I'm moving on from my 1st gen iPad and I think I've decided on a Kindle Fire. The main reason is for the Amazon Prime content and loaner books.
Any reviews?
Any reviews?
Kindle Fire
- Thread starter vraiblonde
- Start date
mamatutu
mama to two
I don't own a kindle fire. I am a dinosaur, and still use the public library. However, I remembered this recent thread.
http://forums.somd.com/life-southern-maryland/285819-kindle-fire.html
ShyGirl
Active Member
I love my Kindle Fire, but dropped it and have to play with the charger connection to get it to charge.
I decided to get a new Kindle Fire 8.9 HDX, but not until it goes on sale. I am thinking there should be a sale around Easter.
Also, a good source for digital books is BookBub. You put in your genre preferences and the type of digital device you have. You receive daily email messages with Free or discounted books in the genre(s) that you specified.
I decided to get a new Kindle Fire 8.9 HDX, but not until it goes on sale. I am thinking there should be a sale around Easter.
Also, a good source for digital books is BookBub. You put in your genre preferences and the type of digital device you have. You receive daily email messages with Free or discounted books in the genre(s) that you specified.
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Tilted
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Is Amazon Prime content not available on other Android devices via an Amazon app? I know that it's available on iOS devices.
I could offer you lots of (more specific) feedback when it comes to various tablet choices. Up until a month or so ago we had 5 iPads and 2 Kindle Fires in my household, and I never pass up an opportunity to put my hands on and check out other tablet offerings. But, though there are certainly advantages and disadvantages that can be pointed out between respective devices, so much of the choice comes down to subjective considerations. My recommendation to almost everyone that asks me what to buy is that they put their own hands on different tablets and play with them for a while (or to the extent it's feasible to do so). It really comes down to what feels right to you.
That said, since you mention the Kindle Fire specifically, I would point out one basic difference in the business philosophy behind that device and most other tablet offerings. Amazon isn't trying to sell you a tablet so much as get a content portal into your hands. The other big players in this market (e.g. Samsung, Apple) are trying to make money selling you a piece of hardware. Amazon gives away hardware (perhaps even at a loss) in order to make it easier to sell you other stuff (which you, or course, don't have to buy or may want to buy anyway). As a business, Amazon isn't really trying to be a profitable company right now - it's trying to position itself to control (or otherwise be well positioned within) certain markets so that down the road it can capitalize and make money. Samsung and Apple are, for the most part, in the hardware business, and they're about making money not just in the future but now as well. The various implications of that basic difference on purchasers of their respective hardware may be self-explanatory, or it may not and I'll elaborate a bit if you care. But, to be clear, I'm not suggesting one philosophy is necessarily better or worse for customers. I myself like a lot of the tablet offerings out there, Amazon's included. It's just that people might want to understand the basics of the landscape when deciding what makes sense for them. Or not.
Anyway... coming from a first generation iPad, I suspect you'll be happy with most any of the modern tablet offerings. I know the first iPad is only about 4 years old, but improvements in this relatively new tablet form factor have come pretty fast. A mediocre (by comparison) product from today is going to compare favorably in a number of ways to even the best product from 4 years ago. And, anyway, looking back I think that first iPad was largely a proof of concept (that Apple could make tablets work commercially where none had been able to before) and laying the ground work for an ecosystem / marketplace that could take off when the next product - the iPad 2, what they really wanted to bring to market - was ready to go. That second generation iPad was really the start of the tablet market explosion, and it was already quite a substantial improvement on the original. My bigger point is, offerings from others (e.g. Samsung, HTC, Amazon) are substantial improvements on that original iPad (which you still have) as well.
somdfunguy
not impressed
I'm not a fan of color screens for reading so I would keep my basic Kindle for that. I would choose the HDX right now over an iPad based on cost alone. Amazon has apps on iOS for their prime offerings so that is a wash to me.
You can get a Kindle with offers. This is basically targeted advertising that has deep discounts on products only to those with the targeted Kindle.
You can get a Kindle with offers. This is basically targeted advertising that has deep discounts on products only to those with the targeted Kindle.
C
czygvtwkr
Guest
The only bad part about it is you are stuck with Amazons app store, but the Kindle Fire is the only tablet with access to the amazon streaming video.
If it wasn't for wanting the Amazon video I think this is a much better deal.
NOOK HD+ 9-inch Tablet - Barnes#&#Noble
Has access to Google Play, and can run Kindle (which is surprising that is allowed), which in my opinion is huge and the price is unbeatable.
If it wasn't for wanting the Amazon video I think this is a much better deal.
NOOK HD+ 9-inch Tablet - Barnes#&#Noble
Has access to Google Play, and can run Kindle (which is surprising that is allowed), which in my opinion is huge and the price is unbeatable.
See, that's the thing: I use my iPad almost solely for entertainment purposes. It's pretty much a glorified Kindle now, except I can't access Amazon's loaner books and some other Prime content. In fact, I'm still going back and forth about upgrading at all. My laptop goes with me on travel, so I don't need a tablet for that, and my phone pretty much does anything photo/FB/video related that I want when out and about.
The main problem is that my iPad has memory limitations that shut down apps when I'm in the middle of something. I'll be laying in bed reading the latest Cracked articles and the browser will spontaneously abort, or I'll be playing Help Me Fly and the app will crash. I also Skype with friends and family, and it would be nice to do that on a tablet instead of having to come downstairs and get on the laptop.
Ugh. I hate spending money and I hate making decisions.
The main problem is that my iPad has memory limitations that shut down apps when I'm in the middle of something. I'll be laying in bed reading the latest Cracked articles and the browser will spontaneously abort, or I'll be playing Help Me Fly and the app will crash. I also Skype with friends and family, and it would be nice to do that on a tablet instead of having to come downstairs and get on the laptop.
Ugh. I hate spending money and I hate making decisions.
C
czygvtwkr
Guest
Ah, I think you might like the Kindle Fire then. Personally I would buy the cheaper last years model and it becomes alot easier to swallow when you decide to upgrade again.
I love my Nook HD but when it dies I won't cry because it was only $129.
Cracked is one of my favorite websites too.
I love my Nook HD but when it dies I won't cry because it was only $129.
Cracked is one of my favorite websites too.
kom526
They call me ... Sarcasmo
Ok, you can get an ipad w/ At&t so you can use a cell signal to browse or work on the internet. Can you do that with a Kindle HDX or do you need wi fi?
I was using an ipad mini last night at our campaign meeting and I was able to edit the website pretty easily after I got used to using such a small platform. Our club also uses an ipad as point of sale for our events which is REALLY handy for us and for our patrons who would rather use a cc to pay admission so they drink beer with their cash.
I was using an ipad mini last night at our campaign meeting and I was able to edit the website pretty easily after I got used to using such a small platform. Our club also uses an ipad as point of sale for our events which is REALLY handy for us and for our patrons who would rather use a cc to pay admission so they drink beer with their cash.
C
czygvtwkr
Guest
Yes there are AT&T and Verizon versions. Not sure if they are a monthly fee or not, at one point in time you could buy one that had 3G for life, but I think the 3G was on sprint.
if the latest iPad is anything like the iPhone 5S it should be pretty awesome
... going from a 4s w/iOS 5.11 to the latest iPhone is nice ... the 5S is zippy responsive ....
[never upgrade because I missed the jailbreak for 6.13 when Apple rolled out 6.14 crushing the jail break for 4S / iOS 6 ]
I did find this researching the loaner issue
Amazon.com: Customer Discussions: can I borrow books from Kindle for my iPad ?
also only 'borrowing' 12 books a yr for $ 79 seems pricy
Tilted
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I assume you're referring to Amazon's own Lending Library, not to lending books per-to-per? Because you can still do the latter and read the books on the iPad. As for the former, yeah that kinda sucks but it's Amazon's small way of promoting its own device and limiting the costs (to them) of the Prime membership.
About the other Prime content you refer to - are you talking about the free (to stream) movies available with Prime? Are some of them not available through the Amazon iPad app? I thought all of them were.
Tilted
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It's a monster. Apple is doing great things now with designing its own silicon rather than just settling for using essentially off-the-shelf stuff.
If I go with something other than Kindle, it won't be another iPad. I hate iPad. I hate Apple. Any time I've ever bought an Apple device it's been a PITA and I've always been sorry. Their products should stand alone and not require one to use another. I don't want to be tied into iTunes or i-anything; if I have to be monopolized by something like that I'd rather it be Amazon because they're not flighty like Apple and they offer more.
What do you think of Galaxy? I have the S4 phone and like it okay.
somdfunguy
not impressed
somdfunguy
not impressed
You don't need to be "tied" to itunes other than having an itunes account which you already have. The first version of the ipad required that because they hadn't created all the cloud "stuff." As was said earlier it was a beta version, and if you are still using it no wonder you hate it. Attaching to a PC is no longer required, Ive never hooked up my ipad to my PC. I had to have mine replaced last week and all I did was hit the backup button on my old one, it went to the "cloud" and then signed in on the new one and all my stuff was there.
