Amazon caused a significant sensation in the summer of 2011 once they announced the planned release of a brand new 7 inch tablet by having an 8 hour life of the battery that would operate on a very customized version of Android and price less than $200. When the final specifications were revealed the interest reached fever pitch because it was very similar to the ipad 2 having a 1 GHz dual-core processor and 512 MB RAM. However, closer inspection and employ of the Kindle Fire shows that not even close to becoming an ipad 2 killer, the Kindle Fire fulfills a very different role.

ereader comparison

The first thing you might notice when reading through the Amazon kindle fire specs may be the lack of lots of hardware that is the norm even on smartphones. You won’t look for a camera, microphone, compass, GPS or perhaps a 3G chip so what that you can do using the Amazon kindle fire is sort of restricted. Amazon has stop access to the Android Marketplace to help you only download approved apps from the Kindle Store - but before you balk thinking, the Kindle Store has 16,000 apps open to download including all the most widely used tools, utilities, office apps and games that you’ll find around the Android Marketplace.

What Amazon has done is create a desirable handheld tablet that leverages its vast media library being the best consumption device. The Amazon kindle fire isn't designed to be a creative tablet such as the Samsung Galaxy or the Apple ipad 2, it’s designed to do one thing which would be to allow it to be as easy as possible to gain access to Amazon’s database of movies, Television shows, ebooks, apps and music. As a result, Amazon even sells the Fire at a loss because it knows it will make up the cost in the long run - which goes a way towards explaining the incredible price.

Therefore the Amazon kindle fire is a media consumption device then, what does that mean? To begin with, with Amazon Prime (you get a free month subscription whenever you buy the device) you receive unrestricted, unlimited access to over 100,000 movies and TV shows. You will see them without notice, as often as you want. By using your WiFi connection the Fire will stream the content directly to your device.

ereader review

Additionally, you will get access to Amazon’s Cloud Storage. What this means is that you could upload all the media content that you already own like MP3’s, movies and ebooks and then access it from anywhere using your Amazon kindle fire (assuming there is a Wi Fi connection!). You don’t have to lug around an external hard drive anymore because everything is stored and is accessible from the Internet.

Although the Kindle Fire is designed like a consumption device that doesn’t mean you can’t apply it some productivity purposes, for example it is simple to utilize it to manage your emails, you will see reports, spreadsheets and presentations using one of the many office apps that are offered and you will use it to update your online calendar.

The Android interface has been completely overhauled by Amazon and it looks pretty slick, although compared to the finesse of the ipad 2 interface the Kindle Fire isn’t quite there yet. It’s quite zippy to navigate around, however, if you're accustomed to the ipad 2 you will observe a little difference.

At just $200 for this type of powerful device that provides you use of so much content the Amazon kindle fire will probably be among the must have tablets for 2012.

Amazon caused quite a sensation in the summertime of 2011 once they announced the planned release of a brand new 7 inch tablet with an 8 hour life of the battery that would run on a really customized version of Android and cost under $200. Once the final specifications were revealed the interest reached fever pitch since it was much like the ipad 2 with a 1 GHz dual-core processor and 512 MB RAM. However, closer inspection and employ from the Kindle Fire implies that far from being an ipad 2 killer, the Amazon kindle fire fulfills a really different role.

kindle fire review

The very first thing you might notice when reading through the Kindle Fire specs may be the lack of a lot of hardware which is common place even on smartphones. You won’t look for a camera, microphone, compass, GPS or perhaps a 3G chip what exactly that you can do using the Kindle Fire is sort of restricted. Amazon has cut off accessibility Android Marketplace to help you only download approved apps in the Kindle Store - before you balk thinking, the Kindle Store has 16,000 apps open to download including all the most widely used tools, utilities, office apps and games that you’ll find on the Android Marketplace.

What Amazon has done is produce a desirable handheld tablet that leverages its vast media library being the best consumption device. The Amazon kindle fire isn't made to be a creative tablet such as the Samsung Galaxy or even the Apple ipad 2, it’s designed to do something which is to make it as easy as possible to gain access to Amazon’s database of movies, TV shows, ebooks, apps and music. As a result, Amazon even sells the Fire baffled since it knows it'll make in the cost over time - which matches a way towards explaining the incredible price.

So the Kindle Fire is a media consumption device then, what does that mean? For starters, with Amazon Prime (you get a free month subscription whenever you purchase the device) you get unrestricted, unlimited access to over 100,000 movies and TV shows. You will see them without notice, as many times as you want. By using your WiFi connection the Fire will stream this content straight to your device.

kindle fire review

Additionally, you will get access to Amazon’s Cloud Storage. This means that you can upload all of the media content that you simply already own like MP3’s, movies and ebooks after which access it everywhere making use of your Amazon kindle fire (assuming there's a Wi Fi connection!). You don’t have to lug around another hard drive anymore because things are stored and it is accessible from the Internet.

Even though the Amazon kindle fire is designed as a consumption device that doesn’t mean you can’t apply it some productivity purposes, for example you can easily use it to manage your emails, you will see reports, spreadsheets and presentations using one of the numerous office apps that are available and you will utilize it to update your online calendar.

The Android interface continues to be completely overhauled by Amazon and it looks pretty slick, although when compared to finesse from the ipad 2 user interface the Kindle Fire isn’t quite there yet. It’s quite zippy to navigate around, but again, if you're used to the ipad 2 you will notice a little difference.

At just $200 for this type of powerful device that provides you use of a lot content the Amazon kindle fire is going to be among the should have tablets for 2012.