katiesue
10-18-2012, 03:43 PM
I got a Kindle Fire HD about a month ago and here are my thoughts so far. I really overall love it.
First off it’s not an ipad and it won’t do the things and ipad does. If you want an ipad it’s not going to work for you.
I mostly wanted it to watch movies/tv shows at the gym. It works great for this purpose. And if I get bored I can switch to reading a book. There is no wifi at my gym so I need to watch things I can download. I’ve found lots of stuff to rent for reasonable prices and most rentals are 48hrs which gives me time to watch longer things over two days in the gym. There has also been a lot of free content lately in the form of pilot TV episodes. Hey I’ll watch stuff for free.
Good Stuff-
Super easy to use
Integrates with your Amazon account
If you get prime there are lots and lots of free movies/shows. The caveat is you must use wifi to access the free stuff (or the 4G when that comes out). You can’t download the Prime content.
Good size.
Very clear screen even in bright light.
Good sound
With the location setting turned off the battery life is really good. Even with it on it’s fine just not as good as with it off.
A lot of the video content has a new feature called xray. If you pause the film it will pop up little photos of all the actors currently on the screen with a link to their IMDB profiles. Not a necessary thing but kind of fun.
I have the version with the ads. You get one that comes up on the home screen when you unlock it. They don't change often and I don't find them that bothersome. So far I've scored about $20 from Amazon in free content (videos, books, mp3's) from their ads so I'm good with it. There are also "suggested" apps that show up on your main screen under the carousel correlating to whichever app/book/video is first. I honestly don't even look at them and if you turn the Kindle to portrait they disappear anyway.
The not so great-
It comes with a cord but the actual plug into the wall charger is extra.
The internet is really really slow.
The apps are limited. You can only use kindle fire apps from the amazon store. Lots of the basic apps are available, facebook, twitter, evernote, words with friends. A lot of the apps I use for my bank, credit cards, stores are not available. It’s not the end of the world I can go to the websites.
Unlike my regular kindle there’s no charging light. You plug it in but no way to tell if it’s charging without going into the system app. Not the end of the world but like on the kindle that I can easily see when it’s done charging.
If you turn the location setting off anytime you go into any app that could use it it has a pop up that reminds you that you can turn it on. There is no way I can find to turn the reminder off and it will pop up multiple times. It’s annoying.
I really don't like the main screen carousel. It shows the things you've opened the latest then you have to scroll back. I don't see a way to customize it. You can go directly to lists for apps, video, books etc and see things in a list format
For what I use it for and for what I wanted to use it for it works great. I've also cancelled my netflix and moved to using Amazon Prime for movies. So far it's great. Works with both our Roku players. For some reason my BluRay doesn't have an amazon app but I can hook the actual Kindle into the TV with an HDMI cable so it all works.
First off it’s not an ipad and it won’t do the things and ipad does. If you want an ipad it’s not going to work for you.
I mostly wanted it to watch movies/tv shows at the gym. It works great for this purpose. And if I get bored I can switch to reading a book. There is no wifi at my gym so I need to watch things I can download. I’ve found lots of stuff to rent for reasonable prices and most rentals are 48hrs which gives me time to watch longer things over two days in the gym. There has also been a lot of free content lately in the form of pilot TV episodes. Hey I’ll watch stuff for free.
Good Stuff-
Super easy to use
Integrates with your Amazon account
If you get prime there are lots and lots of free movies/shows. The caveat is you must use wifi to access the free stuff (or the 4G when that comes out). You can’t download the Prime content.
Good size.
Very clear screen even in bright light.
Good sound
With the location setting turned off the battery life is really good. Even with it on it’s fine just not as good as with it off.
A lot of the video content has a new feature called xray. If you pause the film it will pop up little photos of all the actors currently on the screen with a link to their IMDB profiles. Not a necessary thing but kind of fun.
I have the version with the ads. You get one that comes up on the home screen when you unlock it. They don't change often and I don't find them that bothersome. So far I've scored about $20 from Amazon in free content (videos, books, mp3's) from their ads so I'm good with it. There are also "suggested" apps that show up on your main screen under the carousel correlating to whichever app/book/video is first. I honestly don't even look at them and if you turn the Kindle to portrait they disappear anyway.
The not so great-
It comes with a cord but the actual plug into the wall charger is extra.
The internet is really really slow.
The apps are limited. You can only use kindle fire apps from the amazon store. Lots of the basic apps are available, facebook, twitter, evernote, words with friends. A lot of the apps I use for my bank, credit cards, stores are not available. It’s not the end of the world I can go to the websites.
Unlike my regular kindle there’s no charging light. You plug it in but no way to tell if it’s charging without going into the system app. Not the end of the world but like on the kindle that I can easily see when it’s done charging.
If you turn the location setting off anytime you go into any app that could use it it has a pop up that reminds you that you can turn it on. There is no way I can find to turn the reminder off and it will pop up multiple times. It’s annoying.
I really don't like the main screen carousel. It shows the things you've opened the latest then you have to scroll back. I don't see a way to customize it. You can go directly to lists for apps, video, books etc and see things in a list format
For what I use it for and for what I wanted to use it for it works great. I've also cancelled my netflix and moved to using Amazon Prime for movies. So far it's great. Works with both our Roku players. For some reason my BluRay doesn't have an amazon app but I can hook the actual Kindle into the TV with an HDMI cable so it all works.