Last Updated:
November 30, 2011 3:05 PM
First published: Nov 15, 2011
Amazon Kindle Fire
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Fire-Amazon-Tablet/dp/B0051VVOB2
Cons
WFU specific
- wireless - can't see #WFU enterprise WPA2 certificate network at first
- wireless - guest - after EULA page, got kicked to Cisco Clean Access Authentication to login again before get on. login still in title bar after connect, have to close and reopen browser. better than Nintendo 3DS (cannot get login screen in browser, same for DS, Wii?), Sony PSP (PS3 also?), Viszio Internet TV
- no VPN?
- gmail email setup with username@wfu.edu kicks to custom setup and need to enter server names etc.
Software
- occasionally pause like reviews have reported, no hourglass/spinning beachball, just not responding (fixed in 6.2 2011/11/30 update? http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200790620&tag=gmgamzn-20 http://gizmodo.com/5863640/kindle-fire-auto+update-scorches-roots-and-shutters-android-marketplace )
- amazon app store - needs 1-click enable with credit card even for free apps. cannot choose use credit card or gift card/credit, automatically use gift card.(non 1-click add to cart let you uncheck that)
- some times hard to stop on an item in carosel
- settings - my account - go to portrait mode even if you are in landscape mode
- email - incoming setting page and outgoing setting page switch to portait even if you are in landscape
- email - no native google mail, use IMAP setting up gmail and create IMAP/Sent IMAP/Trash folders
- Newstand - 90-days trial, no free samples (can i get rid of it off top menu nav bar?)
- "dock" only holds 4x2 items, only in portait, not in landscape mode
- no hardware button, not all apps have the ^ soft button to go back, have to click, tap
- cloud player http://cloudplayer.com - cloudplayer uploader - no wma support, mp3 only?
- no so sure about Amazon Silk yet http://amazonsilk.wordpress.com/ privacy is a little bit of concern, no SVG support? http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/11/19/amazons_silk_does_little_to_accelerate_kindle_fire_html5.html
- useragent for browser - why? Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us; Silk/1.1.0-80) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16 Silk-Accelerated=true http://thecodinghumanist.com/blog/archives/2011/11/15/the-kindle-fire-user-agent-string not showing as mobile device in google analytics because of that?
- bookstore listing not always have scrollbar
- update out of the box, takes quite some time to reboot
Hardware
- power button on bottom not the most convenient place
- no menu button
- really reflective LCD, supposed already have nti-reflective treatment
- no USB cable included (the non-Fire Kindle's AC charger is also the cable, just a plug adapter)
- output - no HDMI out
- input - no mic, no camera (front or back), no GPS, no SD slot, no Bluetooth, no 3G (but it is $199, not $499-$829, and not another mobile $14.99 (250MB)-$80.00 (10GB) 3G/4G monthly or 2-year! data plan [better off with MiFi if you need that])
- kind of thick and heavy vs. e-paper Kindles
- hours of battery life, not weeks like e-paper Kindles (but no delay in flipping and color!)
Third Party
- Pulse crashed just like on other Android 2.x.x devices, sometimes won't update need to force close to restart, no sync layout from pulse.me like tablet, only story sync?
- weather channel app - no map like other android phone/tablet or iOS versions
- browser - full www.cnet.com popup ads problem (m.cnet.com ok)
- twitter not included (Fire Edition not an app, just webapp?), have to download (supposed to be bundled? also Angry Birds, Netflix, Hulu Plus? during announcement week before launch)
- Amazon Appstore http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011, no Android Market https://market.android.com/
- Evernote icon is missing in Apps (ok in carosel)
Pros
Spec
- iFixIt tear down http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazon-Kindle-Fire-Teardown/7099/1
- LG 7" IPS (in-plane switching) multi touch screen 1024 x 600 169 ppi 16 million colors, Corning's Gorilla Glass chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic ILITEK 2107QS001K A95B8F416 A2130B002 touchscreen controller
- dual core 1 GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor
- 14.6 oz / 413 g
- 8GB storage (~6GB available for user content) Samsung KLM8G2FEJA
- Hynix H9TKNNN4K 512 MB of Mobile DDR2 RAM
- 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off, 16.28 Watt-hours, 3.7 V, 4400 mAh
- Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via included U.S. power adapter
- 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or enterprise networks with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks. Jorjin WG7310 WLAN/BT/FM Combo Module Texas Instruments WL1270B 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
- USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)
- 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
- top-mounted stereo speakers
- Texas Instruments AIC3110 Low-Power Audio Codec With 1.3W Stereo Class-D Speaker Amplifier
- Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, DOC, DOCX
- JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP
- Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV
- MP4, VP8
- 1-year limited warranty and service included. Optional 2-year Extended Warranty
- custom Android 2.x Gingerbread
- bundled software - menu items - Newsstand, Books, Music, Video, Docs, Apps, Web
- bundled software - email, contact, amazon shop, gallery, IMDB, QuickOffice, Facebook, Audible, Help & Feedback, The Weather Channel, Pulse
- bundled software - shortcut to download EPSN Score Center, Zynga Words With Friends, Comics, Pandora
Reviews
roundups