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Kindle Fire |OT|

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X

Xplatformer

Member
Bored.

Thought I'd list the apps I have loaded on my Fire that I use/check almost every day.

Bloomberg: Check Stocks and Currency Rates
Accuweather: Weather
Note: For taking notes at work
Pageonce: Keeping up with banking transactions
Text Plus: Text for free
Pulse: News app
Facebook: Seriously sad that this is only a link to the mobile facebook page and not an app.
Avia Media: Play back local video files
MLB.com App: Check Dodger news
Night Clock: Uh..a clock
Quickoffice: Word, Excel....edits
Fliq Calendar: calendar app
Fruit Ninja: Only game I play every day on the Fire
Comicat: Read my comics
ES File Explorer: When I want to clear up some space
Iheartradio: Listen to radio
TuneIn Radio: same as iheart
MyPod: Listen to podcast
Netflix: duh
Adobe Reader: to read PDFs.
Chess: ...not every day
Solitaire: not every day

That's it. Boredom over.
 
K

kazinova

Member
Anyone with the Humble Bundle for Android get Osmos to consistently work? I got it to play once, now it just freezes on the loading screen. It doesn't even get to the main menu.
 
A

alejob

Member
Man getting a Kindle Fire is very tempting. If it had a front camera for skyping then I would be all over it since I use that to talk with family. I would buy one for my parents too. I'm crossing my fingers for version 2 though I understand the keeping it cheap point of view.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
My wife and I are looking for a tablet to pick up before I go on sabbatical in June, and the Kindle is the prime candidate. The main drawback is going to be getting it online, since we're going to be on the road for a month. But it would be great to have in the car/hotel, etc. From what I've read it stacks up well to the Nook tablet.

Is the consensus here it's the best sub-$300 tablet?
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
kazinova said:
Anyone with the Humble Bundle for Android get Osmos to consistently work? I got it to play once, now it just freezes on the loading screen. It doesn't even get to the main menu.
Click to expand...

It works fine for me. I forgot, but those this game have two versions (tablet and mobile)? If so, try installing the other version then the one you have.

GhaleonEB said:
My wife and I are looking for a tablet to pick up before I go on sabbatical in June, and the Kindle is the prime candidate. The main drawback is going to be getting it online, since we're going to be on the road for a month. But it would be great to have in the car/hotel, etc. From what I've read it stacks up well to the Nook tablet.

Is the consensus here it's the best sub-$300 tablet?
Click to expand...

Pretty much. I love my fire, don't go a day without using it since my gf brought it for me. The ui takes a bit to get the hang off, but then it becomes second nature. And you cant go wrong with Amazons ecosystem.
 
K

krpiper

Member
kazinova said:
Anyone with the Humble Bundle for Android get Osmos to consistently work? I got it to play once, now it just freezes on the loading screen. It doesn't even get to the main menu.
Click to expand...

I think you are supposed to use the mobile version, the non tablet one
 
N

nitewulf

Member
GhaleonEB said:
My wife and I are looking for a tablet to pick up before I go on sabbatical in June, and the Kindle is the prime candidate. The main drawback is going to be getting it online, since we're going to be on the road for a month. But it would be great to have in the car/hotel, etc. From what I've read it stacks up well to the Nook tablet.

Is the consensus here it's the best sub-$300 tablet?
Click to expand...

honestly, the Nook is probably better as a media device. Fire is great as a book reader + the occasional browsing/email, tv episode viewing, game playing. As long as there is a fast wifi connection around, its lovely...and just stock up on books for when there arent any wifi connections around, ultimately it IS a book reader.
 
X

Xplatformer

Member
GhaleonEB said:
My wife and I are looking for a tablet to pick up before I go on sabbatical in June, and the Kindle is the prime candidate. The main drawback is going to be getting it online, since we're going to be on the road for a month. But it would be great to have in the car/hotel, etc. From what I've read it stacks up well to the Nook tablet.

Is the consensus here it's the best sub-$300 tablet?
Click to expand...

Id say it depends on how important uniformity and future outlook is to u.

The Nook may fit your needs more, but there isn't anything it does noticeably better than the Fire.

The Fire is an excellent value and you can get one with a case and screen protector for under $250.

And its a Lot more than what the $99 kindle is regardless of what some might say.
 
X

Xplatformer

Member
Emerson said:
I wouldn't bother converting, just get a better video player app. I think there's a good free one people recommend.
Click to expand...

For the Fire? Which free app is this?

From what I've seen, converting to mp4 allows pretty much any video app on the Kindle to play the file.
 
W

Wads

Banned
Won one of these for free through the Amazon FB page. Loving it so far, but it kinda makes me want to plop some money down on the prime transformer. Really like what they did. Just have a few knitpicks, but can't argue with free!
 
T

Tralfamadore64

Banned
Quick question regarding rentals and streaming options. Where the Kindle Fire is a WiFi only device, will it allow you to queue movies for a period in order to watch them directly from the device if no internet connection is available? Say, could I pay for a rental of, I don't know, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" (are they really calling this thing "The Twilight Saga"?), download the rental to the device, and then watch it while not having access to WiFi or the cloud?

This whole dependence on streaming and the cloud isn't the best solution for folks who have to spend a lot of time away from a wireless connection.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Tralfamadore64 said:
Quick question regarding rentals and streaming options. Where the Kindle Fire is a WiFi only device, will it allow you to queue movies for a period in order to watch them directly from the device if no internet connection is available? Say, could I pay for a rental of, I don't know, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" (are they really calling this thing "The Twilight Saga"?), download the rental to the device, and then watch it while not having access to WiFi or the cloud?

This whole dependence on streaming and the cloud isn't the best solution for folks who have to spend a lot of time away from a wireless connection.
Click to expand...

Just tried it out, since I was curious, and you could. Download was pretty fast. Took me 7 minutes to download an hr, and 20 min movie.
 
K

kazinova

Member
krpiper said:
I think you are supposed to use the mobile version, the non tablet one
Click to expand...

I'm using the mobile version, not the tablet one. The game just doesn't load for me, it's loaded once and then never again. It just freezes and I get a prompt that it's not responding and I need to force close or wait. No amount of waiting does anything.
 
Z

Zips

Member
Hey guys,

My girlfriend received a Kobo Vox as a gift, and she's tried finding a nice-looking case for it, but to no avail. She found this one thing she really liked the look of before (I'm 99% sure it was http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/ereading/accessories/Verso-Artist-Series-Cities-Red-Bookstyle-Cover/845769005381-item.html?ref=item_page:richrel, but when it arrived she said it didn't fit her vox. The company's website describes it as fitting a vox, but the measurements actually seem to be slightly too small for it.

I know this thread isn't about the vox, but (according to the search) there isn't one about it, and I'd really like to get a nice cover for her. Ideally I'd want that cities one, but I can't find anything that is clearly the correct size that is more than just a simple design-less colour leather cover.

Anyone know anything about vox covers?
 
L

Loki

Count of Concision
Xplatformer said:
The Nook may fit your needs more, but there isn't anything it does noticeably better than the Fire.
Click to expand...

Is this a joke? There is a TON of stuff the Nook Tablet does better than the Fire. It is a CLEARLY more impressive piece of tech, and that's evident in everything from display quality, to video streaming/playback quality, to app performance, to UI speed/responsiveness, to web browsing. Seriously, as an experience it's not very close at all.

The only thing that saves the Fire is the Amazon ecosystem and the fact that some people may prefer its UI design for certain functions. I defy anyone to mess around with a Nook Tablet for a couple of hours and then a Kindle Fire and say that they see no difference or only a minimal difference. The difference is pretty stark. To make a comment like you did is risible, and tells me that you haven't had serious exposure to both devices. This is not to say that the Fire isn't a great device, because it is - but the differences are clear.
 
X

Xplatformer

Member
Loki said:
Is this a joke? There is a TON of stuff the Nook Tablet does better than the Fire. It is a CLEARLY more impressive piece of tech, and that's evident in everything from display quality, to video streaming/playback quality, to app performance, to UI speed/responsiveness, to web browsing. Seriously, as an experience it's not very close at all.

The only thing that saves the Fire is the Amazon ecosystem and the fact that some people may prefer its UI design for certain functions. I defy anyone to mess around with a Nook Tablet for a couple of hours and then a Kindle Fire and say that they see no difference or only a minimal difference. The difference is pretty stark. To make a comment like you did is risible, and tells me that you haven't had serious exposure to both devices. This is not to say that the Fire isn't a great device, because it is - but the differences are clear.
Click to expand...

The nook provides more than the kindle fire. Yes.

$50 more? Depends.

You're right that I haven't had onhands experience with the Nook. I was going by the Cnet article that compared the two. They preferred the Nook, like you.

Except for the crappy implementation of the "Carousel" I love Amazons design choices with the UI. The consistent, dark theme is very appealing to me.
 
L

luoapp

Member
Xplatformer said:
The nook provides more than the kindle fire. Yes.

$50 more? Depends.

You're right that I haven't had onhands experience with the Nook. I was going by the Cnet article that compared the two. They preferred the Nook, like you.
Click to expand...

I had both. And I like kindle more. Personal preference aside, kindle's PDF renderer is better than Nook's at displaying color pictures. Somehow, Nook's renderer degrades a higher-depth color (16bit or 24bit) picture to 8bit, resulting very visible banding gradients.
 
G

Gattsu25

Banned
You know what I think the Fire really needs?

I think it needs the ability to like/heart/5-star songs and auto-generate a playlist of liked music.
 
D

Dark Octave

Banned
Everybody and their momma has this at my job now.

I wonder, how does it compare to the latest iPad? Is it even trying to compete with it or is this meant to be looked at as an affordable alternative?

Also, if I have a smartphone, why do I need this? How is it different besides the obvious size?
 
G

Gattsu25

Banned
Dark Octave said:
Everybody and their momma has this at my job now.

I wonder, how does it compare to the latest iPad? Is it even trying to compete with it or is this meant to be looked at as an affordable alternative?

Also, if I have a smartphone, why do I need this? How is it different besides the obvious size?
Click to expand...
I've transitioned away from my iPhone and toward the fire as my web-surfing and music listening device when I'm on the couch.

You don't need a tablet if you have a smartphone but they can compliment eachother.

Regarding podcasts, I just download the MP3s
 
DietRob

DietRob

i've been begging for over 5 years.
Just bought another one today to give to my wife as a B-Day present.

Still loving mine after rooting and flashing ICS.
 
T

Tom_Cody

Member
I am in the tablet market (or actually my GF is). These are the functions I'm looking for:

-Internet browsing
-gmail
-netflix
-ability to read ebooks and PDFs of various formats
-Some sort of word processing

I'm sure the Fire can do all of these things, but how does it compare to other tablets (read: ipad) for these functions?

Also, I'm definitely skeptical of the 8 GB (6 usable) storage space. How is it's functionality as an MP3 player? Or are you just meant to stream content like that?
 
G

Gattsu25

Banned
Tom_Cody said:
I am in the tablet market (or actually my GF is). These are the functions I'm looking for:

-Internet browsing
-gmail
-netflix
-ability to read ebooks and PDFs of various formats
-Some sort of word processing

I'm sure the Fire can do all of these things, but how does it compare to other tablets (read: ipad) for these functions?

Also, I'm definitely skeptical of the 8 GB (6 usable) storage space. How is it's functionality as an MP3 player? Or are you just meant to stream content like that?
Click to expand...
It works decent enough as a web browser. Shitty sites with tons of flash content bring it to a crawl, though. It may take a while to get used to the keyboard but I can now type very quickly with some accuracy on the thing.

The default mail client isn't that great for Gmail, IMO, since it doesn't appear to support the ability to archive items. Just an actual delete or marking items as read. You may want to look into mail apps.

Netflix works. The interface is smooth and the playback controls aren't annoying. I can't comment on the quality since I am only watching Star Trek TNG on it and that already looks like a VHS tape on Netflix.

I guess I'm the odd man out, here, as I've never read a PDF on a mobile device. Book reading through the default kindle app is good.

I know there is an office app available for purchase, plus access to Google Docs. Can't comment, really.



I use the kindle as a MP3 player and it works well. I save only the music that I know I will be listening to when I am away from wifi on the device and *everything* else is streamed. The streaming is simple and effective.
 
L

Levi

Banned
Found an extension that lets you download apps from the Android Market to your desktop, to make it easier to sideload, but it requires a Device ID. I sideloaded the Device ID finding app to my Fire but it doesn't work. I mainly just want BS Player lite and to try and find a decent RSS Reader / Podcast manager.

Anyone point me to the APK for a Fire-compatible version of BS Player or have any tips on getting a working Android Device Id so I can download APKs to my desktop?
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
VsRobot said:
Found an extension that lets you download apps from the Android Market to your desktop, to make it easier to sideload, but it requires a Device ID. I sideloaded the Device ID finding app to my Fire but it doesn't work. I mainly just want BS Player lite and to try and find a decent RSS Reader / Podcast manager.

Anyone point me to the APK for a Fire-compatible version of BS Player or have any tips on getting a working Android Device Id so I can download APKs to my desktop?
Click to expand...
Sorry, can't help on your direct issue, but greader is really slick if you already have a well-populated Google Reader setup. Don't even bother with PC version of Google Reader anymore...
 
L

Levi

Banned
jvm said:
Sorry, can't help on your direct issue, but greader is really slick if you already have a well-populated Google Reader setup. Don't even bother with PC version of Google Reader anymore...
Click to expand...
GReader would go entire days without syncing, and when it resumed, it wouldn't bother to pick up what it missed. I bought one that works okay, but the article formatting is trash and it adds a bunch of junk text to headlines with quotes or an ampersand. I've yet ti find anything I like as much as Reeder on IOS.
 
X

Xplatformer

Member
Dark Octave said:
Everybody and their momma has this at my job now.

I wonder, how does it compare to the latest iPad? Is it even trying to compete with it or is this meant to be looked at as an affordable alternative?

Also, if I have a smartphone, why do I need this? How is it different besides the obvious size?
Click to expand...

Not as good as an iPad, but marry it with an ipod shuffle and it kicks the shit out of the ipod Touch.

The Fire provides very good value as a media consumption/ gaming device for $200.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
VsRobot said:
GReader would go entire days without syncing, and when it resumed, it wouldn't bother to pick up what it missed. I bought one that works okay, but the article formatting is trash and it adds a bunch of junk text to headlines with quotes or an ampersand. I've yet ti find anything I like as much as Reeder on IOS.
Click to expand...
Haven't had any of these troubles. You tried it off the Amazon store, right? Seems weird we would have such disparate experiences.
 
Z

zewone

Member
Just bit on a Fire now that Amazon is offering factory re-certified versions with the same 1 year warranty as a new device for $169.

I hope I made the right choice in buying this over a Nook Tablet. The lack of an SD card slot scares me as I have many GBs worth of media.
 
L

Levi

Banned
jvm said:
Haven't had any of these troubles. You tried it off the Amazon store, right? Seems weird we would have such disparate experiences.
Click to expand...
Yep. GReader was one of thefirst apps I downloaded for my fire. I adored Reeder on iOS and hoped for something comparable.
 
T

Tom_Cody

Member
Gattsu25 said:
It works decent enough as a web browser. Shitty sites with tons of flash content bring it to a crawl, though. It may take a while to get used to the keyboard but I can now type very quickly with some accuracy on the thing.

The default mail client isn't that great for Gmail, IMO, since it doesn't appear to support the ability to archive items. Just an actual delete or marking items as read. You may want to look into mail apps.

Netflix works. The interface is smooth and the playback controls aren't annoying. I can't comment on the quality since I am only watching Star Trek TNG on it and that already looks like a VHS tape on Netflix.

I guess I'm the odd man out, here, as I've never read a PDF on a mobile device. Book reading through the default kindle app is good.

I know there is an office app available for purchase, plus access to Google Docs. Can't comment, really.



I use the kindle as a MP3 player and it works well. I save only the music that I know I will be listening to when I am away from wifi on the device and *everything* else is streamed. The streaming is simple and effective.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I guess this sort of answers my questions. Unfortunately it seems that the Fire isn't exactly what I want, though it might end up being a good fit anyway.
 
X

Xplatformer

Member
Blood and Glory is now free. Extremely fun for a free game.

Think Spartacus or Gladiator.

If u don't have a stylus pen for your Fire I recommend picking one up.
 
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