be forced down my throat it might as well be from them
This comes to no surprise. People clamoring on how Bezos is the next Jobs, or how this tablet is going to decimate the iPad market.
Right. This piece of garbage only got to its cheap price point by shoving good ‘ole ads in your face and monitoring what you do.
But hey, Amazon is now considering an option to sell a non-advertised version for a “higher cost”. That “higher cost” is going to put it right in line with the price of another familiar tablet that does a lot more, and built better, and doesn’t sell your info.
Who’s drinking the koolaid now? But hey, it’s “cheap” which apparently is the only thing you guys are interested in. Pretty sad.
If I were in the market for a tablet, I’d get a Nexus 7 at this point.
What a bunch of kneejerkers. Who cares what your lockscreen looks like? 99% of the time my phone and tablet is either unlocked or the screen is dark. I couldn’t care less if for the one second I look at the lock screen I see an Amazon ad for a product, especially since Amazon has always been understated with their advertising. It’s still 1000x better than the “CHAT FOR FREE WITH SINGLES IN YOUR AREA” ads you see all over applications already.
When they started putting ads on school busses, I adopted a zero tolerance policy. I don’t give a rat’s ass how non-intrusive they are. Ads are ALWAYS intrusive.
ROOT and ROM. The first 2 things any Android fan should do to their Android device. (Especially a Kindle)
would be acceptable maybe if along with the lock screen ads they gave us the play store. As it is, Nexus 7 with JB baby!!
They now have the option to opt out from the for $15. I’d figure Amazon would worry that people would start eying other tablets for this reason.