The Kindle Fire is just a little larger and heavier than the e-reader version. It would almost fit in the cover that I had for the e-reader; but not quite, so the difference is slight, but it is heavier. The Fire is probably close to the same size as an iPad mini is. The mini would probably do the same thing as the Kindle Fire. My reasons for choosing the Fire over the mini were that the Kindle was MUCH cheaper. You would never find a working ipad of any size for $50. The second reason was because I have Amazon Prime, and one of the features is what they call the Amazon Lending Library. You can borrow many of the books listed on Amazon through the lending library; but only if you have an actual Kindle, and not just the Kindle app on another brand of tablet. With the lending library, you can borrow a book for as long as it takes to read it; but only one book at a time, and only one per month. However, you can borrow and read some books that are expensive to buy. Plus, it is a good way to read the book and see if you even want to buy it.
Some great info from a lot of members! Just one more reason why I love Seniors Only! I still not bought a reading device as I am sure I will fall asleep reading and wind up with a bloody nose.
My wife has a Fire HD and I have a regular Kindle, which I prefer for reading since it's more like reading regular text in a book, while reading a book on a Kindle Fire is more like reading a book on a small computer. I had a first generation Kindle, which I actually liked best, since it had actual buttons to push in order to advance pages, while my newer Kindle uses a touchscreen, and sometimes (often) advances further than I want it to, and sometimes brings up screens that I never intended to bring up, but my older Kindle broke when I dropped it a few weeks ago. On the negative side, a regular Kindle does not display graphics well, even in a book, and there isn't much that can be done with it outside of book reading. My wife has a Kindle Fire, which she likes, but she spends more time playing games on it than reading. The Kindle Fire is more like a small computer, expanding the limits of what can be done with it. I believe the Kindle Fire displays graphics better in books as well. On the negative side, from my point of view, is that there is a back-light (like a computer) that I find uncomfortable, so I don't think that I would enjoy reading books on it any more than I would on my computer. Plus, while I would sometimes make use of distractions like games and such, I always regret having done so later.
@Ken Anderson , you make a great argument for keeping it simple and buying a regular Kindle. I've managed to overcome my addiction to computer games by ensuring that I never play them at all, but I'm sure that I'd find something to distract me if I was reading on a tablet and that's not a good thing. I'm guessing that where graphics were important I'd stick to paper books, but if not, I'd still have the luxury of being able to view those using Kindle for PC if necessary.
Reading back-lit text, like on a computer, doesn't bother some people. But, although I am behind my computer all day, I don't find it comfortable to read long texts, such as a book, on my computer, and a Kindle Fire is sort of like that. The regular Kindle is as comfortable as reading the text on a book, plus it allows you to enlarge the text if you want to.
That is the same as the Kindle Whitepaper, Ken...you can enlarge the text if you want to, and you can change the brightness from bright to low. I haven't tried it outside yet, but read that it is easy to read outside with it too.
Since I am totally ignorant of these devices, do you down load books from the internet? To use one, do you need to be on line? And last but not least, what is a typical price for one of these devices?
I usually get my books from Amazon, at the Kindle store, Richard; but there are a lot of places online that have e-books. You do need to be online to rent/buy the book, but once you have it downloaded on your reader or tablet, then you can read it anywhere and without being online. They have what is called "cloud storage", so you can actually leave the books stored that way, and only need to download the ones you are reading. Most of the e-readers will hold a whole lot of books; but I find it easier to just have the ones that i am reading on the device. Price is going to vary a whole lot, depending on what you buy, and whether you get a new or used one. A new e-reader from Amazon is about $100, maybe less when they are on sale. I bought mine used on e-bay, and paid $20 for it. If you decide to get a regular tablet instead of just an e-reader, then the cost will be a lot more because it has the internet capabilities as well as just being an e-reader. I didn't think that anything could replace actually holding a book in my hands and reading it; but once you use an e-reader, they have a lot of benefits. They weigh less than a paperback book, and are small and flat; so very easy to hold. You can set the print size to whatever works best for you, as opposed to a regular book where most of them are just one size of print. You can stop reading, and when you open it up, it automatically goes right to the page where you stopped reading. You can highlight parts of the book if you want to, as well. My Kindle also has a built in dictionary, and if there is a word which I don't know the meaning of, I touch the word with my finger, and it tells you what it means, just like looking it up in the dictionary. I used to make trips to the thrift stores and browse through their books, looking for good books to read, and then traded with my friend Joyce McGregor after we finished the books we bought. Eventually, I would end up taking books back to the thrift store again, or giving them away. Now, I can browse for books online, and most of the ones that i get are free, or very cheap. Personally, I really enjoy using the online books, and I think that once a person gets used to the idea of it; there are a lot of good features and benefits. You can look at the Kindle bookstore on Amazon and get an idea of the volume of e-books that are available just from that source. Here is a quick look at just the basic kindle e-reader so you can see how it functions.
I think that you will be glad that you got it, once you start using the Kindle. If you are just reading novels/paperback types of books; the e-reader will be perfect. If you read illustrated bookks, how-to manuals, cookbooks, gardening (smile) , or any other books with diagrams or pictures; then it is worth your while to get the Kindle Fire, so you have color and better pictures. My daughter loves to cook from recipes, and she finds the recipe on the internet, and has a clip on her cupboards in the kitchen, and she just clips up her tablet with the recipe on it. You can also watch movies/youtube videos or listen to music if you get the Kindle Fire; so it just depends on what all you will be using it for, which one will work best for you. I started out with the e-reader, and then upgraded because I was reading books with illustrations, and could not see the pictures very well (and not in color) ; so for my purposes , the tablet was a much better choice.