Good and Cheap, and Just Cheap

On the most recent episode of Build and Analyze, Marco Arment rebutted Andy Ihnatko’s criticism of his review of the Kindle Fire. I wasn’t too satisfied with how that rebuttal went, because at the end Marco’s co-host Dan Benjamin was still hung up on the whole iPad comparison thing - the idea that Marco’s review would have been more positive if he hadn’t been comparing it to the more expensive iPad.

Let’s say the iPad didn’t exist. In fact, let’s say every tablet manufacturer burned to the ground and the Kindle Fire is the only tablet in existence. That would make it the best product, but does that make it a good product? No, it does not.

The problem with the Kindle Fire is not that it has inferior specs, or that it doesn’t look as nice, but that there are fundamental flaws in its design. With things like missing buttons that the user needs to operate the device, it does not properly do the job it was intended for. That alone is what determines a good product, not how the specs compare or even the pleasantness of the user experience. If it doesn’t perform properly, it’s junk.

I’ll build on the car analogy that Marco tossed out the window. There are plenty of cheap vehicles out there. A cheap car that’s fully loaded with options, but where half of them don’t work and the suspension is made of twigs and the engine only works about 60% of the time is not a good car. A good, cheap car is a car that is basic enough to justify the inexpensive cost, but is fully and reliably functional.

Likewise, a good, cheap tablet can and should be basic, but it should also be fully functional. The Fire, with its fundamental software issues that get in the way, is not fully functional, and that is what makes it a poor product.