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 WiFi setup. If you’re like me you need the Mac address of the Kindle Fire, so where is it? Click the tiny little configuration gear next to the battery display in the upper right-hand corner. From there click the More button. On that screen click the Device menu. Towards the bottom you will find the WiFI Mac address. You should be good to go!
The funny thing is, when the iPad was rumored to come out lots of people, including myself, thought it would look more like the Fire; that it would just be a bigger version of the iPod Touch. When the iPad 2 got close to coming out the same rumors surfaced. Looks like Amazon decided to make the "mini" device that was bigger than the Touch, but smaller than the iPad.
I’m off to take this little gizmo for a test drive. If you got a Kindle Fire let me know what you think. I’ve also included some pictures with which to make you jealous.