Must Have Apps For Kindle Fire HD?

So I've had an iPad 1 for awhile now, but some games are now coming out (and have been, if I think about it) that are not compatible.  Most use some bullshit "needs a front facing camera" but there's no legitimate reason that should be a mandatory thing.  Plants Vs. Zombies 2 REQUIRES a camera because there's now the OPTION of uploading your face as the avatar. 

So I'm going to be selling this to a buddy of mine and with that money + some other money they owe me, I'm going to get a Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 32GB wifi model.

Now I've never used Kindle Fire HD or Android or any of that stuff.   The thing I use the iPad for the most is A. Games - mostly casual types like Where's My Water, Plague Inc (amazing game btw!), Plants vs. Zombies, etc) B. Reading books via iBooks and C. Reading Comic Books via a fantastic app called Comic Glass.

Now my main concern with getting a Kindle Fire HD is that I want to be able to get a quality Comic Book Reader.  Now apparently Comic Glass is not available on the Android for whatever reason.  It's a killer app and it costs only $2.99.  I swear I can't imagine using another app, but it looks like I may have to.

My thing is this: I hate the Comixology app, the Marvel/DC/Etc apps that are all basically Comixology's layout or whatever.  I don't want a program that's going to let me buy comics through them, necessarily, I want one that will let me import my own personal collection of .CBR's or .CBZ's.

Is there a Comic Book app for that?  Not one that's a frontend market place.  I'll use one of those for that, but I want one that is strictly to read my own comics.

And finally, what are some must have Apps on the Kindle Fire HD that you think I should check out?  Keeping in mind, the majority of stuff I'll do with it (not counting the Amazon Prime stuff I'll be partaking in such as Amazon Instant Video, the music cloud streaming, etc) is reading and gaming.

But now that I'll have a camera, I may try some instagram fun or something. Nothing that will keep me from being Mayor of New York, of course, but something.

Thanks for everyone's help, whoever helps.

just wondering, is there some reason you are choosing the Kindle Fire over say a straight up Android tablet like the Nexus 7? They can do pretty much everything the Kindle can, but you aren't locked in with amazon and whatever apps they happen to have available (which trust me, is not anywhere near the amount available on the play store alone). Just curious because I would definitely recommend one of them over a kindle fire (nothing against the hardware, but if you aren't going to root it it doesn't seem like the best move IMO)

Well the Ipad 1 was the only tablet I'd ever had, so I'm not super familiar with all the different tablets out there and which one does what better, etc.

Now I was looking at the prices, and I like that I can get a 32GB 8.9" tablet for $300 (plus taxes of course) and since I have Amazon Prime it'll let me consolidate all my Amazon stuff (cloud music/instant videos/books) into one spot there.  Also since I have Amazon Prime that means I'll have the tablet in hand in 2 days for free shipping.

I think the Google one was a bit more, but if as you said it was a better one, then that'd be worth the difference I suppose.

Was considering rooting it. I've jailbroken my iPad 1 and I love the "infinidock" and "infinifolders" tweak, as well as the one to reset the achievements so I can re-earn them in the games.  Beyond that though...not really familiar with the rooting/jailbreaking etc.

Plus I'm hesitant to do that with the Amazon Tablet because I don't know if they'll lock me out of my account and there goes thousands in purchases (I've got a truly staggering amount of music purchased on here, plus I just re-upped my Prime account).

What are the benefits of the Nexus over the Kindle Fire HD 8.9?  What benefits of rooting are there?  Risks of getting my tablet bricked by Amazon/Google?

Much thanks for the response!

Just did a quick search on the Kindle Store for apps, and while there's about 9 games/apps that I use that aren't on there, only a few are ones that I use constantly.

The apps that I use that are not there are:

ComicGlass

Mirror's Edge
Zombie Gunship
Cuboid
Tapper HD
4 Elements HD
4 Elements HD II
Tesla Wars HD
AppsGoneFree
VUDU

Click to expand...

However the ones that I DO use that ARE on there.

Plague Inc
Where's My Water
Where's My Perry
Plants Vs. Zombies
Kingdom Rush
Sprinkle HD
Bejeweled HD
Flick Kick Football (Soccer)
Dumb Ways To Die
Flight Control HD
Super STickman Golf
Dice With Buddies

Click to expand...

As long as I find a decent comic book app that lets me read my own collection, I should be fine.

As far as I know you can do everything a Kindle Fire does on a Nexus 7 (and most other Android tablets), including amazon content (you can download the amazon app store, music store, and kindle store and get all your content through them). The price is probably the biggest deciding factor, so you'll have to decide if having more options for customization and content sources (Nexus 7) is more or less important than having a bigger screen and internal storage (Kindle Fire).

I don't think you have to worry about getting locked out of your amazon account by rooting it, as tons of people do it and I've yet to hear of amazon permanently banning accounts outside of actual fraud. I can't give any specifics on it since I don't own a fire, but it isn't particularly difficult if you google around to find instructions on how to do it.

So breaking it down, here are the main differences:

Nexus 7

Price: 8GB/$229 32GB/$289 (2012 Model 32GB/$199, not HD)

Screen: 7" 1920x1200 Resolution

Content Sources: Google Play Store, Amazon App Store, Downloaded APKs (Humble Bundle, Indie Gala, Groupees, and various other sites)

Kindle Fire HD

Price: 16GB/$269 32GB/$299 (Includes "Special Offers" AKA ads on your lock screen, $14 to remove them)

Screen: 8.9" 1920x1200 Resolution,

Content Sources: Amazon App Store

Obviously that is only a very basic overview of them, but to me at least the choice is obvious. Unless you really want the bigger screen, I don't see any pros to the Kindle when the Nexus has a better screen, more options for app acquisition, and a lower price tag. I suggest you do some googling and read some reviews before you buy one, as there are a lot better comparisons that should make it easier to decide. Either way hope this helped a bit

It DOES help.  Deciding whether or not the 7" is too small for me or not.  As I said 99% of what I do on it is playing casual games + reading books/comic books.

The Price is a huge selling point (see what I did there?) and I did not realize the 32GB for Nexus was $289. I was on the site the other day and didn't see that.  Although I think I spent more time on the larger Nexus.

I appreciate your response.

What I would suggest is head over to a gamestop or bestbuy and try them out for yourself. Going from an ipad to a 7" might be a bit drastic I suppose, so it would probably be best to get your hands on one before you pull the trigger (at least that's what I would do).

Happy to help, hope you like whichever you decide on

Thanks.  BTW: by going with a 7" I now can get one of these amazing ebook jackets from "Out of Print Clothing".

They did a Kickstarter awhile back and I would have jumped in, but they only cover the 7" tablets + the iPad 2/3.  No covering the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" or the iPad 1's.

These babies are gorgeous though.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/286387158/out-of-print-ebook-jackets-for-ipad-kindle-fire

Holy shit, I just saw a comparison in size from iPad to the 7" tablet.  Think this is a tad bit too small for me.  The 8.9" is smaller than the iPad but not by a whole lot.  This though is a bit to far for me, since all I've ever known really is the iPad 1.

yeah, it's definitely a big difference, so it might not be what you are after. I still think though that you should try one out in a store for yourself, as I have heard from a bunch of people that they actually prefer the size to bigger tablets, since it makes it easier to hold and still provides a lot of real estate for apps and content. Another thing worth pointing out, the difference in PPI (pixels per inch) going from an iPad 1 to a Nexus 7 is going to be huge, almost double in fact (132 to 216), so even though the screen is smaller everything will look a lot sharper and overall better.

Sounds like the Kindle Fire is more what you are looking for, but I just figured it was worth mentioning