Kindle Fire

I bought a Kindle Fire because they were selling for under $50. It came today and, although my opinion might change in time, I'll tell you what I think so far.

As a book reader, I think I prefer the Paperwhite version, like my older one, which continues to be an option. I think that I will find reading a book with the backlit feature of the Kindle Fire to be annoying over time, since it is more like reading a book on a computer, whereas the Paperwhite version is more like reading a regular book. However, books with illustrations or photographs will display much better on the Kindle Fire.

One good thing about it is that I can easily access any of the books that I have bought from Amazon.com through the Cloud, without having to transfer them through my Amazon.com account. This is my fourth Kindle, so it's nice to be able to access all of them without having to store them on my Kindle Fire.

I just watched part of a movie on my Kindle Fire and was amazed at the clarity of the picture. Although my television is high density, the Kindle Fire picture is far superior. Because of the small screen of the Kindle Fire, I don't think I'll retire my television, however.

The Kindle Fire will never replace my computer. I tried posting this review of the Kindle Fire using the Kindle Fire. Although I connected to the forum through the same Internet connection that I am using on my computer, it was agonizingly slow and, in the end, it never did complete the post.

Typing into the Kindle Fire is like typing into a smart phone, using a virtual keyboard. Even when I am paying close attention, it enters the wrong key at least a fourth of the time, and then auto correct further exacerbates the problem.

Typing with one or two fingers is not something that I enjoy to begin with, but I had to redo pretty much every other word. In the middle of a word, it might decide to start capitalizing letters, or throw in a page break, as if I had hit the Enter key.

After completing my post, I clicked the button to post the reply. After a long pause, it finally gave me a prompt about being unable to load the page, and the post never was completed.

Another thing that I hate about the Kindle Fire is that when it is unable to complete something, it never quits trying. After trying a couple of times to complete the post through my Kindle Fire, I went on to something else, but I couldn't get it to quit trying to load the page. If it can't do something, give it up. Don't disable my device for the rest of the afternoon trying.

So, I may come to like it for some things, I don't think that it will replace my Paperwhite Kindle as a book reader, except where significant photos or illustrations are involved, and I am pretty darned sure that I'll never try to use it in place of my computer. I can see using it to watch movies when I am not near by television.

Now I know why my wife uses hers mostly to play games. Perhaps some of these problems will work their way out as I become more familiar with the Kindle Fire.

 

I don't think there is one, although there is a help button, and one of those guides that run you through the operations of it. I mostly just clicked "Continue" so that I could see what it did for myself. One thing this Kindle Fire does that my wife's doesn't is that it includes a camera.

 

There is an owners manual, and it is an excellent one at that, Ken. Look in the Kindle Store, and just type in "Kindle manual", and this should come up right away, and it is (of course) free.
It is called "The Kindle Fire Owner's Manual" by Steve Weber. There is a lot of good information about the different things that you can do with the Kindle Fire, and how you do all of those things.
He also has the Kindle Buffet website that lists the free books and apps that you can get with the Kindle.
Every day, there is at least one app that is free for that day. Most of them seemed to be games when I looked, and since I do not play games, it was not interesting at all to me.
However, there are other programs besides games that are also free on some days, so it is not all just game apps.

All that I do with mine is use it to read books.
As you mentioned, the illustrations in the Kindle Fire are much clearer and better than in just the little e-reader Kindle. This doesn't make any difference if all you read are ebook versions of paperback novels; but when you are reading (as an example) a gardening tutorial, and there are illustrations, then it is much better to have the Fire and the colored photos.

 

I am in the car, in Massachusetts right now, using my Kindle Fire and Verizon hotspot.

 

Then you should be able to use the Kindle to download the manual, Ken. ON the main page of your Carousel, go to Shop, then Books, and that puts you right in the Kindle Store.

I also signed up for something called "Kindle First".
How it works is that every month Kindle offers you one of the new books that just came out (or at least one that is new on Kindle) and you get to "preview" the book . It is $1.99 for the book; but when you have the Amazon Prime, then the book is free.
They just sent me my first list today, and you just choose whichever book (if any) that you would like to read for free.
I imagine that this is a good way for Kindle to have reviews on the books when they are first released.

 

I am getting a little more used to the virtual keyboard and, although I still hate it, I can hit the right keys once in awhille. I still don't know how or why anyone would replace a real computer with a tablet, though.

It is nice to see how responsive the forum software is.

 

That small size and virtual keyboard is exactly why I only use the Kindle Fire for reading. You can get separate keyboards for Kindles, just like you can for the iPad and other tablets, and if you are going to do much typing with it, an external keyboard would be worthwhile. They usually come in a little fold-up case, so that when you open it, the Kindle is standing up (landscape mode), and the keyboard is flat, like a laptop would be.

My iPad is the full-size one, so it is about 11" across and the screen is much easier to see and read, plus, you can stretch the screen when you need to make the writing larger and easier to see. However, the keyboard case make the iPad heavier and awkward to use in anything except landscape mode; so I prefer the little Kindle when I am just reading a book.
However, for everything else, the iPad is perfect. With the external keyboard, typing is easy, and I use a little lap-desk so I can relax in comfort in my recliner and still use the iPad.
I would so totally LOVE to have one of the new larger iPad Pro tablets; but the cost of those is way beyond what I can spend.

 

But if I was going to do that, I may as well use my MacBook. I have a perfectly good MacBook and a newer iMac, and there's no good reason to trade either of them in for a tablet, as far as doing anything online goes.

 

Absolutely ! You should be able to do everything with your Macbook that I or anyone else can do with any brand of tablet.
I used my daughter's MacAir for a few months, and it was fine to use just like I use my iPad. The main problem that I had with the MacAir was that it was not a touchscreen, and it was very hard for me to read the small print. On the iPad, I just stretch it up where I can see it easily.
So, (for me) even though the MacAir could do more things than my iPad can do; I still mainly used the ipad because I could read stuff on it much better.

I also have a Dell computer that we use as a desktop; and even though it can be carried around like a laptop or tablet; it is large and cumbersome to do that, so it just stays on the desk. The reason that I seldom use it is because I have to be sitting at the desk , although I will do that when necessary.
Since the Dell also has a touchscreen, at least I can enlarge anything that I need to when I am working with that device.

 

I have taken to using my Kindle Fire to watch movies sometimes. The picture quality is so good that the small screen is manageable, it seems. It's nice to take a break once in a while and lie in bed watching a movie with two of my three cats. Lydia is never interested, but Cutie and Ella are nearly always eager to join me in being lazy. Cutie actually watches the move for long periods of time before losing interest.

I have gotten used to the backlit screen, which is something I didn't anticipate, so I don't at all mind reading books on my Kindle Fire. I have no gotten into the games, and probably won't do that, but I do use it to get online once in a while, although I have far better options than that for getting online.

 

One thing about the Amazon Kindle, is that they put at least one app on for free each day. Most of the ones that I saw when I looked at it were games, and since I don't play games, I was not interested.
They also have other apps, like for making spreadsheets and stuff like that, and probably even more diversity if you bother to check every day.
Because I just use mine mainly for reading, I haven't bothered checking to see what else they have; but if you do use the Kindle for more than just reading, then this is a good way to get some of the apps that cost money, for free.