Through the generosity of Amazon, I've ended up with a Kindle Fire HD. This is a 7 inch tablet that runs a modified Android operating system. There is no doubt that the purpose of the Kindle Fire is to have you spend money at Amazon. I have an Amazon Prime account so I am trying to minimize those purchases and try to use as many of the "free" features as I can.Physically I'm also trying to gauge what you can reasonably do and not do on this size tablet. I also own a 10.1" Asus Transformer tablet that uses full Android operation system for comparison. I've always enjoyed reading books on the bigger screen. The smaller Kindle does a fine job of presenting books. The screen is crisp, clear and has enough fonts (make the print BIGGER) to satisfy my weakening eyes. I've downloaded books from Amazon (part of the free lending library), from our local C.P. Jones Memorial Library (part of the Overdrive system) and from the Project Gutenberg (free classics). They all look very good and use the same system of turning pages, bookmarking and annotation (though I'm not annotating any books at this time).
Depending on the website you go to the Kindle can be OK on the Internet or just too small. More and more websites are using re- sizable language in setting up their website to be more tablet (and phone) friendly. Amazon provides the Silk browser which I have enjoyed. It isn't what I am used to so I have adding the Opera Mobile browser, but I had to go through hoops to do that. Amazon does NOT encourage your adding apps that are not in their app store. It can be done, but you need a bit of geek to get it done. I think I understand their reasoning: They want the same control that Apple has over the "i" pads, phones etc.. Its not good reasoning. If the Amazon Android app store was of the quality of the Apple Store then that would be one thing, but its not. There are lots of very sorry apps in the Amazon store, and they are missing many wonderfully written and I consider essential android apps.
It all depends on what you want to do with your Kindle. I've sampled some of the Amazon Prime streaming videos - both Movies and TV shows and they work great....When you have a strong WiFi signal. At my home I've had no issues, but at other locations its a bit sketchy depending on the bandwidth the WiFi connection has available. Sound is actually very good from the built in speakers or using a headphones. Seems like the Kindle would be a very good way to entertain children if you believe putting them in front of a movie/TV screen is acceptable entertainment. The resolution of the screen (we have the HD model) and the flicker free quality are very good.
Email seems to work, but I'm not the biggest fan of the email app that Amazon provides. Again I had to bring over an email app from the bigger Android market (read Google) to enjoy handling email. Actually the only thing I can do with email on the kindle is read it and do very BRIEF replies. The keyboard and layout are tough to do much typing or editing.
Now I do like the size of the Kindle for portability. It fits in the smallest space and can help minimalize your baggage to the beach (lots of reading there, right?). It weighs almost nothing and with a decent case can take some transport jostling. Overall I think its a niche product. Its priced (now $139) so that almost everyone can afford it, though the Amazon Prime account is $79 a year for the free lending library and streaming movies.
I'd be interested in your usage and thoughts on the Kindle since many of my customer have had one for much longer.
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