KindleFire any good?

[Gringo]

We live on a little island in a little country with one bookstore. Not a lot of choice, but a lot of price. So two years ago we bought a couple Kindle 2's. And we love em. I go through about a book a week, and La Gringa goes through one every couple weeks.

Yesterday her Kindle bought the farm. Kicked the bucket. Cooked the goose. I've tried every combination of button pushing and swtich holding I can find on the tech help internet sites, but no good. Things are changing on the display, but it's scrambled.

So I was looking at buying her another Kindle, of course, and saw this KindleFire thing. I can replace her Kindle ( which we paid $ 250 for two years ago!!) for about a hundred bucks. But I wanted to ask if anyone has used the Kindlefire and if it's worth the money. I notice it only claims a battery life of something like 8 hours, whereas the orig. Kindles are good for weeks on a charge.

Any info?

[50KIP]

Amazon is only taking pre-orders for the FIRE. It will not be released and shipped until the 15th of November, and thus we will have to wait til then to get customer evaluations.

[Kosm1o]

I have a kindle but don't use it much now that my Android phone has the Kindle app and automatically syncs with my Kindle. I like to read from the Android indoors as I don't need an external light. Outside the Kindle is best.

[TBRich]

I've only seen the ads but my guess RE the battery life is that the FIRE does so much more than the original Kindle...therefore more "oomph" needed. The price seems decent.

[idroba]

I bet you could get a used one like you now have on ebay. Might save you some money etc if you like what you have now.

[Paul&Dee]

I've got a Kindle Fire on order. Supposed to arrive on Tuesday. If you are an Amazon Prime member (costs extra) you can "borrow" ebooks for free now. With a Fire or a regular Kindle. One book a month from a specific list.

The Fire has color versions of magazines, can download movies and TV shows from Amazon or Netflix, and has a web browser.

Watch for reviews when it comes out this week.

[Ag&Au]

The one criticism that I have seen is that there is no expansion slot for a add on memory card. That may or may not matter to you.

Ken

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by w7ts

The one criticism that I have seen is that there is no expansion slot for a add on memory card. That may or may not matter to you.

Ken

Amazon's reasoning for this is they allow you to use their "cloud" storage, so you shouldn't need the card slot. I don't agree, but who am I?

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by overlander63

Amazon's reasoning for this is they allow you to use their "cloud" storage, so you shouldn't need the card slot. I don't agree, but who am I?

I wonder how you are supposed to get the stuff in the cloud if you don't happen to have a internet connection. I am guessing there must be some kind of digital rain dance.

Or, it could be another example of the "If it ain't internet, it ain't worth s**t" philosophy."

Ken

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by w7ts

I wonder how you are supposed to get the stuff in the cloud if you don't happen to have a internet connection. I am guessing there must be some kind of digital rain dance.

Or, it could be another example of the "If it ain't internet, it ain't worth s**t" philosophy."

Ken

Personally, I want what's mine under my direct control. If I screw up and lose something, it's on me, not some goober in a third world country that flipped a switch of pushed a key somewhere, and gave everybody in Nigeria access to all my stuff.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by overlander63

Personally, I want what's mine under my direct control. If I screw up and lose something, it's on me, not some goober in a third world country that flipped a switch of pushed a key somewhere, and gave everybody in Nigeria access to all my stuff.

I agree 100%. Another of my favorites is doing your income tax with an online site. As far as I'm concerned you might as well file bankruptcy in advance.

Ken

[eubank]

It really matters what your wife wants. If she's merely looking for an e-reader for books, then the regular Kindle can't be beat. And a version of it without the keyboard is now around $80.

The Fire, as folks have stated, is not quite out yet. It is much more than merely a reader. (I do wonder, by the way, if it uses e-ink technology so that you can read in full sun with it.) In any event, the Fire has been in the news quite recently:

Amazon: Kindle Fire will come with Hulu Plus, ESPN and Newsstand - Yahoo! News

Again, take a look. It really depends on whether she wants just a reader or something much more substantial (but still not a computer per se).


Lynn

[Gringo]

she ordered the Fire yesterday. I am trying to get her to order one of the simple keyboardless Kindles to get her thru. Then in a month she gets this KindleFire and the $ 80 becomes a spare for when my Kindle 2 bites the dust. Which is literal, by the way. We are averaging a laptop a year, each, down here. We take a lot of photos for the blog, and in six years we are now on our 11th digital camera. I only buy waterproof point and shoots these days. Get about a year out of one, maybe. Microwave ovens are considered expendables. We're on our third.
The dust contains roughly the same salt content as the ocean, I think. My Kindle has a keyboard, point of dust entry, and gets the most use. It's day is drawing nigh.

This is how we have to think. We live in the land based equivalent of what the Navy used to call " marine environment, sheltered" basically. We hoard food when favorites are available. We look for spares availability when we buy something. Warranty is a totally worthless concept if you live in a place like this. It's rare that we would pack something up, fill out the paperwork, pay the international shipping to the US, and have someone at the other end who knows how to clear it through customs, and ship it back to us repaired, paying international freight, and having all the paperwork right for customs at this end. Which we then have to deal with at this end. Which means fighting about whether or not we need to pay import duties again. Nah......we don't pay no steenkin extra for warranty.

So please bear with me when I pick y'all's brains about non-airstream stuff like Kindles. I need input for these momentous decisions.

and please pardon the rant. This happens to me every year when I start trying to engineer my christmas shopping.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by Gringo

she ordered the Fire yesterday. I am trying to get her to order one of the simple keyboardless Kindles to get her thru. Then in a month she gets this KindleFire and the $ 80 becomes a spare for when my Kindle 2 bites the dust. Which is literal, by the way. We are averaging a laptop a year, each, down here. We take a lot of photos for the blog, and in six years we are now on our 11th digital camera. I only buy waterproof point and shoots these days. Get about a year out of one, maybe. Microwave ovens are considered expendables. We're on our third.
The dust contains roughly the same salt content as the ocean, I think. My Kindle has a keyboard, point of dust entry, and gets the most use. It's day is drawing nigh.

This is how we have to think. We live in the land based equivalent of what the Navy used to call " marine environment, sheltered" basically. We hoard food when favorites are available. We look for spares availability when we buy something. Warranty is a totally worthless concept if you live in a place like this. It's rare that we would pack something up, fill out the paperwork, pay the international shipping to the US, and have someone at the other end who knows how to clear it through customs, and ship it back to us repaired, paying international freight, and having all the paperwork right for customs at this end. Which we then have to deal with at this end. Which means fighting about whether or not we need to pay import duties again. Nah......we don't pay no steenkin extra for warranty.

So please bear with me when I pick y'all's brains about non-airstream stuff like Kindles. I need input for these momentous decisions.

and please pardon the rant. This happens to me every year when I start trying to engineer my christmas shopping.

I have always thought that a major goal of escaping to a tropical isle was to live the simple unencumbered life. I guess that's not always true.

Ken

[sempi2]

Gringo, If I remember correctly you are at Turks and Cacos. We vacationed there a few years back. Do recall that the island is very small. Shopping is limited. But one of the more beautiful beaches around.
Hubby ordered a Kindle Fire for my birthday, and it should arrive in a few days. Looks like it will be a fun thing to play around with.