On September 28 2011 Amazon presented its first Tablet PC, which is dubbed the Kindle Fire.
The device is running transformed beyond recognition Android 2.1 operating system version. The device has a 7-inch IPS display, which provides quite a decent resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.
The top notch performance is provided by 1-gigahertz dual-core system built on Texas Instruments Omap platform.
Amazon promises that with a single battery charge time, the device will run for approximately seven hours of streaming video, while the single-user mode, up to 12 hours.
Here you can find latest information about Kindle Fire availability and discounts on Amazon.com!
The Fire Tablet PC has just eight gigabytes of internal memory with no possibility to extend it. It still should be enough, given that the owners of the device will provide unlimited disk space cloud computing service, to save favorite movies, TV shows or other multimedia files.
Some will say that the device will get not the most recent version of the Android and is lacking 3G support. It is important to keep in mind that the value is in Amazon services and user experience customers will get access to, not the hardware itself.
You will get more information about Amazon tablet PC details when you will check out Amazon Kindle Fire owners manual online.
Price of this Tablet PC is in the reqion of 199 USD which is quite low. It is just 25% more than we were paying for previous generation Kindle, the Kindle 3G. Kindle Fire is already available for ordering, and the shipping will start on November 15 along with other new Kindle models.
Amazon Kindle Fire Review
I have been searching for a good E-book reader since I’ve always wanted to buy one. When I read that Amazon has recently added a new member to its Kindle product line which, they say, can be comparable to an iPad, I immediately searched for it.
The Amazon Kindle Fire has been given good and bad reviews, but definitely, everyone is saying that it is a worthy device, packed with lots of features, just like an iPad. Though Kindle Fire is not likely to shake the empire that the Apple has already built, but it does comes close.
I read that the actual launching of Kindle Fire was rather impressive, noting down all the right notes on a product vision. However, as many people had already actually tried using one, gadget flaws can’t be left unmentioned. But that does not mean to say that Kindle Fire is a bad buy, actually, from the many reviews I read, people are quite happy and satisfied with their purchase, simply because Kindle Fire is an E-book reader and tablet rolled into one that works.
Many articles that I’ve read judged the Kindle Fire as a smart table with a fully thought out ecosystem, which makes people get hooked with this E-book reader. Unlike the other Kindle models, you can download music from you own close or watch a movie, either on the device itself or your own HDTV, with this model.
I also discovered that if you already have an account in Amazon, you are bound for even more possibilities. Just like with Apple, your Amazon account has your credit card in file and is tied to your username and account, so choosing and downloading applications, movies, music, games, and others would be a breeze. Your account also provides unlimited cloud storage for all your files.
However many noticed that it lacked some features that are present with Kindle Fire’s competitors, it has no camera and microphone. I also read that it has no screws or any way to open the device. The screen has 1024×600 pixels, which is same with Nook Tablet, and people say that things actually look good on it.
Kindle Fire has 8Gb for internal memory, and has no space for memory card (this is, I think, what the cloud storage is for). Though Kindle Fire has rubberized back to prevent slippage, many people still found it to be very uncomfortable to hold, even though it feels solid enough with it 14.6 ounce weight.
Main Interface
Kindle Fire is basically an Android 2.3 device, but the Amazon’s touch and trademark are all in the interface. It has a virtual book shelf (iPad iBook also has this one). Many people say that the addition of virtual book shelf in Kindle Fire is actually catchy but the execution, they say, is kind of awkward. All icons of the applications you recently used or viewed sit at the top part of the screen. As a result, it appears to be a disorganized jumble of icons.
Also, I found out that you can browse the shelf just by swiping through it; this may be effective for some if you are used with this kind of technology, but I think for some, they might need a little more practice since I read that many people have to swipe through the whole shelf again since they keep on missing the things they want to access.
Lots of people express their joy in using Kindle Fire for reading. According to users’ comments, the pages are perfectly readable in the screen. All the smart features like highlighting a word or getting a word defined are very easy. I also read that people who are already users of older Kindle models, love its touch screen feature as it is much simpler to just touch through everything you need than accessing them with a joystick (present in older Kindle models).
Another advance technology that I’ve discovered presnt in Kindle fire is that you can read a book in this device and transfer from another device, like from an iPad, mobile phone, or another E-book reader, picking up from exactly where you left off. You just have to the Kindle Fire to your other devices. Though this will only work if there is a Wi-Fi connection, since Kindle Fire has no 3G.
To navigate your Kindle Fire, there is one physical button for you to set it on sleep mode, or to turn it on and off completely. Many people find the placement of this button a little out of the way since it is located at the narrow side, making it very prone to accidental pressing when you rest it on your lap or table.
When you are using the Kindle Fire and you need to go back to the home screen, all you have to do is tap the screen once and the home button will appear in the lower left corner part of the screen.
Content and Controls
One thing that I discovered on Kindle Fire is that it lets you use different applications simultaneously. Meaning, you can read a book while listening to your favorite tunes. So everything you have uploaded to the internal memory of your Kindle Fire and to the Amazon Cloud can be readily available for you. And if that’s not enough, you can browse through the Amazon Music Store for newest and hottest music, and directly purchase it there. I heard that the music store is clean and easy enough to use.
You can also be sure that watching movies in Kindle Fire would be fun and entertaining. It is also very easy to manipulate the video application, so starting it up would pose no problem. Aside from the movies that you can upload to the Kindle Fire, you can also stream movies direct to the device if you an Amazon account for free. Though, as I heard, the movies that are available for streaming are not the most current ones, but a decent enough movie list that you can enjoy.
If you want the latest movies, you can simply rent it on the device for a fee (The Green Lantern can be rented for $2.99, SD version). But I found out that the most interesting part of watching a movie in your Kindle Fire is that you can actually pause it, access you Amazon account, and turn on your Blu-ray player, and voila, you can pick up where you left off in your HDTV. However, watching the movie on your HDTV will entail another payment (besides the one you paid for the rented movie) since the Kindle Fire only has access on the SD version. You have to pay for the HD version to enjoy it on your HDTV.
For the web browser, many reviews said that Kindle Fire’s Silk browser is decent enough, but not perfect, for moderate use. I read that sometimes it is fast as promised to be. But on occasion, the Silk would hang and stall out, refusing to load a page. Though, I read that Amazon promises that the experience will be faster their servers cache more page info.
On the other hand, I read a lot of bad feedback on the E-mail feature of Kindle Fire. The E-mail is under Apps, so a lot of people had to go through a process of hide and seek just to find it for set up. People though that it would be better if the Email icon is on the main interface for easier. However, once the e-mail is already set up, it will now appear on the virtual shelf. Many people also find the default e-mail screen to be kind of annoying, as it is black with white text that makes it, for some, very hard to read.
Aside from the e-mail, I also read that the icons on Kindle Fire are tiny. While the Books, Music, Movies, Videos, Docs, and other icons in the main menu and book shelf are large enough, the setting icons are not. But it is said that once you clicked on the setting icons, the options list is bigger and the actual setting is fast and easy.
Though the screen is actually pretty great for reading, the design for some magazines are just bad. I read that while GQ and The New Yorker magazines looked good in it, the Esquire does not. It looks bad and, if you try to zoom it in, it will be unreadable.
Web pages also looked good in the screen if it’s landscape mode. Having it in portrait mode is a different story. The portrait mode makes the pages tiny, you can zoom it in but that will make you only see a part of the page.
Quirks and Conclusions
All in all, Kindle Fire has its own share of system bugs. I read that the accelerometer can sometimes get stuck, thus the page you are in remains upside down. The Wi-Fi connection would also be pretty slow when using it after sleep (though many had attested that setting the Wi-Fi is very easy and simple). It also has its mini crashes episodes; it does not completely shut down but drops you off of whatever you are doing or some times, the screen will blanked out and reappears. But to be fair, iPad 1 also has these episodes – although many crashes are attributed to third party apps and not the Apple software.
The oddities and quirks in Kindle Fire can be the result of using an Android 2.3 operating system in the device. This feels as if the features included in Kindle Fire are not precisely for it. Unlike with Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod, it feels and it shows that every bit of it was built with the hardware in mind.
However, with its price tag of just around $200, it is easy to appreciate all the things you are getting. Compared to the 16GB iPad priced around $500 or the Nook Tablet at around $250, Kindle Fire presents a cheaper alternative offering the same features.
It has a great collection of services. You can read books, listen to music, watch movies and videos, and play games and apps in it. You can also easily access all the files you put in the Amazon Cloud Storage.
In conclusion, Kindle Fire can be a good buy as it can be the closest tablet to an Apple iPad. It is a consistent and a good mix of hardware and services, giving a frictionless setting for app purchase and content consumption.
