This review is from: Kindle Fire 7″, LCD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB (Electronics)
My 11 yr old daughter pre-ordered this from her savings, but I got my paws on it first while she was at school, to activate child settings (my excuse). I’m still using my basic kindle, so this took a little getting used to. There is no paper manual enclosed with it, so I had to find the manual online. There was some sort of onscreen tutorial, but it didn’t cover everything I wanted to know. I changed the device name via my Amazon account “Manage Your Device” settings.
Luckily I had already purchased a case/screen protector/stylus/charger on ebay (about £70 cheaper than those offered on Amazon at time of pre-order!) – because my stubby fingers found the stylus a much better control option. Just using fingers on the touchscreen proved a little frustrating, because I kept accidentally touching links I didn’t want (some of the links were quite small, even when magnified). You do need to purchase a wall charger, because charging from a P.C via the USB lead (which is included in pack) is a very slow process.
No problem with Wi-Fi internet access, in fact one of the first options it came up with, was establishing my wi-fi link. Was also offered quick links to Facebook, and several other popular websites. Shame there’s no 3G/4G option for watching movies/web browsing when you’re travelling on the train etc. Really think they should be trying to add this to any future versions of the Kindle Fire.
Took me a while to get trial offer Lovefilm subscription streaming up and running, seemed to be some confusion as to whether Silverlight was required/enabled or whether movies would run off a special amazon app, after about 20 minutes of fiddling and tinkering I managed (by trial and error)to get it working. Video streaming and sound quality seemed good to me on the short film I watched. Selection of movies available for instant streaming seems to be rather limited (hardly any Disney or Pixar content for kids there).
Needless to say links to store content work just fine ! Downloaded a couple of freebie games apps, very quickly and easily, and they ran well. Would like to see a larger choice of Apps, Amazon UK doesn’t yet offer the full range of Apps that are available on Amazon US. Hopefully the range will expand now the UK Kindle Fire has been released.
Not overly keen on “Carousel” display on opening screen, because it sometimes displays items from cloud that you’ve archived/removed from device and probably never want to see again. Also if you are a 2 kindle family (with both registered to same account), it will for instance display books from the parent’s device, on the child’s carousel display even though they are not actually on the child’s “bookshelf”.
As for the child controls, they seem to work pretty well (apart from the issue mentioned above). As soon as I clicked this option in settings, I was offered the opportunity to set a password that would prevent a child from making one-click-purchases. Further options were given to restrict other types of content access, and all my books (from my own kindle) were immediately moved from her device to the “cloud”. Of course this does still mean she could access my books from the cloud, but personally I don’t think she’d find anything of interest there (and certainly nothing offensive). Downloaded an illustrated kids book for my daughter, and it looked great, though for a dedicated reader like me, I still prefer e-paper & e-ink.
This is supposed to be the “without special offers” model (ie you pay extra to get rid of the ads), but I believe you have to phone Amazon to actually activate this option (update/amendment to this issue in comments).
All in all, my first impressions are pretty favourable, and I am quite tempted to add a Kindle Fire to my own Xmas wish list, but have a few reservations about limited availability of apps and movies, because you are tied into using Amazon products on this tablet, and I don’t think you can use Netflix or Google Play items on it.
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I bought this item as a present and was very impressed by the portability, functionality and price (£129). A lite and compact e-reader with a colour and touch screen facility that compares with most branded android tablets.
The Kindle is ideal for holidays or travelling and easily stored in your handbag or holdall. I Didn’t realise that you could use this for wi-fi web browsing until I had a chance to play with it. The Kindle Fire will download apps, books, photos and music. I couldn’t believe the amount of free books available via Amazon and a lending library where users can share purchases. It has organiser/calender/contacts facilities for those who like to use the filofax/diary. Some teething issues with BBC iPlayer app which is currently being developed for the android market – this will soon become available for those who want to watch tv on your Kindle.
The sound quality wasn’t too bad and I was able to play music via the Amazon store. There is an earphone jack input alebit headphones will need to be purchased seperately. I’ve not had chance to assess the sound quality through the headphones yet so cannot comment.
The Kindle Fire only has an 8GB memory but this is reflective in the price. Amazon offer a free 5GB icloud facility so that you can store your purchases and data on-line rather than use all the memory on the device. Alternatively, you can use other external storage devices.
Accessories don’t come cheap but I would consider buying a case as I imagine the kindle could be easily scratched or damaged. I bought the Marware branded kindle fire leather CEO Hybrid case which was a great fit and looks smart. This retails around the £40 mark albeit can be purchased cheaper if you shop around. Don’t get buying the cheaper un-branded versions that come with a free stylus pen and Screen protector (retail around £10). They look cheap and are poor quality. The Kindle is supplied with a USB lead for charging from a computer which is sometimes impracticle. That’s why a mains charger would be useful as a separate purchase. I’ve seen these on Amazon for as little as £3.50.
The Kindle was quick to set up albeit instructions don’t come in a paper booklet format. New starters will need to view the start up fuctions on the Kindle or alernatively view information via the internet. You’ll also need to create an Amazon account and input bank/credit card details when registering the device. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to download apps, books etc if you don’t register – even the free items.
On the whole, a very impressive gadget and is a serious contender for the Xmas market. The Kindle Fire is smaller and lighter than the ipad albeit the ipad mini will be a strong contender when it’s launched this month. The thing to consider is that the ipad mini starts at £269 albeit, this is a 16gb device with a slighter larger screen. The Kindle offers real value for money and the price speaks for itself.
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First impressions – the Kindle Fire is slightly heavier than I anticipated, but has a well made feel, with a smooth rubberised back and concealed on/off switch. The ereader has good resolution for static images, and vivid colours which make web browsing a pleasure. However, the default brightness setting was quite hard on my eyes and needed lowering when in an ebook, probably due to the amount of white on the page. Standard touchscreen pinch/spread function allows you to adjust the text size to your own requirements when web browsing. I assume this is adjustable in the ereader function too, though haven’t worked out how just yet. Having watched a few film trailers and Youtubes I think if you are planning on using your Kindle for videos and films you might be better off with the HD version as moving images didn’t seem quite as crisp as static web browsing.
Kindle Fire has an impressively quick response time with minimal lag as you scroll through web pages (though whether this remains the case as content is added we will have to wait and see). It’s easy to open new tabs, bookmark pages etc, and all the sites I’ve visisted so far – BBC News, Facebook, MSN and so on – all nicely displayed/configured for this size of tablet.
I will say that I did struggle to get wifi connected initially (the format of the wifi password seems more important to Kindle than it did to my laptop or iphone, both of which happily accepted the short code on the router/modem. For the Kindle, I actually had to find the full code on my laptop control panel and enter it in that exact format for authentication to work). Once up and running I didn’t find all the features of the Fire quite as intuitive to navigate as I might have expected – even as a long time iphone user used to touchscreen technology. For example it took me a couple of hours just to find the settings menu! A paper guide (other than the very basic one included that only tells you how to charge the thing) would be useful for a lot of us.
Not sure how applicable some of the features are to UK users right now – got all excited about ‘Newstand’, but then noticed most of the papers and magazines were American (even though I had UK settings selected). And furthermore, many are only available to read on Kindle if you have the paper subscription first.
There’s no charger, which annoyed me – and the wording of the Amazon listing implies there is, because in the accessories list there is mention of a super duper high speed charger, which kind of suggests that the Fire comes with a a bog standard charger and you only need pay extra if you want to upgrade. In fact, what you get is a USB cable so you can charge through your computer, but this takes an absolute eternity (11 hours+) and I really would have liked something that would plug directly into the power supply on my train so I could use it on the way to and from work without draining power.
On the plus side, I linked into my Amazon account very easily indeed, and was immediately able to see books already purchased (which I’d been reading on my iphone Kindle App). However I couldn’t actually access them due to`DRM’, which is presumably some sort of royalties issue, and was instructed to redownload or repurchase – a bit frustrating. Also, my Kindle was set to the US store by default so I had to change to the UK store to get personalised recommendations and prices in £.
Overall, although the Kindle Fire has a fair few niggly annoyances, I’m pretty impressed with the general build quality and screen resolution, and see this as an affordable tablet, rather than just another ereader. I would recommend anyone making a purchase to seriously think about getting a case though, as I can’t see the screen surviving too many knocks, and also the high speed charger, as the computer charge thingy is driving me nuts already. Or, if you have an iphone, I’m guessing the Kindle cable may well connect to the iphone charger. And, yes, it really should have had 3G too.
Update 3 days after purchase:-
There are now a number of UK magazines and papers available with UK pricing – I’ve taken free trial subscriptions to Vogue and Olive. There’s also Marie Claire and Ideal Home, and stuff like Classic Car and Health and Fitness. Papers include Le Monde and The Mail Plus. So the Newstand situation is improving a bit.
Still quite impressed with this little gadget, despite the niggles outlined in my review. And have discovered it’s easier to read in bed at night than a book due to the lit screen. I reckon this is a 3.5 star item at the mo. Will be a 4 star one when the Newstand and Apps options are wider.
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Pretty Good Tablet for the Price,
My 11 yr old daughter pre-ordered this from her savings, but I got my paws on it first while she was at school, to activate child settings (my excuse). I’m still using my basic kindle, so this took a little getting used to. There is no paper manual enclosed with it, so I had to find the manual online. There was some sort of onscreen tutorial, but it didn’t cover everything I wanted to know. I changed the device name via my Amazon account “Manage Your Device” settings.
Luckily I had already purchased a case/screen protector/stylus/charger on ebay (about £70 cheaper than those offered on Amazon at time of pre-order!) – because my stubby fingers found the stylus a much better control option. Just using fingers on the touchscreen proved a little frustrating, because I kept accidentally touching links I didn’t want (some of the links were quite small, even when magnified). You do need to purchase a wall charger, because charging from a P.C via the USB lead (which is included in pack) is a very slow process.
No problem with Wi-Fi internet access, in fact one of the first options it came up with, was establishing my wi-fi link. Was also offered quick links to Facebook, and several other popular websites. Shame there’s no 3G/4G option for watching movies/web browsing when you’re travelling on the train etc. Really think they should be trying to add this to any future versions of the Kindle Fire.
Took me a while to get trial offer Lovefilm subscription streaming up and running, seemed to be some confusion as to whether Silverlight was required/enabled or whether movies would run off a special amazon app, after about 20 minutes of fiddling and tinkering I managed (by trial and error)to get it working. Video streaming and sound quality seemed good to me on the short film I watched. Selection of movies available for instant streaming seems to be rather limited (hardly any Disney or Pixar content for kids there).
Needless to say links to store content work just fine ! Downloaded a couple of freebie games apps, very quickly and easily, and they ran well. Would like to see a larger choice of Apps, Amazon UK doesn’t yet offer the full range of Apps that are available on Amazon US. Hopefully the range will expand now the UK Kindle Fire has been released.
Not overly keen on “Carousel” display on opening screen, because it sometimes displays items from cloud that you’ve archived/removed from device and probably never want to see again. Also if you are a 2 kindle family (with both registered to same account), it will for instance display books from the parent’s device, on the child’s carousel display even though they are not actually on the child’s “bookshelf”.
As for the child controls, they seem to work pretty well (apart from the issue mentioned above). As soon as I clicked this option in settings, I was offered the opportunity to set a password that would prevent a child from making one-click-purchases. Further options were given to restrict other types of content access, and all my books (from my own kindle) were immediately moved from her device to the “cloud”. Of course this does still mean she could access my books from the cloud, but personally I don’t think she’d find anything of interest there (and certainly nothing offensive). Downloaded an illustrated kids book for my daughter, and it looked great, though for a dedicated reader like me, I still prefer e-paper & e-ink.
This is supposed to be the “without special offers” model (ie you pay extra to get rid of the ads), but I believe you have to phone Amazon to actually activate this option (update/amendment to this issue in comments).
All in all, my first impressions are pretty favourable, and I am quite tempted to add a Kindle Fire to my own Xmas wish list, but have a few reservations about limited availability of apps and movies, because you are tied into using Amazon products on this tablet, and I don’t think you can use Netflix or Google Play items on it.
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|New Kindle Fire,
I bought this item as a present and was very impressed by the portability, functionality and price (£129). A lite and compact e-reader with a colour and touch screen facility that compares with most branded android tablets.
The Kindle is ideal for holidays or travelling and easily stored in your handbag or holdall. I Didn’t realise that you could use this for wi-fi web browsing until I had a chance to play with it. The Kindle Fire will download apps, books, photos and music. I couldn’t believe the amount of free books available via Amazon and a lending library where users can share purchases. It has organiser/calender/contacts facilities for those who like to use the filofax/diary. Some teething issues with BBC iPlayer app which is currently being developed for the android market – this will soon become available for those who want to watch tv on your Kindle.
The sound quality wasn’t too bad and I was able to play music via the Amazon store. There is an earphone jack input alebit headphones will need to be purchased seperately. I’ve not had chance to assess the sound quality through the headphones yet so cannot comment.
The Kindle Fire only has an 8GB memory but this is reflective in the price. Amazon offer a free 5GB icloud facility so that you can store your purchases and data on-line rather than use all the memory on the device. Alternatively, you can use other external storage devices.
Accessories don’t come cheap but I would consider buying a case as I imagine the kindle could be easily scratched or damaged. I bought the Marware branded kindle fire leather CEO Hybrid case which was a great fit and looks smart. This retails around the £40 mark albeit can be purchased cheaper if you shop around. Don’t get buying the cheaper un-branded versions that come with a free stylus pen and Screen protector (retail around £10). They look cheap and are poor quality. The Kindle is supplied with a USB lead for charging from a computer which is sometimes impracticle. That’s why a mains charger would be useful as a separate purchase. I’ve seen these on Amazon for as little as £3.50.
The Kindle was quick to set up albeit instructions don’t come in a paper booklet format. New starters will need to view the start up fuctions on the Kindle or alernatively view information via the internet. You’ll also need to create an Amazon account and input bank/credit card details when registering the device. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to download apps, books etc if you don’t register – even the free items.
On the whole, a very impressive gadget and is a serious contender for the Xmas market. The Kindle Fire is smaller and lighter than the ipad albeit the ipad mini will be a strong contender when it’s launched this month. The thing to consider is that the ipad mini starts at £269 albeit, this is a 16gb device with a slighter larger screen. The Kindle offers real value for money and the price speaks for itself.
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|Shiny thing make it all better!,
First impressions – the Kindle Fire is slightly heavier than I anticipated, but has a well made feel, with a smooth rubberised back and concealed on/off switch. The ereader has good resolution for static images, and vivid colours which make web browsing a pleasure. However, the default brightness setting was quite hard on my eyes and needed lowering when in an ebook, probably due to the amount of white on the page. Standard touchscreen pinch/spread function allows you to adjust the text size to your own requirements when web browsing. I assume this is adjustable in the ereader function too, though haven’t worked out how just yet. Having watched a few film trailers and Youtubes I think if you are planning on using your Kindle for videos and films you might be better off with the HD version as moving images didn’t seem quite as crisp as static web browsing.
Kindle Fire has an impressively quick response time with minimal lag as you scroll through web pages (though whether this remains the case as content is added we will have to wait and see). It’s easy to open new tabs, bookmark pages etc, and all the sites I’ve visisted so far – BBC News, Facebook, MSN and so on – all nicely displayed/configured for this size of tablet.
I will say that I did struggle to get wifi connected initially (the format of the wifi password seems more important to Kindle than it did to my laptop or iphone, both of which happily accepted the short code on the router/modem. For the Kindle, I actually had to find the full code on my laptop control panel and enter it in that exact format for authentication to work). Once up and running I didn’t find all the features of the Fire quite as intuitive to navigate as I might have expected – even as a long time iphone user used to touchscreen technology. For example it took me a couple of hours just to find the settings menu! A paper guide (other than the very basic one included that only tells you how to charge the thing) would be useful for a lot of us.
Not sure how applicable some of the features are to UK users right now – got all excited about ‘Newstand’, but then noticed most of the papers and magazines were American (even though I had UK settings selected). And furthermore, many are only available to read on Kindle if you have the paper subscription first.
There’s no charger, which annoyed me – and the wording of the Amazon listing implies there is, because in the accessories list there is mention of a super duper high speed charger, which kind of suggests that the Fire comes with a a bog standard charger and you only need pay extra if you want to upgrade. In fact, what you get is a USB cable so you can charge through your computer, but this takes an absolute eternity (11 hours+) and I really would have liked something that would plug directly into the power supply on my train so I could use it on the way to and from work without draining power.
On the plus side, I linked into my Amazon account very easily indeed, and was immediately able to see books already purchased (which I’d been reading on my iphone Kindle App). However I couldn’t actually access them due to`DRM’, which is presumably some sort of royalties issue, and was instructed to redownload or repurchase – a bit frustrating. Also, my Kindle was set to the US store by default so I had to change to the UK store to get personalised recommendations and prices in £.
Overall, although the Kindle Fire has a fair few niggly annoyances, I’m pretty impressed with the general build quality and screen resolution, and see this as an affordable tablet, rather than just another ereader. I would recommend anyone making a purchase to seriously think about getting a case though, as I can’t see the screen surviving too many knocks, and also the high speed charger, as the computer charge thingy is driving me nuts already. Or, if you have an iphone, I’m guessing the Kindle cable may well connect to the iphone charger. And, yes, it really should have had 3G too.
Update 3 days after purchase:-
There are now a number of UK magazines and papers available with UK pricing – I’ve taken free trial subscriptions to Vogue and Olive. There’s also Marie Claire and Ideal Home, and stuff like Classic Car and Health and Fitness. Papers include Le Monde and The Mail Plus. So the Newstand situation is improving a bit.
Still quite impressed with this little gadget, despite the niggles outlined in my review. And have discovered it’s easier to read in bed at night than a book due to the lit screen. I reckon this is a 3.5 star item at the mo. Will be a 4 star one when the Newstand and Apps options are wider.
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