Amazon Kindle Fire Review

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The new Amazon Kindle Fire was released in September 2011. Aptly named, the Kindle Fire certainly packs something new and ‘fiery’ that is not present in the other existing products of the Kindle series. Departing from its position as a dedicated e-book reader, the Kindle Fire is in actual fact a full-featured multimedia tablet, similar (but not the same) to the Apple iPad, Motorola Xoom, or Samsung Galaxy Tab.

It is definitely quite a surprise to the market to see Amazon launching a tablet to compete alongside these big players after having contented itself in the e-book reader niche since 2007 when the very first Kindle was launched.

Results after the initial launch of the product are impressive! Kindle Fire is the most popular and the most successful product ever launched. The demand for this modern tablet is growing day by day. In fact, it is the best-selling device across all of Amazon for 11 straight weeks. The Amazon has already sold millions of units and it is estimated, that by the end of this year, 5 million units will be sold! Let’s explore all the features, design and technology which make this device extraordinary and unique.

Introducing - The New Amazon Kindle Fire

Let us start with the design of this tablet. The Kindle Fire is powered by a 1GHz dual- core processor with 512MB RAM and 7-inch (1023×600 pixels, 169 ppi density – quite an achievement considering the almighty iPad 2 only sports 132 ppi on its 9.7-inch screen.) IPS touch screen which is an inch bigger than the 6-inch screens on previous Kindle e-book readers. As for the screen, a fact should be mentioned, that the display is made of Gorilla Glass, which is very resistant to damage or scratches. It provides a pretty good experience whether reading books or browsing websites. I personally loved, that the touch screen is slick and responsive, with multi-touch capabilities as well.

Speed-wise, the response of the Kindle Fire was acceptable and on-par with the current trend of top-end tablets and smart phones all-powered by dual-core processors. The internet browsing on the new Kindle Fire was also satisfying thanks to its Amazon Silk browser, which delivered web pages smoothly and the overall interface is visually appealing.

Introducing - Amazon Silk Browser

Sounds just awesome!

The front side of the tablet uses a black piano lacquer color plastic.

On the top (as you can see in the picture below), you will find 2 speakers.

The only button that exists is the also known as the power button and is placed on the bottom of Kindle Fire.

In fact, Kindle Fire is the leader in the weighing, as it is just 14.6 ounces (413 grams). It means that this e-reader is the lightest tablet available on the tablet market. The Amazon invention is not only very light, but tiny as well – the dimensions are 190 x 119 x 11 mm. From such parameters we can conclude, that Kindle Fire offers more portability than other e-readers in terms of size. As a result — it is easier to hold single-handedly compared to the larger tablets like the 10-inch Samsung or the 9.7-inch iPad or iPad 2. Kindle Fire is also 50% lighter than the iPad.

Internal storage is a little disappointing at only 8GB in the Kindle Fire, though at least Amazon provides cloud storage as a workaround. This allows users to store, backup and retrieve their content online, which is the trend and beauty of cloud computing today. Or in other words, that means, that you have unlimited space for your own data, which can be accessed at any time if your Kindle Fire is connected to the internet at the access time.

How The Kindle Fire Cloud Storage Works Part 1

How The Kindle Fire Cloud Storage Works Part 2

For more information we suggest you to read – Kindle Fire Cloud Storage Explained

Now let’s take a look at all the other features too…

Connectivity, Software & Features

• Android OS — The main reason of the device’s sold number is its modified Android OS, which Amazon nipped and tucked for greater compatibility with its own cloud-based storage system and content library. If Amazon’s content library isn’t enough for you, it also offers users a selection of about 10,000 apps from the Amazon App Store. Although this number is nowhere near what Apple users can get from the Apple App Store, the Kindle Fire’s killer feature here is leveraging on Amazon’s content itself.

• Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.llb, 802.llg, 802.1 in, or 802. 1X standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; however it does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to- peer) Wi-Fi networks. More about that in our How To Connect Your Kindle Fire To The Internet (Wi-Fi) guide.

• If it comes to the device storage, then it has a 8GB internal - that’s enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books. The tablet can run up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off.

• USB 2.0 connectivity — connecting Kindle to your laptop, desktop computer etc. — couldn’t be any easier than this.

• Amazon Silk Web Browser - Amazon also developed a new web browser that dramatically cuts down on load times and request times by splitting the workload between the tablet and Amazon’s EC2. This infusion of cloud computing is the secret sauce that makes the Silk browser load pages quickly and provide faster loading of contents and websites. Moreover, it possesses a predictive technology — it will try to predict our behaviour. It is pretty amazing.

• Unlimited cloud storage — It is the perfect solution for those, who will run of out of local space – Amazon offers you free cloud storage for all Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud. This allows you to store Apps, books, movies, and music, which will be available instantly to stream or download for free, at a touch of a finger. This is pretty new to all the “non techy” people out there, and that’s why we wrote this articles, where we are trying to reveal much more about this amazing feature.

• WhisperSync for Movies and TV Shows — it is another important feature on the Kindle Fire e-reader. This program has the ability to synchronize your notes, bookmarks, last
location read, and popular highlights. It allows you to stop a movie on your tablet and then resume it on your Internet-connected HDTV or computer in the same spot. The greatest thing about it that all your actions are done wirelessly!

Introducing - Amazon’s WhisperSync

The interface of the Kindle Fire provides a very slick, seamless, and visually-appealing experience as users access Amazon’s vast online content and stores to download movies, ebooks, TV episodes, music, and magazines. This strength comes from Amazon’s resources as the world’s largest online book retailer that has grown and evolved since 1995, and to date, no other provider has the same resources that Amazon has in this regard, which is why content could be the ‘hottest flame’ in the Kindle Fire’s arsenal.

Who Is Winning The Marathon?

Let us introduce you to the traits, which make the Fire to be one-step ahead. Firstly, the price I guess is the biggest advantage of this tablet. taking into account that the Kindle Fire is not equipped for a head-on clash with the iPad 2 in terms of sheer specs and performance, Amazon smartly priced the Kindle Fire at only $199. This makes the Kindle Fire much more affordable to the masses, and is likely one of the best value for money options in a consumer’s purchase of a full-featured tablet at this point of time. For more information, please check our Kindle Fire vs iPad vs iPad 2 Comparison Review.

Second great thing about this device is of course newly invented fast browser — Amazon Silk. Another feature that makes Fire the leader is portability — size and weight. Let’s not forget the promising ecosystem of movies, apps and books: Amazon’s online marketing channels gives to the Kindle Fire owner access to all apps available. It sounds impossible, however it is true. All those mentioned and many other features do mean that the Kindle Fire is the best value and provides access to the best content!

Disadvantages Of Kindle Fire

Every technology has its bad side, sadly, Kindle Fire as well. Firstly, there is a lack of some buttons such as Volume and Home button. Although this device is easily portable because of the size so that you can hold it in one hand, but it is a little bit slippery so that being careless you can easily drop the tablet. In addition, Kindle Fire cannot support Bluetooth; there is a lack of camera, HDMI, HD Playback and 3G. Finally, there is no customization: for example, Apple offers a great flexibility of Android — it allows customizing nearly all aspects of the OS when on an Android device. Because of re-skinning of Amazon, the OS is stiff and does not allow home screen customization. As for me, those are the major minuses of this device, but you know what, world would not be so interesting if there did not exist disadvantages, they inspire people to strive for the perfection.

Final Thoughts

Kindle Fire handles all of the most important functions and has much more to offer. In
addition, Amazon offers great number of accessories, so that it gives you an opportunity to express yourself, to show the world your style. I really like this tablet with all its little minuses, because my main goal while buying the Kindle Fire was to find the joy in a literature world, web browsing etc. – and I have found all that! That is more than enough to make it worth considering.

And if it comes to me, to the question whether this e-reader/tablet is worth buying? I would answer in one word: Definitely!

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