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• 5.0 out of 5 stars Great for what it is

  Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2011

  I love my Kindle Fire. It seems to me that most people who gripe about the Fire are generally upset because they did not get iPad functionality out of this device which was never created to be an iPad killer or replacement. The Kindle Fire is a great android device with some apps that are nice and some functions that work very well. While I am every satisfied with my Fire, I do have a few gripes which I will start with and then move on to address complaints I've heard others make and talk about what I feel are the highlights. So, first the gripes.

  The things that I have found that I don't really like are:

  1) The screen does not darken enough. I have not been in a situation where I couldn't read my Fire during the day, no matter how bright it was where I was at. I have, however, found that I often wish that I could darken it much more, especially while I am reading in bed. Even at its darkest setting, it still illuminates my room more than a night light. I have my reader set to white letters and black background (which helps a little bit) but it still illuminates the room to the point that it often keeps my wife up and I have to read under the covers. While this may make me nostalgic for my youth (reading under the blankets with a flashlight as a child) I find it more irritates me as an adult. I hope that this is something that they can resolve with a software update, I'm not sure how things like that work. This said, I have several devices (iPad, Nook Tablet, computer, iPod Touch) and none of those seem to get dark enough either.

  2) I don't like the lack of password protection on the device. If someone were to get their hands on my Kindle Fire (I'm very careful where I leave it), they would have full access to my account. This is not a deal breaker for me and I always keep my Fire with me when I'm not at home, however, I could understand why this would be off putting and would like a little additional security in the event it got stolen.

  3) A small gripe is that the power button is on the bottom of the device. While this is somewhat irritating, I have leaned to adjust for it and now have hardly any problems hitting it. Design-wise this is probably the only flaw in the system, I'm not sure why they didn't place it on the top. With time though, you'll get past this small annoyance, plus, you can always turn the device and make the bottom the top easily enough. I haven't experienced anything that doesn't adjust to this shift.

  That's really my only complaints, now on to addressing other complaints I have heard many times over:

  1) People that say their apps don't function fully or as well as on other android devices (such as their tablets and phones). My response to that is, this is not meant to be a tablet. It is an full color e-reader and it functions awesome as such. The apps are secondary to it's primary function as an e-reader. This was not intended to be a major game playing or business software device and so it doesn't necessarily offer full functionality on these. It does, however, play Angry Birds and Facebook very nicely and most of the "frivolous" apps like that work wonderfully on the Fire. On the plus side, one app that I found works great on this is the "Splashtop" remote desktop works awesome. I added that on my fire (also have it on my iPad) and it works great. I use it in my classroom so I can work the computer attached to my SMARTboard and it has all the functionality on my Fire that it has on my iPad.

  2) You cannot download Amazon Prime movies for viewing offline. Amazon Prime is not meant to be a downloadable movie program, it's like Netflix, it's meant for streaming. Netflix members cannot download movies to their devices for offline viewing either. When you buy Amazon Prime you are buying a streaming service and it works awesome as that. I am a Amazon Prime member and love what it has to offer. It has all of the Star Trek series available (I'm a huge Star Trek fan) and, for my son, it has a ton of Sesame Street seasons (he's a huge Elmo fan). The streaming works great, I've never had a problem watching a streaming movie on my Fire. If you choose to buy a movie, they download quickly and look wonderful. Also, the renting service works great as well!

  3) I cannot access my own movies that I put on the Amazon Cloud. I can understand a bit why this would frustrate people, however, movies are secondary to the ereader functionality of the Fire. If you want a device you can put your own movies on and watch them, then get a tablet. That is one of the highlights of a tablet, not of the Fire.

  Finally, why I like the Fire. I like the Fire because it has great ereader capability, the magazines that I subscribe to are wonderful and priced really well, the Amazon library is amazing in how much content is offered, and Amazon Prime is a wonderful, easy to use service. I have around 100 books on my Kindle and they all work great. I love the features to customize my reading experience, it provides everything I really want in a ereader. I am working towards my Masters right now and Amazon has offered every textbook I have needed on Kindle format with one exception. This is amazing! I have saved more money by buying Kindle texts and the Fire in six months than I would have spent buying the used textbooks. This alone makes it worth the value to any students. In the classroom, I have found that if I let my 9th graders read off of my Kindle, they are more responsive to reading than they are reading from a traditional book. I am looking into getting a technology grant for my school so that we can purchase a mobile Kindle lab for use in my classroom. The prices on the Kindle are phenomenal, the magazines are well prices as are the books, music and movies (well on par with other services and sometimes even better) and renting movies from Amazon is a snap. I have nothing but praise for these services as they are so easy to use and download quickly. I love the size of the Kindle, it's very portable and, even with a case on it, it easily fits into my briefcase without taking up much room. Although I have heard others complain about the touch aspects of the Kindle, I have never had a problem with its accuracy or with its sensitivity.

  My recommendations for people buying a Kindle Fire: If you are looking for an ereader with additional functions, if you want to read magazines on your ereader, if you want to watch the occasional movie and play a game here and there, then the Fire is right for you. If you want something to watch a lot of movies on, if you want to listen to lots of music, if you want to play lots of games or have something that you can do all of your business functions on, if you want to do a lot of web surfing, if you want something to take notes on, etc... then you should look into getting a tablet (either a Galaxy or an iPad). If you do decide on the Kindle Fire, I would recommend getting a case for it and a ZAGG shield (they may be a bit pricy, but they are the BEST on the market and are worth every penny you pay for them). I hope this was useful to you and you enjoy your Kindle Fire as much as I have.

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• 5.0 out of 5 stars A great device and an excellent value

  Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2011

  SHORT SUMMARY: WHO SHOULD BUY A KINDLE FIRE
  =============================================

  The Fire is an all-around excellent device, especially for the price.

  DO BUY IT, without hesitation, if you want to consume media by yourself or with one other person (max). For example, if you read books and other Kindle content, surf the web, look at photos and want to watch Amazon Instant Videos (Movies & TV) or web-based video sites, then the Kindle will serve your needs well.

  DON'T buy it if you consume as a group or want to do any creation other than the occasional social media post. Watching movies with many other people is hard (7" isn't that big), and the lack of keyboard options, Bluetooth, etc., makes this a very focused device that creators will soon tire of. Doing anything with maps is difficult or impossible, as are all the nifty apps that require a camera, so if those limitations are a deal-breaker then look at a Samsung Galaxy Tab (to stay small) or iPad (big and expensive).

  OVERALL STRENGTHS
  ====================
  + The IPS screen is nothing short of fabulous. I've spent several hours staring at it now and am still amazed. It makes my friend's iPad 2 look grainy. Using this as a high-end photo frame on your desk is actually tempting because the colors are so rich. The screen is very close to 16:9 (15.36:9) and fits movies much better than a 4:3 iPad screen, which negates much of the 2.7" screen size difference between the two (but the reverse is true for old videos that are not widescreen). Overall, the video experience is good enough that you soon become immersed in the movie and you forget about the medium. Plus, since it's so small, you can carry with you more often.
  + The overall feel and construction is super-solid. The rubber/silicone backing gives such peace-of-mind; at this price, I don't plan on buying a case for mine in the foreseeable future.
  + Compact size. It's about the size of a "steno" pad. You can throw it in your backpack, purse, or coat pocket. Overall the Fire is a great balance between usability and portability--much more screen space than a smartphone (at about the same price) but lacking only one typical phone storage option: in your front pocket.
  + Simplicity and UI polish of the overall experience is tight. I wouldn't hesitate to give this device to a total tablet novice. This is a great gift idea for even the most technologically-challenged individual.
  + Speed is perfectly adequate for anything I've had to throw at it. I've tried at least half a dozen games now and they are buttery smooth. The crisp display and saturated colors make it such a joy to re-examine all my old apps.
  + The email client is slick! I have used apps like TouchDown and want to cry because they are so ugly and complicated. Not so with the Fire! Even though this is not a "creator" device, I am glad that they didn't skimp on a full-featured email client that actually looks nice.
  + Silk web browser! Side by side on the same wi-fi connection vs. my dual-core Android phone, the web browser doesn't seem that much faster. HOWEVER--they were both *very* fast! Keep in mind two things: 1) Silk is taking away bottlenecks, but if your existing wi-fi connection is already super-fast (i.e. no bottleneck), you won't notice the difference. 2) The "cloud" improvements will only begin to work when there is a large group of Kindle users who are sending data to Amazon so that they can start proactively caching. It should get faster and faster as more people start using it, so don't feel bad if you're not seeing any speed change out of the box.
  + Content, content, content. What sold it for me was the new Kindle Owner's Lending Library. For my $79 Prime subscription I'm getting access to a ton of shows that were are least partially available elsewhere, but no one else is giving away a book a month. I've seen at least a dozen titles I want to read, so my schedule is "booked" (sorry, couldn't resist) for a year solid. I was already a Prime member, but had never purchased a eInk Kindle because, so now I will have a "Kindle Device" that will qualify me to read a free book a month.

  OVERALL WEAKNESSES
  ====================
  -No GPS or Google Maps is a disappointment. I wanted this thing to be a huge GPS to take in the car, but without a GPS chip that can't happen.
  -No Bluetooth limits its use as a creation device. The $30 Bluetooth keyboard I use for my Android phone is useless for the Fire. Please, someone, make a MicroUSB keyboard that works easily with the Fire or point me to one that already works with the Fire and I'll update this section (I couldn't find any on Amazon).
  -Lack of hardware buttons was at first a turn-off, but after the tenth time of accidentally hitting the home button playing a game on my Android phone, I now appreciate this minimalist approach taken by the Fire. There's the power-button that you may occasionally bump by accident, but you just need to turn the whole thing upside down and the power button is then at the top--problem solved. The remaining complaint is the missing volume button, but I can also understand the reasons behind that. The original iPod touch lacked volume buttons, but they eventually included hardware controls on subsequent devices.
  -Content Lock-in. This is the flip-side of the coin for having so much Amazon content. Since there's no HDMI, any movies you buy are going to be stuck on the device unless your TV also supports Amazon Instant Video streaming. I think the strength of selection outweighs this, but it's something to keep in mind!
  -(Minor) Does not play WMV files. My Android phone does this--why is this codec missing?
  -Battery life--The specified battery life is really a best-case: you'll want to charge this device at least every other night. It's terrible compared to an iPad 2 and great compared to a typical dual-core phone. It remains to be seen if the competition from the large bricks and mortar book store's new tablet is any better, but on paper they say theirs is longer.

  CREATIVE USES FOR THE FIRE
  ==========================
  + Fitness. Use your new Fire as an indoors exercise companion for treadmills, stationary bikes, elliptical machines, etc. Make yourself a commitment to not watch TV until you've worked-out first (while watching/listening/reading on the Fire, of course). It's the perfect size to strap-on or permanently adhere to your home fitness apparatus. This device and a Prime membership is about the same cost as two months for a personal trainer.
  + Schools and home schools. With the number of education apps out there (and ease of development), expect the Kindle Fire to become THE device for kids to use in their studies. This device, in 2011 dollars, is about the same price as my fancy graphing calculator in high school during the early 90s, so we can only guess what kinds of cool education-centric applications will come from this new class of gizmo. For parents, see a variety of great sites (like mine, Learn Richly) that make it easier to evaluate very fun products that make learning a breeze!
  + Small business elegance. What if your customers in the waiting room were each given Kindle Fires instead of magazines? How about giving your next sales pitch or presentation as an interactive HTML5 web page that allows your client to engage with the content even as you're explaining it? This also becomes the perfect Kiosk device because it's so open, inexpensive and ubiquitous.
  + Lists and reference. Putting a $700 iPad in your shopping cart while you check of grocery items makes me nervous, but somehow I'd feel safe doing that with my rugged-feeling grippy-backed Fire. Use it around the house for the kids' chore chart or as a "dedicated" to-do list while at work (what good is the task list in Outlook if I never look at it?)--this price point makes all sorts of things feasible, and especially if you buy multiple devices to establish a community of users in your office or home.

  APPS INCLUDED & MISSING w/SUBSTITUTE SUGGESTIONS
  =================================================
  Built-in you will find already downloaded:
  + Kindle Reader App (with more layout options, such as line spacing and margins, than the current phone Android Kindle app)
  + Amazon shopping app
  + Integrated Music, Video and Web browsing (Silk)
  + "Docs" tab that takes documents you email to your @kindle email address and puts them in Kindle format
  + Audible audio books app (Amazon subsidiary)
  + IMDB (internet movie database) app for information about movies, actors, etc. (Amazon subsidiary)
  + Contacts app (looks like standard Android with Fire skin)--will sync with GMail contacts and probably others
  + Email app with built-in support for Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and "other", i.e. POP for my ISP worked (not sure about IMAP). Attention: NO MS EXCHANGE/OUTLOOK :(
  + QuickOffice, which is a *viewer* for PowerPoint, Excel and Word--no editing at all
  + Gallery app for photos--looks like you'll need a MicroUSB cable and a computer to do much with it, though
  + Help & Feedback
  + Facebook--seems to be a link to the mobile site
  + Pulse--good, possibly great, news aggregator/reader
  + Other various popular apps/games that are links (but not already downloaded)--may be trials or ad-supported and you can get them from the AppStore anyway. Thanks for not installing them Amazon! This device is refreshingly free of "bloatware"

  Missing:
  - Task list & Memo / note- taking--I recommend ColorNote Notepad Notes that has both of these functions
  - Alarm clock--I recommend Alarm Clock Xtreme Free
  - Calendar--too many choices to recommend a replacement, but you'll probably get one with a paid Exchange email client
  - Calculator--I recommend Calculator Ultimate Lite
  - Weather--AccuWeather for Android or My-Cast Weather Lite both get good reviews

  Anything else I've missed? Comments welcome, thanks!

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