Personal computing discussed

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Omniman
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Kindle Fire

Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:40 pm

I just got my Kindle Fire today and I have to say I am very impressed with it. Everyone was saying its very locked down but I found it to be very customizable. I haven't fully explored all the downloadable apps and what not but so far playing basic games and netflix on it works great and awesome battery life! Anyone else play around with one yet? I'm hoping they will allow the background theme to be changed I'm not much of a fan of the grey bookcase looking style.
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TwistedKestrel
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Re: Kindle Fire

Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:45 pm

Just the other day my father asked me for advice about getting an e-reader for my mother ... once that she could also use Facebook on. I thought, great! They just invented that. Then it turns out it's not available in Canada?

(Yes, I know it's a sandboxed Android tablet. Trust me, that's exactly what the doctor ordered for my mother :P)
 
FireGryphon
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Re: Kindle Fire

Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:59 pm

How does the UI on the Fire compare to the iPad and Nook? I got to play briefly with the $250 Nook today and I was underwhelmed with its clunky, unresponsive feel.
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EsotericLord
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Re: Kindle Fire

Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:36 pm

I've been eyeing this too. Been wanting to hop on the tablet bandwagon, but knew there had to be something better than giving Apple $500.
 
Omniman
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Re: Kindle Fire

Wed Nov 23, 2011 5:15 pm

It's actually nice and responsive. I've been watching lots of movies on it to test it out. Games are very fun on it as well. I like the app store where everyday an app you normally have to pay for is listed as free. They have many free apps as well!
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Shinare
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Re: Kindle Fire

Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:29 pm

My mom bought one for herself and I had a chance to sit down and mess with it over thanksgiving. Its a rather nice tablet IMO. Very smooth. the only ap she had on there that was worth looking at was Angry Birds and it looked/felt/played very nicely with no lag. The screen is beautiful and I was able to netflix some movies. The only problem was the battery life. It was abysmal on wifi and streaming. Reading books on it was almost as good as the original kindle screen with the added benefit of being backlit. I think I still like the original screen for reading text on tho. Not sure why, just easier on my eyes. Again, beautiful screen, nice colors, good detail, good viewing angles.
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derFunkenstein
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Re: Kindle Fire

Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:42 pm

wow. Are you guys talking about the same device that Scott tore apart in the podcast? I was thinking of picking one up after Christmas and then Scott kinda talked me out of it. Now you guys are all gushing about it again.
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Shinare
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Re: Kindle Fire

Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:53 pm

*shrug* everyone's got their own opinions, heh. Pick one up and mess with it!
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Damage
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Re: Kindle Fire

Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:59 pm

Just don't spend any quality time with an iPad, especially, or a Galaxy Tab 10.1 before getting a Fire, or your expectations will have been set much higher. If you like the speed and polish of the iPad 2 or the decent multitasking of regular Android 3.x, you're in for some disappointment.

Ugh. The Fire may be a fine e-reader, but there are MUCH better tablets for web surfing and other typical forms of computing.
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derFunkenstein
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Re: Kindle Fire

Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:00 pm

Shinare wrote:
*shrug* everyone's got their own opinions, heh. Pick one up and mess with it!

My dad bought one for my mom for Christmas, so I'll get to putz around with it then.

I've had plenty of experience with an iPad 2, since I've been doing some web app testing on one. Maybe that doesn't bode well for me. :o
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End User
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Re: Kindle Fire

Tue Dec 06, 2011 2:20 pm

Kindle Fire Usability - http://www.useit.com/alertbox/kindle-fi ... ility.html

Summary:
Mobile web sites work best on the 7-inch tablet. Users had great trouble touching the correct items on full sites, where UI elements are too small on the Fire screen.
Amazon.com's new Kindle Fire offers a disappointingly poor user experience. Using the web with the Silk browser is clunky and error-prone. Reading downloaded magazines is not much better.
 
derFunkenstein
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Re: Kindle Fire

Sat Dec 10, 2011 1:00 am

Ok so I'm playing on an iPad 2 that belongs to work and I'm not terribly thrilled. It's clumsily sized and a little heavy for how I want to hold it in one hand. I think a 7" iPad would be ideal and I'm interested in trying my mom's Kindle Fire once she has it. If I like it I'll get a nook tablet since it has been widely regarded as similar but better than the fire.
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derFunkenstein
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Re: Kindle Fire

Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:00 pm

Kindle Fire owners, how have the recent software updates helped performance? As far as I can tell it's the very cheapest 7" dual-core tablet around, so I'm considering picking one up and then installing Cyanogenmod 7 if nothing else (and I'm aware of 6.2.1 breaking SuperOneClick root, so I'd probably just install CM7 straight away). I've received enough cash for Christmas already that I can just pick one up. Huzzah!
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derFunkenstein
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Re: Kindle Fire

Sun Dec 25, 2011 5:29 pm

Posting from mom's kindle. Pretty sweet even though it hasn't updated to 6.2.1 yet. Ill be getting one of these tomorrow for sure. :p
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Omniman
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Re: Kindle Fire

Sun Dec 25, 2011 6:27 pm

I've been using my Kindle Fire for awhile now and have no regrets. I really like all the apps for it so far. The simcity for it is really fun too! Brings back old memories!
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TheEmrys
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Re: Kindle Fire

Mon Dec 26, 2011 10:51 pm

Well, the in-laws were pretty good to us this year, and got both my wife and I Kindle Fire's for Christmas. Problem is, I haven't found any way that it is better than my "obsolete" 32 Gib HP TouchPad. I find the virtual keyboard just clunky and I'm continually hitting backspace where I am used to Enter being.

Someone, give me some reasons to love the Fire.

So far, I'm at:
its lighter.
Smaller footprint does make it easier to hold.

And... that's about it for me so far. I haven't had a lot of time to explore the apps selection, but I'll get there tomorrow. Any must haves?
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derFunkenstein
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Re: Kindle Fire

Mon Dec 26, 2011 11:34 pm

Apps-wise, it's basically an Android device. It runs...Android apps. If you've never had an Android phone, it's got about 4x the selection of everyting other than iOS and it's significantly behind iOS in sheer variety, but if you have a use for the device, there's an app for it.

For me this is the must have app - a fast, easy-to-use root/custom recovery/Android market installer (even on 6.2.1, which broke root and closed an exploit path). I only use the custom launcher in order to see the Android Market app, otherwise I use the Kindle interface. As far as I can tell, the Kindle is the only device "allowed" to use Sim City Deluxe (in fact, it's "Kindle Fire Edition"). I downloaded it but didn't spend much time with it yet. I'm too into reading on the device. I expect to like it because I like Sim City.

The Kindle Fire is dying for a good email app. Holy balls - the default email app doesn't seem to do any notifications and it's clearly the stock Android email app with a gray-brown skin. Definitely designed for phones, as there's only one column. Same with the official Gmail app (once you get rooted) and same with K-9, which everyone raves about. I can't find a good email app if my life depends on it. That's, again, an Android problem more than it is an Amazon problem, but I was hoping they'd put some effort into the software. None of the "official" social media apps are compatible - no official Facebook/Twitter/Google+. The first two have "apps" but they're web links that open in the browser. No Tweetdeck, either. Seesmic is out there but it's a pain to switch between accounts. These are the only glaring omissions that I can tell, but for a device that really sells the internet as a big feature, it's pretty dumb.

There's an Ice Cream Sandwich port in the works but it is a bit rough around the edges. I'm going to wait for Cyanogenmod to get really up and running on CM9 before I experiment with a custom ROM. That'll probably fix my complaints.

To it's fast. I don't know what Scott was on about; I spent a lot of time with an iPad and I've been using the Fire today for 4-5 hours today (while my wife was at work and roughly 3 of that was after my daughter went to bed, so it's been pretty intense for 4-5 hours) and it's just as fast.

I don't want to seem too down on it. I really have enjoyed my time with it, it's just a little quirky.
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gerbilspy
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Re: Kindle Fire

Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:48 pm

FireGryphon wrote:
How does the UI on the Fire compare to the iPad and Nook? I got to play briefly with the $250 Nook today and I was underwhelmed with its clunky, unresponsive feel.

Just rooted and installed GB on my Nook tab. Runs like greased lightning. I run the BN alongside GB and it now does everything I wanted it for. A reader, surfer, Netflix, Hulu plus,Amazon. prime, all on the go.
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