Kindle Fire: What the critics are saying

PC World - Gadget gurus have been testing out Amazon's Kindle Fire media tablet ahead of the device's Tuesday ship date and the consensus is that it's a solid alternative to the iPad for some environments. The Fire even matches the device when it comes to breadth of downloadable content to put on the new tablet, thanks to Amazon's wealth of digital content, including e-books, movies, television shows, Android apps, and, of course, e-books.

If you're still on the fence about whether Amazon's Kindle Fire media consumption tablet is for you, here are five themes pulled from early Fire reviews by Engadget's Tim Stevens, The Chicago Sun-Times' Andy Ihnatko, The New York Times' David Pogue, The Verge's Joshua Topolsky and ZDNet's Larry Dignan.

You can also check out Melissa J. Perenson's preview, "Up Close With The Kindle Fire," for a detailed look at what the device has to offer.

Hardware Feels Solid

The consensus appears to be that the Fire feels like a solid device when you hold it in your hands, and its weight may surprise you. The Fire weighs 0.91 lb. versus the iPad's 1.33-lb. heft. Despite the relatively modest difference in weight, most reviewers found it considerably easier to hold the Fire for several hours of reading compared to the iPad.

Any discussion of the Fire's hardware seems to reference its resemblance to the BlackBerry PlayBook. Reviews almost universally see shades of the PlayBook in the Fire, but the PlayBook is noticeably larger and control buttons are placed differently. PC World's "Kindle Fire: Up Close With Amazon's Media Tablet" includes a side-by-side look at the Fire and the PlayBook.

It's Hard Not to Buy Stuff

Amazon's new tablet is all about consumption (especially of items sold on Amazon), so it's no surprise to find out that Amazon makes it easy to purchase new books, movies, magazines, and apps on the Fire. Engadget warns that the Fire's shopping experience may be "too easy for those whose buying impulses outweigh their budget-keeping abilities."

ZDNet echoes that sentiment, calling the Fire an "impulse purchase device." Ihnatko of the Sun-Times agrees, noting, "Store content feels more like stuff of yours that you simply haven't purchased yet."

Perhaps so, but Verge says Amazon's shopping experience on the fire is "better and more elegantly [done] than anyone else," including Apple's iPad.

Silk Not Noticeably Faster

Amazon promises a speedier browser with its new Silk browser that feeds Web pages to your device from caches on Amazon's servers. Silk also has a predictive element that will start preloading web pages for you based on past behavior. So if most Silk users visiting The Wall Street Journal head straight to the site's "Markets" section, Silk will load those pages behind the scenes.