We've been promised magical tablets that would do amazing things for decades. Do the tablets we actually have live up to that?
Yesterday in Santa Monica, Amazon unveiled their bigger, stronger, faster versions of the Kindle (now with more White™) and Kindle Fire (super plus HD!). The offerings were solid all around, with modest improvements that will likely push many people who were on the fence about e-readers and tablets to invest in one for themselves or a loved one this holiday season.
But as I was walking around, trying out the new toys, I couldn’t help but think about a line I heard in one of the promotional videos Amazon played. “This is exactly what Stark Trek promised me would happen,” a man said shortly after picking up the new Kindle Paperwhite. The device is indeed pretty wonderful, with a new, much requested, backlight and incremental spec improvements (though I couldn’t tell the difference in resolution with my naked eye).
Frankly, I think the most revolutionary thing about the new line of Kindles is the price. A $69 introductory Kindle is kind of incredible, considering it was $400 just five years ago, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see something like a $5 Kindle within a few years — despite Bezos's denials, Amazon's model is indeed giving away the razor and charging for the blades. But is it really the tablet we were promised in so many sci-fi movies and high-tech concept videos of yesteryear?
Knight Ridder’s “The Tablet Newspaper: A Vision of the Future” (1994)
Source: youtube.com
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