I already owned the "regular Kindle" that I used to read books, and to upload my own novel drafts onto to read for editing, which by the way, for you authors/writers out there, is a wonderful way to edit your draft works. I didn't want to spend the money on an iPad, and really, thought the iPad would be more than I needed. The Kindle Fire HD 7" seemed the perfect choice for me and I haven't been disappointed.
The graphics are beautiful, more than I thought they'd be, and I can't wait to upload photos to it. I've yet to explore all the things my Kindle Fire can do, so I'm excited to see what else I'll discover.
The sound quality is also better than I would have imagined, nice and clear and enough volume.
It's way faster than I imagined, and in fact, I haven't had any delays or dragging at all. Maybe as I upload things it'll slow up, but for now, it's quite fast.
I uploaded my first and only game (I'm not a gamer), Solitaire, and of course it was lighting fast to order and upload -- and the game worked perfectly.
As with my former "regular kindle" I am able to comfortably read books - I didn't think I'd like the "glossy" screen when reading as much as I LOVE the "regular screen on the regular kindle" but I still am able to get into the novels/short story collections I read, though, in some ways I still like the "book look" of the "regular kindle;" yet, still, an enjoyable read.
Also with the Kindle Fire HD, I am able to upload my draft novels and read them for edits, but! even better, I was able to listen to my book! The computer voice was obviously a computer voice; however, I was quite surprised at how "normal" she sounded, enough that I could listen to my entire novel while taking notes on rough patches and mistakes -- just one more layer of editing for my drafts. I even came to be fond of that voice, laughing! As well, I am going to record myself reading and upload that to my kindle (or maybe I can record right on the Kindle - I'll explore that capability).
I like how the KF alerts me when I have a notification.
This device will be perfect for traveling, which I do fairly often. I can use Kindle Fire to check email, social networking, play some solitaire, I could watch a movie, read books, and, I can listen or read my novel drafts--so there is no reason to take a computer when I travel, especially by airplane, as I can easily slip my Kindle Fire into my purse or bag and away I go!
It was super easy to set up.
As an author and a reader, the idea of ebooks was scary at first, but now I can't imagine my reading or my "author world" without them! I can upload books in mere seconds onto my Kindle and Kindle Fire, and my own books can be enjoyed by people from just about anywhere! How cool is that? Amazon has saved many an author from oblivion as we try to be noticed in a big ole sea of authors wanting space in bookstores. When I do upload a book, I can retrieve it on either Kindle I own, which is a plus, as well.
For the price, I am very pleased and would recommend this product to anyone, and I have.
There is one wrinkle I am having and that is with Facebook -- I can't figure out if it's something I'm doing or something with the Kindle Fire, but Facebook doesn't always work properly -- I'll click on an update and it takes me to a completely different screen--the same incorrect screen over and over. The screen will jump to somewhere completely different from where I clicked. So my Facebook experience is a little frustrating - though the graphics are so beautiful, I love looking at photos there. If I figure out it is something I'm doing, I'll report back (I will look at reviews and see if anyone else is having this problem).
This is a wonderful little device and a great alternative to someone who does not want to own an iPad, for whatever reason, but still wants the experience of a tablet.
Reviews with images
An Orphaned Device
This is a rewrite of my original review, the one that garnered all the helpful votes you see, now that this particular Kindle has been replaced with a new and improved replacement, it's time for retrospective reviews for a device few should buy given better valued alternatives.My original review warned that Amazon had a history of not providing updated operating systems to their legacy devices. And that has again proven true. The current Fire HD, the one released in 2013, is running a new operating system called Fire OS 3.0, which is based upon Android 4.2.2 (this is according to Wikipedia) whereas this device is stuck on a fork of Android 4.0.3; I've called Kindle support and the nice lady tells me that this is the situation and she has no information about it changing. By comparison, I purchased an iPad Mini a few months after my Kindle Fire HD, and it has since been upgraded to from iOS 6 to 7, and then 8 and since Apple still sells it will almost assuredly get iOS 9. This Kindle is not a device with a software future.So, I've had both this device and an iPad Mini in my house for well over a year, and my children and I have both hugely favored the Mini in terms of every use case except the easy consumption of books. The Mini has a nicer, smoother browser which combined with its larger screen make it a far superior web experience, an easier to navigate operating system: the standard carousel view of the Kindle gets old very fast as you want to navigate to another app. And iOS has the best selection of optimized tablet apps of any mobile device. The Kindle has proven a nice way for my son to spontaneously find something to read; as long as I can stomach the occasional $6 charge for a cheap book. And it's been convenient sometimes to drop the kids into the Freetime mode of curated all-you-can-eat children's content. But in general, we get more use out of the Mini; to the point I lost the Kindle somewhere in the house for a couple months and nobody complained or even asked where it might be (it was under a stack of books).The hardware has been solid if not a technological feast. Whereas I've twice had to go and get my iPad Mini replaced via AppleCare due to a drop, the Fire HD is completely unscathed and looks as new as the day it came out of the box. Most of this is use, but still, it's solidly built. However, I'm constantly reminded by the huge difference in screen size between a widescreen 7 inch tablet like this device and a 4:3 nearly 8 inch tablet like the Mini; there's just so much more content visible on the Mini and common activities like web browsing seem so less confined. The Kindle does have a lovely high resolution screen and text looks great on it. Speedwise, the Kindle chugs along; it's not ridiculously underpowered like the original Kindle Fire, but you wouldn't call it snappy. My original review said the design of the device was something "...future Kindles can build upon and refine..." well that turned out to be wrong, not that the new design is bad.Connectivity has been fine. I've never had any problems with WiFi, and the times I've needed to use Bluetooth--for playing music to speakers for instance--have worked flawlessly, better than iOS 6 at being reliable. I wish that the charging port didn't look so much like the adjacent mini-HDMI port as finding which to plug into is a pain. The worst thing about the construction are the buttons which are hard to locate, and cheap feeling. The microphone/headphone jack has been a bit unreliable when it comes to using headphone controls, sometimes a click is missed.The ecosystem has been mediocre. I don't have much experience with Google's Play Store, but certainly as an iOS user I have a better App store and a wider collection of accessories, peripherals and built in services. For instance, I'd never lose my iPad in my house as long as it had charge enough for me to make it beep with the Find My Phone app. Many people have commented in this review that I should point out the alternative of buying a Nexus 7 from Google, and while I can't recommend what I haven't used, it seems likely shoppers should give that a glance.Anyway, I'm glad to have provided a critical review which has helped so many shoppers. I'd say that no one should buy this product as it is now priced--I'm sure Amazon expects you might want one of their newer offering--and I wish you luck with your buying decision.
