Kindle Fire

I received the Fire as a gift. I liked the concept but I generally wait until gen2 before purchasing something new. I guess I should have figured that Amazon would have worked out a lot of kinks with their Kindles.

The Fire is a great piece of technology. I have used it continuously since December 25^th. I have loaded book, photos, music and applications to it. Words with Friends is much better on the Fire screen than the Droid screen. The screen size is more than adequate for my needs. WiFi is easily acquired although the browser is sluggish.

I like the assigned email address that allows you to send information to your Fire if it is in an acceptable format. I have thusly emailed my self, successfully, quite a few things.

There are far more applications than I ever intend to put on my Fire. I have no iPad envy.

I found the playing lists for music easy to use and after hooking up a pair of computer speakers was delighted with how easy it was to queue music up to play. I have not spent a lot of time headphone listening to music while I read but I have tried it in noisy environments and it is a great way to provide yourself a modicum of sanity in places like airports.

The touch screen is receptive and I have only had the Fire do it’s dreaded lock up once. After googling the problem, I found it occurs and to clear it you hold the on/off button down until the Fire resets. I didn’t get an inkling as to what causes that issue.

I have watched movies on it and for those of you who question movies on a screen that small, put it in perspective. A 40” screen at eight feet distance is not substantially larger than a seven inch screen residing on your chest.

The readability of the Fire is not nearly as good as the Kindles when you are in sunlight. It is still easily read but nearly as good as the Kindle in that aspect.

Hooking the Fire to the computer is a piece of cake and so is the data transfer.

The lack of 3G and a camera are the biggest criticisms I have heard regarding the fire. Frankly considering the price differential between the iPad and the Fire, those criticisms are hardly noticeable. I don’t need either and I suspect the bulk of the world doesn’t’ either.

I did look at the Nook and found it’s browser even more sluggish than the Fire. It’s internal speaker seemed more robust but still would require a head set or powered external speakers for any quality.

I have an Augen “The Book” which was an early iPad/eReder want-to-be. Augen has disappeared but the unit does have a browser but does not have a touch screen. Its color screen is nice but it is sluggish in all aspects and not even close to the Fire in ability. I

I have played with the iPad and it is very nice tech but is it worth four to five times as much as the Fire? Not in my estimation.

The Kindle Fire is a remarkable piece of technology and I highly recommend it.