"A Friend With Benefits"
A review of the Kindle Fire
Preface …
A good while back I started to consider purchasing a “tablet”. Now, with full disclosure in mind, most of my friends know I’m not too keen on Apple, which is a bias I have developed due to my ire for iTunes. I’d guess I’m not the only person in this digital age that can say, “I like my iPod Touch just fine but I loathe iTunes.” The thing about Apple that really bugs me is that iTunes is proprietary. If you want to download and manage content, you have to do it through iTunes, period. And, I simply find iTunes a bloated, annoying nightmare. Having been up front about this, I am admitting that the iPad tablet is the standard by which all others aspire to. I get it, and I concede the point. But, I will not own one because I refuse to be tethered to iTunes, not ever again. (Please, hold back on the vitriolic feedback from those who can’t imagine someone not supporting the great Apple. It’s not a personal attack on you.)
Kindling …
So, moving on, I resolved that all other products were fair game. I looked at, researched, Googled, and generally poured over just about every other tablet, including e-readers, until my head nearly exploded. Back and forth, comparing specs, reading reviews … ugh. Then one day, I just had a moment of impetuousness and ordered a Kindle Fire. Right up until the day before I clicked “Place Order”, I still had no definitive idea what to do. I reckon, in a moment of clarity, I realized the answers to a simple question … “What are you going to use it for most?”
The answers in order were 1) reading books and magazines, 2) streaming video, 3) minimal amounts browsing, email and social networking, and, 4) listening to music.
Full disclosure in mind, part deux: I’m already an Amazon Prime subscriber, an avid online consumer and a big fan of Amazon. Big. My annual $79 Prime membership easily pays for itself in shipping and convenience and, although the content doesn’t match Netflix, Prime does include many thousands of movies and TV shows which can be streamed “for free”. I stream a good deal of content under the umbrella of my Prime membership already, and I love it.
Early on in my research, someone suggested the Kindle Fire but, after looking at it with a full blown tablet in mind, I dismissed it because it was comparatively slim on internal memory (8GB) and wasn’t 3G. (It’s Wi-Fi only.) I quickly said “Meh” … and moved on. But, someone had said in a review that at $199, the Kindle Fire was almost an impulse buy at its low price, and that is certainly true. In fact, an iPad cost substantially more than twice that and so do a lot of other full blown tabs. A tweaked out iPad … three times as much. You can get a decent lap top for that kind of scratch!
My wife has owned a first generation Nook for over a year now and she loves it and reads on it every day. Nice size, and in a nice case, kind of sexy. (Also true for the wife, I might add.) I narrowed it down to wanting a 7” device pretty easily. Although, I really didn’t consider the Nook Color because as a Prime member … well, why would I? Prime has its Kindle benefits, too.
Yes, well, so I pulled the trigger on a Fire, and here’s my blather on the “points of interest”.
Addressing My Own Criteria First …
As An e-Reader – Fabulous. At my age, it’s wonderful to be able to size the font to my own needs. And, although it’s not as “booky” as e-ink (like the display on my wife’s Nook), you do have options of black on white, white on black, or my favorite, brown on tan. With the brightness toned back, it’s very easy on the eyes during long reads. Also unlike her Nook, you can read in portrait or landscape orientation, and of course, it will self-adjust accordingly. It comes loaded with a comprehensive Oxford Dictionary which offers a really wonderful service; see a word you aren’t familiar with and you can long touch the word which will immediately bring up the dictionary entry of it. Now that’s something you can’t do with paper.
Images look rich because the screen is backlit and uses “in plane switching” (IPS) technology, the same technology that my best monitor offers, the one I use for professional photo editing. This means it looks great at almost any angle of view.
Magazines look fabulous, too. The Fire offers a PAGE view and a TEXT view. In page, you see the entire original magazine page, and you can pinch to zoom in, but on a 7” screen, it’s not really very practical. In text, you get to bypass all the ads, still see the images in the articles, and adjust your font to taste. Hit the “like” button for me. That’s a terrific feature.
The Fire is fairly heavy in the hand, heavier than the wife’s Nook, but I just am not bothered by that. I parked it in a RooCASE Dual View Multi-angle Leather Folio Case Cover ($25) which easily allows you to prop the device up in either orientation. It acts equally well as a stand or for lap support and it looks and feels great in addition to being protective.
No buttons to turn pages. You just touch the right or left edge of the screen, or sweep a finger across it in whichever direction you want to go. One friend told me, “Yeah, sorry, I like paper.” That’s fine, and I get it. Old habits die hard. As for me, the thing I most dislike about books is having to hold the damn book open (e.g. … a thick paperback) which, as you get older, becomes more tiring on the evermore arthritic hands. Further, real books certainly do look great on a shelf, where they gather dust, and take up space … a lot of space if you are a real an addict.
As A Personal Streaming Video Player – Fabulous. Wi-Fi required. (Of course, you can store movies on the device, but that’s a little silly. Six or so movies would eat up your onboard storage. But, if you do that, you could view them without Wi-Fi.) The aforementioned IPS technology makes for a beautiful visual experience. The player buffers quickly and streams super smoothly with no glitching, at least on my home Wi-Fi network and everywhere else I’ve used it. The LCD screen is bright enough that I actually like to dial the brightness back substantially (which also extends battery life). One could listen to the little built-in speakers for audio, but in this age of ear buds, I’m not sure why you would unless it was your only choice. The standard 3.5mm stereo audio output will take any headphone with a compatible male jack, or could just as easily be run to your home stereo amplifier and listened to on the “big system” with little more than a trip to Radio Shack (or Amazon) for the right cable / adapters and an available auxiliary input on your home stereo system.
I’ve watched everything from vintage Rocky And Bullwinkle to Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse while sitting comfortably at my desk, in my big leather office chair, audio connected to my head courtesy of Bose headphones, even whilst sipping a wee dram of Irish whiskey … and it all looks great. Needless to say, it interfaces seamlessly with Amazon Prime Instant Video, but YouTube is just as stable.
As A Browser / Email Utility – Great. Wi-Fi required. Amazon Silk, the browser that comes with the Fire is fast and smooth and easy on the eye. I like it very much. As for email, I was able to configure it for my Google Gmail account in about five seconds flat. To be fair, while it’s nice to be able to check your email and respond and have all your contacts on board and all that, I really don’t much care about it. Sometimes I just don’t want to be reached, and while using it as a reader or video player I’d prefer to escape the world and its immediate connectivity. So goes it with Facebook and similar networking, too. Although the app and interface for Facebook on the Fire is quite nice, it isn’t a deal maker for me. I already have a 3G phone that does all that. (I pay a minimum fee of $30 a month for 5GB of “data” access on my Droid, and use about a tenth of a gig, which tells you how much I want to be browsing and emailing when I’m not in my office or my home workstation.)
As A Music Player – Great. Wi-Fi not required to access files on the device, but is required to use Pandora or similar cloud based services. You can listen to music while reading if you so choose. Again, the built-in speakers are adequate, but don’t expect mind-blowing bass response. In fact, except for the lack of substantial volume, (it is, after all, a “personal space” device) it sounds every bit as good or better than the first CD boombox I ever heard, which was a hell of a step up from a cassette tape boombox. Anyone remember those? Of course, headphones, earbuds, or output to an external stereo system would be a preferable audio experience.
More To Consider …
Charging - You can use the device normally while charging with the supplied AC charger, but not while connected to a computer via USB where is it being recognized as a storage device, even though it is charging while connected there. I really appreciate being able to use it while charging; both places where I read most often, my desk and my recliner, are AC outlet friendly. Incidentally, it does NOT ship with a USB 2.0 / micro B connector cable, but if you have a smart phone, you probably already have one.
Internal Memory – Yes, 8 gigs (under 7 after the space the OS hogs) is small by today’s standards. Amazon is banking on the cloud, and giving away 5GB of cloud storage right out of the gate. Additional space is dirt cheap if you need more. The Fire offers two side by side, on- screen buttons: CLOUD and DEVICE. You can choose content from either when in wireless range. You can easily manage your content, swapping stuff to and fro using your Amazon account (It’s the Manage Your Kindle link). But, this is NOT iTunes, baby. You can also manage and back up content by plugging your Fire into your computer via USB and dragging and dropping into and out of folders at will. Take that, iPad. That was a big one for me.
Yes, I know … we’ve become digital collectors. More is gooder. Our devices have become our digital junk rooms. Some of you have 240 GB of space on your music players and feel compelled to carry 20,000 mp3 files around with you everywhere you go. Book addicts, I ask you, are you going to have to carry 10,000 books on your device? I mean, after you’ve totally enjoyed Cold Mountain, do you really need to carry it with you as if at any moment you might need to suddenly reread it on impulse? In my own case, I lean more toward non-fiction which includes a good deal of “how to” content, some of it reference material. Even at that, I couldn’t imagine myself needing to carry thousands of books with me. Realistically, even on a long vacation where Wi-Fi wasn’t available, I think 6+GB of storage would provide all the space I would need to read and enjoy some music. All I would have to do would be to prepare for the trip by managing the content I intended to take along.
Whispernet - The Kindle Fire uses Whispernet to sync all your compatible devices.
What’s that mean? Well, even if you don’t have a Kindle, Amazon has developed software for a broad variety of platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS, Blackberry, Android and so on. For instance, I had Kindle For PC on my home computer, even before ordering my Fire, for reading a few free books. Whispersync sees to it that when I quit reading on one device I will be able to open and continue reading at the same spot on any other device. Pretty smooth.
Common Complaints – Having read through a great many reviews and message boards about the Kindle Fire before (and moreso after) I purchased one, I saw a some recurring beefs from consumers, both Kindle Owners and non-owners in the Anti-Kindle camp. My thoughts and observations:
Clunky Interface … Some complain that the interface itself is sort of awkward and “clunky”. The main carousel stores your recently accessed content using large icons in the chronological order you accessed them. (You sweep through the icons the same way you sweep through your albums on an iPod Touch or iPhone.) Customer feedback has been serious enough about the lack of customization that at the time of this writing, Amazon has already announced that in a few weeks a seamless, wireless upgrade via Whispernet will be uploaded to everyone’s Fire. Most of you, if buying a Fire in the future, will never know the original issue existed, if it was a problem at all. Also, this announcement from Amazon is good news to me, as I know that they will continue to make improvements to the OS and interface and upload upgrades automatically. It will just keep getting’ better.
Not Responsive Enough … This is, in my opinion, quite true. There are moments when you tap and nothing happens, and you must tap again, and again. The device seems “selectively problematic”. I find no troubles while reading books, scrolling page to next page. The carousel can be troublesome, sometimes reluctant to lock onto an icon. Double tapping is often ineffective, requiring subsequent taps and faster or slower intervals, or harder pressure to be effective. I have considered the possibility that I just have to get used to the feel of it, but it’s been a while now, and I’m still noticing the problem.
My most frustrating moments come with “graphic novels”. The Fire is touted as offering an amazing experience with comics, and comes with an app for reading them. There are many fine comics available, including free content … and so, as a fellow who was once a kid who loved comics, I downloaded a half dozen or so free titles. Once I got the feel for navigating … (double tapping the first frame of a page zooms in and then sweeping left advances you to the next frame, a wonderful concept in theory) the experience began to improve. However, the double tapping at the beginning of each page was simply terrible with regard to sensitivity, just awful. That kind of frustration simply kills one’s immersion in the story and swaps it out for higher blood pressure.
I’m not sure whether this is an app issue, an OS issue or a hardware issue. All I know is it’s probably my one serious complaint about the device. Again, the previously stated, newest upgrade is said to include an improved responsiveness. I sincerely hope that is true.
Smallish Keyboard … I’m inclined to agree; I’d like to see the pop-up, on-screen keyboard have larger keys. It still feels cramped to me, and on a 7” screen, I can’t imagine a reason not to utilize the majority of the space.
Wi-Fi Only … Just speaking for myself, I don’t need 3G or 4G to read books. I have a Droid phone for all the other stuff. In my case, why spend extra money for that?
Too Few Apps … While it’s true that there are not yet a huge number of apps for the Fire, I’m not too concerned about it. I found a free note pad utility and some other small things that seemed useful, and I’m not a gamer at all. There is a toggle in SETTINGS to allow installation of apps from unknown sources, but I haven’t been too eager to fill the device with stuff I probably won’t use anyway.
No Camera or Microphone … I have a Droid phone for that. And, at $199, I don’t think you can whine too awful much.
No USB 2.0/3.0, HDMI, or Other Outputs … All true. And, at $199, I don’t think you can whine too awful much.
All That “Amazon Stuff” … I showed my new Fire to a friend while in the company of a young, computer techie stranger, and I mentioned it was not a full blown tablet. The young fellow rolled his eyes in disgust and made it clear that, in his expert opinion, it was a completely inferior device and waste of money, that it was a joke compared to iPad, and that you are forced into “all that Amazon stuff”. Hmmm, how curious. I explained to him that I loved Amazon, was a Prime member who found it a tremendous value, that I didn’t expect it to be a fully functional tablet, didn’t need 3G, and that it was exactly what I was looking for. Then, I reminded him that he was perfectly OK with being tethered to the proprietary behemoth known as iTunes, so what was the problem? (The answer is … he suffers from IT’S-NOT-AN-iPAD-SO-IT’S-CRAP syndrome.)
Too Little Memory … I’ll have to admit, I’d have liked to see a 16 GB device for a little more, but as I stated early in the review, I came to terms with it. Amazon was adamant about keeping the price under $200, and with that came sacrifices. Fair enough. I’m over it. One observant Kindle advocate on a message board addressed the memory complaint of another poster as follows: “If you really must have more memory, you can buy two of them and still spend less than an iPad costs.” Indeed.
Poor Battery Life … This issue is the subject of much Internet fodder. So, some reality checking is in order. It’s a backlit screen, and a small device, which means it contains a relatively small battery. One cannot expect the kind of battery life one gets with an e-ink reader. Remember that with Wi-Fi on, the device is constantly searching for a network, sucking juice. Remember that the brighter the screen, the more battery it eats. The first day, on the first charge, with Wi-Fi continuously on and the screen dialed up, I got just a few hours of charge. (After a few charges, the battery breaks in and improves.) And now, I am getting exactly what Amazon claims, about eight hours, give or take. Guess what I do? Yep, keep the Wi-Fi off if I don’t need it and dial the brightness back considerably … actually, I prefer it dialed back; I think it reduces eye strain. By the way, on a full charge, I can easily watch five to six hours of streaming video, for whatever that’s worth.
Poor Substitute For An iPad … Apples and oranges are both fruits, but you can’t substitute one for the other. Duh, it’s not a full blown tablet. It’s an e-reader with extras. It’s a hundred and ninety-nine bucks, for cripe’s sake.
The Down Side …
Did you think I couldn’t find at least a few things that bug me?
Smudges … Like my Droid, the screen is glass and it does take fingerprint smudges to the next level. I’m over it. I just pack a little microfiber cloth and when it bugs me, I wipe it clean.
PDFs … I was hopeful with regards to PDF format because I have a few eBooks that are in that format, as well as a good many User Guides / Owners Manuals for everything from high end cameras to electronic appliances. This is where a 10” screen would be a benefit. Pinch zooming and dragging the document around is a pain in the … oops. Then again, I should have expected such … it’s a 7” screen. My bad.
The Price …
It’s a hundred and ninety-nine bucks, for cripe’s sake!! Keep that in mind, please.
In conclusion …
I think it best to consider the Kindle Fire an e-reader “friend with benefits”. I’m not the first to say or admit it will never be an iPad killer. Please refer back to the “apples and oranges” section when addressing that concept. Oh, and did I mention … I love it.
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