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Kindle Fire (Previous Generation - 1st)

4.3 out of 5 stars 25,086 ratings

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4.3 out of 5 stars
25,086 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the Kindle Fire functional, particularly noting its compatibility with Netflix, and appreciate its value for money with free TV shows available. The device is easy to set up and navigate, and customers praise its readability, with one mentioning it handles graphic-heavy magazines well. Customers describe it as a small, lightweight device that fits in a purse, with a beautiful display that brings color and text to life. While some customers find it fast, others note it can be slow.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

6,893 customers mention "Functionality"5,896 positive997 negative

Customers find the tablet's functionality positive, noting it has all the basic features they need and works well with Netflix.

"...Text View is a very nice feature that works mostly well, but seems to get a bit confused with magazines that have complicated formatting, so it..." Read more

"...Text View is a very nice feature that works mostly well, but seems to get a bit confused with magazines that have complicated formatting, so it..." Read more

"...Apps load and work great, Facebook, Words With Friends and the Weather Channel loaded fast and work quickly...." Read more

"...what not's of it, but this version of Adobe seems to work much better at rendering documents more readably on the Fire than the version does for the..." Read more

5,295 customers mention "Value for money"4,827 positive468 negative

Customers find the Kindle Fire to be fantastic for its price point, appreciating that it offers free content including books and TV shows.

"...is still the way to go for comics, but if you're looking for a cheaper option and portability, the Fire isn't too bad, and definitely beats a smart..." Read more

"...is still the way to go for comics, but if you're looking for a cheaper option and portability, the Fire isn't too bad, and definitely beats a smart..." Read more

"...The Kindle fire is worth the money and it works well...." Read more

"...You get full access to thousands of movies and tv shows for free. You can give them a test drive on your Fire and see if it is for you or not...." Read more

5,124 customers mention "Ease of use"3,970 positive1,154 negative

Customers find the Kindle Fire easy to use and set up, with a user-friendly interface, and one customer specifically mentions it's simple to navigate between apps.

"...You can easily manage your content, swapping stuff to and fro using your Amazon account (It's the Manage Your Kindle link)...." Read more

"...I really liked the interface, however I don't think it works as well on the Fire as it does on a full tablet device like the Motorola Xoom...." Read more

"...I really liked the interface, however I don't think it works as well on the Fire as it does on a full tablet device like the Motorola Xoom...." Read more

"...The web browser is called Silk, and it is nice and user-friendly. Let's talk about what I see as the benefits first:..." Read more

3,620 customers mention "Readability"3,169 positive451 negative

Customers find the Kindle Fire excellent for reading, particularly full websites, and one customer mentions it handles graphic-heavy magazines well.

"...The device seems "selectively problematic". I find no troubles while reading books, scrolling page to next page...." Read more

"...That being said, my favorite is a comic book reading app called Comixology. Unlike a previous poster, I did not buy the Fire for this app...." Read more

"...There are some great features; the reader app is excellent (though not without flaws), the app store experience is terrific, videos are fantastic,..." Read more

"...I can do this and have no trouble being able to read while in the car during the day or while sitting inside of well-lighted buildings...." Read more

3,168 customers mention "Weight"2,261 positive907 negative

Customers appreciate the Kindle Fire's portability and lightweight design, noting that it's small enough to fit in a purse and comfortable to hold.

"...to go for comics, but if you're looking for a cheaper option and portability, the Fire isn't too bad, and definitely beats a smart phone...." Read more

"...to go for comics, but if you're looking for a cheaper option and portability, the Fire isn't too bad, and definitely beats a smart phone...." Read more

"...The Kindle Fire is more portable and easier to hold than the iPad and HP Touchpad...." Read more

"...The Fire is fairly heavy in the hand, heavier than the wife's Nook, but I just am not bothered by that...." Read more

2,831 customers mention "App variety"1,995 positive836 negative

Customers appreciate the variety of apps available on the Kindle Fire, with one customer noting the extensive app community and another mentioning the free unlimited app access.

"...option and portability, the Fire isn't too bad, and definitely beats a smart phone...." Read more

"...The AccuWeather app is nice; I use the Fandango app to get my movie times and I love Angry Birds HD...." Read more

"...In my case, why spend extra money for that? Too Few Apps ... While it's true that there are not yet a huge number of apps for the Fire, I..." Read more

"...There are lots of apps available for the Fire because it uses the DROID platform, but Apple lovers will pound their chest and say "but we have over..." Read more

2,802 customers mention "Screen quality"2,605 positive197 negative

Customers praise the Kindle Fire's display, noting its great contrast and how it brings color and text to life, with one customer describing the case as a work of art.

"...It acts equally well as a stand or for lap support and it looks and feels great in addition to being protective. No buttons to turn pages...." Read more

"...The Fire renders them in vivid detail and you can choose to go page by page or, my favorite, panel by panel or Guided View...." Read more

"...The web browser is called Silk, and it is nice and user-friendly. Let's talk about what I see as the benefits first:..." Read more

"...screen is fantastic (for an LCD screen) with good brightness and excellent color, and a very wide viewing angle...." Read more

3,744 customers mention "Speed"2,397 positive1,347 negative

Customers have mixed experiences with the tablet's speed: while files stream quickly over decent internet connections, the Silk Browser is notably slow, and there are reports of slight downloading delays.

"...Better than the HP Touchpad Video download is very fast and I have no complaints. Sound is very good on the device...." Read more

"...app store experience is terrific, videos are fantastic, and the device is quick and for the most part dead-simple to use, all thanks to the services..." Read more

"...Not Responsive Enough ... This is, in my opinion, quite true. There are moments when you tap and nothing happens, and you must tap again, and again...." Read more

"...7 matched the Fire's price and greatly surpassed it in features: faster CPU, better screen resolution, camera, Blue-tooth, GPS, microphone, open to..." Read more

Great beginner tablet
5 out of 5 stars
Great beginner tablet
I've never owned an e-reader and never owned a tablet. I was weighing my options with various tablets but becoming discouraged by the high prices. Seriously, some of them cost more than a lap top. Then I heard the rumors that Amazon was coming out with their own tablet at a very low price. The day it was announced, I bought it, and today it finally arrived! First thing is, you have to be realistic. This is not an iPad, it's not meant to compete with an iPad. Amazon has created a tablet that is affordable for those of us that can't spend $500. In order to make it affordable, some of the bells & whistles were eliminated. So to even think of comparing this to something like an iPad isn't realistic. If this is what you are expecting, you will be let down. When your Kindle Fire arrives it is in a box with just the Kindle Fire, the power plug, and a card that shows you how to turn it on & unlock it. The rest you either figure out for yourself or look up on the website. It's a little refreshing to order something electronic & not have it come with a million inserts and pieces. The tablet itself has a very shiny surface so reading in sunlight will be difficult. I have seen screen protectors advertised as low glare that may work. The back is a sort of thick rubber. This will help prevent slipping, dropping, etc and gives it more of a durable feel. It powers on quickly and set up was extremely fast! No issues at all connecting to my WiFi! The display is bright, you can adjust to your liking. I found this a plus, if it's too bright for reading you can easily dim it down. Pictures were clear & crisp. The touch screen has given me no problems so far. Web browsing was fast. I have seen some complain it's too slow but I found it comparable to my computer and much faster than my Samsung Galaxy phone. I attempted various websites with no lag at all. Your Amazon Cloud drive is easily available and all of my music showed right up as well as apps I had already downloaded from Amazon on my phone. You do have to reinstall the games so if you already completed every level of a game like Angry Birds, you'll have to start over. The games played easily, no issues with closing, freezing, etc. so far. Your purchase includes a free month of Amazon Prime if you don't already have it. This includes free instant movies. I decided to try an instant movie & was very impressed! I expected to have to sit & wait but a full length movie was available almost instantly! It played with no problems, and the image was great. I found myself wishing this had a hookup so I could attach it to my tv. Kindle Fire does use their Whispersync technology. So if you have a device that is compatible, you will be able to view a movie on your device (tv, blu-ray player, etc) where you left off on your Kindle Fire. Reading books was easy, most likely works the same as a regular Kindle. My only real complaint is that everything you look at or open ends up in your carousel. So far there is no way to personalize this option. I am hoping in a future update, they will add this in. Overall, for Amazon's first time out, this is a great little tablet for what they charge. It will give many people out there that can't afford a more expensive one the option to own a tablet & e-reader. Also, if you want to give this as a gift, there is an option to "deregister" the device. This will allow someone else to register. UPDATE 11/19/11: I discovered I cannot print from the Kindle Fire. I own a HP Envy wireless printer that makes an app available for Android users for free to print from a device. I have this installed on my Samsung Captivate & can print from it with no issues. The Amazon app store does not offer this nor does it offer any free wireless print apps that I could use in it place. Well, I found 2. One is in Beta & requires you to install Google Chrome, the other costs $12.99. Very disappointed and I hope Amazon offers something soon. On a positive note, I found the Kindle Fire charger also works on my Samsung Captivate which is an unexpected convenience. UPDATE 12/23/11: Amazon issued an update today to help with any issues with sluggish speed (I did not have this issue) and to fix one of the biggest complaints, to remove items from your carousel! I keep my Fire on when charging overnight. I picked it up expecting to have to download the update. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was already downloaded, installed & running. Couldn't ask for better service than that!
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2011
    Preface ...

    A good while back I started to consider purchasing a "tablet". Now, with full disclosure in mind, most of my friends know I'm not too keen on Apple, which is a bias I have developed due to my ire for iTunes. I'd guess I'm not the only person in this digital age that can say, "I like my iPod Touch just fine but I loathe iTunes." The thing about Apple that really bugs me is that iTunes is proprietary. If you want to download and manage content, you have to do it through iTunes, period. And, I simply find iTunes a bloated, annoying nightmare. Having been up front about this, I am admitting that the iPad tablet is the standard by which all others aspire to. I get it, and I concede the point. But, I will not own one because I refuse to be tethered to iTunes, not ever again. (Please, hold back on the vitriolic feedback from those who can't imagine someone not supporting the great Apple. It's not a personal attack on you.)

    Kindling ...

    So, moving on, I resolved that all other products were fair game. I looked at, researched, Googled, and generally poured over just about every other tablet, including e-readers, until my head nearly exploded. Back and forth, comparing specs, reading reviews ... ugh. Then one day, I just had a moment of impetuousness and ordered a Kindle Fire. Right up until the day before I clicked "Place Order", I still had no definitive idea what to do. I reckon, in a moment of clarity, I realized the answers to a simple question ... "What are you going to use it for most?"

    The answers in order were 1) reading books and magazines, 2) streaming video, 3) minimal amounts browsing, email and social networking, and, 4) listening to music.

    Full disclosure in mind, part deux: I'm already an Amazon Prime subscriber, an avid online consumer and a big fan of Amazon. Big. My annual $79 Prime membership easily pays for itself in shipping and convenience and, although the content doesn't match Netflix, Prime does include many thousands of movies and TV shows which can be streamed "for free". I stream a good deal of content under the umbrella of my Prime membership already, and I love it.

    Early on in my research, someone suggested the Kindle Fire but, after looking at it with a full blown tablet in mind, I dismissed it because it was comparatively slim on internal memory (8GB) and wasn't 3G. (It's Wi-Fi only.) I quickly said "Meh" ... and moved on. But, someone had said in a review that at $199, the Kindle Fire was almost an impulse buy at its low price, and that is certainly true. In fact, an iPad cost substantially more than twice that and so do a lot of other full blown tabs. A tweaked out iPad ... three times as much. You can get a decent lap top for that kind of scratch!

    My wife has owned a first generation Nook for over a year now and she loves it and reads on it every day. Nice size, and in a nice case, kind of sexy. (Also true for the wife, I might add.) I narrowed it down to wanting a 7" device pretty easily. Although, I really didn't consider the Nook Color because as a Prime member ... well, why would I? Prime has its Kindle benefits, too.

    Yes, well, so I pulled the trigger on a Fire, and here's my blather on the "points of interest".

    Addressing My Own Criteria First ...

    As An e-Reader - Fabulous. At my age, it's wonderful to be able to size the font to my own needs. And, although it's not as "booky" as e-ink (like the display on my wife's Nook), you do have options of black on white, white on black, or my favorite, brown on tan. With the brightness toned back, it's very easy on the eyes during long reads. Also unlike her Nook, you can read in portrait or landscape orientation, and of course, it will self-adjust accordingly. It comes loaded with a comprehensive Oxford Dictionary which offers a really wonderful service; see a word you aren't familiar with and you can long touch the word which will immediately bring up the dictionary entry of it. Now that's something you can't do with paper.

    Images look rich because the screen is backlit and uses "in plane switching" (IPS) technology, the same technology that my best monitor offers, the one I use for professional photo editing. This means it looks great at almost any angle of view.

    Magazines look fabulous, too. The Fire offers a PAGE view and a TEXT view. In page, you see the entire original magazine page, and you can pinch to zoom in, but on a 7" screen, it's not really very practical. In text, you get to bypass all the ads, still see the images in the articles, and adjust your font to taste. Hit the "like" button for me. That's a terrific feature.

    The Fire is fairly heavy in the hand, heavier than the wife's Nook, but I just am not bothered by that. I parked it in a RooCASE Dual View Multi-angle Leather Folio Case Cover ($25) which easily allows you to prop the device up in either orientation. It acts equally well as a stand or for lap support and it looks and feels great in addition to being protective.

    No buttons to turn pages. You just touch the right or left edge of the screen, or sweep a finger across it in whichever direction you want to go. One friend told me, "Yeah, sorry, I like paper." That's fine, and I get it. Old habits die hard. As for me, the thing I most dislike about books is having to hold the damn book open (e.g. ... a thick paperback) which, as you get older, becomes more tiring on the evermore arthritic hands. Further, real books certainly do look great on a shelf, where they gather dust, and take up space ... a lot of space if you are a real an addict.

    As A Personal Streaming Video Player - Fabulous. Wi-Fi required. (Of course, you can store movies on the device, but that's a little silly. Six or so movies would eat up your onboard storage. But, if you do that, you could view them without Wi-Fi.) The aforementioned IPS technology makes for a beautiful visual experience. The player buffers quickly and streams super smoothly with no glitching, at least on my home Wi-Fi network and everywhere else I've used it. The LCD screen is bright enough that I actually like to dial the brightness back substantially (which also extends battery life). One could listen to the little built-in speakers for audio, but in this age of ear buds, I'm not sure why you would unless it was your only choice. The standard 3.5mm stereo audio output will take any headphone with a compatible male jack, or could just as easily be run to your home stereo amplifier and listened to on the "big system" with little more than a trip to Radio Shack (or Amazon) for the right cable / adapters and an available auxiliary input on your home stereo system.

    I've watched everything from vintage Rocky And Bullwinkle to Joss Whedon's Dollhouse while sitting comfortably at my desk, in my big leather office chair, audio connected to my head courtesy of Bose headphones, even whilst sipping a wee dram of Irish whiskey ... and it all looks great. Needless to say, it interfaces seamlessly with Amazon Prime Instant Video, but YouTube is just as stable.

    As A Browser / Email Utility - Great. Wi-Fi required. Amazon Silk, the browser that comes with the Fire is fast and smooth and easy on the eye. I like it very much. As for email, I was able to configure it for my Google Gmail account in about five seconds flat. To be fair, while it's nice to be able to check your email and respond and have all your contacts on board and all that, I really don't much care about it. Sometimes I just don't want to be reached, and while using it as a reader or video player I'd prefer to escape the world and its immediate connectivity. So goes it with Facebook and similar networking, too. Although the app and interface for Facebook on the Fire is quite nice, it isn't a deal maker for me. I already have a 3G phone that does all that. (I pay a minimum fee of $30 a month for 5GB of "data" access on my Droid, and use about a tenth of a gig, which tells you how much I want to be browsing and emailing when I'm not in my office or my home workstation.)

    As A Music Player - Great. Wi-Fi not required to access files on the device, but is required to use Pandora or similar cloud based services. You can listen to music while reading if you so choose. Again, the built-in speakers are adequate, but don't expect mind-blowing bass response. In fact, except for the lack of substantial volume, (it is, after all, a "personal space" device) it sounds every bit as good or better than the first CD boombox I ever heard, which was a hell of a step up from a cassette tape boombox. Anyone remember those? Of course, headphones, earbuds, or output to an external stereo system would be a preferable audio experience.

    More To Consider ...

    Charging - You can use the device normally while charging with the supplied AC charger, but not while connected to a computer via USB where is it being recognized as a storage device, even though it is charging while connected there. I really appreciate being able to use it while charging; both places where I read most often, my desk and my recliner, are AC outlet friendly. Incidentally, it does NOT ship with a USB 2.0 / micro B connector cable, but if you have a smart phone, you probably already have one.

    Internal Memory - Yes, 8 gigs (under 7 after the space the OS hogs) is small by today's standards. Amazon is banking on the cloud, and giving away 5GB of cloud storage right out of the gate. Additional space is dirt cheap if you need more. The Fire offers two side by side, on- screen buttons: CLOUD and DEVICE. You can choose content from either when in wireless range. You can easily manage your content, swapping stuff to and fro using your Amazon account (It's the Manage Your Kindle link). But, this is NOT iTunes, baby. You can also manage and back up content by plugging your Fire into your computer via USB and dragging and dropping into and out of folders at will. Take that, iPad. That was a big one for me.

    Yes, I know ... we've become digital collectors. More is gooder. Our devices have become our digital junk rooms. Some of you have 240 GB of space on your music players and feel compelled to carry 20,000 mp3 files around with you everywhere you go. Book addicts, I ask you, are you going to have to carry 10,000 books on your device? I mean, after you've totally enjoyed Cold Mountain, do you really need to carry it with you as if at any moment you might need to suddenly reread it on impulse? In my own case, I lean more toward non-fiction which includes a good deal of "how to" content, some of it reference material. Even at that, I couldn't imagine myself needing to carry thousands of books with me. Realistically, even on a long vacation where Wi-Fi wasn't available, I think 6+GB of storage would provide all the space I would need to read and enjoy some music. All I would have to do would be to prepare for the trip by managing the content I intended to take along.

    Whispernet - The Kindle Fire uses Whispernet to sync all your compatible devices.

    [sic] ... "Whispernet is accessible without any monthly fee or wireless subscription, although fees can be incurred for the delivery of periodicals and other content when roaming internationally beyond the customer's home country. Through a service called "Whispersync," customers can synchronize reading progress, bookmarks and other information across Kindle hardware devices and other mobile devices." -- Wikipedia

    What's that mean? Well, even if you don't have a Kindle, Amazon has developed software for a broad variety of platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS, Blackberry, Android and so on. For instance, I had Kindle For PC on my home computer, even before ordering my Fire, for reading a few free books. Whispersync sees to it that when I quit reading on one device I will be able to open and continue reading at the same spot on any other device. Pretty smooth.

    Common Complaints - Having read through a great many reviews and message boards about the Kindle Fire before (and moreso after) I purchased one, I saw a some recurring beefs from consumers, both Kindle Owners and non-owners in the Anti-Kindle camp. My thoughts and observations:

    Clunky Interface ... Some complain that the interface itself is sort of awkward and "clunky". The main carousel stores your recently accessed content using large icons in the chronological order you accessed them. (You sweep through the icons the same way you sweep through your albums on an iPod Touch or iPhone.) Customer feedback has been serious enough about the lack of customization that at the time of this writing, Amazon has already announced that in a few weeks a seamless, wireless upgrade via Whispernet will be uploaded to everyone's Fire. Most of you, if buying a Fire in the future, will never know the original issue existed, if it was a problem at all. Also, this announcement from Amazon is good news to me, as I know that they will continue to make improvements to the OS and interface and upload upgrades automatically. It will just keep getting' better. (UPDATE: Just hours after uploading my review the aforementioned upgrade was delivered and, praise glory, you now have the option upon long touching an item in the carousel to "remove from carousel". This allows for us to really clean up the carousel and customize it to our liking.)

    Not Responsive Enough ... This is, in my opinion, quite true. There are moments when you tap and nothing happens, and you must tap again, and again. The device seems "selectively problematic". I find no troubles while reading books, scrolling page to next page. The carousel can be troublesome, sometimes reluctant to lock onto an icon. Double tapping is often ineffective, requiring subsequent taps and faster or slower intervals, or harder pressure to be effective. I have considered the possibility that I just have to get used to the feel of it, but it's been a while now, and I'm still noticing the problem.

    My most frustrating moments come with "graphic novels". The Fire is touted as offering an amazing experience with comics, and comes with an app for reading them. There are many fine comics available, including free content ... and so, as a fellow who was once a kid who loved comics, I downloaded a half dozen or so free titles. Once I got the feel for navigating ... (double tapping the first frame of a page zooms in and then sweeping left advances you to the next frame, a wonderful concept in theory) the experience began to improve. However, the double tapping at the beginning of each page was simply terrible with regard to sensitivity, just awful. That kind of frustration simply kills one's immersion in the story and swaps it out for higher blood pressure.

    I'm not sure whether this is an app issue, an OS issue or a hardware issue. All I know is it's probably my one serious complaint about the device. Again, the previously stated, newest upgrade is said to include an improved responsiveness. I sincerely hope that is true.

    Smallish Keyboard ... I'm inclined to agree; I'd like to see the pop-up, on-screen keyboard have larger keys. It still feels cramped to me, and on a 7" screen, I can't imagine a reason not to utilize the majority of the space.

    Wi-Fi Only ... Just speaking for myself, I don't need 3G or 4G to read books. I have a Droid phone for all the other stuff. In my case, why spend extra money for that?

    Too Few Apps ... While it's true that there are not yet a huge number of apps for the Fire, I'm not too concerned about it. I found a free note pad utility and some other small things that seemed useful, and I'm not a gamer at all. There is a toggle in SETTINGS to allow installation of apps from unknown sources, but I haven't been too eager to fill the device with stuff I probably won't use anyway.

    No Camera or Microphone ... I have a Droid phone for that. And, at $199, I don't think you can whine too awful much.

    No USB 2.0/3.0, HDMI, or Other Outputs ... All true. And, at $199, I don't think you can whine too awful much.

    All That "Amazon Stuff" ... I showed my new Fire to a friend while in the company of a young, computer techie stranger, and I mentioned it was not a full blown tablet. The young fellow rolled his eyes in disgust and made it clear that, in his expert opinion, it was a completely inferior device and waste of money, that it was a joke compared to iPad, and that you are forced into "all that Amazon stuff". Hmmm, how curious. I explained to him that I loved Amazon, was a Prime member who found it a tremendous value, that I didn't expect it to be a fully functional tablet, didn't need 3G, and that it was exactly what I was looking for. Then, I reminded him that he was perfectly OK with being tethered to the proprietary behemoth known as iTunes, so what was the problem? (The answer is ... he suffers from IT'S-NOT-AN-iPAD-SO-IT'S-CRAP syndrome.)

    Too Little Memory ... I'll have to admit, I'd have liked to see a 16 GB device for a little more, but as I stated early in the review, I came to terms with it. Amazon was adamant about keeping the price under $200, and with that came sacrifices. Fair enough. I'm over it. One observant Kindle advocate on a message board addressed the memory complaint of another poster as follows: "If you really must have more memory, you can buy two of them and still spend less than an iPad costs." Indeed.

    Poor Battery Life ... This issue is the subject of much Internet fodder. So, some reality checking is in order. It's a backlit screen, and a small device, which means it contains a relatively small battery. One cannot expect the kind of battery life one gets with an e-ink reader. Remember that with Wi-Fi on, the device is constantly searching for a network, sucking juice. Remember that the brighter the screen, the more battery it eats. The first day, on the first charge, with Wi-Fi continuously on and the screen dialed up, I got just a few hours of charge. (After a few charges, the battery breaks in and improves.) And now, I am getting exactly what Amazon claims, about eight hours, give or take. Guess what I do? Yep, keep the Wi-Fi off if I don't need it and dial the brightness back considerably ... actually, I prefer it dialed back; I think it reduces eye strain. By the way, on a full charge, I can easily watch five to six hours of streaming video, for whatever that's worth.

    Poor Substitute For An iPad ... Apples and oranges are both fruits, but you can't substitute one for the other. Duh, it's not a full blown tablet. It's an e-reader with extras. It's a hundred and ninety-nine bucks, for cripe's sake.

    The Down Side ...

    Did you think I couldn't find at least a few things that bug me?

    Smudges ... Like my Droid, the screen is glass and it does take fingerprint smudges to the next level. I'm over it. I just pack a little microfiber cloth and when it bugs me, I wipe it clean.

    PDFs ... I was hopeful with regards to PDF format because I have a few eBooks that are in that format, as well as a good many User Guides / Owners Manuals for everything from high end cameras to electronic appliances. This is where a 10" screen would be a benefit. Pinch zooming and dragging the document around is a pain in the ... oops. Then again, I should have expected such ... it's a 7" screen. My bad.

    The Price ...

    It's a hundred and ninety-nine bucks, for cripe's sake!! Keep that in mind, please.

    In conclusion ...

    I think it best to consider the Kindle Fire an e-reader "friend with benefits". I'm not the first to say or admit it will never be an iPad killer. Please refer back to the "apples and oranges" section when addressing that concept. Oh, and did I mention ... I love it.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2011
    I have had the Kindle Fire for a little over a week now, and I think that is enough time to provide my first impressions on the device. The first and most important thing that should be said is that this is not an "iPad-killer." It is not designed to be. I have seen so many articles and comments comparing this to the iPad, and surveys where people are asked if they will be buying a Kindle Fire over an iPad this Christmas. If you are expecting an iPad, or even a tablet, you will be disappointed. The main purpose of this device is to deliver Amazon content to you more effectively. It is designed for consumption, not creation. That is the reason it is so cheap and why Amazon is taking a loss on it. They are hoping to make up for that loss through sales of videos, music, books, and apps through Amazon's Web Services. You can also use it to view your own movies and media, but will find that it is more limited in that way than a regular tablet. Personally, as someone who has ordered several rentals from Amazon Video, and had to contact customer support for every single one of them due to problems with Amazon's Unbox player or purchases not appearing in my downloads, I can really appreciate this. But if you don't plan on using Amazon at all to obtain your media, you may want to take this into consideration before purchasing the Fire. Additionally, the reason this product is so hyped, and one of the reasons I like it so much, is due to the ridiculously low price. Amazon reviews shouldn't focus on price, but it is hard not to with this device. On price alone, this is a five star device. However when looked at the Fire overall, and when compared with other touch devices (what little there is to compare it to), I have to give it four stars, since there are a few areas I feel could use definite improvement.

    FORM FACTOR - The Kindle Fire feels almost the same in my hand as my 3rd generation Kindle but it is a bit heavier. It might be difficult to hold it one handed and read a book for an hour or watch a movie. You're going to need to rest it on something. The display is made of Gorilla Glass, which is a highly damage-resistant. You can still crack it, but I have used a phone with Gorilla Glass for two years on it and it has zero scratches on it despite being kept daily in my pocket with my keys. The back of the tablet is rubberized, so it won't slide around and won't get scratched easily. It also feels good in my hand. Despite all the companies that will be selling them, I do not think you need a screen protector. I have scratched Gorilla Glass before, but it is very difficult to do.

    CONNECTIONS/STORAGE - On the bottom are a headphone port (which will accept external speakers), micro-USB (for charging and file transfer), and power button. The Fire doesn't come with an SD card slot, with good reason. As mentioned, Amazon wants you to get content directly from them. It also reduces the production costs. You can transfer your own content to the device through the USB connection from your home computer. The Fire comes with 8Gb of storage, which is enough to hold about 8 downloaded movies, 80 apps, 800 songs, or 6,000 books. I filled mine up right away so I never checked it out of the box, but apparently it is closer to 6.5Gb as the OS is going to take up some of this. You have to really become adept at managing your content through the Cloud. Books won't take up much room, but magazines are around 250Mb and movies are a little under 1 Gb. Free videos available through Amazon Prime cannot be downloaded, only streamed. So unless you buy a movie from Amazon or transfer one of your own, you must be connected through a wi-fi connection in order to watch your movie.

    AMAZON CLOUD - If you have not tried out the Amazon Cloud Drive, you will be pleasantly surprised. You get 5Gb (which they will probably increase in the near future) of free online storage to store anything you want, and you can access it from anywhere. This combines very nicely with the Fire. 5Gb isn't much for my collection, so I upgraded to a higher plan (rates are $1 per extra gigabyte per year). I can upload a playlist to it and listen to it on my home computer, then when I get to work the Fire can access it and pick it up where I left off. Any songs you get from Amazon Mp3 are automatically stored on the Cloud and don't contribute to the 5Gb storage space.

    E-READER - This was going to be the big determination in whether I should get a Fire or the new Kindle Touch. Ultimately I ended up getting both since I prefer the E-Ink technology to the backlit display of the Fire. If you are the type of person who reads a lot and expect to spend at least 50% of your use on reading books, I don't think you will be satisfied with the Fire over your Kindle 3 or the Kindle Touch, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers. It just isn't the same, and after hours of reading, the display would make my eyes hurt a bit (just like with any tablet). However it is nice not to have to use a lighted cover to see my books in the dark. The Kindle Fire is difficult to read in bright sunlight or on the beach. The touch navigation is very nice, but it doesn't function as nicely or quickly as it does on the iPad or even the Kindle Touch. This can be a problem for me, and the main reason I am using the Kindle Touch for reading books. Additionally, the Fire doesn't support real page numbers, even though the Touch does. So you have to use that ridiculous "location 121 of 16077 - 2%" format. A year of that with my last Kindle and I still don't understand what that means. They need to fix this in an update. Being able to touch a word and have it bring up the dictionary is incredibly convenient and takes less than 2 seconds. But still, the Kindle Touch handily beats the Fire for reading.

    MAGAZINES - The Kindle Fire can also handle magazines, however the display is just too small to be an enjoyable reading experience. I tried out several different magazines, and the main problem I had was with the formatting. I tried to read an issue of Bon Appetit and my eyes were straining after three pages. There is no way to read a single article without zooming. The Fire handles magazines two ways: with Page View, which shows the original magazine display, and with Text View, which attempts to just provide the text of the article. A lot of magazines these days have several things going on in one page, with multiple columns, little sidebars and boxes everywhere, etc. I couldn't view a lot of this without zooming, the text is just too small. So Page View did not work very well for magazines like this. It is especially tough with magazines like Entertainment Weekly, Men's Health, GQ, etc. I found magazines like that unreadable on the 7" display. Magazines that focused mostly on the article, like Nature, Wired, etc, were handled much better. Some magazines even come integrated with embedded video and audio, which is a very nice feature, and one I can see being very useful for things like Men's Health, but I haven't had as much of a chance to use it yet. Text View is a very nice feature that works mostly well, but seems to get a bit confused with magazines that have complicated formatting, so it pretty much defeats the purpose since those are the ones I need it for the most.

    COMIC READER - This is one of the main reasons I purchased the Fire. Amazon has a fairly extensive collection of comic books available for the Fire, including an exclusive deal with DC to publish many of their books. In addition to a proprietary comic reader that comes on the Fire, Amazon also has a Comics by ComiXology app available to purchase issues and subscriptions through. Although I initially thought the 7" display would be too small, it is actually decent enough to serve as a comic reader. I would definitely prefer a 10" version if they came out with one in the future. A 10" tablet is still the way to go for comics, but if you're looking for a cheaper option and portability, the Fire isn't too bad, and definitely beats a smart phone. It has a "panel by panel" feature that lets you scroll through the issue by different panels, which it will then zoom in on. You tap the panel when done, and it moves to the next panel. This is great for getting a larger view and working around the size restriction, especially since some of the text in the comics is just too small to read. I do wish Amazon's comic reader allowed you to scroll through small versions of the pages (like I've seen on another unnamed e-reader), instead of just using a progress bar. Although it is fairly decent, if you are considering the Fire just for comic books, and you are a Marvel fan, you may want to hold off and look at another retailer's device which I think has a few more options. You can load your own .cbr comic files on the Kindle, but you'll need to use a third party app, like Comicat to do it.

    AMAZON MP3/VIDEO - Amazon hopes that you will get the majority of your content from them. That is why the Fire is so reasonably-priced. If you currently use iTunes, you will love switching to Amazon Mp3. Unlike iTunes, Amazon music is DRM-free. DRM is copy protection. That means that the record labels haven't locked down the music you buy from Amazon to restrict how you use it. For the most part, music purchased on iTunes can only be played with iTunes-compatible devices. That is why you won't be able to use your massive iTunes collection on the Fire (unless your remove DRM and convert them to Mp3 first). But Amazon MP3 music is playable anywhere, even on your Apple devices. It also has a very high bitrate so you are getting great quality. You don't have to worry about not being able to listen to your music 15 years from now if Amazon goes under. It's yours forever. As far as video, I have always disliked Amazon's Video services. The prices are very reasonable and they now have a huge selection, but obtaining the videos is a huge pain due to Amazon's terrible Unbox player. That changes with the Fire, as everything is native and streams/downloads beautifully. If you make a lot of purchases with Amazon, or if you have several Amazon customers in your household, you should take advantage of their Prime program. In addition to the large selection of free videos now available to Prime members, the shipping advantages are amazing. I once had a 200 lb exercise bike overnighted to my house for only $3.99. Everything I order I get within 2 days. The Prime program seems expensive but it has certainly paid for itself over the years for me, and now is even better that it is integrated more with the Fire. The only problem I have with video playback is that everything I watched did not fully expand to the screen, and was letterboxed. Considering the small 7" display size, this was an annoyance for me. I know shows have different aspect ratios, but some should fit the display, and I think many users will be annoyed that they can't zoom or stretch the display to fit.

    WEB BROWSING - This is another feature I was initially excited about. I like the idea of being able to use the Fire as a netbook. Amazon advertises "ultra fast web browsing" using Amazon's Silk browser. It is based off of technology that is designed to increase page loading times by pre-fetching part of the content. Sounds like a great idea, but doesn't work as well in practice. I tried out the Fire on several different connections and compared page loading times with other devices (all connected wirelessly). The Fire was one of the slowest. Amazon's own web page, which has actually recently been optimized to work with the Fire, takes an average of 7 seconds to load. Other major portals took a similar amount of time or slower. My iPad and my Xoom both load pages much faster. It is not slow enough to be a problem, but not fast enough to impress me or be worthy of Amazon's marketing regarding it. This needs to be improved.

    BATTERY LIFE - Amazon advertises 8 hours of reading or 7.5 hours of video playback. As an average, that's probably fairly accurate. During testing I got an average of 7.4 hours of continuous reading, and 7 hours of video playback over five tests for each. This is a big change over the roughly 30 days of continuous reading with the traditional kindle, so it may hamper you a bit if you're a voracious reader. I just got into the habit of charging it every night with my cell phone.

    VS IPAD - As said, this isn't designed to be an iPad. I have an iPad and there is so much more I can do with it compared to the Kindle. The Fire serves a different (but sometimes similar) function. I just don't ever see Amazon building up the type of app store that Apple has, and that's where you're going to find the major differences. Additionally, the 10" display on the iPad makes a huge difference to me over the Fire's 7" display when it comes to watching movies and TV, and reading magazines and comic books. However, I think there is definitely room for the Fire to steal some of iPad's market share, as many people (I am one of them), will find the functions they want in a tablet can be covered by the Fire.

    USER INTERFACE - The Fire uses a heavily modified version of Android. I really liked the interface, however I don't think it works as well on the Fire as it does on a full tablet device like the Motorola Xoom. Occasionally I would try to make a page turn and have it not register on the Fire, or have it register more slowly than I am used to. If you have a lot of experience with the iPad, you are going to notice that the software doesn't respond as quickly on the Fire as it does with other tablets. Although this is an inconvenience and something I definitely feel needs to be addressed, I can accept it given the lower price point. I will have a problem though if this is not resolved through a firmware upgrade in the future. The Fire's custom version of Android is very nice. The most recent applications or files accessed will display in a carousel format that you can rotate through. You can also set up commonly-used applications as favorites.

    NEGATIVES:
    - No bluetooth and no HDMI. I could really use bluetooth for integration with bluetooth-capable speakers and so I can use bluetooth audio in my car. As a media player, I feel this really should have been included, and I imagine it will with future versions. This is especially important since the audio from the speakers is a bit tinny and weak. I have been using headphones with all my media-playing, which significantly improves the sound. There is also no physical volume button, which is a pain when you need to silence the device quickly. I also would like HDMI output so I can take my Amazon video purchases and watch them on my big screen TV. Another big disadvantage in a device that is made for media. This will also likely be included in a future edition, so at $200, I don't feel bad about possibly having to upgrade a year from now to get it.
    - Only 8Gb storage space. As mentioned, this device is mainly designed to integrate with Amazon's Cloud, so 8 should be enough, but it would be nice to have at least 16. I imagine Amazon did this on purpose to force people to use their Cloud service.
    - Touch capability can sometimes be sluggish. iPad and other tablet owners may be disappointed with the touch reaction time and some aspects of the software.
    - Video doesn't include option to zoom or stretch the display to fit the screen.
    - Web "Accelerator" is not as fast as other tablets.
    - No Micro-USB transfer cable included with it. Another way for Amazon to discourage you from transferring your own files to the device. If you want to do that, you will need to purchase one separately, like the AmazonBasics USB Cable - 2.0 A Male to Micro B (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters).

    SUMMARY: Bottom line, you will not find a cheaper device out there for streaming music, video, and books than the Kindle Fire. The reason that this device is so amazing is not for what it can do, but for what it can do at such a cheap price. The price tag, not the technology, is the story here. Although I definitely feel there is room for improvement and will be interested in seeing Amazon's second generation of this device (which I think will be significantly improved), the Kindle Fire is a solid start. If you can wait a year or more for Amazon to work out the kinks with the Fire (like it did with its 1st generation of the Kindle), you should definitely do that. The next version should fix a lot of the problems that keep the current Fire from being a "Five Star" product. Unfortunately, reviews shouldn't focus on price, so due to some issues with the form factor and touch interface, I can only give it four stars. It is just not "perfect" enough for me to say it is a five star product without taking price into consideration. But aside for that, there is really only one device you can compare the Fire to - The Nook. So for what it is, I would have no problems recommending the Fire to consumers who can take advantage of it. This product more than lives up to what it is DESIGNED to do. If you plan on getting most of your content from Amazon AND you have a Prime membership, I think you will really find this is a pretty incredible device for the money.
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