Is The Kindle Fire The Right Device For You?

By Alan Sutton


Odds are, if you're reading this, you are thinking about purchasing the Kindle Fire. You are likely a Kindle owner interested in upgrade, or maybe you are looking into the Fire as an e-reader and tablet. As far as pricing, it will not get better than the Kindle Fire. Amazon made available their custom Android tablet in November of 2011 at a cost under $200. It absolutely was a thought out move right before Christmas. It rocketed the Kindle Fire to the #1 spot on Amazon's Best Sellers list.

The very first Kindle was introduced in 2007. The system was around the size of a medium paperback book developed specifically for reading. When Amazon made available the 3rd generation of Kindle, which mainly mirrored the 1st with the same E-Ink technology found in black and white only, Barnes and Noble launched the Nook Color. Consumers started customizing their Android powered Nooks to not only read books, but to play 3D games and run apps in color. The Nook Color completely revolutionised the 7-inch tablet market.

It seemed to be a no-brainer for Amazon to answer Barnes and Noble with the Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire runs a custom version of Google's Android Gingerbread operating-system. The extremely well-designed and user-friendly interface, known as the Carousel, makes it a simple device for everyone. The Kindle Fire is the 1st Kindle with a completely functional browser. It's not just any browser either. It's name is Silk and offers users a very computer-like Internet experience.

Since Amazon has always been an internet seller of books and music, they have used the Kindle Fire to monopolize entertainment. Along with the Fire, they rolled out a zero cost month of membership for their Prime program allowing users a chance to access more than 20,000 videos and TV shows. Users can find virtually every kind of content for the Kindle Fire including Android apps. There's a large selection of this content that's available completely free, consequently it fits any budget.

The Amazon Kindle Fire retrieves content in a matter of seconds by using a Wi-Fi connection. It offers plenty of storage capacity, however, any constraint is quelled by means of the free cloud storage offered through Amazon. All the content delivered electronically to your Kindle is stored online with your Amazon account. The focus on reading hasn't faded. Kindle books are now in full color, and you do not need an external light to read the display.

You may be wondering "what's wrong with the Kindle Fire?" Why so inexpensive? Amazon engineered the Fire to compete with the big boys like the iPad as well as other popular tablets. The retail price alone causes it to be a competitor. The functionality is fabulous. The downfall would have to be in the restrictions put on the Kindle Fire by Amazon. Customers can only download and install apps from the Amazon App Store unless you sideload them by linking the Fire to your personal computer. Amazon conveniently does not include the cable needed to do this with the Fire. Thankfully, if you own a 3rd generation Kindle, the cord provided with that device works or you can get one separately on, that's right, Amazon's website.

The biggest supplier of Android apps, the Google Android Market, will not work on the Kindle Fire without some major manipulation which will void the warranty. Additionally, individuals who have used an iPad will see the lag in the Android Os. Then again, the performance has been significantly improved in the Android 4.0 OS. A few will determine that this makes the Kindle Fire a substandard device. Others will decide that such small things make it well worth its low price. If you can accept those few things, then the Kindle Fire might be the device for you.




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