ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

All about the Kindle Fire

Updated on January 23, 2012

What is the Kindle Fire?

The Kindle Fire is a 7" multi-touch, wi-fi capable tablet that's primarily designed to be an entertainment device, channeling content from Amazon.com's considerable virtual warehouse to your hands. A lot of people mistakenly consider it simply an e-reader similar to Amazon's other Kindle models, but it is so much more than that. In addition to being a reader for books and magazines, it's also a music and video player, has an impressive array of apps available, and can speedily browse the web.

The Kindle Fire shares many features with most other tablets, and, at $199, is an inexpensive entry in the tablet market.

What is the Kindle Fire not?

Although the Kindle Fire does share many characteristics with other tablets, including the iPad and the Asus Transformer, it is lacking in a few big areas. It doesn't have a camera, for one thing, but whether or not this is important really depends on the user, and whether or not the user already has a decent camera available on their mobile phone.

The screen size is much smaller than the 10-inch "standard" screen on most tablets, which can make it difficult to do heavy-duty work or extensive typing. The lack of Bluetooth capability makes adding on a full physical keyboard impossible, which may be a big deterrent to people looking to get some work done or type up a novel on the device.

In short, it's not an iPad-killer, or a killer of other more traditional tablets. As stated above, it's primarily an entertainment device, which will be exactly what some people are looking for. Others will want to consider another tablet.

Some of my favorite Kindle books

Kindle Fire tips & tricks

Cloud Storage

At first glance, the 8gb storage space on the Fire may seem like another area in which it's lacking when compared to other tablets. But any Amazon content you purchase can be stored for free, forever, in "the cloud." This means if you've already read a book or have no current use for an app, you can delete it from the Fire itself and have it available should you need it again. There's simply no need to have a lot of apps, videos, or books cluttering up your device if you have no immediate use for them.

Free App of the Day

Unlike most Android tablets, the Kindle Fire doesn't have access to the Android Market (well, it can... but that involves rooting the Fire). Instead, it gets its apps from the Amazon Appstore, which doesn't actually have as many apps as the Android Market. One cool benefit of the Appstore is that everyday, an app that you'd normally have to pay for is offered up for free. Many times, the free app of the day isn't anything to get too excited about, but sometimes you'll get a real gem at no charge. Since it doesn't cost anything, it's usually worth grabbing it if you think there's any chance you may be able to use it one day. If you don't like it or have an immediate use for it, just delete it; it'll always be available from your free Amazon cloud storage.

The Fire's Home Screen

Anyone familiar with the Android OS will no doubt be in for a surprise upon first seeing the Kindle Fire's home screen, as it's very different from the iPhone-inspired home screens that most Android devices have. Along the top of the home screen is a search box (allowing you to search both items on the Fire as well as the web) atop a menu of options like "Newstand," "Books," "Music," etc. Under that is the Carousel, featuring your most recently used items, apps, books, etc. Finally, underneath the Carousel is a bookshelf to which you can add your favorites. Touching the settings button next to the battery icon at the very top of the screen brings up the quick settings menu, allowing you to change volume and brightness, connect to a wi-fi network, and more. The difference between the Fire's customized home screen and the normally flexible stock Android version can be jarring, but it's actually quite intuitive and doesn't take long to get used to.

Amazon Prime

The Kindle Fire really shines when paired with an Amazon Prime membership. At $79 a year (which breaks down to less than $7 per month), it's a great value that gives you access to thousands of free movies and television shows (that can be watched on the Fire, your computer, or on your TV), free two-day shipping on Amazon.com physical products, and the ability to borrow one Kindle ebook a month from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Simply borrowing one book a month might be enough to get you your $79 worth, not to mention the other benefits of the membership. The Fire includes one free month of Prime for you to check it out.

Conclusion

This is just a brief overview of what the Kindle Fire has to offer. I'll be going into greater detail on various Fire features in future hubs, including recommendations for apps and essential ebooks that everyone should own. If you're a Kindle Fire fan, let me know in the comments below.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)