Kindle Fire

[LV426]

Did anyone get one? Thoughts?

I got one and am currently playing with it. Seems good so far.

[Sinanju]

I have a gen3 kindle and it's my favorite thing ever. Does fire have the same battery life? (6-8 weeks) or do the extra features drain it a lot? I'm not sold on kindle fire yet because it seems like it's overextending to become a mediocre tablet computer rather than an excellent e-reader. it weighs twice as much as my kindle, and since I like to hold it one handed thats a huge turn-off for me. I also adore E-ink and my biggest apprehension was that kindle fire doesn't have it (right?). I was turned off of other e-readers because nothing came close to e-ink, and LCD backlights actively irritated my eyes after a few hours.

I think my issue as I'm looking at it as an e-reader rather than a budget tablet (which I have zero use for). Still, I'm interested in hearing feedback about it.

[MorganaFang]

I read from my droid phone with kindle software. Though there was talk I might get an actual kindle later. I have only played with the older ones but I like the look of the new one and <3 color.

[Sinanju]

I read from my droid phone with kindle software. Though there was talk I might get an actual kindle later. I have only played with the older ones but I like the look of the new one and <3 color.

I read a few books on my droid too, and didn't really realize how badly it was straining my eyes to do so. Once you try E-ink you'll literally never want to read on an LCD ever again. There's just zero comparison, and if you want a dedicated e-reader rather than a tablet pc, I would try and spend an extensive amount of time playing with both.

I see E-ink as a top of the line e-reader product that I spend hours reading at a time, whereas the fire is just a low-end tablet PC, unless I'm missing something.

I guess the issue I'm wondering about is "why not an E-ink display" for an Ereader, and "why not a quality tablet?" for tablet functions. Fire just seems like a compromise of poor qualities of both and excelling at nothing...the type of thing I would buy for a teen or young user basically.

[MorganaFang]

I read a few books on my droid too, and didn't really realize how badly it was straining my eyes to do so. Once you try E-ink you'll literally never want to read on an LCD ever again. There's just zero comparison, and if you want a dedicated e-reader rather than a tablet pc, I would try and spend an extensive amount of time playing with both.

I'm near sighted so I've found I do well with my droid and even prefer the "coziness" of it to my dad's larger kindle or my mother's ipad. Neither versions of screens really make a difference for me. It's like with TV's I'm the weirdo that couldn't tell HD from regular TV for a long time.

I think more or less my primary reason to get any e-reader at this point is to have an easy to carry portfolio and something to read comics on. My droid isn't cutting it for that much and in that case it's driving my eyes nuts because the picture is really not that good. But I like my droid more than the iphone, it's less complicated and sturdy.

[Sinanju]

It's like with TV's I'm the weirdo that couldn't tell HD from regular TV for a long time.

For real? That is weird. I remember sperging out super hardcore the first time I saw HDTVs and being just amazed at the difference. For comics, fire sounds perfect. Still, I think I would get a high end tablet instead. the small screen on the kindle fire would bug me.

[Vendetta]

Yeah I'm with Saz on the Fire, I just don't really see the point. Now a standard Kindle on the other hand, I'm seriously considering getting one. It also makes having Prime worth it all that much more.

[Sinanju]

Now a standard Kindle on the other hand, I'm seriously considering getting one.

It's pretty much the best purchase I've ever made. I recently purchased "house of leaves" in book form because it was the first book I've found that isn't feasible to read on kindle (due to the visual nature of it) and I found myself actively annoyed by having to prop open the book and turn pages. I've reached a new level of lazy I didn't think was possible.

Also I now have a preferred level of font and spacing between lines, and after reading like 40 books on kindle it felt weird switching to small, cluttered text again.

[LV426]

Kindle Fire Review

So I got my Kindle Fire last night and unboxed it and had to immediately play with it of course. The first thing I had to do was let it upload/download/ synch with my Amazon account. I already have Amazon Prime so I don’t really worry about the free trial but for those of you who don’t have Amazon Prime this offers a free trial, 2 months of Amazon Prime and honestly people it’s worth it.

The Amazon Prime features alone are worth it. Yes it costs $79.95 a year but it pays for itself in the amount of movies and books you have access to for free. The Kindle accesses the store immediately and off you go, to all that’s free and all that’s not. If you are a serious shopper this thing is deadly.  You can buy with the click of a button and not have to enter your Credit Card info. One click check out. I bought a book to read in 2 seconds.

But if you are a Prime member you have access to free books and movies in their library so you don’t have to spend money to be entertained constantly. I didn’t mind the ebook part of the Kindle. Although I’ve never used the other kindle readers so I can’t do a total comparison but I didn’t have any problems with eye strain and the words were clear and the pages easy to turn. Of course sometimes too easy. If I wasn’t careful I could flip more than one page at a time. And I was able to go web surfing and come back and it had saved my spot so that was nice. Scrolling through was a little weird. It goes really fast so you can bypass where you are trying to get to but it was quick and no lag.

I didn’t look at the magazines so I can’t review that. I’m not a Magazine person really. BUT I do like comics so I went and first went to all my web comics and they were great. Then I went to Kindle Comics and wheee! The full color and graphics were great.

Next up the movies. So I had to download the free Netflix and Flixster Apps but once they were done I was able to access movies on both platforms. One thing I did notice is that Netflix is a little unresponsive when trying to select the movie you want to watch. You might have to tap it a couple of times to get it to start. But the movie played great and had no problems. And you can pick up where you left off if you have Netflix on your computer or laptop or TV. Same for Amazon Prime movies.

Now the web browsing. Easy to use but I find the browser can lag a little. And sometimes selecting a link will select something else close by. Maybe I just have big fingers but it can be annoying. But there is the enlarge feature which zooms in so you can select things better.

Cons: Not much memory but at the moment I’m not in danger of maxing out so I’m good.
No Camera but I don’t skype anyway.
Battery life is short around 6 hours if watching movies constantly like I did. But that's not entirely bad.


Overall I like the Kindle Fire and I might get one for my dad for Xmas. This is more what he was looking for when he travels. It fits me and entertains me on the bus and does what I need it to do for the most part and if I need more elaborate stuff I still have my laptop and my desktop. It’s not a replacement but it’s a nice addition to the toybox. 

[Mistress_Kalika]

Now, I went in the other direction with my E-Reader. I got myself a Nook Simple Touch, since I didn't have the funds to spend on a Kindle Fire or Nook Color, nor did I need it for anything but an E-Reader.

I love the layout of the Nook, though I did have a moment of panic with it before I realized I needed to update the software that came in it originally. I absolutely LOVE the E-ink feature, I literally lose myself in reading for hours without feeling the strain on my eyes. I can link it with facebook, twitter, and gmail to share books with friends (I only have gmail, though. I really, really have no desire to be on facebook or twitter.) It's linked with my B&N account, which costs me nothing, and I can download books through the wi-fi in my Nook, or online at the website. I also ABSOLUTELY LOOOOOOVE the Library2Go site, where I can check out books on my Nook from a collection of libraries in my state, using my library card number.

There are thousands of free ebooks on B&N, plus many sites will offer a different free ebook per month. I already love my Nook, and can see many years of enjoyment! (if it doesn't break first, lol)