Any Kindle Fire owners here?

[disneysteve]

I'm thinking of getting an inexpensive tablet. I would mainly use it to watch Netflix, YouTube, and do a little web surfing.

Is there much difference between the 7 and the 8?

The 8 comes in either 16GB or 32GB. If I'm not really storing anything on it, would there be any benefit to the 32GB? However, Netflix does allow you to download some content to watch offline so I might want to do that for travel especially, so should I go for the 32GB?

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

[rennigade]

The fire is junk tbh. I inherited my moms old one and it sits in a drawer and has never been used. We have an ipad and that gets used every day.

[disneysteve]

We have an ipad and that gets used every day.

I would certainly take the iPad if money were no object but I just can't see spending that kind of money when for $100 I can get a 32GB Fire. We'll see if I regret that decision.

It will be a birthday present so at least I'm not paying for it.

[Jluke]

Here's what I would think about....

instead of the Fire, request cash... $100 though they should probably give you closer to $150...

then look at a iPad mini4 - I think it's the same screen size but with 128GB. $300... so you need to come up with $150

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-ipad-mini-4-wi-fi-128gb-silver/4265800.p?skuId=4265800

did Rennigade use up all of his gift cards?



Happy early Birthday btw!

[pflyers85]

The Fire has expandable storage so you can get the 16GB but if you need more storage you can always purchase a Micro SD card later. You can get a 32GB MicroSD card for under $15. Honestly for what you are looking to do on the tablet the Fire is perfectly adequate and its perfectly adequate for most tablet users. Most just go to Apple because Apple is a name and they want to say they have an iPad.

[disneysteve]

Most just go to Apple because Apple is a name and they want to say they have an iPad.

We go to Apple because the products are excellent and they all work seamlessly togther - our iPhones, my wife's iPad, our iMac desktop, DD's iPod Touch, DD's MacBook, etc. We've been an Apple family for over 20 years.

For this particular purpose, though, I really don't seen the value in spending the extra money. I don't need this device to play with all of the others. I basically just want something bigger than my phone that I can watch Netflix on.

[phantom]

I bought two Kindle Fires from the early generations when I wanted a cheap mobile device. They worked well enough for watching Netflix and reading, but they didn't hold up that well for long. I can't remember all the issues I had with them. But, there were issues with the charge port and with frequent crashes. The first one had to be replaced while it was under warranty and its replacement didn't last much longer. The second one I bought simply got slow, and I eventually just stopped using it in favor of my phone.

If you're sure you're just going to use this tablet for Netflix and don't mind if it doesn't hold up long, I think a Kindle Fire is fine. But, if you think you might use it for other things, I'd at least explore the pure Android options. Things may have improved, but I found Kindle Fire apps were slow to get updates, the Silk web browser wasn't great, and alternate web browsers were not as well integrated.

[disneysteve]

If you're sure you're just going to use this tablet for Netflix and don't mind if it doesn't hold up long, I think a Kindle Fire is fine.

I know from experience not to say I won't use some tech item except for certain times, but I'm fairly confident on this one. I absolutely hate typing on a touch screen. I can't stand doing it on my phone. My wife has an iPad and I can't stand doing anything on there. When we travel, I take my laptop which has an actual keyboard. Even if I'm just sitting around the house and need to do something quick, I will take the time to boot up the laptop rather than grab her iPad. So I just don't see myself using the tablet for much more than Netflix and maybe some games. I may read things like this site, but would go to an actual computer to type any posts and replies.

I'll report back after I've used the Fire a bit to let you know how the latest generation (8) is. I would think they've made improvements over the early versions.

[maryadavies]

DisneySteve, I'd say the bigger storage in general is good if you want to install Google Play on it. (Yes this can be done without rooting it.)

I installed that b/c well, the big disadvantage to a Fire is the Amazon App Store kinda sucks. Here's a tutorial. I did it so I could install a game called Kingdom Hearts Unchained X(Key) on it, and even tho I've moved it to another tablet for storage reasons (It's almost 2 gigs all by itself. Ouch.) but kept the google play store even after I moved that huge game.

Also if you like reading ebooks from Amazon, it's really worth it. I use mine for that, as well as the things you mentioned. ^^ I've had the one I've had for about a year now, and had a old one for three or four years, and as long as you're gentle with it, it holds up fine.

[FLA]

I got them for my kids on Cyber Monday. For netflix, books and I was hoping light web browsing. The web browsing did not go well they reported back. Netflix was fine for a while then became slow to load. Books are excellent. DD is saving for iPad Mini instead.

[disneysteve]

I got them for my kids on Cyber Monday. For netflix, books and I was hoping light web browsing. The web browsing did not go well they reported back. Netflix was fine for a while then became slow to load.

Was it the 7 or the 8?

[FLA]

I believe it was the 7

[disneysteve]

I believe it was the 7

Among other changes, they increased the RAM by 50% on the 8 so processing speed is much better from what I've read. We shall see.

[JBinKC]

I have 4 of the 7 in. 8 gb tablets where I paid $35 or less for them. The tablets are functional and not as laggy as my nexus 7 which died after 14 months of use. I typically use 2 or 3 at a time for multitasking my stock accounts and listening to music. They are also faster than my 2012 laptop which I usually reserve for typing and printing.

I prefer the older model fires for browsing because the CPU temp seems to run cooler and as a result less laggy but for typing which I try to avoid the newer model is more efficient. My older tablets are nearing 2 years in age and still going strong.

We also have an iPad which is a higher quality tablet for stability but it seems to nag me more on security issues and I really hate typing on tablets in general.

The way I look at the tablets is it extended my computer life where in the past either a tower or laptop was typically replaced every 3 years at a much higher cost.

[disneysteve]

I got my Amazon Fire 8 today. I must say the initial set up was awful. It wouldn't accept my Amazon sign in and wouldn't set the date and time so I couldn't do anything with it. It did all resolve and work perfectly when I did a "restore to factory settings". From then on, it was great. But one would not expect to have to do a factory restore on a brand new device that you just got from the factory.

I installed the Netflix app and that works great. I also downloaded a free book from the Kindle store and will see if I like reading on there. I'm sorry to say that I gave up reading quite a while ago because my vision just isn't great and reading books is too difficult for me. I'm hoping that on the tablet, I can adjust the font size to make it easier.

The device seems speedy enough so far and the controls are pretty much copied from the iPad so everything is pretty intuitive for me.