My First Week with the Kindle Fire
Written by Amy Rainey, account manager.
As it faces off against the iPad and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, the new Kindle Fire is a tough competitor in this holiday season’s tablet wars. After a week with the Kindle Fire, I’m very satisfied with my purchase.
I wasn’t very interested in the first iPad when it came out, particularly since it lacked a camera and microphone. I was busy editing videos, Skyping with friends on the other side of the country, managing my blog and playing with new photo apps on my phone. Why would I want a $500 device that was purely for media consumption, not creation? Nearly two years later, I now long for such a device.
I want to be able to check my email, participate in a tweetchat or flip through photos on Facebook, but I also want to be able to enjoy long-form content, whether it’s a movie, a magazine cover story or a novel, without distractions. That’s where the $199 Fire comes in. For me, the Fire represents a break from incessant pings and notifications. I love my constantly connected life, but I also love taking the occasional break to focus.
Image via Engadget
Although I’m happy with my newfound distraction-free device, it, like all tablets, has its advantages and drawbacks. Let’s take a look.
Highlights
Pulse. The social reader that comes installed on the Fire is a fun application that aggregates content from the sources you select (or the categories you choose), everything from ESPN and Daily Beast to your Facebook feed and top YouTube videos. Pulse is great for discovering new, interesting content and seamlessly sharing it on Facebook, Twitter and other channels.
Digital offerings. Amazon offers an immense selection of movies, TV shows, books, magazines, newspapers and music, as well as apps. This selection is essential to the device’s success. The process for accessing and purchasing content is pretty quick and easy.
Video. I’ve watched streaming videos on the Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and Netflix applications and all worked very well. The screen quality is excellent.
The size. Holding the Kindle feels like holding a paperback book. It looks significantly smaller than the 9.7-inch iPad, but at triple the size of my smartphone, the Fire’s screen is ideal for reading. Plus, the back of the Fire is a rubber-like surface that won’t slip out of your hand.
The browser. The new Silk browser is often speedy and appears to be able to handle most types of video and complex websites.
It knows me. With years of data on my buying and reading habits, Amazon has a huge advantage. When I first opened the Kindle bookstore, Amazon’s recommendation engine popped up with the newest book by one of my favorite authors. I owned the Kindle book a couple seconds later. The music I had purchased through Amazon and other tunes I had uploaded to the Cloud Player were instantly available on the Fire. Additionally, the Amazon shopping app is perhaps the best app on the device, offering a smooth and personalized experience.
Lowlights
It knows me. Amazon now has access to your real-time consumption habits in addition to your shopping habits and preferences, which may cause privacy concerns for some.
The design and speed. Although the design is clean, the interface lacks the intuitive nature of the iPad and swiping through menus or navigating the app store can be a clunky experience. For example, it can a couple tries to figure out how to make the home button appear in the Kindle app (there is only one physical button, which powers it on or off and puts it to sleep).
Amazon app store. Although the Fire runs on a custom-built Android operating system, apps are only available are through the Amazon store. For Android phone owners who have already purchased apps through the Android Market, this may be frustrating. For those who currently use the Amazon store on their phones, this could be a bonus.
Additionally, the Fire comes with a Facebook app on the home screen, but it simply takes you to the mobile site, not to a native application. The same is true for Twitter. Fortunately, Hootsuite, Seesmic and plenty of other third-party clients are available.
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