CNCCookbook will be getting a Kindle Fire

Without too much thought, I ordered a Kindle Fire from Amazon. Why? The price point was compelling. At $199, this is the best deal on an Android Tablet that I have seen–$100 less than the nearest other competitor. True, the screen is much smaller than Apple’s $500 iPad (7″ vs 10″), but that’s also a selling point for me. I have an iPad, and I’m interested in exploring how well the G-Wizard Calculator will work on tablets. Having both the iOS iPad at 10″ and the Android Kindle Fire at 7″ lets me check out both two different platforms (iOS vs Android) and two different screen sizes. This will help me to ensure that any products developed for these devices will have a screen layout that makes sense on a variety of other devices.

I’ve had a lot of customers ask whether I can make G-Wizard work on their iPhone or Android Phone. While it is possible, it would require a huge amount of work. Making everything fit on the tiny screen of a phone essentially requires a complete rewrite of the user interface. It’s hard to see enough incremental sales for it to be a project that makes business sense for us. On the other hand, my preliminary experiments with reduced resolutions on the PC screen suggest I will be able to make it work well on tablets.

It seems like a $199 tablet like the Kindle Fire running G-Wizard Calculator might be an ideal tool for the shop floor. We’ll see how it works out. I’m going to start with Android just because it’s a lot easier to spin up beta test and deal with the business side (getting permissions, etc.) for Android than it is for Apple iOS. If the experiments work out, you’ll see G-Wizard available on Android and iOS will follow some time afterward.

Related posts:

1. G-Wizard Has a Shot at the iPhone and iPad
2. We Have 2 New CAM Programs at CNCCookbook!
3. It’s Been a Productive Week at CNCCookbook for G-Wizard Editor

4 Comments

• 
  Alex Chally 2011/10/07 at 5:58 am

  I think you will get a lot of beta testers for this one.

  Reply
  • 
    Bob Warfield 2011/10/16 at 12:52 am

    Alex, that would be very cool!

    Reply
• 
  Alex Chally 2011/10/07 at 5:58 am

  I think you will get a lot of beta testers for this one.

  Reply
  • 
    Bob Warfield 2011/10/16 at 12:52 am

    Alex, that would be very cool!

    Reply