Skeptical Mind’s September 2012 Kindle Fire Update: The Kindle Fire is getting a major boost! With 40% faster performance, a longer battery life, a new X-Ray movie feature, Microsoft integration, and a lower price to make way for the Kindle Fire HD models & more! All updates below reflect the new and improved Kindle Fire, except the videos, as those will be updated as soon as we have our hands on a new Kindle Fire HD! You can get it on Amazon by – Clicking HERE
You can also read our new reviews of the new Kindle Fire HD line, which comes in the Kindle Fire HD, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9″, or the ultimate Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ 4G LTE Wireless – no more needing hot spots.
To view our comprehensive review of the new Kindle Fire HD line – Click HERE
—We are keeping the old Kindle Fire review below as a reference guide. Many of the features of the Kindle Fire 2 are the same, with a lot of updates, for a cheaper cost. Again, please follow the links above to go check out our brand new Kindle Fire HD reviews. Thank you—
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The Kindle Fire was released on November 15, 2011, and continues to be a popular item for several reasons. This page features a comprehensive breakdown, and an in-depth review of the Kindle Fire, and includes all updates made in September 2012. If you want to see all the Kindles compared to each other, click Kindle Reviews.
Kindle Fire Review
Since the release of the Kindle Fire, Amazon has kept true to their word of adding more movies, TV shows, games, apps, and more. With apps for Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora, and the versatility to check your e-mail, browse the net, play some games, or read your favorite book or magazine, you can see why it is the #1 selling product on Amazon.
Feel confident it is the right fit for you after the video review? Go to Amazon and see the Kindle Fire by clicking HERE
Kindle Fire Specs
| Price | $159 | ||
| Content Source | Amazon | ||
| App Store | Amazon App Store & Android Apps | ||
| Apps Available | 15,000+ | ||
| Screen Size (inches) | 7 | ||
| Screen Resolution | 1,024×600 | ||
| Screen Pixels Per Inch | 169 | ||
| Size (inches) | 7.5 x 4.7 x .45 | ||
| Weight | 14.1 ounces | ||
| OS | Custom Android | ||
| Capacity | 8GB | ||
| Wi-Fi | 802.11 b/g/n | ||
| Processor | Dual-core, 1.2GHz OMAP4430 | ||
| Camera | No | ||
| Browser | Amazon Silk | ||
| Battery Life | 8-9 hours | ||
| Updated as of 9/10/2012 | |||
| Amazon Kindle Fire |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Pros | Low Price Millions of books, movies, and TV shows at your fingers tips | ||
| Child Friendly Options Seamless integration of Facebook, Netflix, Pandora, etc. | |||
| Unlimited Free Cloud Storage Clear high definition screen resolution | |||
| Light weight Kindle Owners lending library | |||
| Small, easily portable Touch Screen | |||
| . | |||
| Cons | Not great for outdoor use Only WiFi connectivity | ||
| No camera for skype/chat 8-9 hours of battery life | |||
| Updated as of 9/10/2012 | |||
Kindle Fire Review
Experience with Newspapers, Magazines, and Comic Books – Readability and Navigating
Magazines: With a smaller screen size (7″), the Kindle Fire is a bit harder to work with when it comes to magazines, and this is shown in the video review above. More and more magazines are being optimized for the Fire, making it easier to navigate and read without zooming in and out repeatedly.
Newspaper: Reading a newspaper is easy, since newspapers already have articles displayed in columns, so zooming in and moving up and down is easy.
Comic Books: One of the highlights of the Fire is how clear and vibrant the colors are, and this makes reading comic books a pleasure. It is also fairly easy to navigate using the Fire.
The Amazon Cloud for Storing your Movies, Songs, and Music.
Cloud storage is a fancy way of saying there is another Amazon owned computer holding on to your data, allowing you to upload/download from it at your convenience. Amazon gives you 5GB free with your purchase of a Fire, along with the 8GB of storage on your actual device. While this isn’t a TON of storage, with a bit of planning, you can transfer files back and forth from the cloud or your computer to freshen up your content prior to a time you will be out of WiFi range. Amazon also offers additional cloud storage at $1 per 1GB per year. Since the Fire was so popular these past several months, Amazon will probably increase the storage for the Fire.
Listening to Music / Mp3s
We have to give you Amazon 5 stars here because they deviated from how iTunes allows you to download their music. Amazon gives you your music Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free, which means you have more flexibility in how you can use the song you download. This is a huge plus for people who want to listen to a high quality song they paid for on their computer or else where. Amazon enables a one touch buy on the Fire to purchase music from your favorite artist.
Video – Clean, Crisp, and Cleaer
Video is another high quality feature on the Kindle Fire for a few specific reasons. First, it has a quality of video that you will not be disappointed with. If you want to watch a movie on a plane or in bed, it is perfect. You can either stream it on your WiFi in 5 seconds, or play a movie off your internal drive. It is also compatible with Netflix, Hulu, and of course all of the videos and TV shows available on Amazon – which are constantly expanding. Pause your TV show or movie now, and it will resume at the exact spot you left off when you’re ready to finish it.
Books – One Possible Hiccup for Some
You’re interested in buying an “upgraded e-reader” for all the extras, but you’re primary use will be reading books, go with the Kindle Touch. The reasons for this is because of the difference between the e-ink technology of the other Kindles vs the back-lit screen of the Fire. You will develop some eye strain, and typically, a lot of people spend time on tablets, cell phones, and computers, so the last thing you want is to further strain your eyes. However, for those of you who will be reading an occasional book, the Fire should satisfy you. You can read outside with the other Kindles, but you will need to get a small clip on light just like you would a normal book to read in the dark. However, you can’t read outside with a Fire, but you can read in the dark.
Brand New Amazon Silk Browser – Fast?
The only things I am concerned when surfing the web is SPEED. The Kindle Fire delivers here giving you a fairly fast browser using the Amazon Silk cloud-accelerated browser. They claim that the more people that use the browser, the faster it will get, and so far that has been accurate in my use of the Fire. Pages load fairly quickly, and I was never annoyed waiting for a page to load. Watch the video above to see how fast they loaded only a few days after the Kindle Fire was released.
Construction of the Kindle Fire
When figuring out whether or not to buy a cover, or how much to spend, you need to know how well the device is built. We review a lot of different covers on your Kindle Fire Covers page. The Gorilla Glass makes the front very durable, while the rubberized back allows for easy grip and protection. Whether you want a cover comes down to a few simple questions. One, do you want something unique and stylish around your Kindle Fire? Two, are a more on the clumsy side? If the answers are yes to either one, I’d recommend checking out our Kindle Fire Covers page. If you answered no to both, you should be fine.
Headphone Jack, Micro USB Cable (Buyer Beware: It does not come with one!)
The device is equipped with a headphone jack on the bottom, which you would think would be an issue. However, all you have to do is turn the Kindle Fire upside down, and it becomes a non-issue.
Micro USB (B size) Cable: You can transfer files back and forth from the Fire to your computer, but Amazon does not include the micro-usb cable. If you don’t have one, buy the highest rated and most bought one on Amazon here
Summary of the Kindle Fire 2
Amazon has juiced up their typical e-reader with one that has a lot more features. If you only want to read books, grab the Kindle Touch (or read our review about it), but if you want to play games, watch movies, surf the net, read magazines, and more, the Kindle Fire gives you all this and more at a bottom of the barrel price of $199.
