The Kindle Fire ($199 $169 with Amazon’s reward card) occupies a unique place in the spectrum of touch-based technology. 7 inches in size, the Kindle Fire is twice as large as an iPhone but is significantly smaller than the 10-inch iPad. It’s not as portable as an iPhone nor is it as suitable a laptop replacement as the iPad 2. So why buy a Kindle Fire? What’s it selling point?
In a word – convenience.
Sure, the iPhone is portable. You can take it wherever you want in your pocket. But with such a small screen, the iPhone is hardly suitable for prolonged use. Websites are difficult to navigate, typing is cramped, and movies are not immersive.
“In my opinion, the iPad 2 doesn’t even come close to providing $300 worth of extra value when compared to the Kindle Fire.”
What about the iPad 2? Let’s be clear here: the iPad 2 and Kindle Fire are two different types of devices. With a greater variety of apps and features, the iPad 2 is more closely related to a laptop than its tablet brethren. Instead of providing a large selection, the Kindle Fire offers a smoother and more integrated experience. The Kindle Fire is designed to be a media consumption device for Amazon’s content. It can seamlessly can access all of your Amazon content – books, MP3s, and movies can be instantly available to you in just a few taps. So is the iPad 2 worth the extra $300? No. In my opinion, the iPad 2 doesn’t even come close to providing $300 worth of extra value when compared to the Kindle Fire.
Meet the Kindle Fire. This concise review of Amazon's new tablet will help you learn more about this device.
“ Amazon Prime offers a Netflix-esque subscription plus 12 free books a year in addition to its free 2-day shipping.”
For Kindle Fire users, things get even better if you have Amazon Prime. Not only do Amazon Prime users get free 2-day shipping on all items ordered off Amazon.com, these lucky users can access 10,000 free movies and TV shows from Amazon Instant Video. Additionally, Amazon Prime users are able to choose a book a month to read on their Kindle Fire for free! In other words, Amazon Prime offers a Netflix-esque subscription plus 12 free books a year in addition to its free 2-day shipping.
Don’t have Amazon Prime? Don’t worry. After activating your Kindle Fire, you’ll get a free month of Amazon Prime to see if you like it.
The Kindle Fire's size allows you to comfortably hold it in your hand
We got sidetracked a little bit touting the benefits of Amazon Prime. Back to the Kindle Fire. What can do you with this Toasty Tablet?
I don’t know about you but my Kindle Fire is either in my bed or on my kitchen counter. It’s in my bed if I’m watching Netflix/Amazon Instant Video or if I’m a reading an e-book. Sometimes, I’ll use it to answer a late night email or to surf the web.
“It’s just quick and easy to power up my Kindle Fire and get the stuff I need done quickly.”
Most of the time, though, my Kindle Fire is smack dab on my kitchen counter. The Kindle Fire offers some excellent apps that I’ve incorporated into my morning routine like The Weather Channel. If I’m driving somewhere unfamiliar, I’ll check MapQuest for directions. And when I’ve come home from school and want to cook a nice meal, Jamie’s 20 Minute Meals and Pepperplate guide me through recipes step-by-step. It’s just quick and easy to power up my Kindle Fire and get the stuff I need done quickly. Like I said before, the Kindle Fire is convenient.
After mulling it over in my mind, I would classify the Kindle Fire as a value item. In fact, the Kindle Fire is the lowest priced tablet on the market right now. Costing only $200, Amazon is actually losing money every time someone makes a purchase. For this inexpensive price, the Kindle Fire unquestionably offers the most bang for your buck.
In the market for an affordable tablet? Kindle Fire is the way to go. Repeat shopper on Amazon.com? Put the Kindle Fire in your cart the next time you shop. Looking for a great gift to give to person who loves technology? Kindle Fire would be a superb choice.
If you found this review of the Kindle Fire useful, I humbly ask that you purchase your Kindle Fire through my affiliate link. Doing so helps this Santa Cruzian avoid finding a real job. =)
Now, it’s time to get nitty-gritty and explore each individual element of the Kindle Fire.
Here’s how I’m going to structure this review – The initial elements that I analyze are the stuff that I didn’t like. Quirks, design flaws, and poor UI – stuff like that.
The elements that I review in the middle and end of the post are the stuff that I did like – the features that made me want to buy the Kindle Fire in the first place.
Before we go any further, let me say this – the Kindle Fire is not a fully polished device. Because of its relative newness, there are still some weak spots in the Kindle Fire that make me hesitant to give it a perfect review.
An In-Depth Analysis of Amazon's Kindle Fire
That being said, the Kindle Fire (for sale at Amazon.com right now for $199.00) is probably the best value for your money right now. Why? Because it’s the cheapest tablet on the market right now. (Fun fact: Amazon is losing a few bucks every time they sell you a Kindle Fire. They’re relying on your future purchases to make back their money.) Barnes & Noble’s NOOK, the Kindle Fire’s direct competitor, costs $250 and gives near identical functionality. And Apple’s IPad 2, retailing at almost three times the cost of the Kindle Fire, doesn’t even come close to providing three times the value of the Kindle Fire.
“It’ll get the job done for a low cost, albeit it won’t be as polished an experience as Apple’s IPad.”
Let me break it down for you. The Kindle Fire is a device intended to consume Amazon’s content. Books. Music. Movies. The Kindle Fire can seamlessly access all of your Amazon media. So if you are an Amazon junkie, the Kindle Fire is a must-buy. It provides everything you need (and more!) to view any and all digital media from Amazon. But if you just want to surf the web on a cheap tablet and read a few e-books now and then, consider the Kindle Fire a good-buy. It’ll get the job done for a low cost, albeit it won’t be as polished an experience as Apple’s IPad.
If you’d prefer a video version of this review, please click the on the Youtube play button below.
For my review, I’m going to start with Kindle Fire’s worst features and move down to its best features. From the stuff that makes you want to gouge out Amazon’s eyes to the stuff that makes you want to bake them a dozen cookies.
Power Button Location – Reading the Steve Jobs biography (which comes free of charge) on the Kindle Fire. Just finishing up Chapter 2… click. Power off. Blank screen. Son of a gun! Click the power button to the turn the Kindle Fire back on. Reading… reading… reading… click. Gosh dang-it! Why the hell did they put the power button at the bottom of the Kindle Fire?
On the IPad and IPhone, the power button is put squarely on the front side. Not so with the Kindle Fire. It’s placed right now the bottom next to the audio jack and the micro-USB jack. This means that every 45 minutes or so of using the Kindle Fire, you’ll accidentally tap the power button and the screen will go blank. It only takes a few seconds to power down and and a few seconds to power up, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. But it is! It’s like a little itch that drives you crazy. It took me about two days of use before I stopped repeatedly turning off my Kindle Fire. Bad design, Amazon!
One thing in the power button’s favor, however, is that it lacks one of those annoying blue lights that manufacturer’s love to put on computers. My bedroom looks like a Christmas festival because of all the lights emitting from my servers and laptops. Kindle Fire doesn’t have this problem. And for that, I am grateful.
Volume Control – The Kindle Fire has beautiful speakers. These puppies can blast music better than Apple’s IPad. Crisp, clear sound – ideal for playing movies and listening to music. Because the Kindle Fire doesn’t have physical volume control (there’s no knob or scroll wheel on the side of the Kindle Fire), you have to change volume using Kindle Fire’s touch screen.
Most of the time, this isn’t a problem. But different apps like Netflix and Pandora have different locations for their volume control. You’re going to use a different volume control system for different apps. This means that sometimes you might have to hunt around the apps’ interface to change the volume. It’s a minor annoyance, and once you figure out how to change the volume on that particular app, the problem becomes negligible. Still, I would have appreciated either a physical volume control or a unified way of changing volumes across apps.
App Store – Looking through the Kindle Fire’s app store, you’ll find all the big brand apps. Netflix. Pandora. Magazines like The New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal. Popular games like Plants vs. Zombies and Angry Birds. Even quality business and organizational apps like EverNote and OfficeSuite Pro 5. Yet there is only about 10,000 apps in the Kindle Fire app store which is dwarfed by the 500,000 apps in the Apple app store.
But let’s be honest here. 450,000 of those apps from Apple are fluff - light saber simulators, beer pong games, and the like. You’ll find all the necessities in Kindle Fire’s app store. And to make up for the difference in numbers, Kindle Fire offers a free paid app everyday! Some of these apps cost upwards of $5, so be sure to check the app store daily to get these freebies.
That’s the bad stuff right there. On to the goodies!
Volume and Display – I’ve touched upon Kindle Fire’s crystal clear volume, but what about it’s display? Let me assure you that the Kindle Fire’s display is absolutely dazzling. Although it’s only 7 inches in size, Kindle Fire’s Vibrant Color IPS combined with a dual core processor makes for a fully immersive experience. Believe me when I say that Netflix looks and sounds gorgeous. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine to stay of late and watch Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. The galaxies have never looked this good.
Don’t forget that all of Amazon’s music is DRM-free. Once you buy music from Amazon, it’s yours forever. You can use it on any device you wish, even if Amazon one day closes shop. And when you do listen to Amazon’s music, because Amazon offers such a fast bitrate, you’ll be listening to high-quality music without compromise.
E-Reader - Books, magazines, or comic books. Pick your poison. They all look great on the Kindle Fire. Plus, you can intuitively use Kindle Fire’s touch navigation system to change pages, font sizes, and word spacing. Amazon wanted you to enjoy your reading experience with the Kindle Fire and they have more than succeeded. Night time reading is eye-strain-friendly with the Kindle Fire’s lighted cover. Day time reading outdoors is good, but not great. It helps to have some shade.
However, if you primarily want to use your Kindle Fire as an E-reader, consider purchasing a regular Kindle instead. It’s not leaps and bounds better than the Kindle Fire. Instead, there’s a slightly better navigation system. Slightly better display that is better suited for outdoor use. And slightly better control over the text. Slightly being the main keyword here. Like I said, the Kindle Fire is a great e-reader that is more than equipped to get the job done. The regular Kindle is just a wee bit better.
One of my favorite features of the Kindle Fire is it’s in-text dictionary. Simply highlight a word and Kindle Fire will find a definition for you. Another enjoyable aspect is Kindle Fire comic book zoom-in feature, which allows you to read panel by panel in comic books. Tap the panel when you’re done and it’ll zoom in on the next one.
Battery Life – 1.5 hours of use a day for seven days. That’s how long it took me before I had to recharge my Kindle Fire. Nice, eh? The Kindle Fire’s battery life makes it ideal for road trips. Download a book before you leave, and enjoy it during both the ride to and from your destination. How long does it take for the Kindle Fire to recharge? About 6 to 7 hours. I leave it plugged in overnight just to be safe.
Browser – The Amazon Silk browser is lightning fast. Utilizing the Amazon Web Services cloud, Amazon Silk takes only seconds or less to render a web page. Simply put, Amazon Silk is a better version of Apple’s Safari. And unlike the Safari, Amazon Silk is Adobe Flash-friendly which means that websites like Youtube are easily viewed. All the features that you want in a mobile browser – bookmarks, copy and paste text, dictionary, popup blocker, and downloading – are available in Amazon Silk. ‘Nuff said.
Freebies – Right from the bat, Kindle Fire includes 2 great e-books for your reading pleasure: the biography of Steve Jobs and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Even better, they’re are hundreds of classics available on the Kindle Fire for free. Modern books usually do cost something, but the Kindle Fire allows you to download and read the first chapter before buying. It’s a great feature that gives you the opportunity to see if you really want to get that book.
Cooking – Here’s something that I did not expect to use my Kindle Fire for. Having a tablet to display recipes while I cook makes life in the kitchen much easier. I don’t have to fuss around with a laptop or print out a recipe before using it. Pepperplate is a great recipe app for the Kindle Fire that can be downloaded for free!
Summary – Amazon’s Kindle Fire is a budget-friendly tablet that is designed to easily and seamlessly consume Amazon content. Add to that a fast browser, a good choice of apps, and a long battery life and you have a versatile device that is a great fit for the kitchen counter, the bedroom, or on the road.
Earlier, I said that the Kindle Fire was a value device. That point still stands. It is the cheapest tablet on the market right now, but it still manages to offer an extraordinary amount of features. The cost-to-benefit ratio, compared to other tablets (I’m looking at you iPad 2) being sold right now, is astronomical. There are some problems… but the cheap price point and quality sound and display have won me over. Kudos, Amazon. You have designed a quality product at an economical price. I highly recommend that you purchase your own Toasty Tablet.
If you enjoyed this review, I would appreciate it if you purchased your Kindle Fire through my affiliate link.
Amazon Prime is what makes me spend so much money with Amazon. Free 2-Day Shipping? Free Amazon Instant Videos? Free books for my Kindle Fire? Yes please! All of these benefits encourage me to frequently shop at Amazon. In this brief post, I’ll be reviewing the benefits of Amazon Prime for a Kindle Fire user like yourself.
And when you purchase your Kindle Fire, you’ll get a free month of Amazon Prime! There are no hidden agendas with this deal. No credit card information required. Just activate your Kindle Fire and the free month of Amazon Prime is yours.
It’s a nice gesture from Amazon that’s meant to encourage you to start spending money on your Kindle Fire.
You’ve probably heard that Amazon Prime members get free videos from Amazon. However, did you know that you are eligible to borrow a New York Times Bestseller as frequently as once a month! For example, right after purchasing your Toasty Tablet, you can rent Suzanne Collins Mockingjay, the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Or, if you’re into self-help books, check out Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Finally, if thrillers are your thing, check out A.K. Alexander’s Daddy’s Home. (Strongly recommend that you read that third one… it’s the epitome of a page-turner).
What about videos? I’d start watching The Tudors if you like Victorian-era drama, Sons of Anarchy for some good old fashioned violence, and Arrested Devolopment for a seriously underrated comedy series. How much overlap is there between Netflix and Amazon Instant Videos? Quite a bit, in fact. Amazon Instant Videos has only 10,000 videos… this is dwarfed by Netflix’s much larger collection. I estimate that Netflix has upwards of 100,000 movies and TV shows.
If I were to choose between Netflix and Amazon Prime, I think I’d go with Amazon Prime. Why? Let me review the benefits of Amazon Prime for a Kindle Fire user:
Free 2-day shipping on all orders which is usually twice as fast as Amazon’s normal Super Saver Shipping
$3.99 overnight shipping (this is really useful to get a product ASAP)
Join the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library and get a free book of your choice once a month. Since most books on the Kindle Fire cost around $9.99, the Lending Library can save you up to $120.
10,000 free movies and TV series – not nearly as large as Netflix’s selection but there’s still quite a lot of choice
So in the end, is Amazon Prime worth the $79/year price tag? I’d say yes. But don’t let me choose for you. See for yourself if you like Amazon Prime when you purchase your Kindle Fire. Order some items, watch some movies, read some free books – take advantage of Amazon Prime’s benefits to see if it’s truly worth the cost.
Warning – you know how grocery stores put candy bars right next to the register? That’s called an impulse buy. Amazon Prime is almost as bad. It streamlines your shopping experience and provides near instant gratification for your purchases. You might be spending more money than you intend to when you get Amazon Prime for your Kindle Fire.
I’ll admit it – I’m a Netflix junkie. For only 7.99/month, Netflix offers me more movies and TV shows than I could watch in a life time. And if you’re a Netflix junkie like me, the Kindle Fire will be your best friend. You can watch shows anywhere in your house – your bed, your kitchen, your toilet – the whole world is your oyster.
So here are 5 Netflix shows that are perfect for watching on your Kindle Fire.
1. FLCL (anime)
FLCL is an acronym for ‘Fooly Cooly’ which is a euphemism for fondling a woman. Stick with me here. FLCL is a coming of age story, telling the tale of a young boy’s interactions with a pyromaniac teenager, a homicidal alien, the evil corporation Medical Mechanica, and a host of other unique characters. Robots come out of the young boy’s head and he must defeat them to save the people he loves. It’s such a quirky story, but it really is heartwarming. Your eyes will tear up during the last episode. I guarantee it.
Warning: FLCL is one of the strangest shows you will ever see. You will either love it or hate it. Personally, I love it. So far, I’ve watched the entire 6 episode series 3 times. Oh, I forgot to mention. FLCL is astoundingly short – 6 episodes that are only 20 minutes long. Some of FLCL’s content is not kid appropriate – it’s best if you watch it by yourself on your Kindle Fire.
2. Breaking Bad
Chemistry teacher turned meth cooker, Walter White is one bad-ass dude. Breaking Bad is my guilty pleasure. It is exceptionally violent, brutal, and gritty. It tells it like it is in the meth community. I appreciate that. Walter White’s interactions with his partner Jesse Pinkman are fantastically funny. They offer some comic relief to the show’s dark realism.
Over the course of six seasons, Walter White moves from the rank of small-time meth cooker to drug kingpin. Over the course of this transformation, Walter White personality evolves. No longer is he a white collar average-Joe. He is a viscous and calculating murderer, willing to do anything to protect his meth enterprise and his family. Watch it if you dare!
3. Office Space
Hate your work? At least you’re not like insecure office drone Peter Gibbons. Peter works at Initech, a company run by soulless bureaucrats who take pleasure in abusing their workers under the facade of a cheery smile. Peter suffers the abuse, slowly becoming more and more depressed. But after seeing a hypnotherapist, Peter just doesn’t care anymore. He becomes one with apathy.
Ignoring his bosses, skipping out on work, and bypassing social protocol, Peter becomes truly happy. But when Michael and Samire, Peter’s two best friends at Initech, are fired, they plans to steal $300,000 over the course of a few years using a virus program. The virus malfunctions and Peter is forced to confront himself over who he really is. A fantastic 1990′s cult classic – give it a shot!
4. Mad Men
Mad Men explores the lives of MAd Men, cutthroat executives working in advertisement agencies during the 1960′s. This AMC series is extraordinarily well-written, examining social issues such as woman rights, segregation, and infidelity through the eyes of rich businessmen.
Jon Hamm plays the role of Don Draper, a man’s man who fights his way up the business ladder while attempting to save his marriage. There are three seasons of Mad Men right now on Netflix and fourth season is coming March 25th. It’s a great series to watch on your Kindle Fire.
So you just bought your Kindle Fire? Congratulations! It’s time for you to download some apps from the App Store. Unfortunately, the number of apps available for the Kindle Fire is quite small compared to the number of apps available for Apple products. That doesn’t mean, however, that there are no quality applications. Quite the opposite, in fact!
Here are 7 of my favorite applications for the Kindle Fire. Some of these are big brand apps. Some of these are indie apps. Both types, I find, are incredibly useful.
1. The Weather Channel
Ranked as one of the most popular Kindle Fire Apps, The Weather Channel offers up-to-date, accurate weather information. What are some of the features of The Weather Channel application? An hourly and 10-day forecast for precipitation. A three day forecast for snow accumulation (very useful for people living in Lake Tahoe like myself). A humidity chart showing the humidity for the day on a range between 0% and 100%. A partnership with Twitter that allows you to see what other people living in your city have to say about the weather. Emergency information in the case of natural disasters. Quality stuff, eh?
I’ve incorporated The Weather Channel into my morning routine. After waking up, I roll out of bed, shamble on over to the kitchen, brew a cup of coffee, power up my Toasty Tablet, and check the weather. It’s useful to know whether or not it will rain for that particular day, especially if you’re into outdoor sports like I am.
2. Netflix
Got a Netflix account? Say it with me – “I need the Netflix application on my Kindle Fire!” For only $7.99 a month, he Netflix application offers tens of thousands of movies, TV shows, and documentaries. One of my guilty pleasures is staying up late at night to watch an episode of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos or Breaking Bad (you should check out both of these TV series if you haven’t already).
Kindle Fire’s Netflix app has two quirks that bother me. Number one is the volume location. To change the volume, you have to tap the upper-right-hand corner of the screen. It’s not that intuitive so it took me quite a while to figure out. Numero dos is the search system. When you search for a keyword, Netflix only displays half a dozen results! You have to be ultra-specific to find the movie that you want to watch. So if you can’t remember the precise title, you’re out of luck.
3. Pandora
Greek mythology tells us the tale of Pandora, the first woman on Earth who opened up Pandora’s Box and released all that is evil into this world. Let me reassure you – the actual Pandora application is much more benign. Offering 100 radio stations, Pandora plays the music that you want to hear!
My favorite feature of Pandora’s is the choice between low-quality and high-quality music. Got a slow internet connection? Pick low-quality. Live in a big city with a fast speed internet connection? Choose high-quality music. Simple! It’s a quality app that is worth investigating.
4. MapQuest
Although the Toasty Tablet doesn’t (yet) offer 3G connection, MapQuest is still a very useful app to use at home. Plug in your start point, your end point, and MapQuest will take care of the rest. Displaying step-by-step directions alongside a map route, MapQuest can easily guide you from Point A to Point B. Plus, it’s free! (Author’s Note – All of these apps except for one are free at the time of this writing.)
5. Jamie’s 20 Minute Meals
Jamie Oliver, the British cooking sensation and food entrepreneur, has created an application that will allow you to cook gourmet-quality meals in the time it takes to read the morning newspaper. Jamie breaks down each meal step-by-step, showing you the proper you the proper way to chop, whip, bake, and serve each and every delicious dish.
Let me tell you that Jamie’s 20 Minute Meals is a great boon to my kitchen counter. When I get home from work, I’m frickin’ tired and hungry. I don’t want to search online for a recipe. I don’t want to browse through old cook books. I just want my meal fast. And Jamie’s 20 Minute Meals allows me to do that. The app is well-designed with no technical issues as far as I saw. Although it costs $7.99, that is less than a third the price of a brand new cookbook. Over 100 savory recipes are included with this app and more are added weekly. I strongly recommend you get this app.
6. Evernote
I can’t believe this application is free. It’s an all-in-one note system, creating a safe and searchable environment for everything worth remembering. Notes? Check. Photos? You bet. Websites? Good to go! Besides Netflix, Evernote is my favorite go-to application on the Kindle Fire. Amazon customers agree with me – nearly 1,000 of them have rated Evernote an astounding 4.5 stars.
Two new features on the Toasty Tablet’s Evernote are the PIN locking feature and the widget feature. PIN locking keeps your ideas and notes on Evernote safe – people are required to enter a 4 digit password before entering Evernote. The widget feature allows you to quickly jump to Evernote even if you’re on other applications. This would allow you to quickly save those great ideas before you forget them.
7. Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal
This app goes hand-in-hand with Jamie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals app. Providing a database of over half-a-million foods, MyFitnessPal allows you to see the nutritional content of anything you eat in just a few clicks. Not only does it count calories, MyFitnessPal offers exercise videos, nutritional advice, and weight reports – everything you need to stay healthy.
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