Come on Android Central, convince me to give my money to Amazon

[Hammered Pizza]

First off, this isn't for me... it's for my Mother.

A bit of background, she's never owned a smartphone before, but is quite at home with feature phones and their OS's (Bada, S40). Also fine to operate a Windows 7 PC. So year, we're not talking complete tech incompetence here, but not tech mastery either. She has had a tablet before - a rather underwhelming Arnova with Android 2.3, but that broke, got the money back, and now there's money to spend on a new tab.

But that's where I get stuck. Do I go for the Kindle Fire, or the PlayBook? I'm pretty sure I know which answer you'll give, but give me reasons why. She has a LoveFilm subscription and uses iPlayer / 4oD and other catch-up TV services a fair bit, and would mainly use it for browsing. Not into social networking - at all - and has never owned a BlackBerry or Android smartphone in her life - and that's unlikely to change in the near future. With this in mind, some other questions - how's battery life for streaming TV (I know figures are thrown around, but give me the real world usage). Is not being able to plug it into a TV with an HDMI cable a big miss? Is there DLNA? What major advantages does it have over the BlackBerry PlayBook, and are there any major holes that I really need to know about?

And if you think the PlayBook is a better fit, be honest. I think it probably has the edge, but the benefit of the camera is pointless, as are large storage options. Are there enough apps to satisfy media consumption desires? Is it easy to get to a level of proficiency with the tablet - I realise the Kindle Fire is Android, so there's familiarity there. And just so you know, I'm a Brit, in Britain. That means a fair few US features aren't here - how much will that limit the tablet? Also, there's no intention of getting a Prime subscription, will that be a big miss?

So yeah, there it is. Fire away!

 

[Live2ride883]

My kids each have a Kindle Fire, while I have a Xoom, and an N7. Honestly I find the Amazon OS to be really lacking, and the amount of storage is pitiful. the fire is pretty much locked to the amazon store. yes there is a way around it but you shouldn't have to. I know it's not in your original post but have you looked at or considered the N7?

 

[Hammered Pizza]

My kids each have a Kindle Fire, while I have a Xoom, and an N7. Honestly I find the Amazon OS to be really lacking, and the amount of storage is pitiful. the fire is pretty much locked to the amazon store. yes there is a way around it but you shouldn't have to. I know it's not in your original post but have you looked at or considered the N7?

I have, but it's over 50% more expensive than the Fire or PlayBook. A regularly updated OS or gaming support won't be major things for my Mother, so unless I'm missing anything, it's advantages are cancelled out a fair bit.