New Kindle Fires

E

elleana

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 15, 2006
Messages
2,590
I had one of the original first gen ones and wasn't terribly impressed, but the new HDX versions look very nice. At 10 oz and 13 oz (7" and 8.9") they're pretty lightweight, screen resolution has seen a huge bump and battery life beats the crap out of similar tablets. How has the Amazon Kindle OS evolved? Price is of course extremely competive.

Might preorder except I can't decide between 7" and 8.9", quite a fair price bump..
 
Why would anyone get this over a Nexus?

Screen-Shot-2013-09-24-at-5.13.07-PM1-580x371.jpg


This is disgusting.
 
I have the 8.9" version of the Kindle Fire HD and I love it. It's thin and sleek looking and does everything I wanted a tablet to do. I'm not a huge fan of the interface, but it works well enough. I bought mine on a promotion Amazon had where it was $249 instead of the normal $299. At the time and I think still today, there wasn't another tablet that was comparable for the price. It all depends on what you want to use the tablet for, but for regular media consumption, it works great for me. I will warn that the screen, like most of the large tablets, is glossy. That means if you're looking for something to use outside, it won't work well for that. I ended up getting a Kindle Paperwhite as well, which has a matte screen for reading in sunlight.
 
Sounds great but the close platform nature of these Kindle's keeps turning me off. If I buy an Android tablet , I want total freedom to install what I want. I do not want Amazon's sanitation over apps.

If Amazon would be willing to open up a bit more I would likely grab one ASAP. Especially the 1600p one.
 
Same issues as always.

Decent HW, but Amazons lame fork, that turns the tablet into a sales terminal for Amazon.

Interested if/when there are some clean Android ROMs.
 
I bought a KFHD 7"--so many problems with it... I got it to see if I might enjoy it, since I do use Amazon for a lot of things. First off, Amazon is clearly an infant when it comes to implementing an advanced device operating system. My device was so exceedingly slow and laggy, it was almost beyond useable most of the time I had it. Also, most apps would hang or crash on a frequent basis. The battery would die over the course of a few idle hours unless I manually turned it off. I'm not even talking usage--just sleeping the device and walking away. I don't like Amazon's email and Silk browser compared to standard android options (i.e., gmail app and firefox).

I'm not sure if the lag was a result of a too-slow SoC/not sufficient RAM, or whether all of the services running within Amazon's modified Android version are not optimized. The display was excellent. I really liked the display. And I found the speaker sound to be better than any other tablet I've ever owned. IMHO, both the 7" and 8.9" are underpowered in terms of SoC and RAM--whatever the refresh is for these devices, I think they desperately need much better (faster) SoC's--either that, or Amazon's OS is horribly bloating.

I also hate the button design on the HD tablets. All of the buttons are flush with the chassis, which is a terribad design; you can't hardly feel for where the buttons are, and I would frequently hit the lock button when I meant to adjust the volume.

But the lag, crashing, hanging, and battery life issues are what made me get rid of my KFHD within a few short months after getting it. I really tried to give it an honest chance, but I gave it to my wife and got a nexus 7 (gen 1) instead--which, IMO, also has issues, but is much better than the KFHD 7".

EDIT--looks like they did give the KF HDX decent SoC upgrades; to a Snapdragon 800 in both form factors. That was a much-needed improvement.
 
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The thing is a powerhouse, but Amazon's software for it is so bloated that it needs to have top-tier hardware in order to be competitive. Too bad it looks hideous, but it's excusable if it feels good in the hands. I do like that "Origami Case" they designed for it. No rear camera hurts it a little against the Nexus 7, but I wonder how much people actually use tablet rear cameras since I hardly ever use mine.
 
Godmachine said:
Sounds great but the close platform nature of these Kindle's keeps turning me off. If I buy an Android tablet , I want total freedom to install what I want. I do not want Amazon's sanitation over apps.

If Amazon would be willing to open up a bit more I would likely grab one ASAP. Especially the 1600p one.
Click to expand...

There are a couple dozen other tablets that let you do that. The Kindle is the gateway into Amazon's media. If you are a fan of Amazon you get the kindle, if you're a fan of Apple get an iPad, if you want the ability to root, be open ended then get one of the plethora of other Android tablets out there.

teh_chem said:
I bought a KFHD 7"--so many problems with it... I got it to see if I might enjoy it, since I do use Amazon for a lot of things. First off, Amazon is clearly an infant when it comes to implementing an advanced device operating system. My device was so exceedingly slow and laggy, it was almost beyond useable most of the time I had it. Also, most apps would hang or crash on a frequent basis. The battery would die over the course of a few idle hours unless I manually turned it off. I'm not even talking usage--just sleeping the device and walking away. I don't like Amazon's email and Silk browser compared to standard android options (i.e., gmail app and firefox).

I'm not sure if the lag was a result of a too-slow SoC/not sufficient RAM, or whether all of the services running within Amazon's modified Android version are not optimized. The display was excellent. I really liked the display. And I found the speaker sound to be better than any other tablet I've ever owned. IMHO, both the 7" and 8.9" are underpowered in terms of SoC and RAM--whatever the refresh is for these devices, I think they desperately need much better (faster) SoC's--either that, or Amazon's OS is horribly bloating.

I also hate the button design on the HD tablets. All of the buttons are flush with the chassis, which is a terribad design; you can't hardly feel for where the buttons are, and I would frequently hit the lock button when I meant to adjust the volume.

But the lag, crashing, hanging, and battery life issues are what made me get rid of my KFHD within a few short months after getting it. I really tried to give it an honest chance, but I gave it to my wife and got a nexus 7 (gen 1) instead--which, IMO, also has issues, but is much better than the KFHD 7".

EDIT--looks like they did give the KF HDX decent SoC upgrades; to a Snapdragon 800 in both form factors. That was a much-needed improvement.
Click to expand...

So you got a defective Tablet and just kept it? I've got both an original Fire and a Fire HD 8.9 and neither of mine suffered from those software problems. The design choices on the other hand I do agree with you on 100%. I hate the buttons on the HD and I can't stand Silk.
 
Climber said:
So you got a defective Tablet and just kept it? I've got both an original Fire and a Fire HD 8.9 and neither of mine suffered from those software problems. The design choices on the other hand I do agree with you on 100%. I hate the buttons on the HD and I can't stand Silk.
Click to expand...

Look at the support forums; this wasn't some isolated incident. Testimonials from a pervasive number of customers on their support forums showed the same experience across up to 3 replacement devices. I have no interest in dealing with that situation. Responses from Amazon support was always "We are aware of these problems. An OTA update is being released soon to address these issues. Please update your device." Doesn't matter how many updates, still never made it better. And it wasn't a hardware issue; immediately out of the box, and up to 5 days after a fresh reset, the device functioned normally. After that, it bogged down like a motherfucker. Something wrong with the software, no amount of device swaps is going to fix that.
 
Zero reason to get it, its a useless device anyway if you're not a Prime member or don't consume Amazon content.

The Nook HD+ should've destroyed the Kindle's but BN doesn't have the marketing budget of Amazon. Amazon claiming that they continue to support older hardware is a pathetic lie. And the whole gimmick of the live assistant - another 'lets throw money at it' trick to sell.
 
New Kindle Fire HDX 7" Tablet @ amazon.

Linky.

I'm interested in it.
 
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Climber said:
There are a couple dozen other tablets that let you do that. The Kindle is the gateway into Amazon's media. If you are a fan of Amazon you get the kindle, if you're a fan of Apple get an iPad, if you want the ability to root, be open ended then get one of the plethora of other Android tablets out there.

So you got a defective Tablet and just kept it? I've got both an original Fire and a Fire HD 8.9 and neither of mine suffered from those software problems. The design choices on the other hand I do agree with you on 100%. I hate the buttons on the HD and I can't stand Silk.
Click to expand...

I agree. My original Fire and Fire HD 8.9 were both fine. I use the HD almost daily and while it will occasionally act up, restarting the device usually takes care of it. Mine is very fast and responsive, except for when using Silk. It truly sucks. Everything else about the device I like. Yeah, I'd prefer a stock Android tablet, but for the price this device works well. My battery life on it is very good also, so I never ran into it draining too quickly.
 
I would be very interested in the HDX 8.9" but I don't think I could be happy with their customized OS. Every time I see it I am like "oh my god that would drive me nuts". It's a shame because 8.9" would be a great size for me and the rest of the hardware looks to be pretty good as well as the price, it's just that darn OS.
 
It seems like an fine tablet, but at the same price of a current generation Nexus 7? No thanks.
 
The price is a stopping point for me as well. It sounds great, but I decided long ago I wouldn't pay more then $300 for a tablet, period. When I bought my Kindle Fire HD 8.9 it was on a one day sale for $250 and worth every penny of that :)
 
i have the original kindle fire never had issues with battery life or freezing or anything. In-fact the biggest thing i like about it is battery life... Now i defently wish it had Opera and a couple of other things, but i dont think i'm a tipical tablet customer i use it as a web terminal and to play audio books and to read magazines in a digital format, thats about it. and for those things, with points taken off because the browser is pretty terrible but no unusable, i like it. Yes, later better android tablets came out that would of suited my needs, but now i'm just going to get a surface pro 2 because wtfawesome and i dont see point in any other tablets anyway
 
I have the new Nexus 7, but would grab the new Fire 8.9" if I could root it and put my own ROM on it. Otherwise, it isnt worth it to me. The Nexus is too easy to root and install ROM's without a hassle.
 
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