Kindle Fire

[at0m]

http://amazon.com/kindlefire

I'm going to go ahead and be an early adopter on this one and preordered. Anyone else? Any thoughts?

Also tempted to upgrade my Kindle 2 to a Kindle Touch for the bigger screen, but that one's a little more iffy.

[Surf314]

I'm just waiting for a pic of a sexy redhead with one between her legs.

[at0m]

Nevermind on the Kindle Touch, it's just a smaller version of the Kindle 3, the screen looks larger because the entire device is smaller (and even more difficult to hold in my gargantuan hands). So I'll pass on that one.

[at0m]

I got mine yesterday, I'll post a full review in a few days after I've used it a bit.

[Greatbacon]

So what's the word?

[at0m]

It occupies this kind of mediocre middleground. They made it small enough to be a decently portable ebook reader, but since it has an LCD display its a lot rougher on the eyes than the original Kindles. I knew this going in, and was more interested in its tablet-like features. The trouble is, its too small to be a really good tablet, and the touch response is a little finicky, which makes it tricky to use either to read (accidental page turns) or do stuff (sometimes doesn't respond the way you want it to).

The interface lacks the same level of polish as the iPad, which is to be expected, but the lack of integration to the original Android market is somewhat disappointing. I don't like that I'd have to repurchase Tapatalk, for example, even though I purchased it on my phone.

It does have the ability to play Netflix, which I was pleasantly surprised by, since so much of the interface ends up devoted to getting you into the Amazon music/video/book stores. Video quality was smooth, although headphones are a must since the speakers are both on the top of the device (which ends up on one side when you flip it sideways to watch widescreen content). Audio was good.

Battery life was somewhat disappointing, but I think I've just been spoiled by my Kindle 2 with its month of runtime with the wireless turned off. Lack of a 3G option makes internet browsing not nearly as convenient as you might think, and the 'silk' browser they're so proud of is somewhat sluggish.

All in all I'm not entirely disappointed to the point that I'd want to send it back, especially considering the price point is less than half of an iPad, but as the most expensive member of the Kindle family, I expected them to pick a direction and run with it and do it WELL, the way they did with the other Kindles. They only got about halfway there on all counts, so this one is a bit of a flop.

[Greatbacon]

A couple more questions if you don't mind:

If I were to just go with a non-fire kindle, do you think the 3G would be a good investment, or would just wi-fi work in that case?

Also, do you find the keyboard useful, or do you think the new Kindle that just has a few buttons at the bottom might be better?

[K2]

A couple more questions if you don't mind:

If I were to just go with a non-fire kindle, do you think the 3G would be a good investment, or would just wi-fi work in that case?

Also, do you find the keyboard useful, or do you think the new Kindle that just has a few buttons at the bottom might be better?

I haven't used any of the newer Kindles, but from some experience using an older one, the keyboard is pretty unnecessary (unless for some reason you want to browse the web or play word games on it).

[at0m]

The 3G is definitely worth it if you travel ever, since finding and setting up a free wifi AP via a browser is clumsy at best, and being able to just look at shit without having to mess with it is nice. Also, buying books whenever and wherever you finish the one you were reading. I would stay away from the Special Offers, although it is a significant discount, and only shows up on the main screen and when the Kindle is asleep.

I like the keyboard, since I write notes to myself, and I've been told the Kindle Touch's onscreen one is more than sufficient although I have no experience with it. I debated upgrading, but my main hangup is actually that dropping the keyboard makes the whole device smaller, which makes it harder for me to hold (even with a case on). The Kindle Keyboard + a case is almost exactly the size of a trade paperback, which I really really liked. And the new cases have integrated lights, which is nice.

That's something to keep in mind that people think is a lot more awkward than it is: the standard Kindles are not backlit. They're e-Paper, so they don't need to be. Anywhere you would normally be able to read a book, you can read a Kindle (including in bright sunlight).

[at0m]

To be fair, my main gripes are either inevitable design considerations which I already knew I was buying into (choice of display tech, for example), or things that can be addressed via software. I'm paying the price of being an early adopter, but I look forward to seeing my issues fixed in a future software revision. Hell, with the Kindle 2 they added social media integration via the 3G connection (Facebook & Twitter) nearly a year after launch due to popular demand. I think they rushed this to market to beat their competitors, but feel that the true polish will come after they work on it a little more.

[k0ala]

I just got one of these. Let's be Zune buddies!

[shoopfox]

To be fair, my main gripes are either inevitable design considerations which I already knew I was buying into (choice of display tech, for example), or things that can be addressed via software. I'm paying the price of being an early adopter, but I look forward to seeing my issues fixed in a future software revision. Hell, with the Kindle 2 they added social media integration via the 3G connection (Facebook & Twitter) nearly a year after launch due to popular demand. I think they rushed this to market to beat their competitors, but feel that the true polish will come after they work on it a little more.

Are these as easy to root as a Nook Color?

[at0m]

[quote author=at0m link=topic=6006.msg231767#msg231767 date=1322593866]
To be fair, my main gripes are either inevitable design considerations which I already knew I was buying into (choice of display tech, for example), or things that can be addressed via software. I'm paying the price of being an early adopter, but I look forward to seeing my issues fixed in a future software revision. Hell, with the Kindle 2 they added social media integration via the 3G connection (Facebook & Twitter) nearly a year after launch due to popular demand. I think they rushed this to market to beat their competitors, but feel that the true polish will come after they work on it a little more.

Are these as easy to root as a Nook Color?
[/quote]Unfortunately not, although I haven't tried on mine.

[k0ala]

I've been reading up on it; it's moderately easy to root, but when patch time comes, Amazon will just push an update that roots it right back.

[at0m]

Yeah, I bought mine to use as a vanilla device, so I'm not too concerned with it honestly.

[Reevesith]

Is it wrong that when I read the title Kindle Fire, I was thinking it was a news report of a Kindle catching on fire?

[k0ala]

Yeah it's like they wanted to get more use out of their quote

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." ― Plutarch

but it makes me think of Fahrenheit 451 and xkcd.

[at0m]

I'm sure.

[spm201]

Had mine since Christmas and I feel experienced enough to write a review on it now.

Other equipment used:
Cover/stand
Rocketfish tablet stylus pen (BUYONE)

I was really impressed with the device and easily recommend getting one.
It makes for a great book reader offering all the little nice quirks of the original kindle like change text size, spacing, and find in book with the added flair and ease of a touch screen (even though I still think it's funny that amazon totally screwed over their 'you can use it in the sun' marketing campaign). The bookstore is quick and convenient and I even found a comic book reader app (and had no sooner bought the entire scott pilgrim saga for less than half the price of borders).

One of my main concerns going into this was the memory. 8gb and, unlike the nook, no external storage slots. Not a problem if you just want books, but if you're using this for movies as well it will get crowded fast. Or so I thought until I discovered cloud storage. Anything stored on the kindle can be accessed through the cloud when in a wifi area.

That said it's still not perfect.
Let me make one thing clear: This is not an ipad. Nor was it meant to be, but I can see how some people would be disappointed. I went into this looking for a book reader and anything else was just a cool extra. It is too small to really compete in the tablet market.

For those who do know what they're getting into there are a few things holding it back. The main one is lack of 3G. I don't really travel much outside of school and home where I'm wifi covered but this does seem like a gaping hole in design that amazon should have accounted for.

Other than that it's really just the little things that are holding the fire back.
Example: The book reader uses 'locations' instead of pages. It does this because page size differs depending on screen orientation, text size etc etc. But for some reason amazon decided that it was necessary to include about 20 locations per page. Hard to remember where you were in the book when there are over 6000 locations.

Example 2: If you delete an app, there's still a placeholder on your device that you can click to download again. Seems smart because with cloud storage, deleting and downloading different things could be common for someone running low on memory, but if you decided you hated that app and never wanted to see it again there's no way to get rid of that placeholder. It will be there forever taking up room on your app page.

Example 3: To adjust volume you have to tap the screen, go into a pull down menu, and find the volume submenu under that. Side buttons would have been so much nicer.

TL;DR
4/5 Good reader, not tablet. Needs 3G but if you're willing to put up with it and not looking for an ipad it's a good buy.

[ainmosni]

As my tapatalk signature shows, I went for a full android tablet, very happy with it so far and SwiftKey rocks as much on the tablet as it does on my phone.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk 2