Database Users

Kindle Fire reviews are out

The Verge: 7.5/10
http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/14/2560084/kindle-fire-review
If you're thinking about getting the Fire, you have to decide not just whether you want a tablet, but what kind of tablet you want. This isn't an iPad-killer. It has the potential to do lots of things, but there are many things I have yet to see it do, and I wonder if it will get there given the lean software support. It's my impression that Amazon believes that the Fire will be so popular that developers will choose to work on its platform rather than on Google's main trunk of Android, but that's just a theory right now.
Still, there's no question that the Fire is a really terrific tablet for its price. The amount of content you have access to — and the ease of getting to that content — is notable to say the least. The device is decently designed, and the software — while lacking some polish — is still excellent compared to pretty much anything in this range (and that includes the Nook Color). It's a well thought out tablet that can only get better as the company refines the software. It's not perfect, but it's a great start, and at $200, that may be all Amazon needs this holiday shopping season.
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Engadget
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/amazon-kindle-fire-review/
The Kindle Fire is quite an achievement at $200. It's a perfectly usable tablet that feels good in the hand and has a respectably good looking display up front. Yes, power users will find themselves a little frustrated with what they can and can't do on the thing without access to the Android Market but, in these carefree days of cloud-based apps ruling the world, increasingly all you need is a good browser. That the Fire has.
When stacked up against other popular tablets, the Fire can't compete. Its performance is a occasionally sluggish, its interface often clunky, its storage too slight, its functionality a bit restricted and its 7-inch screen too limiting if you were hoping to convert all your paper magazine subscriptions into the digital ones. Other, bigger tablets do it better -- usually at two or three times the cost.
Kindle Fire unveiled
Is a 10-inch Kindle Fire coming? Amazon says 'stay tuned'
Amazon focusing on 'lifetime' Kindle revenue, anticipating record device sales for Q4
So, the Kindle Fire is great value and perhaps the best, tightest integration of digital content acquisition into a mobile device that we've yet seen. Instead of having a standalone shopping app the entire tablet is a store -- a 7-inch window sold at a cut-rate price through which users can look onto a sea of premium content. It isn't a perfect experience, but if nothing else it's a promising look into the future of retail commerce.
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Gizmondo: 4/5
http://gizmodo.com/5858779/kindle-fire-review-the-ipad-finally-has-serious-competition
If you like what Amazon Prime has going on in the kitchen, the Fire is a terrific seat. It's not as powerful or capable as an iPad, but it's also a sliver of the price—and that $200 will let you jack into the Prime catalog (and the rest of your media collection) easily and comfortably. Simply, the Fire is a wonderful IRL compliment to Amazon's digital abundance. It's a terrific, compact little friend, and—is this even saying anything?—the best Android tablet to date.
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Bummer that all these lackluster reviews are all coming out one day too late for me to cancel my preorder. C'est la vie! Lesson learned. On the positive side, the flood of returns Amazon is likely to see may lead to an even cheaper refurbished option much sooner than expected.

The Engadget review, when read in its entirety (and not just the feel-good wrap-up), is more of a "meh" tablet whose sole saving grace is that it's cheap.

Wired also had a review, it was meh as well.
Personally, I found The Verge to be the most unbiased of the bunch.

I feel people are expecting to much from this device. For what it is I am hoping it will be a good device. First and foremost it is a Kindle NOT a tablet. Look at their page for the Kindle Fire. I did a search for tablet and the first mention of tablet was in the user comments, nothing at all from what Amazon has called it. Yes it uses Android but I think Amazon knows that this devices in NOT a tablet, it is a Kindle device that can do other activities such as stream music, watch videos and such.
Comparing this to full blown tablets I think is a bit much but it is what everyone is going to do because it runs Android so in must be a tablet.
For me I purchased this device because I wanted something a little larger than my Evo for reading books such. I didn't want to spend $400-500 for an eReader and the fact that I can also stream music and videos as well will be great I hope. I don't need something with all the bells and whistles and I expect that the vast majority of the public will use the device for what it was designed to do. Read books, magazines, watch some videos and listen to music. The people that are "power" users are less than 1% of the people that are going to buy this device is my guess.
For those power users I am sure someone will root this device soon enough and then you will be able to run probably whatever flavor of Android you want on it. I will reserve my "judgement" on this device until Wednesday when I get mine and have a chance to actually mess around with it. Worse case scenario is that I don't like it and I return it and maybe get something different, but at $200 if I can read books on it well enough, (better than on my Evo) then I will be happy and everything else is icing on the cake for me.
-Eric

>I feel people are expecting to much from this device.
The Engadget review mentions functions the KF has but didn't do well, eg the bad video streaming, the klunky navigation for comic (no pinch-zoom) and text reading, the fiddly home interface, the laggy sideloaded apps, the paltry storage, etc. These are all judging the KF on its own merit, not against a higher-end tablet.

e.mote said:
>I feel people are expecting to much from this device.
The Engadget review mentions functions the KF has but didn't do well, eg the bad video streaming, the klunky navigation for comic (no pinch-zoom) and text reading, the fiddly home interface, the laggy sideloaded apps, the paltry storage, etc. These are all judging the KF on its own merit, not against a higher-end tablet.
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It will have those bugs ironed out before the years out I bet.
Even with that said, all the reviews claim that it is not an iPad killer, which shouldn't need to be said. It never claimed to be, and at less than half the price of the iPad, it should be a decent tablet for those who can't pay the fee to be in Apple's walled garden. Whether it is a fire or the Nook Tablet, the first thing I am doing to it is finding a vanilla rom to flash. I am buying for the hardware, not the skin.

>Even with that said, all the reviews claim that it is not an iPad killer, which shouldn't need to be said. It never claimed to be
That's more in response to the many pundits' predictions that the KF will be indeed that (sales-wise, at least). I think that if the KF had performed well within its limited feature set, then that may've been a reasonable assumption.
>and at less than half the price of the iPad, it should be a decent tablet for those who can't pay the fee to be in Apple's walled garden.
It's a wash. For the lower entry price, the KF is Amazon's (considerably smaller) walled garden. Most people won't root or use custom ROM.
>Whether it is a fire or the Nook Tablet, the first thing I am doing to it is finding a vanilla rom to flash. I am buying for the hardware, not the skin.
What surprised me are all the reports of laggy operations. For an OMAP 4430 running 2.3! It tells me that the Amazon custom layer is major bloatware. I do expect both the KF and NT to get CM9 support when that happens. But with custom ROM, many of the KF amenities will likely disappear, eg Amazon cloud access.
BTW, looks like ICS src is now available.
http://groups.google.com/group/android-building/browse_thread/thread/4f85d9242667a85f?pli=1

EABonney said:
I feel people are expecting to much from this device. For what it is I am hoping it will be a good device. First and foremost it is a Kindle NOT a tablet. Look at their page for the Kindle Fire. I did a search for tablet and the first mention of tablet was in the user comments, nothing at all from what Amazon has called it. Yes it uses Android but I think Amazon knows that this devices in NOT a tablet, it is a Kindle device that can do other activities such as stream music, watch videos and such.
Comparing this to full blown tablets I think is a bit much but it is what everyone is going to do because it runs Android so in must be a tablet.
For me I purchased this device because I wanted something a little larger than my Evo for reading books such. I didn't want to spend $400-500 for an eReader and the fact that I can also stream music and videos as well will be great I hope. I don't need something with all the bells and whistles and I expect that the vast majority of the public will use the device for what it was designed to do. Read books, magazines, watch some videos and listen to music. The people that are "power" users are less than 1% of the people that are going to buy this device is my guess.
For those power users I am sure someone will root this device soon enough and then you will be able to run probably whatever flavor of Android you want on it. I will reserve my "judgement" on this device until Wednesday when I get mine and have a chance to actually mess around with it. Worse case scenario is that I don't like it and I return it and maybe get something different, but at $200 if I can read books on it well enough, (better than on my Evo) then I will be happy and everything else is icing on the cake for me.
-Eric
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Kindle Fire: #1 selling TABLET on Amazon.com

There's another review here :
http://jpae.squarespace.com/food-fo...kindle-fire-wont-kill-the-ipad-2-however.html

[Q] Shoud I buy Kindle Fire?

I am planning to pick up KF but I am debating if 512MB RAM compare to 1GB (Nook Tablet) will be enough.
KF will be used for browsing internet, light gaming and web streaming (not movies). It will be rooted and replaced with custom ROM (ICS) eventually.
I owned Nook Color running CM7 nightly right now and trying to avoid having two look a like device.
Do you think 512MB will be sufficient for KF to operate smoothly?

It runs fine for me, doing pretty much the same as what you want to use it for.
I hit some lag once in a while, but overall, I do like it - so long as I do NOT keep comparing it to my wifes iPad.
Chris

I bought mine for web browsing, reading magazines and checking Facebook. So far, I am nothing less than pleased. It performs well, even when playing YouTube and Flash videos.
For the price, it's a winner, provided you don't expect it to perform like high-end Android devices or an iPad.

I bought both from Best Buy and used them for a little while before deciding which one to return. The difference in RAM was probably the biggest concern for me and the main reason I considered the Nook Tablet despite it costing $50 more.
In practice, I saw no difference in performance between the two. The only other big thing steering a lot of people toward the Nook is the microSD slot. If that isn't a concern then the Kindle Fire is fine. If you really want lots of local storage then the Nook is the only way to go.
Me, I listen to music through Pandora and I don't watch movies on the tablet, so local storage doesn't concern me. Thus I went with the cheaper Kindle Fire.

If you're wanting to do much outside of what comes with it and you're not too knowledgeable on how to fix things in unorthodox ways and think you'll be posting soon in the unbricking thread, I would find a more forgiving tablet to work with. The time you'll save on not having to fix things will offset any additional cost.
Disclaimer: I own 2 HP touchpads and no Kindle Fire.

Well I don't agree with yareally who has apparently not touched one yet.
I have 2, or more accurately, My wife has one and I have one.
Hers is stock... she loves it. Watches netflix, amazon prime and a number of books. works for her daily with no issues.
I got mine after I got her hers. Really didn't plan on getting one myself, however, I started playing with it and got the bug to see what it could do. $124 was too inexpensive to not.
Mine is rooted though I am still using the stock ROM as I am waiting for a proven recovery before trying something else. I am now using ADW, have the Android market, Google apps including Gmap and can even get GPS if i want to go to the trouble. etc... I use it a bit at work as well, Exchange email via Touchdown, Evernote, and lots of usable webapp browsing.
Like any device or smart phone, if you do dumb things, you get dumb results, but if you are careful and follow instructions well.. should be a fun device to play with.

krelvinaz said:
Well I don't agree with yareally who has apparently not touched one yet.
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I may not have touched one, but I've helped probably 70+ users with one directly to unbrick it and countless others that followed the guide I helped to start
Ironically, neither I or my friend that started the thread with me own a kindle fire, but it hasn't prevented us for knowing more about it than most.
I don't have to touch it to know how it works. I can do that quite well using adb shell remotely. Fancy user interfaces mean nothing. It's what is under the hood that matters.
Quite a few screwed it up installing cm7 as well.
Compared to other tablets, I have seen way more people screw their fire up without a way to get back out of it without spoon feeding directions to (including at times, going on teamviewer with them).

I think it is cool you have helped, especially that many people. Perhaps, the price point makes it too simple for people to dive in without bothering to understand what they are doing or reading the large red text warning them. (hence my comment about doing dumb things).
The lack of having a full recovery yet is perhaps also a stumbling block, but apparently that will be remedied soon.

krelvinaz said:
The lack of having a full recovery yet is perhaps also a stumbling block, but apparently that will be remedied soon.
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Yeah, I think once that happens, lots of the headaches will be a thing of the past as well.

Yeah, I think people bricking their Fire speaks more toward impatient people than any failings of the Fire. Anyone trying to install a custom rom at this point with anything other than above average skills needs to take a step back IMO.
Sent from my BAMForever Thunderbolt

The 512MB RAM has not been a limitation for anything I've done with it, and that's *with* all the Amazon crap running at the same time, I've not disabled any of the services.
I think the micro SD card on the Nook would be a nice addition, but not sure it's $50 nice, considering how easy it is to stream to the Fire. If you needed to store your movies locally maybe.

animez said:
Yeah, I think people bricking their Fire speaks more toward impatient people than any failings of the Fire. Anyone trying to install a custom rom at this point with anything other than above average skills needs to take a step back IMO.
Sent from my BAMForever Thunderbolt
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I'm an above average user, and even I'm not crazy enough to mess with it too much right now! There are some amazing things going on in the Dev forum, and I really look forward to CM9 on my Fire.
I have 2 as well, and I'm more than happy with the speed/function even using stock kernel/ROM (albeit with a different launcher). The price point for this device was too hard to ignore. It's not in the same league as an iPad or Galaxy Tab, but I didn't buy it thinking it was.

Yeah with Go Launcher instead of that bookshelf, this is a superb bargain. Remember Amazon is basically selling these at cost to funnel people in to their store.

Thanks for the reply guys.
Only fools compare $199 KF to $499 Ipad.
Storage does not concern me, I just want a device that running smoothly for flash streaming and hackable
I have made up my mind, I am getting KF.

denoxster said:
I am planning to pick up KF but I am debating if 512MB RAM compare to 1GB (Nook Tablet) will be enough.
KF will be used for browsing internet, light gaming and web streaming (not movies). It will be rooted and replaced with custom ROM (ICS) eventually.
I owned Nook Color running CM7 nightly right now and trying to avoid having two look a like device.
Do you think 512MB will be sufficient for KF to operate smoothly?
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512 appears to be just fine.
I'd recommend putting Dolphin HD on for browsing. I haven't had an issue with streaming video from Amazon, Netflix, Crackle or Epic. No problems with games, so far. Currently have over 100 apps installed.
I do use an app to control too many apps starting automatically (Startup Cleaner), as it seems to help performance.

Update:
After owning KF for a couple of month, I can tell you that I am pretty happy with my purchase.
Now my KF running CM9 ICS
Thank you guys.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda premium

Go for it
i bought mine because of the price and i liked the way it looked, so far i have rooted it and it still runs perfectly. So far the only difference i see between this and the ipad is the size and the camera. Its pretty darn fast and when its rooted you can customize almost every aspect about it.

[Q]KF worth it with no Amazon Prime?

Is the KF a great device even if I do not get an Amazon Prime subscription, which I do not want to do?
I searched through this sub forum and couldn't find an answer. I am debating getting the KF, NT, or the Acer A100. All have their upsides, however the KF is the only one that has custom roms at this time. I do not for see the NT getting much due to the HD Netflix restrictions, and the Acer A100 has a locked bootloader as well. However, the A100 will get an official ICS upgrade, but has horrendous battery life. Plus it just feels a little odd in my hands.
I would root the KF, possibly use the cloud services, and really want something to use on the cruise I am going on, which will have no internet connectivity. Streaming is great, but I would like the option to rip a couple of my dvd's, place some music on the device, read books, and play some games without having to worry about space.

keep in mind that the KF only has 8gb of internal storage, and not all of that is usable. i have mine set up with CM7 and read pdf textbooks and mobi kindle books through the kindle app on the android market.

Can only speak from my perspective. I am running CM7 from the KF forums on mine and do not miss amazon prime whatsoever.

I have netflix, so I don't miss Amazon prime since they have the same crappy movies. I've also loaded up CM7 and am SOOO much happier with my KF than stock. The choice is yours and how much you want to tweak it and how devoted to amazon prime VOD you are.

Yes, Prime is in no way needed to get the most out of the Fire. It's nice that the video streaming is integrated, but for me video streaming not even a major draw of the Fire to begin with.

I have the fire and the NT. I also have amazon prime but the library is too old for that to be a factor. The biggest difference between these two devices is the performance. I know the specs already show that but you may not notice how much slower the fire really is without something to compare it too. I like both but I've been recommending the nook tablet for the extra storage (once its made usable) and faster performance. It really is the better device unless you care about amazon integration.
Long time ipad owner.

I was hoping someone that owned both devices would show up. Thank you for the input. CM7 was the only thing that attracted me to the Fire. Sideloading apps and using the Google and Amazon markets is also available as well on the NT. Both are great devices, but I wanted to hear some feedback on some questions I had before jumping on either device.

KF is defintely work it without Prime. Amazon's video library is still pretty lackluster..comparable to netflix. If I can't get the Kindle Owner's Lending Library I may change my tune, but for now, ICS is too good to pass up.

cheesestrife said:
KF is defintely work it without Prime. Amazon's video library is still pretty lackluster..comparable to netflix. If I can't get the Kindle Owner's Lending Library I may change my tune, but for now, ICS is too good to pass up.
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But i thought we were a ways away from a working ice port?

I guess the big question that I am trying to figure out, is if the performance of the KF to the NT is worth $50. With CM7, I am betting that it is marginal at that point. It would be great to see a side by side comparison.

Anyone else hesitant to order after rumors of Google $150/$200 Tablet?

I'm 90% of the way to ordering a Kindle Fire to root and unlock but after hearing of Google partnering with Asus to make a sub $200 tablet, I'm not sure anymore.
The big thing that gets me is the lack of SD Card for the Kindle Fire and the prominent lack of hardware acceleration on custom ROMs that are available right now.
Anyone else in this dilemma? Anyone who owns a Kindle Fire care to comment?
EDIT: Articles:
http://techland.time.com/2012/03/21/will-google-race-to-the-bottom-with-a-150-nexus-tablet/
http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3158&news=asus+google+tablet+nexus+android

after seeing the non existent support for the problems with the original nexus 'Google phone", I would not buy any hardware product from them.
go with the fire.

Meh...there are enough people interested in the Fire for legitimate Kindle use (Prime, movies, reading, etc) that I'm confident I can sell it for the $150 I bought it for and then get whatever tablet I want at that point in time.

I just got a KF on Monday. Love it! I'm currently running CM7. Everything works. I tried CM9 which is really nice, but HW Acceleration is a deal breaker for me. I don't think it is too far off.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk

I dunno, unless someone was planning to root / flash an alternate ROM then I wouldn't suggest the Kindle Fire to anyone but my mom. Not sure what the draw is to Prime, or anything else, and the Amazon app store is sad as all hell.
If you wanted a device to read on, maybe browse the web and add a few apps, then I might say get the Kindle. Always the option to root and unlock, until, if ever, it gets locked down.
BUT, if you want an Android tablet, a cheap 7 inch, I'd say wait for the Nexus tab. The Nexus devices have continued to be some of the best option when it comes to phones, so in this case I'm not sure why it'd be any different.
Basically just depends on what you want out of it. IMO the Kindle Fire, stock, is one sad little piece. It really is. There is no way around it. I would say wait. But then again it is as cheap as it gets. I know I'll be copping that tab when it drops, keep my fire for maybe couch / throne duties.

bleedblue said:
I dunno, unless someone was planning to root / flash an alternate ROM then I wouldn't suggest the Kindle Fire to anyone but my mom. Not sure what the draw is to Prime, or anything else, and the Amazon app store is sad as all hell.
If you wanted a device to read on, maybe browse the web and add a few apps, then I might say get the Kindle. Always the option to root and unlock, until, if ever, it gets locked down.
BUT, if you want an Android tablet, a cheap 7 inch, I'd say wait for the Nexus tab. The Nexus devices have continued to be some of the best option when it comes to phones, so in this case I'm not sure why it'd be any different.
Basically just depends on what you want out of it. IMO the Kindle Fire, stock, is one sad little piece. It really is. There is no way around it. I would say wait. But then again it is as cheap as it gets. I know I'll be copping that tab when it drops, keep my fire for maybe couch / throne duties.
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Have you tried CM7/9 on the fire?

They would have to make a really good screen to convince me to buy one.
The screen on the kindle is really well for me, especially when watching videos/movies.

Well....... you did ask this in the fire forums so what do u think were gonna say . Get the fire for sure.. wait for kernel 3.0
~ BiteBlaze via SGH-T989

isaiahhhhh said:
Have you tried CM7/9 on the fire?
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Yeah running an ICS build right now. I really only used my Kindle for reading up until today ... was hungover and mad as hell at the state of my couch / bed device and rooted / flashed.
The only real positive I have taken from this experience is that I could get real use out of a tablet, something I questioned before. Maybe a little harsh to say it is a sad device, by it's pretty bad in its stock state.
For the Android enthusiast I say wait. There really is no reasonable draw for the Kindle fire.

Great replies everyone, thanks for the opinions.
For me I figured if it had an SD card slot, I could load up movies and watch them on the tablet.
Does it have enough processing power to watch 480p/720p/1080p videos?
Because that I think will be a big difference or the deal breaker between the KF and the google tablet for me.

Honestly, I find the KF to be just fine for what I do. I watch movies on Netflix. I browse the web. I read books. I just haven't found tablets to be as laptop-replacing as they've been marketed. I carry my Kindle in my inner jacket pocket, where it sits just fine on the go. I pull it out occasionally when I'm bored to read a book or play a game. Otherwise, it sits mostly at home, where I pick it up to watch movies or surf the internet. I haven't even replaced the stock ROM, just rooted it to get the Google suite and market. I don't mind the stock OS as some other around here have. And I don't see where hardware acceleration is necessary for any of the above tasks. $200 was well spent on this little thing.
One flaw I will admit though is the terrible screen. It's almost offensive to my retinas. While the colors are nice, it will reflect ANYTHING, which really cuts the viewing experience. You have to actively not focus on the reflection. In sunlight, the brightness needs to be insanely high to see plain text in a book. Even in a pitch black room, it'll reflect the light reflecting off the your face. If you need a mirror as well, this device kills two birds with one stone.
Otherwise, the Nexus tablet looks interesting. I'm a big fan of the Galaxy Nexus, so hopefully this will be on par. Only time will tell though
nxtfari​

i have a KF and the wife and daughter use it mostly to play games and watch a movie or two. i use it to read, which is really what it was intended to do
but IF the google tablet comes out i will get one of those for me to tinker with
so if you have not gotten a KF yet then you need to figure out what you want to do with your tablet before you decide which one to get

RootCID HDX Review

I wrote some remarks regarding this device in various places so ill condense them here for any users perusing the forums before making a choice.
My once sentence review: dont bother unless you want to watch video.
1. Design
Its great, though im not convinced by the buttons, both being on the back surface and being recessed - this clear design flaw is a mistake made by people who dont actually use tablets of this type, but do talk about them a lot in boardrooms. The lines and build are great, no creaks, no cracks, solid.
2. Firmware
Horrible unless youre a Prime user. The os was built for making maximum use of amazons services. As a result you get none of the nice things about android, but lots of nice pictures of your books. No wallpapers, adverts in the lockscreen (the ads cant be disabled outside the us, and the lockscreen itself cant be disabled anywhere).
No root means your browsing experience is going to be much affected by ads. For me a deal breaker. One of the few reasons to have root on a big screen tablet is getting rid of ads in your browser.
For amazon customers its a boon of course, as all their prime videos can be easily streamed on a very nice screen. But i have no need of that. Doesnt help much that prime video is not available at all outside the us, so unless your only travelling locally and watching these movies on the bus, its a waste of money.
3. Display
The display is gorgeous. Mine has excellent viewing angles, good colors and very little gradation. With the backlight at minimum, a slight shift to grey is noticeable along the portrait vertical. The backlight is weak however, partly because of the pixel density and the display technology (the crystals seem to absorb more light than usual in white mode) i find myself browsing indoors at around 65%.
The video processing is excellent, with sharp rendering of lower-than-native 1080p video playing perfectly at arms length or less. The display is one of the best ive seen. Certainly on a cheap device like this.
4. Battery
The battery life is generally good (on my wifi 8.9 device). Im getting 4 to 5 days use listening to 1 hour of podcasts, doing 1 hour of browsing (65% brightness) and 2 hours reading (20%) per day. Not bad for a large LCD display.
5. XDAness
There is currently no root method and its not likely one will come. Amazons bootloader is locked down, and at the moment of this writing there is no (realistic) way of preventing automatic updates, even with root. Device sales are low, judging by the recent price cuts and general availability, meaning that few are interested in taking up development. What happens remains to be seen, but personally im not optimistic.

Love my 8.9", it's quite responsive and functional. Have a Nexus 10 as well, which I think has a higher build quality, but the lightness of the Kindle Fire HDX is great, makes it much more comfortable for extended use.
The glossy bezel on the rear (where the speaker ports, camera, etc, reside) is my only complaint, as my fingers tend to find where the edge of the glossy bezel meets the rest of the tablet (most noticeable on the edge of the tablet just above the power button), which irks me.
The recessed buttons work fine for me, as they seem intended for someone holding the tablet for reading or watching, for which the recessed buttons are perfect.
I'm a US customer, so the Prime service is available and works great. The ability to store Prime videos offline for later viewing is nice. I also installed VUDU, Plex, Netflix, Hulu, of which I use Plex the most (esp w/ offline media sync), all work great. Excellent devices for media playback. Speakers are of surprising quality for a tablet, and have a good loudness without distortion.
I bought the 64gb variant, so it doesn't strike me as an inexpensive tablet for that reason, but still it was well worth the $$. Do wish we had root on the latest updates though. I don't care to change the interface, but I do want to get Play Store and other Google services installed (without errors) so I can make use of my standard Android application purchases...

I'm sick of Amazon-made gadgets. With absolute zero ability but only a large desire to match up Apple and to maintain a closed-eco system in an open android system. I call them crazy. Wish these things move away from any reach of sight asap. I believe they are the best company to sell a paper book and anything more to expect from them should not be deem realistic. Remember their boss is a book seller.

Kindle Fire HDX 7" Review
hewweii said:
I'm sick of Amazon-made gadgets. With absolute zero ability but only a large desire to match up Apple and to maintain a closed-eco system in an open android system. I call them crazy. Wish these things move away from any reach of sight asap. I believe they are the best company to sell a paper book and anything more to expect from them should not be deem realistic. Remember their boss is a book seller.
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Kindle Fire HDX is perfect for work or play, with the fastest processor on a 7" tablet, the latest graphics engine, world-class Dolby audio, and a highly portable form factor.

ali770 said:
Kindle Fire HDX is perfect for work or play, with the fastest processor on a 7" tablet, the latest graphics engine, world-class Dolby audio, and a highly portable form factor.
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Lol what are you a 1-post amazon bot? That sounds like you copied it right out of the press release...

Lol was thinking the same thing
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

murso74 said:
Lol was thinking the same thing
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE
Good point. The hardware is awesome. Fire os is tolerable but I want options, which we currently don't have. Someone will find a root soon
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rootcid said:
Lol what are you a 1-post amazon bot? That sounds like you copied it right out of the press release...
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Yes, I copied that. What's wrong here?

A1) The edge buttons necessitates some sort of trim and flimsy buttons. I have phones like that... lost the trim pieces. I rather like the idea of back buttons. They are not always convenient, but why keep back a blank slate?
A2) There are no Amazon ads in browsing... Unless you're talking about AdBlocker / AdAway? Different problem. You can load Xposed module to block ads, you know.
And yes, there is root. There's just locked bootloader, and latest firmware had not been rooted, but previous version can be flashed... If you get it to ADB. And plenty of folks have contributed to create a dual use... I run BOTH Amazon and Google Play together.
A3) Display is lovely, yes.
A4) Battery life is okay. Just remember to close the cover / shut down the screen as games can prevent the game from timing out.
A5) Don't be so pessimistic.

kschang said:
A1) The edge buttons necessitates some sort of trim and flimsy buttons. I have phones like that... lost the trim pieces. I rather like the idea of back buttons. They are not always convenient, but why keep back a blank slate?
A2) There are no Amazon ads in browsing... Unless you're talking about AdBlocker / AdAway? Different problem. You can load Xposed module to block ads, you know.
And yes, there is root. There's just locked bootloader, and latest firmware had not been rooted, but previous version can be flashed... If you get it to ADB. And plenty of folks have contributed to create a dual use... I run BOTH Amazon and Google Play together.
A3) Display is lovely, yes.
A4) Battery life is okay. Just remember to close the cover / shut down the screen as games can prevent the game from timing out.
A5) Don't be so pessimistic.
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Click to collapse
Re the buttons - its just because people actually use tablets lying on tables a lot. Simply prevents the convenience of not picking it up. The unorthodox lack of a 1 min display timeout feature is also typical of boardroom discussions. Possibly in some sort of attempt at shaping content use? Or just for kicks?
Another thing thats become incredibly annoying is the lockscreen ads for mens products and other useless junk, opn a huge display i have to manually unlock. I never really noticed it till i had to reset my kidle and lose the old wallpaper add disabling by freeze of files. Its much worse than my original comments would indicate lol.

I don't know what you bought that brought ads for men's products. I only get ads about TV shows and movies.

kschang said:
I don't know what you bought that brought ads for men's products. I only get ads about TV shows and movies.
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I got the cheap wifi version abroad. I dont have a us address, so im not eligible for the free ad removal service when residing abroad.
Amusingly only us residents, are allowed to remove ads from their kindles when abroad because, of course, people who bought their kindles without a us billing address are likely to buy us products available wherever they are).
Much as i respect the kindle path, i revile the legalism. Books at market price and ads? No way to pay $20 to get rid of them? There are millions all over the world who dont want to steal. Who buy the books. Sometimes more than once because they have three or more devices. And they must open their kindles as they lie in bed... to luxurious toilet paper with their night cap? No thanks. And imagine buying one of these for your kid outside the us, where theres no targeted ads.
A while back i used the help feature and tried to get it done. There was hassle with the management. They seemed to find it amusing. They seemed very nice about it. BTW - they can see your screen, so when you type in your password using most keyboards they will know what it is. Hmm, change it afterwards.
This is why i will never buy another android kindle. Screw them for screwing with me. Ive spent thousands of dollars on amazon. My account is like 10 years old. And ill keep my books. But ill stick to the app.

rootcid said:
I got the cheap wifi version abroad. I dont have a us address, so im not eligible for the free ad removal service when residing abroad.
Amusingly only us residents, are allowed to remove ads from their kindles when abroad because, of course, people who bought their kindles without a us billing address are likely to buy us products available wherever they are).
Much as i respect the kindle path, i revile the legalism. Books at market price and ads? No way to pay $20 to get rid of them? There are millions all over the world who dont want to steal. Who buy the books. Sometimes more than once because they have three or more devices. And they must open their kindles as they lie in bed... to luxurious toilet paper with their night cap? No thanks. And imagine buying one of these for your kid outside the us, where theres no targeted ads.
A while back i used the help feature and tried to get it done. There was hassle with the management. They seemed to find it amusing. They seemed very nice about it. BTW - they can see your screen, so when you type in your password using most keyboards they will know what it is. Hmm, change it afterwards.
This is why i will never buy another android kindle. Screw them for screwing with me. Ive spent thousands of dollars on amazon. My account is like 10 years old. And ill keep my books. But ill stick to the app.
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Click to collapse
I know you mentioned using the help feature to try and get it done, but I remember reading someone here who posted about living outside the US and having Amazon remove the ads by just calling them up. Maybe the help feature (I'm assuming you are referring to Mayday) is more tech support whereas the ads could be considered "Sales Support"? Try giving them a call if you haven't already done so. Since you have no option to pay for the removal, they may do it just by asking. Worth a shot.

icedtrip said:
I know you mentioned using the help feature to try and get it done, but I remember reading someone here who posted about living outside the US and having Amazon remove the ads by just calling them up. Maybe the help feature (I'm assuming you are referring to Mayday) is more tech support whereas the ads could be considered "Sales Support"? Try giving them a call if you haven't already done so. Since you have no option to pay for the removal, they may do it just by asking. Worth a shot.
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I guess ill give it a shot, you might be right. But i was surprised when the mayday girl seemed to have no idea why she couldnt see the option to remove them.

Well, I knew exactly what the Kindles HDX was when I bought the 64Gb 8.9" version. I also PAID to have the ads removed, because that was clearly explained on the Amazon website I ordered it from & I have no desire or need to try & rob them of the $15 dollars I agreed was okay when deciding to purchase the device.
Granted, my device is rooted with the latest 2.3.2 framework & apps from the recent OTA (sorry, not releasing anything, no time for troubleshooting or fixing any more bricks right now), but even if it was not rooted, I'd still be okay with it. I am a prime member & Amazon services is EXACTLY what I purchased the thing for.
Frankly, I am nearly 100% certain the device is rootable & while people have lost root, this can be avoided without blocking anything or without sacrificing your data or wifi connection. Why isn't it rooted? Time & numbers. There are so many devices out there & the devs like jcase & beaups are going to spend their time focusing on the devices that generate the most requests, which is clearly not the Kindle family.
As for the build, it is not perfect, but it is preferential to the Nexus 10 for me. I hated the Nexus 10, it's horrible SoC & the terrible GPU. The HDX 8.9 just runs circles around the N10. I like the button placement, which is perfect for most people that use it for reading & watching videos while traveling. I do not ever watch anything with it laying flat on a table, nor does anyone else I know. The only thing that I think was a bit under-thought was the Oragami case, which will not work for volume or power with the device raised into the viewing position, where the speakers are elevated above the case, but that is why Amazon added a volume control to the AVOD app I guess.

One thing to consider is that the era of easy root for every Android device is over. For whatever reason, carriers and manufacturers think it's in their best interest to keep things locked down. It's still possible to root almost every device, but the effort required makes only the most popular devices worthwhile.
I bought my HDX knowing it's limitations but feeling that the hardware was so desirable that it would soon be rooted, and it was. I was one who thought I had updates blocked, but got my root access removed. After a while the limitations started bothering me. So I bought a Nexus 7 to compare. The only things I can't do on the Nexus that I can on the HDX is download videos for later viewing and the Kindle Lending Library. While nice to have, these aren't deal breakers.
The HDX hardware is clearly nicer than the Nexus, the screen, the form factor, even the button placement, but the usability for me is more important. I have since gifted my HDX to someone who loves the heck out of it and uses it as Amazon intended. I keep checking in here every once and a while to see the progress, and when root is achieved and I can easily put GAPPS on, along with some other functions, I will probably buy another one.