Kindle Fire – A Few Quick Thoughts

Everyone just stay calm and relax. The Kindle Fire is no iPad killer. However, it is an excellent device that gives you unbridled access to Amazon’s massive digital library. This is definitely an entertainment device. I’m not sure tablet is even the right word for it. I think player would be more like it. That’s "player", not "playa". So here’s some of my first impressions: I was able to get to my meager book collection without any problem. Each book cover is shown and you simply click to download. A few seconds later you can start reading. Music is the same way. My relatively thin online collection was waiting for me and I could sort by album or artist. I could also click on a playlist, if I had one. Once again, it took a few seconds for the song to start but then it was off. The one thing I kept wondering was how would I control the volume, […]

Kindle Fire – A Few Quick Thoughts

Everyone just stay calm and relax. The Kindle Fire is no iPad killer. However, it is an excellent device that gives you unbridled access to Amazon’s massive digital library. This is definitely an entertainment device. I’m not sure tablet is even the right word for it. I think player would be more like it. That’s "player", not "playa". So here’s some of my first impressions: I was able to get to my meager book collection without any problem. Each book cover is shown and you simply click to download. A few seconds later you can start reading. Music is the same way. My relatively thin online collection was waiting for me and I could sort by album or artist. I could also click on a playlist, if I had one. Once again, it took a few seconds for the song to start but then it was off. The one thing I kept wondering was how would I control the volume, […]

Unboxing the Kindle Fire

So here it is, my first dedicated eBook reader, the Kindle Fire. It’s a wee thing isn’t it? My iPad looks rather hefty next to this little guy. Amazon went totally Spartan on the device and the package. You get the device and the charger and that’s it. No headphones or any other accessories. There is a small cardboard insert telling you how to turn it on so that’s a bonus. It’s surprisingly heavy for it’s size. It’s actually a touch thicker than the iPad, but as you can see it fits well inside the borders of it. It’s wickedly shiny and glossy! For those of you with light sensitivity, you might want to look away. The first order of business was connecting it to the network and that’s where I hit my first hurdle. I have a secure network that is restricted by Mac address. That’s not really the norm I suppose, so you have to bail out of […]

Unboxing the Kindle Fire

So here it is, my first dedicated eBook reader, the Kindle Fire. It’s a wee thing isn’t it? My iPad looks rather hefty next to this little guy. Amazon went totally Spartan on the device and the package. You get the device and the charger and that’s it. No headphones or any other accessories. There is a small cardboard insert telling you how to turn it on so that’s a bonus. It’s surprisingly heavy for it’s size. It’s actually a touch thicker than the iPad, but as you can see it fits well inside the borders of it. It’s wickedly shiny and glossy! For those of you with light sensitivity, you might want to look away. The first order of business was connecting it to the network and that’s where I hit my first hurdle. I have a secure network that is restricted by Mac address. That’s not really the norm I suppose, so you have to bail out of […]

The Kindle Fire is En Route

Amazon announced they were shipping devices early and mine started its journey yesterday afternoon. I checked this morning and it’s on the truck out for delivery. I have no doubt it will be waiting for me when get home. That’s an impressive delivery time. To add to the excitement I have the next two days off so I will have plenty of uninterrupted playtime. I’ll get it fully charged tonight and sync it with my Amazon account. It will be interesting to see the layout of books on a true Kindle and the Kindle app on the iPad. I also get a free month of Amazon Prime so I’m very curious to see how it plays movies. Amazon keeps piling on features to the Prime offering so I think it will be hard to resist signing up for the upcoming year. Anyone else get a Kindle Fire? What do you think? Any comparisons to the iPad?