????這種創意并不新鮮，但亞馬遜似乎將其性能提高了一個新的檔次。在實際操作中，基于網站上Flash的多寡（Flash越多，載入時間越長），頁面載入得相對還要快些。由于iPad 2上的蘋果移動iOS操作系統不支持Flash，因此很難將Fire這方面的應用性能與在iPad 2上的相應應用直接進行對比。但是，我做了一個完全談不上科學的實驗來一探究竟：把這兩臺平板電腦并排放在一起，隨后同時打開同一個不帶Flash的網站。結果，Silk載入某些頁面的速度要稍快些，不過這種差別可謂微不足道。

????換言之，其他性能領先的平板電腦能做的，Kindle Fire幾乎樣樣精通。并且它還有一些它們所沒有的絕活：每位Fire的新用戶都能獲得一個月免費的亞馬遜尊享禮包，體驗一下公司所提供的各種服務。禮包包括：為期兩天的貨運服務，免費的流媒體電影，以及試用最近推出的Kindle用戶借閱圖書館服務。借閱服務允許用戶每次借一本書，每個月借閱一次。

????Fire比此前任何一款Kindle都要更進一步，它是亞馬遜獨有的生態系統的接入裝置，這個系統中亞馬遜提供的服務幾乎應有盡有。這個接入裝置常常會不那么含蓄，而總是開門見山。比如，當用戶要買一本電子書時，亞馬遜就會提醒你，這本書你是否可以借閱。如果你喜歡某個視頻，公司又會提示， “尊享會員可以完全免費觀看”尊享即時視頻，但對其他人來說，就需要按需點播了。沒有尊享會員身份，也能用Fire。但是這種信息的含義是毫不含糊的：如果你不是會員，就錯失了大好機會。

????Kindle Fire擁有亞馬遜廣受歡迎的各項服務，同時通過性能可靠的硬件呈現在用戶面前。它的界面響應迅速、易于上手。它沒有iPad那種精致靚麗的感覺，但是憑借亞馬遜的品牌、亞馬遜手中多元服務所構成的龐大生態系統，再加上199美元的價位，它其實也并不需要這種感覺。在這個意義上，蘋果的平板電腦算是第一次真正棋逢對手。

????譯者：清遠

????The idea itself isn't new, but Amazon seems to have taken it up a notch. In practice, pages loaded relatively quickly depending on how much Flash a site features. (The more Flash on the site, the longer the load time.) It's hard to draw a direct comparison to say, usage on the iPad 2 since Apple's mobile iOS operating system doesn't support Flash, but in a completely unscientific experiment, I put the two tablets side-by-side and loaded the same Flash-free sites on both simultaneously. Silk loaded some pages a hair quicker, but the difference was negligible.

????In other words, the Kindle Fire does nearly everything other leading tablets do. It also has something they don't. Each new Fire owner receives one free month of Amazon Prime, a taste of the company's service which offers two-day shipping, free movie streaming and access to the recently-introduced Kindle Owners Lending Library that lets users borrow one book at a time, once a month.

????More than any other Kindle before it, the Fire is an initiation into an ecosystem where nearly every service is provided by Amazon. Often a not-so-subtle initiation. When you're shopping for an e-book, Amazon notes if the title is available to be lent to you. If you're jonesing for a video, the company points out that its Prime Instant Videos are "$0.00 for Prime members," while they're a la carte for everyone else. The Fire can be used without a Prime membership. But the message is clear: you're missing out if you're not a member.

????The Kindle Fire takes Amazon's wildly popular services and presents them in a solid piece of hardware with a responsive, easy-to-understand interface that works. It doesn't have the iPad's extra layer of polish and sheen, but with the Amazon brand, a wide ecosystem of services at its disposal, and that $199 price point, it doesn't really need it. In that sense, Apple's tablet just met its first real competitor.