Kindle Fire 7" Tablet Now Shipping $199 - New Kindles From $79 - Reviews are out

[quote name='Tsel']Alright so I might be getting a Fire for Christmas and I was just wondering, how's the internal memory? Any of you finding that 8GB just isn't enough?[/QUOTE]

8GB is more than enough because the Kindle Fire is Cloud based, meaning all of your data is always on Amazon's servers. So if you delete it you can redownload it anytime you want.
 
[quote name='hufferstl']quick question - I bought a kindle for my gf for xmas, and I have an amazon prime account. Is her kindle linked to her amazon account, or is there some benefit of her using my prime account to get her books?

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Two big advantages to linking her Kindle Fire to your Prime account would be the Instant Watch Videos and the lending service (one book per month). My wife and I just have our Kindles linked to the same account so we don't have to buy the same content twice.

For those looking for more positive feedback on the Fire, I've had mine for about a month now and I'm enjoying it highly. Keep in mind I don't have an iPad though. But I also don't use the Fire for much more than reading books, comics, and occasional web browsing. I find that I do get the occasional eye strain from reading on it versus reading on a regular Kindle. I probably shouldn't be using a computer, a Kindle Fire, a 3DS, and a television in one day.
 
Do all target stores have clearance sections for video games, and if so where would it be? I was thinking of heading down to Target to check it out. Also, does it matter if it's a super target?
 
The Kindle Fires are very, very nice for $200 and a great alternative for those who want a cheap tablet. I'd go so far to say as I'd get it over any other Android tablet on the market save for MAYBE a xoom.

And yes, it costs more, but you can not beat an iPad 2 for a tablet. I use mine more than my laptop or desktop.
 
it's awesome after you sideload Go launcher , dolphin browser, a screen dimmer app , mobi reader, and a few others.

out of the box the software feels clunky and thrown together. I don't like silk either, first day i got it and the browser stopped working, it would just try to load a page and sit there when it was working fine a few minutes prior and all other net services ie. app store, netflix, were working. Had to factory reset to get it to work again. installed dolphin and will probably never try silk again.
 
[quote name='metallicoholic']Two big advantages to linking her Kindle Fire to your Prime account would be the Instant Watch Videos and the lending service (one book per month). My wife and I just have our Kindles linked to the same account so we don't have to buy the same content twice.

For those looking for more positive feedback on the Fire, I've had mine for about a month now and I'm enjoying it highly. Keep in mind I don't have an iPad though. But I also don't use the Fire for much more than reading books, comics, and occasional web browsing. I find that I do get the occasional eye strain from reading on it versus reading on a regular Kindle. I probably shouldn't be using a computer, a Kindle Fire, a 3DS, and a television in one day.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, the Kindle Fire is great if you buy lots of stuff from Amazon which I do and 2 day free shipping is a bonus as well as borrowing books from the Kindle Library which I have done as well as watching free shows and movies as well. I own two other Tablets (Samsung Galaxy 10.1 and HP Touchpad) and the Fire gets used the most. I do plan on buying the iPad 3 when it's announced.
 
[quote name='joeyshadows']Can't decide between this and the playbook. :|[/QUOTE]
Um that should be easy. Do you have a Blackberry Phone? If the answer is no, move on. The makers of the Playbook are having financial troubles atm.
 
Just got this for Christmas. seems okay but am not terribly jaw droppingly impressed yet.

What are some must-have apps?

Perferably free.

Also any kid apps suggestions are welcome. (Perferably jigsaw puzzle type games or dot-to-dot)
 
[quote name='eldergamer']Just got this for Christmas. seems okay but am not terribly jaw droppingly impressed yet.

What are some must-have apps?

Perferably free.

Also any kid apps suggestions are welcome. (Perferably jigsaw puzzle type games or dot-to-dot)[/QUOTE]

Sprectrum (or Spectral?) Puzzles is a nice jigsaw puzzle app that I like to play on my Android phone.
 
I got one as a gift from work. I do not like the Kindle Fire, to be honset. I rooted it and put GoLauncher on it to better mimic a tablet (and put the real Android market on it), but the touchscreen isn't as good as most others and it doesn't have the processing power or the memory to really pull its weight. The lack of physical buttons (back, home, volume) is also a massive pain in the butt. Plus, reading is better on my eink Kindle substantially; the Kindle Fire's glass gives wicked glare under most lighting, which gives me headaches.
Personally, if you are getting one to read books, get an eink kindle and save some bucks. If you want it because of its tablet capabilities, save up a bit more and get either a real Android tablet or an iPad.

But it does play my SNES emulator pretty damn good, and it has A Bit of Fry and Laurie on Amazon Prime Streaming, so it wasn't a total loss. :p
 
For me the Kindle Fire is about proliferation and hopefully a good amount of market saturation due to the Amazon name backing it.

The device is being hacked quite thoroughly only a month-ish out. There are a lot of people banging on the thing and the recovery tools are already at a solid point where ROM flashing is quick, easy, and surprisingly safe.

CM7 is out and working well, ICS is in testing, and people are already floating ideas/private-alphas of various linux distros with touch-panel support. (Ubuntu being the obvious one)

Somewhere between the $199 price-point and the ease of rooting/hacking the device lies a very interesting entry vector for tech enthusiasts.
 
Reading text in the web browser (on things like wikipedia or any news site) is way too small. Unless I'm doing something wrong.

No volume control buttons on the side are a pain too.

A few questions?

1. Is there any way to turn off the Order Notification Emails? I dont need 5-10 emails from amazon showing up each day for every FREE App I'm downloading.

2. I accidently "borrowed" a childrens book through the kindle lending library by mistake. Now it says I can't borrow another one until January. Can't I return the book early?

3. You tube only brought up a list of 10 "selected" videos to choose from. Can I not search through them?

4. What news reader should I use? I wouldnt mind checking something like Google News through here but the text is to small and I'm not good at dragging yet.

5. Scrolling through a list jumps too fast. do I have the sensitivity too high?

6. I'm a total tablet "newb" . What's the deal with Rooting? I presume it's got something to do with loading your own choice of Android OS? Why would I want to do so?
 
My wife got her Fire for Christmas this morning and is loving it! The latest update seems to have solved several issues and security concerns.

Far as you tube, are you using the you tube app or just going straight to you tube.com? I installed the app on hers and we can search for anything.

Have you installed the latest update?
 
[quote name='krashhole']My wife got her Fire for Christmas this morning and is loving it! The latest update seems to have solved several issues and security concerns.

Far as you tube, are you using the you tube app or just going straight to you tube.com? I installed the app on hers and we can search for anything.

Have you installed the latest update?[/QUOTE]

For youtube, you have to sideload the app. Just going to youtube.com it will block a ton of content.
 
My girlfriend is loving hers. Some of the complaints on this thread are issues from more than ur avg juser. Wish itg had vol. Buttons but its not a deal breaker. The browser has been surprisingly fast for us.
 
Loving mine so far. Its a better experience than my Evo 4g but not as good as an ipad so its in line with expectations. I do agree about the lack of volume buttons being my greates complaint
 
[quote name='eldergamer']
6. I'm a total tablet "newb" . What's the deal with Rooting? I presume it's got something to do with loading your own choice of Android OS? Why would I want to do so?[/QUOTE]

Increased functionality and better customization.

Some of that can be had without rooting the device by simply installing a different launcher like GO Launcher EX but to really open the device up and get the actual Android Market on there and working well you pretty much have to root the thing if not ditch the Amazon ROM entirely for CM7 or ICS.

If you just want to dip your toes in without losing anything official then you'll have to search around for *.APK downloads and see what can be done without rooting the device. (assuming that whatever you want isn't on the Amazon App Store of course)

You can basically hack it as much or as little as you want depending on your comfort level and what you want/need out of customization/functionality.

I have TWRP (recovery/backup/flashing) and CM7 on it now and I'd never go back to the stock Amazon ROM. It's just too limiting for my needs.
 
what I've been hearing of a "sluggish" web browser has been turning me off, otherwise I kind of wanted one. $200 is not a bad price for a first tablet.
 
[quote name='pdjones']what I've been hearing of a "sluggish" web browser has been turning me off, otherwise I kind of wanted one. $200 is not a bad price for a first tablet.[/QUOTE]

I don't know why that should stop you. If you're not pleased with the stock browser, you can always download the Dolphin Browser which is very fast
 
[quote name='pdjones']what I've been hearing of a "sluggish" web browser has been turning me off, otherwise I kind of wanted one. $200 is not a bad price for a first tablet.[/QUOTE]

Well I have used it to browse on the internet a bit and didn't notice it being sluggish really. My wife bought me one for Christmas, I am happy with what it can do for the $200 price tag.
 
The Amazon Silk browser is fine. It's their opt-out tracking that's more bothersome than any surfing speed issues.

I use the Firefox Beta as it's the only one which allows me to setup sync with the desktop version. (Firefox, Aurora, and Nightly all don't offer the sync option...or I never found it) I'd love to use Aurora as with Windows but I gots to have my sync.

Kinda odd that Google doesn't offer more in the way of Chrome/Canary/Chromium for Android. *shrug*
 
We have to keep in mind that, while not released in a vacuum, the Kindle Fire is Amazon's first real attempt at a multi-touch color tablet whereas Apple and others are working on their 3rd+ iterations at this point.
 
I don't see how you can compare them even in the slightest. One is $199 brand new. The other starts at $499 and goes up from there. Totally different markets.
 
[quote name='b3b0p']I don't see how you can compare them even in the slightest. One is $199 brand new. The other starts at $499 and goes up from there. Totally different markets.[/QUOTE]

I agree. Kindle fire is great for someone like me. Cant just spending 500 on a tablet but like the features a tablet has to offer. It offers the core tablet features at a very low price. It does everything I need it to do.
 
I finally got around to unrooting and playing with my Fire yesterday. SO much potential this thing has for $200 once you get past the initial setup. It's not a iPad, never will be but it's enough for me paired with my iPhone. Also is a nice size to stick in your lunchbag or even a pocket, iPad can't do that. lol

Also Amazon web browser is a total POS. Dolphin browser is so fast it's like a new machine.
 
I sold my 64gb Playbook the week that I got it. It was too expensive and even though the OS was nice, I'm just not comfortable hanging out with a sinking company. Android + Amazon is an amazing combination. I just flashed CM7 on my Kindle Fire last night and now the tablet is amazing.
 
[quote name='DangKid']I sold my 64gb Playbook the week that I got it. It was too expensive and even though the OS was nice, I'm just not comfortable hanging out with a sinking company. Android + Amazon is an amazing combination. I just flashed CM7 on my Kindle Fire last night and now the tablet is amazing.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, RIM is my only doubt with the tablet, most likely will end up with the fire.
 
I'm trying to find the guide to getting the Android Market working without rooting but I'm thinking that the thread got killed because it never worked properly.

You could always Google for the *.APK if it's not on the Amazon App store.

XDA is a great resource.
 
For the guys that are rooting these, how do you feel about security and whatnot? I like to check my bank accounts and stuff and don't know if I trust putting a third party software on it
 
My understanding is that the versions of the official Amazon ROM prior to the latest 6.2.1 have a boot-level security hole which allows for spoofing so egregious that anyone could instigate a man-in-the-middle attack and basically access anything and everything personal on the device and even turn it into a paperweight. (it's actually the why as to 6.2.1 breaking the previous rooting methods)

So staying official isn't exactly a bastion of security either.

The Android OS is more open than the customized version which Amazon is using but either way any ROM/*.IMG/whatever anyone releases can be ripped apart given the proper tools and/or setup.

So if you stick to ROMs from sources that are known/trusted then everything should be just fine as the same tools that those individuals are using to image/compile builds are available to anyone and everyone looking to find them.
 
Could someone with a kindle fire try viewing live streams on ustream or twitchtv? This is one of the main things i want to do with a tablet, watch fighting game streams in bed or on the couch without having to set up the laptop.

The transformer 1 loaded twitchtv live streaming just fine, and the ipad 2 has an app that handles it, just wondering if the fire can handle that kind of flash video content in its browser as well, since its cheaper and reports seem to be that with dolphin installed, web browsing is quite good.

I'm leaning towards waiting for the Transformer prime or getting the ipad 2 (i fucking hate itunes though) but i'm not sure. Transformer Prime is hard to get and hearing rumors of flaws in the first batches and i'm not a huge fan of android, but it probably is the best price/value tablet out there. $100 more for thes same size 32gb ipad 2 sucks.
 
I bought my parents a Fire for Christmas + Birthday gift.

My dad is a geek, but not like technical geek. Is there anything really fucking cool I can help him with on the Fire to get make it totally awesome! He probably wouldn't mind at least *trying* a jailbreak I know after discussing what he can do with it. Just looking for friendly suggestions.

Are there any stupendous apps or something I need to get on this bad boy for him?
 
[quote name='jer7583']Could someone with a kindle fire try viewing live streams on ustream or twitchtv? This is one of the main things i want to do with a tablet, watch fighting game streams in bed or on the couch without having to set up the laptop.

The transformer 1 loaded twitchtv live streaming just fine, and the ipad 2 has an app that handles it, just wondering if the fire can handle that kind of flash video content in its browser as well, since its cheaper and reports seem to be that with dolphin installed, web browsing is quite good.

I'm leaning towards waiting for the Transformer prime or getting the ipad 2 (i fucking hate itunes though) but i'm not sure. Transformer Prime is hard to get and hearing rumors of flaws in the first batches and i'm not a huge fan of android, but it probably is the best price/value tablet out there. $100 more for thes same size 32gb ipad 2 sucks.[/QUOTE]

Excellent choices indeed, but if the choice is iPad vs Android I would always get the iPad. Period. It's a no brainer after dealing with both. Apple currently owns this market and has the most support around them in the retail, developer community. Plus look at it this way, you can probably buy the iPad, keep it for 6-12 months and sell it for much more than the Transformer. If you get the Transformer, well, it will probably be worthless within a couple weeks of owning it. It's just *another* tablet, but in the eyes of the consumer, not so. Just look at all the Galaxy Tab's on the Craig's List. No one is buying them and people can't get even half of what they paid already.

Plus, you have to admit, and I'm a developer for these things, the iTunes sucks with it's restrictions, but it is also the better of all the app stores. In my opinion. More eyes, more willing to pay, marketing, and more money to be made.

Pick up the cheapest or the most expensive. Skip the middles. If you can afford the most expensive one, get it. I would ditch 3G since everything is 4G now it seems.
 
[quote name='b3b0p']Excellent choices indeed, but if the choice is iPad vs Android I would always get the iPad. Period. It's a no brainer after dealing with both. Apple currently owns this market and has the most support around them in the retail, developer community. Plus look at it this way, you can probably buy the iPad, keep it for 6-12 months and sell it for much more than the Transformer. If you get the Transformer, well, it will probably be worthless within a couple weeks of owning it. It's just *another* tablet, but in the eyes of the consumer, not so. Just look at all the Galaxy Tab's on the Craig's List. No one is buying them and people can't get even half of what they paid already.

Plus, you have to admit, and I'm a developer for these things, the iTunes sucks with it's restrictions, but it is also the better of all the app stores. In my opinion. More eyes, more willing to pay, marketing, and more money to be made.

Pick up the cheapest or the most expensive. Skip the middles. If you can afford the most expensive one, get it. I would ditch 3G since everything is 4G now it seems.[/QUOTE]

I was mostly referring to how itunes is a pain in the ass to manage media library and how slow it is to update and transfer new content over to your device.

I think that calling the TFP "just another android tablet" is a little bit silly too. It's the first quad core tablet, the first android tablet that will have android 4.0, the tablet with the best battery life (ipad included), and it has double the storage of the equally priced, but less powerful ipad 2 model.
 
I got my lighted case for (cheap) Kindle, but I have mixed feelings about it. The case itself is very nice, and the light works well enough (darker at the bottom of the screen, but it's good enough and doesn't seem to pull too much power). However due to how it's designed, the light shines straight down the face of the page. I.e. the light doesn't shine down on the page. The problem with this is I feel like the light is shining in my eyes too. I have to tilt the Kindle inward more then feels normal in order to keep it from shining in my eyes. Probably I'll get use to it, but I'm not sure.
 
[quote name='eldergamer']Okay. I'm new. How do I "side-load" that app? Signing in through my google account ony lets me send it to my virgin mobile phone.[/QUOTE]

I downloaded ES File Explorer from the Amazon App Store, then I just download the .apk to my desktop, and copy the .apk into the ES File Explorer app on the Kindle Fire via USB.
 
I'm not computer savvy, but how does the Fire compare to hte Nook Color. I bought the nook color and the micro sd card with Android and like it so far, but the web browsing is slow and ANdroid market keeps giving an error -101 when I try to buy stuff. Not much info online about the error, but speculation about them throttling people who download too much (I just bought a couple games and a few freebies). I jsut want a machine to make videos for the kids, put games on it and web browse, but am not comfortable enough to root a Amazon fire, but am just talking about the stock firmware of the fire compared to the android application on the Nook Color. I paid $130 for the nook color (refurb) including the 8gb micro sd with the android stuff.
 
[quote name='romodome']I'm not computer savvy, but how does the Fire compare to hte Nook Color. I bought the nook color and the micro sd card with Android and like it so far, but the web browsing is slow and ANdroid market keeps giving an error -101 when I try to buy stuff. Not much info online about the error, but speculation about them throttling people who download too much (I just bought a couple games and a few freebies). I jsut want a machine to make videos for the kids, put games on it and web browse, but am not comfortable enough to root a Amazon fire, but am just talking about the stock firmware of the fire compared to the android application on the Nook Color. I paid $130 for the nook color (refurb) including the 8gb micro sd with the android stuff.[/QUOTE]

The stock Fire is pretty good. Dont know about making videos on it...but it streams well and resolution is clear and crisp. Been playing some games like madden 12 and NFS Shift and there is 0 slowdown on the Fire. I rooted the fire because i wanted the Google Market on there. Plus i wanted to load my emulators on it since i cant seem to find them on both market places. The nook color i hear is a little slower in general compared the fire. The Nook tablet is what you would want in terms of power and if you want the Android OS. I didnt get the nook tablet because i fear that B&N may not be around much longer and support for it could die. As for throttling users. i havent felt any of that yet since its over a WiFi connection. Couldnt see how their bandwidth would get destroyed unless people downloaded the same app at the same time.
 
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