Should I Get A Kindle Fire?

[MissScripture]

I'm trying to decide if I want to get a kindle fire. I keep waffling back and forth. If you own one, could you tell me what you like and don't like about it?

Thanks.

[Lil Red]

i like the nook from Barnes and Noble. not the color nook, just the regular one.

[LinaSt.Cecilia2772]

Yeah I have the Nook Color, and I like it a lot. I just prefer Nooks in general. The Nook Tablet is the closest thing to the Kindle Fire if you wanna check that out to compare and contrast.

[eagle_eye222001]

[quote name='MissScripture' timestamp='1330898975' post='2396222']
I'm trying to decide if I want to get a kindle fire. I keep waffling back and forth. If you own one, could you tell me what you like and don't like about it?

Thanks.
[/quote]

What do you want to do?

If it is to look razzle dazzle, then don't get one. Send money to me for college.

If it is to check email, and surf...don't you already have a computer?


Even if I had a job and had excess money, I don't think I would get one because I would only use it for light surfing and email. These two tasks do not justify $200 start-up.

If you decide to get one, will you get a keyboard for it? A stand? Other accessories? Realistically, if you start getting things like a keyboard.....your basically buying a laptop with extremely limited capabilities.


No, I don't own one. And thus shouldn't be responding. But that's my two sense.

You may find this review by PC World helpful. I would be interested from those who own a Fire if this review is justified in it's critique.

[url="http://www.pcworld.com/article/243857/amazon_kindle_fire_misfires.html"]http://www.pcworld.com/article/243857/amazon_kindle_fire_misfires.html[/url]

[Vincent Vega]

I have the nook tablet. The deciding factor against the Fire was that the Fire only has about 2 gigabytes of internal storage, with the rest being on the cloud. You can't put anything on it that you haven't purchased through Amazon (unless I am sorely mistaken), and there is no expandable memory.
The nook tablet has 16 gigs of internal memory (albeit 15 is reserved for B&N content), and has a slot for microSD memory cards to expand the memory by up to 32 gigabytes. Of course, you can put whatever media you already own on to the microSD card.

The biggest drawback to the nook tablet is the fact that the B&N OS is really pretty dumb, prohibiting you from rooting the tablet or downloading apps from the regular app store. If you're the slightest bit tech savvy, you can jailbreak it, though, and put a better android launcher on it (like I did).

[MissMaro]

I really like mine because:

I can read books on it. (And I can turn pages faster than on a regular kindle.)
It's light.
I have lots of apps.
I have an audible account and it's convenient for listening to my audiobooks.
I already have amazon prime, so I can watch lots of stuff free. (Though I never do, so it prolly doesn't really count.)
It helps me do my Greek and Latin homework faster, and, because it's lighter than my laptop, it lightens my backpack a lot to take the kindle fire instead of my laptop.

It would be better if:

I could put movies from my dvd collection onto it. (I know it's possible, but I haven't managed to do it yet.)
If it had a slightly bigger screen.
If it weren't sometimes unresponsive when I press on something with my finger.

I just got mine a week or two ago, and mostly I like it. I'm sure there are better tablets out there, but for the price, I think it's worth it and I'm happy.

[MissScripture]

[quote name='eagle_eye222001' timestamp='1330901485' post='2396234']
What do you want to do?

If it is to look razzle dazzle, then don't get one. Send money to me for college.

If it is to check email, and surf...don't you already have a computer?


Even if I had a job and had excess money, I don't think I would get one because I would only use it for light surfing and email. These two tasks do not justify $200 start-up.

If you decide to get one, will you get a keyboard for it? A stand? Other accessories? Realistically, if you start getting things like a keyboard.....your basically buying a laptop with extremely limited capabilities.


No, I don't own one. And thus shouldn't be responding. But that's my two sense.

You may find this review by PC World helpful. I would be interested from those who own a Fire if this review is justified in it's critique.

[url="http://www.pcworld.com/article/243857/amazon_kindle_fire_misfires.html"]http://www.pcworld.c...e_misfires.html[/url]
[/quote]
It's partially for the portablility. I have a laptop, but balancing my laptop (which is rather large for a laptop) and my baby can be difficult. Pretty much all I can do on the laptop while balancing the baby is check e-mail and do a little bit of surfing on the internet anyway. Plus, this would allow me to read one-handed more easily, as well. It's surprisingly difficult to deal with some books one-handed! Thanks for the link to the review.

[Lil Red]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' timestamp='1330904430' post='2396244']The biggest drawback to the nook tablet is the fact that the B&N OS is really pretty dumb, prohibiting you from rooting the tablet or downloading apps from the regular app store. If you're the slightest bit tech savvy, you can jailbreak it, though, and put a better android launcher on it (like I did).[/quote]

help me then.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Lil Red' timestamp='1330906759' post='2396261']
help me then.
[/quote]
Here's what I used (I think...it's been a couple of months):
[url="http://liliputing.com/2011/11/bn-nook-tablet-rooted-android-market-added.html"]http://liliputing.com/2011/11/bn-nook-tablet-rooted-android-market-added.html[/url]

Just be aware: doing this will void your warranty, so...be careful.

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' timestamp='1330904430' post='2396244']
I have the nook tablet. The deciding factor against the Fire was that the Fire only has about 2 gigabytes of internal storage, with the rest being on the cloud.[b] You can't put anything on it that you haven't purchased through Amazon (unless I am sorely mistaken),[/b] and there is no expandable memory.

[/quote]

You are. There are instructions floating around amazon, I looked at it once but not extensively and haven't tried it out myself yet. It may be limited to select sites, though, I'm not sure.

[quote]

The nook tablet has 16 gigs of internal memory (albeit 15 is reserved for B&N content), and has a slot for microSD memory cards to expand the memory by up to 32 gigabytes. Of course, you can put whatever media you already own on to the microSD card.

[/quote]

The lack of expandable memory is the only major drawback I can think of. Also, the power button is somewhat awkwardly on the bottom. Occasionally I catch myself fiddling with it while I read and rotate the screen so the button is at the top so I don't accidentally turn it off. lol Those are the only two things I'd change, though. I have been completely happy with everything else about the Fire.

I did go ahead and read some reviews on it before I bought it, but ultimately if I am happy with my purchase I don't really give a poo what other people think about it. I didn't buy it to compare to an iPad (my sister in law has one and I don't really like it, I think it's too bulky) I mainly use it for reading and movies, although I will websurf if I feel too lazy to get up and go to the computer (or if I'm not home and have it with me and have a wireless connection available). All three of those have been smooth, no problems whatsoever. I have a friend who got her Fire before I bought mine and they love it, they use it for everything. The main draw for me was actually reading (but I wanted the extras available to me), because I feel like I don't read nearly often enough and this was an easy way to instantly get new books with little effort or wait time.

I did buy a screen protector and a leather case for it--because I want to protect my investment--for under $15 (yes, that's not a typo, fifteen bucks). Among the first batch of books I downloaded was Grimm's Fairy Tales (for freeee) which my 8 year old has been reading. I've been revisiting Sherlock Holmes.

[MissScripture]

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to go ahead and get one. I mentioned to Roamin about the Nook Tablet, and he said I'd probably find the OS more obnoxious than not having expandable memory.

So, Icy, where did you get this screen protector and case?

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='MissScripture' timestamp='1330912312' post='2396280']
Okay, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to go ahead and get one. I mentioned to Roamin about the Nook Tablet, and he said I'd probably find the OS more obnoxious than not having expandable memory.

So, Icy, where did you get this screen protector and case?
[/quote]

See the links below.

When you buy the Kindle you get a free month of Prime, so the prices on these might show up as more or less, but the screen protectors are 4.99 and the case is 8 and some change (technically it's "a premium PU leather mix" but it is exactly the style I was looking for. A lot of them have elastic bands in the corners to hold the Kindle in place and I wanted something a little more sturdy, this one is actually more like a pocket with an opening for the screen. The screen protectors are matte so it cuts out glare (something that I saw a lot of reviewers complain about, but this was a total DUH to me because I am obsessive about keeping screen protectors on my phone, too).

I waited until I had my free month of Prime to order these, and I actually swapped out a couple items in my cart for these ones because Prime changed the prices a bit--I also ordered a cookbook with them, but without prime my order would have been just over 50 and with it the three items were around 30. Needless to say when my free month runs out I am paying for Prime because I use amazon so much it's worth it--you should look into Amazon Mom. You'll start with 3 months free, and if you order things from the baby store, like wipes, they will keep extending a free month to you. I'm not certain how it will affect your free month with the Kindle if you sign up first, it may give you that extra month, or it may not do anything. But 3 free months is better than one anyway.

[url="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006014JF0/ref=oh_o03_s00_i02_details"]http://www.amazon.co...s00_i02_details[/url]
[url="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0069JKHMM/ref=oh_o03_s00_i00_details"]http://www.amazon.co...s00_i00_details[/url]

[Marie-Therese]

I own a Fire, and I love it. If you are interested in rooting it for a fuller, more robust Android device, you can do so. Amazon developed the Fire platform with no restrictions on roots. There are tons of info guides on the interwebs on how to root the device, if you please. I opted not to root mine, simply because there are really only a few alterations I'd make to the tablet. I am a huge Amazon consumer and, for my general purposes, what the Fire does out of the box is perfectly suited to my needs. I do tons of international travelling (back and forth from ATL to Vancouver) and what I was really needing is something that would provide web browsing, the reader function, video playback (for movies and such) and would support the apps that I routinely use. The Fire does all that and more. And it's small, so it fits easily in my purse. When I'm trying to wedge myself into those ridiculous seats in coach, it does not take up unnecessary space. I can entertain myself aplenty and have all the info that I need.

You can absolutely store info on your Amazon cloud drive that is not Amazon content. Any pictures, documents, music or videos that you have on your hard drive can easily be uploaded to your Cloud account and then accessed via the Fire. You can also email .pdf and other docs to the address provided on your account which will then allow you to upload and access documents on the Fire directly. It has an email function which will merge your email accounts for a central box to check on the go (if you have multiple emails, and most of us do these days), similar in principle to an Outlook type function.

If you want a super smooth browser, basic functionality in terms of web access, email and simple computing, and a very good platform for video and book access, then I don't think you can do better than the Fire. I looked at the Fire and the Nook, and I feel very confident that I made the correct decision.

Also, if you have Amazon Prime, there are a ton of free movies and TV shows that stream for free on the Fire. They also now have the Kindle lending library so that you can "check out" books for free if you don't want to purchase.

I bought this tablet cover ( [url="http://www.amazon.com/Verso-Prologue-Case-Cover-Kindle/dp/B005I6EU7U/ref=sr_1_6?s=fiona-hardware&ie=UTF8&qid=1330913968&sr=1-6"]http://www.amazon.com/Verso-Prologue-Case-Cover-Kindle/dp/B005I6EU7U/ref=sr_1_6?s=fiona-hardware&ie=UTF8&qid=1330913968&sr=1-6[/url]), it's sturdy leather and looks like an antique book. I really like it.

Hope this helped.

[MissScripture]

amesome. Thanks.

ETA: This was originally directed at Icy, but applies to you, too, M-T.

Edited March 5, 2012 by MissScripture

[IcePrincessKRS]

MT made some excellent points that I've read a bit about but haven't even begun to look into.

I saw the cover than MT has and I totally loved the look of it. The only reason I didn't get it was because of the elastic corner holders. I am sure it works just fine, but I let a 2 (almost 3) year old watch movies on it I could just see bad things happening so I was really finicky about making sure I had the pocket style holder.