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[Stinkles]

I think someone stole my Fire. Is there anything I can do to help find who stole it?

Amazon customer service.

 

[Kingbrave]

Amazon customer service.

Thanks!

 

[jvm]

Perhaps revealing myself to be a tool, but I bit on the warranty service that Amazon offers. Having broken a Kindle 3 previously, and with three kids who are showing an interest in the Fire, I figured there was a reasonably good chance I'd break it (or someone in my family would break it) sometime in the next 2 years.

And in 2 years I'll be ready for something new.

 

[Lasthope106]

Perhaps revealing myself to be a tool, but I bit on the warranty service that Amazon offers. Having broken a Kindle 3 previously, and with three kids who are showing an interest in the Fire, I figured there was a reasonably good chance I'd break it (or someone in my family would break it) sometime in the next 2 years.

And in 2 years I'll be ready for something new.

I don't think you are a tool. I would buy a warranty if I knew that there was a high probability that something would happen to the device. That is why I have cellphone insurance after having lost a previous phone. If you know there is the potential for something bad happening to the device then it is fairly responsible to buy an extended warranty.

 

[bangai-o]

I was able to download the apk straight to the fire, and it installed.

did that.

Onlive put up a row of touch screen control games that users can demo. Darksiders kind of worked with the virtual pad, but when you get further into the game and timing puzzles start happening, I imagine this could be a pain. I was hoping the new Deus EX would have the touch screen controls since it is a slower paced game, but so far no.
Tomb Raider Guardian of Light is very good. It seemed almost designed for a virtual pad. The top down perspective probably lends itself very well for touch screen gaming. Timing moves are not a problem because of Lara's dive move. Aiming and shooting is very easy by becoming a twin stick shooter.
I dont know about connecting an xbox controller yet.

 

[luoapp]

Parental control... sort of.

Came across this post on xda, it may be helpful to some of you here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1384787

My wife went to the bathroom today and my 6 year old grabbed her Fire and promptly bought $30 worth of videos and apps. So I started looking into options to lock that down since Amazon dropped the ball on that one. The best answer I've found doesn't require root and was already installed on my phone, ZDbox. It's a free download from the Amazon app store and among other tools it has an app lock. You can choose a group of apps to lock down and apply a single pin or password to all of them. You can easily switch an app from protected to unprotected as well. Every time you try to run it you will be prompted for the pin. So far it has not fail to ask for the pin when I run the "dangerous" apps.

 

[Crovax33]

Can you load data on to a Kindle Fire without linking an account?

I bought a Kindle Fire for my girlfriend, but I don't want to just give her the thing straight out of the box. I want to load it up with a bunch of photos of us and some other cool stuff.

I don't want to link it to my account because I don't want to deal with de-authorizing.

I don't want to link it to her account because then she will be notified of the addition.

What I want to do is hook it up to my PC, load up some movies, photos, music, and even some books (non DRM ebooks) so that when she gets it, it has been personalized and I actually had to put some work into it.

Can I do all of this without linking up an account?

 

[dr3upmushroom]

What kind of packaging do Fires come in when they're shipped?

It's kind of a long story, but I ordered one for my mom to give my dad for Christmas, she gave me the money and I had it shipped to my address so their wouldn't be a charge from Amazon and/ or a mysterious package for my dad to see and get suspicious. I accidentally had it shipped to the school dorms I lived in last year, and for reasons that would take too long to explain, I didn't find that out until yesterday.

The package arrived at the dorms last Wednesday, and now no one has any idea of where it is. They said they had probably returned it to sender, so I called Ontrac in the dorm lobby and verified that that wasn't the case. The kid working at the dorm didn't really know what to say to that, she said she'd "send out an email" to see if anyone working in any of the halls had seen it.

For now I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and hoping that it'll show up, but I remember hearing or reading somewhere that Fires just shipped in their boxes, as in no outer box. Hopefully I'm just letting my imagination run wild or was misinformed or misunderstood about the packaging, but I'm worried some kid noticed that it was addressed to someone who didn't live in the dorm and just snatched it.

 

[Kaladin]

What kind of packaging do Fires come in when they're shipped?

It's kind of a long story, but I ordered one for my mom to give my dad for Christmas, she gave me the money and I had it shipped to my address so their wouldn't be a charge from Amazon and/ or a mysterious package for my dad to see and get suspicious. I accidentally had it shipped to the school dorms I lived in last year, and for reasons that would take too long to explain, I didn't find that out until yesterday.

The package arrived at the dorms last Wednesday, and now no one has any idea of where it is. They said they had probably returned it to sender, so I called Ontrac in the dorm lobby and verified that that wasn't the case. The kid working at the dorm didn't really know what to say to that, she said she'd "send out an email" to see if anyone working in any of the halls had seen it.

For now I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and hoping that it'll show up, but I remember hearing or reading somewhere that Fires just shipped in their boxes, as in no outer box. Hopefully I'm just letting my imagination run wild or was misinformed or misunderstood about the packaging, but I'm worried some kid noticed that it was addressed to someone who didn't live in the dorm and just snatched it.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say someone grabbed it. All Kindles come in fairly obvious packaging so....

you're probably screwed.

 

[Lasthope106]

What kind of packaging do Fires come in when they're shipped?

It's kind of a long story, but I ordered one for my mom to give my dad for Christmas, she gave me the money and I had it shipped to my address so their wouldn't be a charge from Amazon and/ or a mysterious package for my dad to see and get suspicious. I accidentally had it shipped to the school dorms I lived in last year, and for reasons that would take too long to explain, I didn't find that out until yesterday.

The package arrived at the dorms last Wednesday, and now no one has any idea of where it is. They said they had probably returned it to sender, so I called Ontrac in the dorm lobby and verified that that wasn't the case. The kid working at the dorm didn't really know what to say to that, she said she'd "send out an email" to see if anyone working in any of the halls had seen it.

For now I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and hoping that it'll show up, but I remember hearing or reading somewhere that Fires just shipped in their boxes, as in no outer box. Hopefully I'm just letting my imagination run wild or was misinformed or misunderstood about the packaging, but I'm worried some kid noticed that it was addressed to someone who didn't live in the dorm and just snatched it.

If the shipping tracker number provided to you by Amazon indicates that the Kindle has already been delivered, then someone probably took it. Sorry man if that is the case

 

[giga]

Shipping it in that box is pretty asinine.

 

[Lasthope106]

Shipping it in that box is pretty asinine.

I completely agree. When my Kindle Touch arrived I was shocked to find out the package clearly labeled there was a Kindle inside. There are numerous accounts of people receiving packages that have been opened and found nothing inside.

 

[dr3upmushroom]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say someone grabbed it. All Kindles come in fairly obvious packaging so....

you're probably screwed.

If the shipping tracker number provided to you by Amazon indicates that the Kindle has already been delivered, then someone probably took it. Sorry man if that is the case

Fucking dammit, why the hell would they ship it like that?

Well, I guess it'll be interesting to see where this goes from here. Ontrac says it wasn't returned to sender by the dorm, so hopefully I can hold them liable for it going missing.

 

[Lasthope106]

Fucking dammit, why the hell would they ship it like that?

Well, I guess it'll be interesting to see where this goes from here. Ontrac says it wasn't returned to sender by the dorm, so hopefully I can hold them liable for it going missing.

Contact Amazon ASAP! They have outstanding customer support and I've read of people losing their Kindles only to have them replaced by Amazon even when it was their fault.

 

[dr3upmushroom]

Contact Amazon ASAP! They have outstanding customer support and I've read of people losing their Kindles only to have them replaced by Amazon even when it was their fault.

I'll call I guess, seems really bizarre that they'd replace it when it's not only been stolen but they also only have my word as proof, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to call and explain the situation.

 

[Goldrush]

Ordered one at launch. Despite tracking stating that it was delivered, never received it. Contacted support and they shipped another one out and upgraded shipping.

Also, if your personal information was preloaded on the device, you want them to know ASAP.

 

[Vyer]

If its any consolation, my Fire did not arrive with my account preloaded do you may have at least caught a break there.

 

[dr3upmushroom]

Shit, I wasn't even worried about my account being pre-loaded. Do you have to opt-in to that hopefully? I don't remember ever being asked about that.

 

[Husker86]

Shit, I wasn't even worried about my account being pre-loaded. Do you have to opt-in to that hopefully? I don't remember ever being asked about that.

When ordering a Kindle the purchasing account will be preloaded unless you check "This Will Be A Gift".

Apparently that's not always the case, but that's why it says "Why is this important?" next to it on Kindle pages.

 

[BrettWeir]

God I cant wait to get this for Xmas. Even with the negative being posted, it looks like a wonderful device for $200.

BUT, if I do find that I dont like it, does Amazon have an exchange policy in which I could get a Kindle keyboard?

 

[ChanHuk]

Don't know whether I should get a Fire or HTC Evo View for $240.......

 

[BertramCooper]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say someone grabbed it. All Kindles come in fairly obvious packaging so....

you're probably screwed.

They seriously ship it in that box?

What the fuck are they thinking?

 

[Gattsu25]

They seriously ship it in that box?

What the fuck are they thinking?

I dunno but it really is stupid. I don't trust my neighbors based on past experiences so when I saw the package I was literally surprised that they hadn't stolen it.

 

[dr3upmushroom]

They seriously ship it in that box?

What the fuck are they thinking?

Yeah, really fucking stupid decision.

They make up for it with ridiculous customer service though, just got off the phone and they're sending a free replacement to a new, safer address. Thanks a ton for everyone who suggesting calling, even as I was dialing I felt stupid since I have no proof it was stolen. I'm still kind of disbelief that they're replacing it.

 

[Kaladin]

Yeah, really fucking stupid decision.

They make up for it with ridiculous customer service though, just got off the phone and they're sending a free replacement to a new, safer address. Thanks a ton for everyone who suggesting calling, even as I was dialing I felt stupid since I have no proof it was stolen. I'm still kind of disbelief that they're replacing it.

They probably look at it this way, whoever got that other Kindle Fire is going to have to use Amazon services to get content from it. Sending you an easy replacement also keeps you as a happy customer. Double win for them.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

They seriously ship it in that box?

What the fuck are they thinking?

Seriously, what the fuck? Thinking about getting my wife one for christmas, guess I'd better be sure I'm around when it arrives.

 

[Lasthope106]

Yeah, really fucking stupid decision.

They make up for it with ridiculous customer service though, just got off the phone and they're sending a free replacement to a new, safer address. Thanks a ton for everyone who suggesting calling, even as I was dialing I felt stupid since I have no proof it was stolen. I'm still kind of disbelief that they're replacing it.

Good to hear man. Amazon is the bomb. Should post the story on reddit for maximum Karma ;P

 

[mAcOdIn]

Wee, I'm back.

If you have a source that says the usability issues Nielsen identified aren't usability issues, I'm all ears. Someone is approaching religious levels of zealotry, but it's not me.

This is why I called into question you even posting it. A source? One needs a source to argue against you or him? What is this college?

One of the interesting things about UX is that listening to user demands is a great way to make a terrible interface. That's why a usability expert studies user behaviors in addition to what they say to figure out what's really usable in practice.

Well this I agree with 100%.

I'm sorry, but if a year and a half of experience with an Android smartphone or iPhone doesn't make you competent enough to be a valid test subject for a Kindle Fire, then the Fire has more serious usability problems than Nielsen claims.

Partly true, although again, I still do not know what these people's deal is, it's likely that someone that'd fumble Facebook's sign in for literal minutes would have trouble on any touch device. Of course, I'm not saying that everyone can ever be effective at using every scheme but I do think there should be some point where you recognize, he, you probably shouldn't use small touchscreens, hey, you probably need voice control and things like that.

He actually noted a specific Silk browser behavior that negatively impacted usability.

But it's not the silk browser's behavior it's the current state of content of the internet! Because the Kindle Fire offers a way to deal with it is not a negative, nor is it a negative that he feels it errs on the side of the full site too much because sometimes erring on the mobile site is also wrong.

This to me is one of those times where I don't think it's the device itself but I do agree with it being mentioned. I don't think the Honda Civic is a bad car but when I lived out in the country on a dirt road I would have to say it was a bad vehicle for that purpose. Now which thing am I talking about here, the road or the car? Both? Neither? I don't want to call that a UX issue. Just as Bigfoot would likely chew through that road in the worst thunderstorm Bigfoot would also be a terrible truck to drive through town with. That's why I don't feel this particular part is UX related and why I also think it's silly to argue it either way. Yes, the internet on the Kindle Fire is a less than ideal experience however that's neither here nor there as neither the internet nor Amazon has the capability to make it 100% great.

If you have a source that says the usability issues Nielsen identified aren't usability issues, I'm all ears. Instead, you keep saying that you don't want navigation buttons and Amazon doesn't control the web. YOU'RE RIGHT! 100% even. But that doesn't make the usability issues of navigation and web usage go away!

Again, this is why I say this whole argument is silly, again I need a source. You're unwilling to even put your opinion on the line and instead decide to hide behind this guys while holding him up as untouchable. Of course I don't have a source to argue against him with! I don't even want to bother getting or making a source! But keep this in mind, his current "source" is 5 fucking people, I know for a fact, and you probably do too, that I can find 5 people who agree with me but since I'm not going to round up 5 people, go through any formal testing and outline my methodology just to make a post on the internet we might as well consider the matter closed since that's what it'd take. I'm not arguing with you or Neilson, I'm arguing Neilson through a proxy, I might as well be arguing against a wall or God.

 

[dr3upmushroom]

Good to hear man. Amazon is the bomb. Should post the story on reddit for maximum Karma ;P

I would if I had an account.

Someone else pointed out in the thread I made asking advice about the situation though that a ton of Fires are being stolen due to the packaging. So while it is very, very cool that they replaced it, the packaging decision was a really, really dumb one.

 

[e_i]

They seriously ship it in that box?

What the fuck are they thinking?

They didn't ship it to me like that. The Kindle Fire package was inside a regular box.

 

[Kaladin]

They didn't ship it to me like that. The Kindle Fire package was inside a regular box.

Did you order anything else with it? I haven't had a Fire, but when I got my Kindle it was in a similar box as the one above. Also,

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l%3D290369%26a%3D290462%26po%3D1,00.asp?p=n

you can see more of the box, looks like the shipping label is on the bottom.

 

[mAcOdIn]

They didn't ship it to me like that. The Kindle Fire package was inside a regular box.

They shipped mine in that box but the "Kindle Fire" logo was black and white as opposed to color. I do think it was stupid, it should be more discreet not telling you exactly what's inside it.

 

[e_i]

Did you order anything else with it? I haven't had a Fire, but when I got my Kindle it was in a similar box as the one above. Also,

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l%3D290369%26a%3D290462%26po%3D1,00.asp?p=n

you can see more of the box, looks like the shipping label is on the bottom.

Ah...okay...I did order a case with it.


Anyway, update is coming soon:

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_new...n-responds-to-critics-with-kindle-fire-update

 

[e_i]

Is there a way for the magazines to remember the place where you last read? All my mags go right back to the beginning of the mag every time I exit them and go back to them.

 

[Auron_Kale]

They seriously ship it in that box?

What the fuck are they thinking?

My co-worker ordered this for her son and they actually had the KF inside of a standard (if oversized) Amazon packaging box. Once we opened it, it looked just like the packaging box. For reference, the box used to ship the KF to my co-worker was like the long, flat one you would get for receiving a coat or large coffee table book.

 

[Husker86]

Wow. I've had one package stolen this month probably due to newegg being written on the side... there's no way I'd actually get to ever hold a Kindle Fire in my hands if that's how they ship the fucking things.

Mine came inside a standard Amazon shipping box. I'm slightly disappointed that the Fire box doesn't look like that for me though, just a more plain cardboard box with Kindle Fire on the side. No color picture or anything. I used Prime shipping and it was shipped 1 day air saver via UPS; that could make a difference.

My Kindle3 came naked like that though...really not a smart idea.

 

[upandaway]

You guys seen that Amazon promised a Christmas stability update? I didn't really mind it so far but I guess it's welcome. Also they promise to be able to change the carousel.

 

[KamenSenshi]

Yeah, it's supposed to help the browser(speed/security) and let you erase things from the carousel, but I haven't run into any problems yet. I don't mind the updates, they seem to be trying to respond to the main things people dislike so maybe they will give some drivers for the bluetooth inside.

 

[Crovax33]

Posted this earlier but nobody seems to have answered. Can anyone help me on this?

Can you load data on to a Kindle Fire without linking an account?

I bought a Kindle Fire for my girlfriend, but I don't want to just give her the thing straight out of the box. I want to load it up with a bunch of photos of us and some other cool stuff.

I don't want to link it to my account because I don't want to deal with de-authorizing.

I don't want to link it to her account because then she will be notified of the addition.

What I want to do is hook it up to my PC, load up some movies, photos, music, and even some books (non DRM ebooks) so that when she gets it, it has been personalized and I actually had to put some work into it.

Can I do all of this without linking up an account?

 

[upandaway]

Any reason why you don't like de-registring your account? I did it like 5 times and it was pretty insignificant.

I'm 99% you can, though. If there's no account it just says "My Kindle" (where it says ___'s Kindle normally) and everything functions the same aside from the amazon store/video.

 

[Crovax33]

Any reason why you don't like de-registring your account? I did it like 5 times and it was pretty insignificant.

I'm 99% you can, though. If there's no account it just says "My Kindle" (where it says ___'s Kindle normally) and everything functions the same aside from the amazon store/video.

I guess I just assumed it would create problems for my account, or my girlfriend's future Kindle.

 

[Vyer]

The update is needed, the browser seems to really lag at times and the carousel needs an overhaul.

Also, my box did not look like that (though it still says Kindle Fire on it).

 

[BJK]

The update is needed, the browser seems to really lag at times and the carousel needs an overhaul.

Also, my box did not look like that (though it still says Kindle Fire on it).

The other pictures have a sleeve on it that slides over the box in your picture.
(I bought my Kindle Fire at Best Buy, but I can't believe they actually ship them like that.)

 

[Vyer]

The other pictures have a sleeve on it that slides over the box in your picture.
(I bought my Kindle Fire at Best Buy, but I can't believe they actually ship them like that.)

Ah. Maybe they stole my sleeve, I dunno. haha

 

[CzarTim]

The update is needed, the browser seems to really lag at times and the carousel needs an overhaul.

Also, my box did not look like that (though it still says Kindle Fire on it).

http://i.imgur.com/nptji.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]
Mine was like this as well.

 

[squicken]

1. Is there a way to organize the bookmarks in the browser? Like make ESPN the top tile and GAf the second, etc

2. When I Google, it will occasionally not let me click on certain links. As if the browser thinks it is just text, and not a hyperlink. Is that a known issue?

 

[jvm]

I'd love to (try to) play Zookeeper DX on my Fire, but of course it's not on the Amazon App Store. It is on the Android Marketplace.

My sister just gave me her old Droid, so I have a device with access to the Marketplace, and I can buy the game there. Could I then move it over to my Fire by just moving an APK over? How do I go about doing that?

 

[GodfatherX]

Us there a way for the KF to do non amazon drm free ePub files

What about cbz?

 

[luoapp]

I'd love to (try to) play Zookeeper DX on my Fire, but of course it's not on the Amazon App Store. It is on the Android Marketplace.

My sister just gave me her old Droid, so I have a device with access to the Marketplace, and I can buy the game there. Could I then move it over to my Fire by just moving an APK over? How do I go about doing that?

Backup to phone's sd card, transfer to Kindle, install. Tested.Com has a tutorial for that.

Read epub book on Kindle: either use an Android epub reader, or use calibre to convert to mobi format.

 

[jvm]

Backup to phone's sd card, transfer to Kindle, install. Tested.Com has a tutorial for that.

I get a "not licensed" error on the Kindle Fire. Dadgummit.

On the other hand, great to have on the Droid I'm using as a toy.