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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 Outstanding Value at $199 and Full of Functionality / Bells / Whistles

  Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2011

  I've had a chance to play with the Kindle Fire for a few hours now, and overall I think it is a great tool /toy when you factor in the cost of ownership and what you get. Compared to $500 minimum for the introductory price of the bottom of the line iPad2 (WiFi only), at $199 this is a great buy.

  Using a Wifi connection at two different locations, the speed was pretty fast connecting to the Amazon server as well as to a couple of Internet sites. I had fast connectivity and display on Fox News, CNN, my personalized Yahoo page, and the website of the International Association of Penturners (hey, I do have hobbies!). I had slow connectivity at both Wifi locations with Google, ESPN, MSNBC, the Houston Chronicle, and the Weather Channel - I hope the unique app for ESPN and the Weather Channel are a lot faster, but I haven't loaded them onto the Fire yet. I will point out with the exception of the Google website, those other sites listed as slow are usually slow on my other handheld devices such as my Droid phone and my work iPad2 (yes, the Kindle guy owns and uses an iPad for work purposes). The web browser is called Silk, and it is nice and user-friendly.

  Let's talk about what I see as the benefits first:

  The screen size to me is just right for what I will be using it for - I have used an iPad and the screen is larger - but I did watch about 15 minutes of an episode of season 3 of 24 on the Fire and I didn't have screen envy or felt like I was missing anything. The sound quality was good, but I listened to it mainly with a set of headphones so I wouldn't wake my kids.

  Concerning size of the overall unit - not too heavy or bulky and it fits nice in your hand. I have it in one of the Marware covers and it just "feels" right: that's not a firm statement for a review, I know, but what else can I say? Holding the iPad feels a little bulky at times but the Fire is just a little bit larger than my Kindle keypad, so I was pretty much conditioned to this size over the past few years. Compared to the iPad, the Fire doesn't generate near as much heat.

  Speed of the apps as well as reading a book is VERY fast and responsive. I haven't tried a a challenging spreadsheet or Word document with the Open Office app yet, but then again I can't think of too many times where (based on my guesstimated usage) I will be doing those kind of tasks on my Fire: I like to keep my work separate from play. Maybe the time will come when business applications will become more prevalent with the Fire, but that's a story for another day.

  Back to the pricing - $199 is an absolute steal for a unit with this many features. Compare that to an iPad2 at more than twice the price for a few more inches of screen space. Some people really want that, but it doesn't bother me. You will also receive a month free of Prime membership and I highly recommend you try out the benefits, which are more than free two-day shipping. You get full access to thousands of movies and tv shows for free. You can give them a test drive on your Fire and see if it is for you or not. I already rent a lot of movies to my Tivo via Amazon, and I can see the functionality of the free movies combined with the for rent options being able to be played on this device as very compelling for when I go on business trips.

  And, for those of you I've been playing Words with Friends with, this morning's moves were made on the Fire - the touchscreen worked flawlessly.

  I transferred some music to the Fire and it works like a charm. I haven't had enough time to really dive deep into this feature yet and come up with a playlist or jukebox list, but the sounds quality was nice: not too loud and not too soft.

  Here are some potential negatives:

  I don't think I will be reading too much on this device. Who knows, that opinion may change, but I REALLY like the Kindle for reading with its eInk screen. I read a lot outside or in bright light, and based upon my experiences with reading on an iPad the eInk is better than the full color for reading outside. However, my youngest child really likes the full color resolution as the books he likes to read has a lot of pictures in it (he's in elementary school). So, to each their own. I didn't purchase the Fire for reading, but more for entertainment.

  As mentioned above, the screen is smaller than an iPad. That doesn't bother me (see comments above), but it may bother some people where size matters or they have to have the "biggest" of this and that.

  I really wish they would have shipped this thing with a micro USB cord: if there is one in the packaging I missed it. Luckily, I have a few of them in the house, so I wasn't too put out. I imagine they did that to keep the overall cost at $199.

  There are lots of apps available for the Fire because it uses the DROID platform, but Apple lovers will pound their chest and say "but we have over a million apps" blah blah blah. I think you should look at the QUALITY of the app vs. the quantity, as there is certainly a lot of junk in the iPad app store (as there is the DROID store), but your basic functionality for the apps I want / need are there.

  Overall, at $199 this is an extremely great value to me and well worth it: Amazon has hit a home run with this one. If you haven't grabbed one now, get one before they run out before Christmas!

  EDIT TO ADD:

  Okay, I've tried to add this twice and it bombed, so hopefully the third time is the charm. Email setup was very easy - it took about a minute to setup my main Google account, and I was able to send a test message to another account as well as receive and reply to other emails. I sent a picture via email to the Fire and it showed crisp and clear.

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