233 replies to this topic

[SaveBooFerriss]

Please give me some advice here.

I have never had a e-reader or tablet. I use my work Blackberry Storm (likely moving to iphone soon), my laptop and my Ipod for all of my electronic needs.

I got a hint that my mother and sister were getting me a kindle for my birthday. I thought it would be a kindle fire, but instead I got a kindle touch.

Should I talk to them about trading it for a Kindle Fire (I am more than happy to pay the additional costs) and possibly sound like an ungrateful bastard or do I just enjoy the e-reader and get a Ipad or other tablet on my own and be a grateful gift receiver?

I am a pretty low tech guy.

[Jimy Hendrix]

Please give me some advice here.

I have never had a e-reader or tablet. I use my work Blackberry Storm (likely moving to iphone soon), my laptop and my Ipod for all of my electronic needs.

I got a hint that my mother and sister were getting me a kindle for my birthday. I thought it would be a kindle fire, but instead I got a kindle touch.

Should I talk to them about trading it for a Kindle Fire (I am more than happy to pay the additional costs) and possibly sound like an ungrateful bastard or do I just enjoy the e-reader and get a Ipad or other tablet on my own and be a grateful gift receiver?

I am a pretty low tech guy.

Well, are you mostly interested in reading ebooks, or would you like to be watching videos/browsing the web/playing games/etc.?

The e-ink Kindles are better for pure reading, as the batteries last longer, the screen is nicer to look at text on for long periods of time and they're lighter/smaller. The Fire, obviously, lets you do a bunch more things, but will have shorter battery life, be bulkier & heavier and be not as easy on the eyes for book reading.

Edited by Jimy Hendrix, 22 November 2011 - 03:39 PM.

[SaveBooFerriss]

Well, are you mostly interested in reading ebooks, or would you like to be watching videos/browsing the web/playing games/etc.?

The e-ink Kindles are better for pure reading, as the batteries last longer, the screen is nicer to look at text on for long periods of time and they're lighter/smaller. The Fire, obviously, lets you do a bunch more things, but will have shorter battery life, be bulkier & heavier and be not as easy on the eyes for book reading.

I don't do any gaming. I use my laptop or blackberry for browsing/watching videos now, but likely would us ea tablet for that. I probably will mostly use it for reading.

[Rudi Fingers]

Yep. They are both running off of the same playbook.

Nonetheless, I bought one at Radioshack at lunch today. Will report back.

You have the same 9930/Playbook combo that I have. The free 3G, piggybacking off your Blackberry connection via Bluetooth, is a nice feature.

[Orange Julia]

Oh that reminds me. Can i tether my android phone to this, like i do with my laptop?

[CoRP]

You have the same 9930/Playbook combo that I have. The free 3G, piggybacking off your Blackberry connection via Bluetooth, is a nice feature.

For $199 I couldn't turn it down. Runs great. I'm going to buy another one tomorrow so my sons have one to video chat with me when I'm away.

[Rudi Fingers]

For $199 I couldn't turn it down. Runs great. I'm going to buy another one tomorrow so my sons have one to video chat with me when I'm away.

For your sons (or for you) - check out the EA games for the PlayBook - they were clearly paid by RIM to develop games for the platform and they are really well done. Really.

Free (launch titles): Need for Speed: Underground and Tetris
Cheap: Madden NFL 12 ($3.99) and Dead Space ($4.99)
Haven't tried yet: SimCity, Bejeweled 2, Geme of Life

[AlNipper49]

For $199 I couldn't turn it down. Runs great. I'm going to buy another one tomorrow so my sons have one to video chat with me when I'm away.

For your sons sake I hope it gets lost in the mail. You have a face made for the telephone.

[Orange Julia]

For $199 I couldn't turn it down. Runs great. I'm going to buy another one tomorrow so my sons have one to video chat with me when I'm away.

I doubt they let you have one of these in prison.

[Zomp]

Okay so I think I may buy one for my girlfriend for Christmas. What do I need besides the Kindle?

I'm thinking a case, a cover, and an Amazon gift card for $100 or so for books?

Should I get Prime as well? She has Netflix streaming...

[Orange Julia]

Prime is only worth it if you buy a lot of stuff from amazon. since I use it to buy office supplies and pet food and some other grocery stuff that comes on a schedule, it is totally worth it to me. Get her one of those cases that unfolds and acts as a stand too. And yes to the gift card, and I have ordered some of those screen protector thingies as well but they haven't arrived yet.

[Soxy Brown]

I was debating between the Fire and the Touch and really wanted to get the Fire. Reviews have obviously been mixed, but enough people seem to love it that I was all set to order it. I figured I should play around with it for 15-20 minutes first, so I went into Staples to check it out. Holy hell, what a mess. Wi-fi wouldn't work, though apparently they turn this off in the demo versions. Kinda stupid that potential customers can't check out the Silk browser that they hype so much. None of the apps or demos I tried to load would work. Tried maybe 5 different ones and all of them either froze up when loading or gave me a "X is not responding: Force Close or Wait" message. The laginess reared it's ugly head when I went to open a book. At first I thought it wasn't responding, so I hit a different book. A few seconds later, the initial book finally opened. The e-reader was working great, but then I couldn't get out of it. Even the employee couldn't figure out how to get back to the home screen. Turns out it simply wasn't registering our touches, I guess. It also felt a lot heavier than I thought it would be. I could see it being uncomfortable when using only one hand.

I really wanted to like the Fire, but I think I'm just gonna go with the Kindle Touch. Too bad, because I really like the idea of beefed up e-reader with some video and web capabilities. I was hoping for something that was essentially a bigger version of my iPod Touch, which I love. That would be a perfect product for me. Maybe that will happen with a software update or a future iteration, but I didn't get that vibe with the Fire. I understand that $200 isn't going to deliver a perfect machine, but it didn't really do anything well. Everything felt sloppy.

If this were getting universally glowing reviews, I'd be willing to chalk up my experience as an outlier. Unfortunately, I've read enough bad reviews to worry that my experience wasn't necessarily atypical. I get the sense that one's opinion on the Fire depends on how willing one is to put up with its various quirks. I got frustrated almost immediately.

[Gambler7]

As an owner of one all I can tell you is all of those items you experienced do not exist with an actual working Kindle Fire. I have experienced zero lag, browser is extremely quick, no issues opening books or apps (I've downloaded 5 the first week along with 8 or so apps) I've watched streaming movies and tv shows with zero lag. You may not want to use a ten minute experience with the device and no WiFi in Staples as your main decision on what to purchase. I've never seen any of those error messages or anything you described. Never had it not "register" a touch.

[Soxy Brown]

I get what you're saying, but what else am I supposed to go on? Like I already said, if it was getting universally great reviews then I could easily chalk up my experience as an isolated incident. But it's not getting universally great reviews. I've read a bunch and they're all over the place. Some people love it, others hate it, and a bunch more are in-between. I'm glad that you and some others in this thread love yours, but let's not act like these are issues no one else is bringing up. Not registering touches and laginess has been mentioned in pretty much every review I've read, even the positive ones. I suppose I can pop into a different store and see if it's any better, but I'm certainly not going to drop $200 on a product that's getting mixed reviews when my (admittedly very brief) time spent with it was a generally frustrating experience.

[Orange Julia]

You can return it if you don't like it. that said, i'm totally loving mine. I originally did not like the kindle e-book interface on the first kindles, and nooks, so I waited and got a second gen nook with the new e-ink and liked it very much, but the kindle fire is far more awesome for reading. The only drawbacks to the kindle fire over any other tablet thingy/e-reader is that it is heavy (but tablets are heavier than straight e-readers) and the lack of awesome apps so far. But i have faith that there will be a comparable app store at amazon by year's end.

[Nuf Ced]

YMMV, but my sister got her kindle fire yesterday and it shit the bed in less than 24 hours. Amazon is sending a replacement, but I'd like to hear more about their reliability before I invest in one.

[OttoC]

I was thinking about the Fire but yesterday I saw a 10.1-inch, 16 GB Toshiba Thrive for $299.95 and decided it was worth the extra $100 (Android 3.1 Honeycomb with USB, mini-USB, and HDMI ports and full-sized SD card reader; Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity supporting Adobe Flash, 1280x800 res.).

Pre-Loaded Applications

Toshiba Software and Utilities*
TOSHIBA App Place, TOSHIBA BookPlace™, TOSHIBA Media Player, TOSHIBA Service Station, TOSHIBA File Manager
Google and Android Apps*
Google Music, Android™ Music Player, Google Movie Maker, Android™ Browser, Android™ Market, Gmail™, Google eBooks™, Google Maps™, Google Maps Street View, Google Maps Navigation, Google Places, Google Latitude™, Google Search, Google Calendar/Calendar Sync, Google Contacts/Contact Sync, Google Voice Search, Google Talk™, YouTube™
Third Party Applications*
Kaspersky Tablet Security, LogMeIn Ignition, Hardwood Backgammon by SilverCreek Games, Hardwood Euchre by SilverCreek Games, Hardwood Solitaire IV by SilverCreek Games, Hardwood Hearts by Silvercreek Games, Hardwood Spades by Silvercreek Games, MOG Music, Printer Share™, Quickoffice®, Need for Speed™ Shift by EA Mobile

[GlenMorangie]

Received it last Monday 11/21 and couldn't be happier. As a consumer of Amazon's digital content it's just perfect for me and my family. It's almost scary easy to buy things on the Fire. Silk browser is great and I've found myself liking this thing more and more every day. Use of the iPhone at home for browsing or gaming has declined dramatically over the last few days.

My only complaints right now are the lack of physical volume buttons, and the inability to remove things from the carousel, but these aren's that big a deal to me.

I hated the carousel until yesterday, but then...Amazon released v6.2 of the OS last night. This release appears to have addressed not only the spastic carousel, but also occasional issues with taps on the "back" button not registering. If you own a Fire you should have the update by now; they download and install automatically.

[MainerInExile]

Prime is only worth it if you buy a lot of stuff from amazon. since I use it to buy office supplies and pet food and some other grocery stuff that comes on a schedule, it is totally worth it to me. Get her one of those cases that unfolds and acts as a stand too. And yes to the gift card, and I have ordered some of those screen protector thingies as well but they haven't arrived yet.

I totally disagree. You know how there are so many things in life that don't live up to expectations? They are never in real life as awesome as they sound? Prime is the exact opposite. Before you have prime, you can't understand what the big deal is. I mostly order over $25 anyway and get super saver, you think. Then you get Prime. And you don't realize how it changes your life. Suddenly, no more trips to Target with your wife to buy shit, because it can come in two days for free. Prime is awesome. Get it.

I also think that the Fire would be less cool without Prime. It's not just the free streaming movies. It's the Kindle Lending Library, the 5 GB free storage on Cloud Drive. My wife and I had Amazon Mom, so we were getting the free 2-day shipping from that. But we started paying for Prime because of the Fire. That's how vital I think it is for the device.

[johnmd20]

I totally disagree. You know how there are so many things in life that don't live up to expectations? They are never in real life as awesome as they sound? Prime is the exact opposite. Before you have prime, you can't understand what the big deal is. I mostly order over $25 anyway and get super saver, you think. Then you get Prime. And you don't realize how it changes your life. Suddenly, no more trips to Target with your wife to buy shit, because it can come in two days for free. Prime is awesome. Get it.

This is such a great description of Prime.

Regarding the lag, on Thanksgiving I had my Fire and used it to watch the Ravens/SF game in bed, using the link put in the SoSH game thread. It worked with no lag. That was one of those "holy crap" moments, I can't believe I'm watching an NFL game on a wireless device(that I cannot watch on cable b/c no NFL Network) while reading in bed. Granted, you can do the same with the iPad, provided it's not flash, but it was still pretty impressive regardless.

The one thing I would say is if you want to get this as just a reader, I don't think it's the best choice. That screen (like the iPad) is killer on the eyes if you just sat down and read for two hours. If anything, the reader is probably the weakest point to the Fire vis a vie the Kindle Touch.(that and the volume buttons)

[Orange Julia]

I have been trying to get my new yorker sub up and running on the kindle but there seems to be some kind of issue. I have registered my print subscription number with the app, and reset my password at least 6 times, to no avail. it keeps coming up as "authentication failure" I have emailed The New Yorker, but wonder if anyone has has similar problems (as the FAQ seems to suggest) with either the iPad or the kindle fire?

[Monbo Jumbo]

I was going to get a 10 inch android tablet, but tonight I won a kindle fire in the office Christmas party musical chairs game. I need to decide if I'm going to keep it.

[GlenMorangie]

If you own the Fire, get the 6.2.1 update (just released in the last day or 2) if you haven't already.

This update allows you to remove things from the carousel, set password control for enabling wi-fi, provides a noticeable improvement in touch screen responsiveness, and speeds up the silk browser. Like the last update, all of these things combined provide an overall improvement to the user experience.

I have to say Amazon has impressed me with their updates so far. They're addressing the biggest complaints and providing the fixes pretty quickly. I'd say the device is 100% more fun to use than it was pre-updates.

[CoRP]

I was going to get a 10 inch android tablet, but tonight I won a kindle fire in the office Christmas party musical chairs game. I need to decide if I'm going to keep it.

Return it.

[The Four Peters]

After some deliberation between this and the Kindle Touch, I ended up getting this for my uncle for Christmas. He always hooks me up with great gifts so I figured it was worth the extra money, the question is if he'll actually get use out of the features.

I'm hoping I can add him to my Amazon Prime account so he can stream movies/shows/music and then have it all set up for him on Christmas. Is there anything in particular that needs an Amazon login for activation? For example, I'd like to download the new updates for him, but want him to link it to his own Amazon account. Is this possible?

[johnmd20]

After some deliberation between this and the Kindle Touch, I ended up getting this for my uncle for Christmas. He always hooks me up with great gifts so I figured it was worth the extra money, the question is if he'll actually get use out of the features.

I'm hoping I can add him to my Amazon Prime account so he can stream movies/shows/music and then have it all set up for him on Christmas. Is there anything in particular that needs an Amazon login for activation? For example, I'd like to download the new updates for him, but want him to link it to his own Amazon account. Is this possible?

I don't think it's possible. Each Prime membership is unique, if you set up your Uncle's Fire to use your prime account, every purchase he makes will be from your account.

[JakeRae]

I don't think it's possible. Each Prime membership is unique, if you set up your Uncle's Fire to use your prime account, every purchase he makes will be from your account.

He did say he was looking to hook his uncle up with a great gift...

[Orange Julia]

If you own the Fire, get the 6.2.1 update (just released in the last day or 2) if you haven't already.

This update allows you to remove things from the carousel, set password control for enabling wi-fi, provides a noticeable improvement in touch screen responsiveness, and speeds up the silk browser. Like the last update, all of these things combined provide an overall improvement to the user experience.

I have to say Amazon has impressed me with their updates so far. They're addressing the biggest complaints and providing the fixes pretty quickly. I'd say the device is 100% more fun to use than it was pre-updates.

Does it automatically download? I just looked at mine and the button for "update" was grayed out.

[The Four Peters]

I don't think it's possible. Each Prime membership is unique, if you set up your Uncle's Fire to use your prime account, every purchase he makes will be from your account.

Ahh crap I didn't think of that. Makes sense though.

[Monbo Jumbo]

Does it automatically download? I just looked at mine and the button for "update" was grayed out.

It asks you if you want to update.

Return it.

It would rock if I could run the Bloomberg Anywhere android app on it. As it is, I'm just using it for watching hockey in bed - old episodes of BlackAdder at 3AM insomina time, and books.

Edited by Monbo Jumbo, 21 December 2011 - 08:40 PM.

[Jimy Hendrix]

I don't think it's possible. Each Prime membership is unique, if you set up your Uncle's Fire to use your prime account, every purchase he makes will be from your account.

That's not true, you can add other people to your Prime account (my Amazon account is using Prime with my girlfriend's account and they are separate accounts).

Not sure how it works if you live in different places though, might only be valid for people at the same address.

[GlenMorangie]

Does it automatically download? I just looked at mine and the button for "update" was grayed out.

It does, but it might take a couple days. They roll it out in phases.

In the meantime, you can download the update to your computer, then connect the Fire via USB and load it that way. Google "install kindle fire 6.2.1 manually" and you'll see plenty of specific instructions.

[weeba]

Ahh crap I didn't think of that. Makes sense though.

If you have prime, you can add him as one of your 4 family members and he'll get the benefits. All he needs is his own login.

[Monbo Jumbo]

Install any android app on your Kindle Fire.

Caveat: Need an android phone (or a friends) to do it.

http://www.pcmag.com...,2396283,00.asp

Okay - I finally did this today - moved a bunch of phone apps to my fire.

The article said google apps that require logins won't work - and I assumed that may stretch to other login required apps.

But I moved over Bloomberg Anywhere and it works on the fire and that is HUGE for me.

Thanks for that link, CTHP!

Edited by Monbo Jumbo, 26 December 2011 - 11:23 AM.

[ScubaSteveAvery]

That's not true, you can add other people to your Prime account (my Amazon account is using Prime with my girlfriend's account and they are separate accounts).

Not sure how it works if you live in different places though, might only be valid for people at the same address.

This is correct. I had a good discussion with the Amazon rep about this. You may share the Prime account, but the billing addresses must be the same on all shared accounts. The stuff can be shipped to separate addresses, obviously.

[The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa]

This is correct. I had a good discussion with the Amazon rep about this. You may share the Prime account, but the billing addresses must be the same on all shared accounts. The stuff can be shipped to separate addresses, obviously.

I've managed to share mine with family members who have used different billing addresses on their accounts, and they all got a huge haul of stuff shipped for Christmas. As long as you tell the system what it wants to hear when you sign them up to share the account, everything should work fine afterward.

[saintnick912]

My experience is that the official rules (and what customer service tells you) are much more strict than the "rules on the ground". I got my sister on my account years ago, when we still had the same last name, that seemed to be enough and I didn't feel bad about it at all. I've heard of groups of random people doing it.

[Stuffy McInnis]

My experience is that the official rules (and what customer service tells you) are much more strict than the "rules on the ground". I got my sister on my account years ago, when we still had the same last name, that seemed to be enough and I didn't feel bad about it at all. I've heard of groups of random people doing it.

I have split a prime account some random guy from a deal site for the past 3 years. I paypal him 20$, and I get the free shipping for the year. The instant videos (and I assume) the free books don't work for me though, just the shipping.

[Zomp]

Got my girlfriend one for Christmas and so far she loves it. No problems, browser and netflix are speedy.

Question about Prime though, she has the free trial for the month, and for some reason when she went to order something thats prime eligible, it said she'd have to pay extra for 1-3 day shipping. Is this because they are getting it from a third party store then shipping it? What gives?

[jayhoz]

Not all items are Prime eligible for, I believe, the reason you state. There is a place on the left column to show only Prime eligible items.

[Stuffy McInnis]

Sometimes amazon has items that are sold by multiple vendors, some of which are prime eligible and some which aren't. Amazon might have defaulted to a seller with a lower price that wasn't prime eligible. She might need to choose another seller. Not sure on the fire, but on the website, it's called "More buying choices."

[mt8thsw9th]

I have split a prime account some random guy from a deal site for the past 3 years. I paypal him 20$, and I get the free shipping for the year. The instant videos (and I assume) the free books don't work for me though, just the shipping.

If the streaming video doesn't work, that means you're on a free Prime account (like via school, or a parents account) and he's netting $20 on it. Not a bad racket.

Just got my girlfriend one of these today, so the iPad is all mine again.

[trekfan55]

I don't think it's possible. Each Prime membership is unique, if you set up your Uncle's Fire to use your prime account, every purchase he makes will be from your account.

You can invite up to 4 friends/relatives to use your Prime membrship, but I believe they have to live in the same household.

If so, he can use his own account, but you'd have to set it up with his credit card and everything. On the other hand, if it indeed means they must share an address, then everything he orders would be sent to you.

[Zomp]

Another stupid question:

So you can share Prime membership as long as you have the same address...can you use it and have two seperate credit cards on file with the two different names?

[jayhoz]

Another stupid question:

So you can share Prime membership as long as you have the same address...can you use it and have two seperate credit cards on file with the two different names?

I share a prime account with my wife. We both have credit cards on file.

[Jimy Hendrix]

Another stupid question:

So you can share Prime membership as long as you have the same address...can you use it and have two seperate credit cards on file with the two different names?

Yeah. You keep your separate Amazon accounts with separate cards on file, recommendations, etc. but you both get Prime.

[Papelbon's Poutine]

I must say that my biggest frustration for the first two weeks I had this was the inaccuracy of the touchscreen. The update has improved on this immensely. Glad I can now remove stuff from the carousel. The apps suck, but frankly, right now I'm not using it for that kind of thing anyway, more for reading, video and web browsing. Main remaining complaint is the lag to regain WiFi after awakening it, but I guess otherwise the battery would drain.

[weeba]

Just got my girlfriend one of these today, so the iPad is all mine again.

This is the exact reason I bought my wife a Fire.

[weeba]

Another stupid question:

So you can share Prime membership as long as you have the same address...can you use it and have two seperate credit cards on file with the two different names?

I'm on my wife's families Prime account. Basically the mother in law in MD has the master account, and has added both my wife (MA) and my (MA) Amazon accounts as family accounts.

No need to share 1 login, there is an option to add family members' logins to your "family"

[CoRP]

I just came in here to say that if you own a Blackberry, you'd be crazy not to pick up a 64GB Playbook for $299. I don't want to derail this thread so I updated the other one. You can bash the Playbook there.

Edited by CoRP, 06 January 2012 - 07:17 AM.