In Honor of Cyber Monday: FC's Review of The Kindle Fire

In a rare case of self- indulgence, I pre-ordered the Kindle Fire back in October, almost as soon as I heard about it.
I did go to the Amazon site and read about it of course. I'm not completely impulsive.

What allowed me to click the "submit purchase" button so quickly was the fact that I had already talked myself into buying the "new" Kindle Touch and was close to ordering when the press release about the Fire came out.

Let's see, I was already to buy a $139 Kindle Touch and suddenly, Amazon says, "Hey, if you can wait until November 15th, we are going to release the Kindle Fire with all of these whiz bang features ... blah, blah, blah, etc."

So, for $60 bucks more, I can get this sports car E-reader?
I was there.

Now, of course, the regular Kindles have dropped in price and they are a great reader at a great price, but it was too late for me, I was hooked on Fire.

I've had it for about 2 weeks now and let me tell you, I love it.

For those of you who may be trying to decide whether to buy one on this ubercyber shopping day, here are my thoughts:

The Kindle Fire is super easy to use, I never looked at the digital manual until last night, and that was just a case of browsing ... "Oh, hey, look, there are instructions!" 
For the record, the digital manual that is preloaded on your Fire is clear and easy to use.

The button on the right is the On/Off button.
The center slot is for charging it. The fire comes with an A/C charger of course.
The far left hole is for plugging in your ear buds or little speaker.
There are no other physical buttons, switches, or toggley thingies.
All other controls are on the touch screen.

The reading pages are bright, clear, and easy to read.
You could really see the difference when I held it up to my sister-n-law's Kindle Touch.
This one is definitely brighter.

Web browsing is very smooth and fast, even at my remote location with quick, but not super fast Hughesnet satellite broadband.
Somehow, the Fire mysteriously knows when I have tilted it from the vertical to the horizontal ... AND IT ADJUSTS FOR ME!
How do it know?

I swear, it's like living on board the Enterprise.

The view above is a full web page viewed on the vertical. A little spreading of the fingers against the screen enlarges things for easier reading.

I didn't take a shot of the digital keyboard that pops up at the bottom of the screen when you need to type something, but it is big, clear, and my big fingers don't hit the Q when I am aiming for the W.

I find it super easy to use.

 Above: Sound Check.
Buying music or apps is easy peasy seamless with Amazon, especially if you are Prime member. Prime membership gives you free 2 day shipping, cloud storage, and tons of digital content, much of it "free".

I watched "24" for the first time last week by streaming it for free on the Fire, while simultaneously texting my kids  ... and composing a PF post on the laptop.

It was a connected moment.

I don't usually reread fiction books, so I like the green aspect of digital content, plus, I like the price of digital texts.
With my simple, "nonsmart" phone, I haven't done much in the way of Apps in the past, but now I see my Kindle Fire as a repository for all kinds of useful Apps and nonfiction "DIY" style books that I do return to over and over again for advice.

Maybe some Angry Birds will find their way in there too.

So, in summary:

• Yes, I think the Kindle Fire is great.
• No, I do not miss the "feel of a paper book". I can just imagine people thousands of years ago, in Egypt when papyrus first replaced clay tablets.  " Well, I don't know, Imhotep, I just like the feel of damp clay and a reed stylus in my hand."
• No, it's not a  little squished computer like an Ipad. It's a color E-reader with WIFI connectivity and some neat bells and whistles. It's also not $600, and with WIFI, not 3G, I don't have yet another data plan to fund.
• Yes, the screen is bigger and brighter than the Kindle Touch,. It's big enough for reading, email, and web browsing. I do not plan to write my novel on it. That's what laptops/desktops are for.

So there ya' go. Make up your own mind if you were thinking about which E-reader to buy today. I have no doubt that the Nook is a good reader too, but I'm a Fireman.

*Disclaimer: This is all just my personal opinion and experience with 2 whole weeks under Fire. I have no relationship with Amazon, except that I am a customer and a fan.

Now, quit cybershopping on the job and get back to work!