For me and all the other Luddites still out there, this product is almost better than sliced bread.
I
am admittedly the worst when it comes time to following directions and
using anything `new' tech (it took me forever to get used to my iPhone).
Generally, I balk at using anything new and am really cranky until I
get used to it (in two or three months!) But, when this got to me it
was as easy to use as I don't know what. Open the box, plug it into the
wall and follow the screen directions. It already has my books loaded
into it since I have several other types of Kindle. Therefore, that is a
plus. I've also tried all the features and am very impressed. The
speakers while small are certainly loud enough for one like me who is
partially hard of hearing can hear comfortably. For movies-the color is
crisp and the screen is just large enough to comfortably enjoy the movie
without having to squint. The `keys' on the keyboard are large enough
to fit my chubby fingers and I have no trouble even with long nails. The screen does have issues with your body oil so I will be getting the covers for the screen.
A simple to follow manual is loaded in just like on the older model Kindles
I
am very impressed as to how your library is set up. You can choose how
you view your books---choose viewing them on a shelf or simply flip
through all of the covers at one time. Flipping pages using a button on
the side is outdated with the Fire, so you can control just were you
want to be in the book at the touch of a slide
Oh dear!!! Facebook is loaded in it so I may be playing games a lot more than I ever have with just my desk/laptop!
Right
now the only thing I DON'T like is the cord is way too short. It comes
complete with all of the tools for reading we are used to using with
the Keyboard Kindle. Although some things prior Kindle owners are used
to such as putting your books into specific folders is not possible at
this time and I don't know if it will be possible in the nurture.
Without 3G it can be frustrating to use when you are like me and have an iffy signal.
EDITED
TO ADD--if you are going to be trying to down-load converted content
from Calibre, and are used to doing it Via a USB cord like I am, you
will not be able to since there is no USB cord with this package. BUT -
you can use the cord (USB) that came with your older Kindle if you
have one.
If I compare it to my other Kindles (Kindle DX and
Kindle Keyboard w/3G) I can say this-I love the fact that it doesn't
weigh as much as the DX and the screen is larger than the 3-G but of
course not as large as the DX. It does reflect ( without any screen
cover) the lights that you are using around you and while that could be
annoying I found that I could ignore whatever was reflected if what I
was reading or watching was interesting enough to capture my attention.
For
the money, you cannot go wrong. I don't want to pay the monthly
charges that I may have had to had I bought an iPad and I don't think I
ever would have used half of the iPads features. Therefore, the out lay
in cash would have been silly for me.
I have an iPad and an HP Touchpad, but the Fire has quickly turned into
my favorite tablet for entertainment activities. The reasons are simple -
it makes it incredibly easy to access movies, TV shows, books and
magazines from Amazon, many of which are free under Prime. I can hold it
for hours without it getting uncomfortable, the screen is great, and
the overall look and feel of the operating system is intuitive. Storing
and accessing content on the Amazon Cloud is also a seamless, simple
process.
I was concerned about the screen size since I've become
used to the larger tablet screen sizes of the iPad and Touchpad. I'm
finding that the benefits of a smaller screen size (easier to hold in
one hand and light weight) outweigh most of the disadvantages. I miss a
larger screen the most when I'm reading a magazine or a newspaper, but
the copy remains highly readable even on the smaller screen.
Sound
quality is decent with the onboard speakers. Nothing spectacular but
workable. I find a decent set of headphones/earbuds to be a worthwhile
addition. The touchscreen is also not without an occassional glitch. I
get the same "lack of a final polish" feeling using this as I do with my
Touchpad versus the more slick feeling of the iPad. But none of these
issues impact usability, and I'm willing to let some factors slide in
exchange for a more affordable price.
Is it an "iPad killer" or
an "Android tablet killer"? No. But why is that even an issue? I wanted
an easy way to avail myself of the benefits of Prime membership (most
notably being able to stream shows and movies for free) and the Fire
accomplishes this very well. It comes at a price that's a lot easier to
handle than the iPad, and a level of ease of use/functionality that's
easier to handle than Android tablets.
None of the so-called
limitations of the Fire detract from my using it. Yes it has limited
onboard storage but with the way the Cloud is integrated, I've not had
any difficulty using that as a way of storing content. Plus, when Amazon
stores it, they deal with the issue of backup. I also don't miss the 3G
connectivity. Sure, I'd love to be able to connect anywhere, but I will
not pay the prices charged for data connectivity. I never use the 3G on
my iPad for the same reason - just costs too much!
I'll
certainly keep and continue to use my iPad since I use that a lot for
work. But when I'm done with work and want to have fun, the Fire will be
in hand. It's cheap, works well, and provides access to virtually
unlimited video and print entertainment. For me it's a perfect fit and click Here to order the new Kindle Fire
I bought my Kindle Fire yesterday after much back and forth,
hand-wringing and consternation over the bad reviews that have cropped
up about this device, as well as the media coverage of it having
"problems" that Jeff Bezos says he is fixing. Here's the thing, I don't
know what needs fixed. After playing with the Fire for 24 hours, I can
say it is everything I am looking for in a media-consumption device: I
can read the Web, listen to music, stream video and enjoy apps. My goal
in this review is to debunk, confirm and examine all claims I've read
about the Fire and click Here to order the new Kindle Fire
Question Number One: Whose pond are you swimming
in? If you're an Apple devotee, who has an iPhone, keeps all your music
in iTunes and doesn't care about e-books, no this is probably not the
device for you. Save your money and get an iPad, because flat out, you
won't like this as much as I do. But if you happen to keep your music in
Amazon's cloud, have an e-ink Kindle and an Android phone you will get
much, much more out of the Fire. For one, the music in your cloud drive
will pop up on your device as soon as you sign in, as will the option to
download the books you're purchased on your other Kindle. Finally the
app store has many of the Android apps to which you're accustomed.
Now let's get down to performance:
Let
me first say, I feel like the one-star reviews of this device (really
anything under at least three stars) are punitive, incorrect and
probably people not realizing their Wi-Fi connection sucks more than the
fact the browser doesn't work. As mentioned, I am familiar with many of
the "complaints" about this device, so let's address them.
1. The Browser is slow: FALSE - it is super speedy. I don't get the complaints. Awesome. No viability to this claim.
2.
Volume is too low: FALSE - I would put the volume situation on par
with, say, a smartphone. I'd say it is relatively similar to an iPod
touch or Android phone. So this complaint just holds no water. I don't
know what people expect, but it's plenty loud with headphones.
3.
Touch interface is glitchy: LARGELY FALSE: The calibration seems like
it may be a bit off AT TIMES (maybe, or maybe I'm just not used to the
device), but nothing that ruins or even hurts the experience. VERY
MINOR. I'm sure Amazon is looking to tighten this up.
4. Power Button in Bad Place: FALSE: I don't get it. It's not easy to accidentally turn it off.
5.
No hardware volume buttons: TRUE It doesn't have any. I thought this
would bug me, but here's what you need to think about: This isn't an
ipod or a smartphone that you use for listening to music with the
device's screen turned off. You're usually listening while doing
something else on the device, so adjusting volume on-screen is no big
deal.
6. Loose with Privacy: TRUE Too easy to buy stuff, the
carousel needs to be editable. This needs fixed and I'm sure Amazon
will, as they have committed to.
There is one con: It's a touch
heavy, yet still MUCH lighter than the iPad. However, much like the
first gen iPad, I'm sure this will be slimmed down in the next
generation, but 24 hours after popping the box open, I'm getting used to
it and figured out comfortable ways to hold it over long periods of
time.
Let's not forget, this device is $199. During the 30
minutes I spent at Best Buy yesterday considering this purchase, I
watched eight people walk up and buy one of these. I'm guessing these
are moving much faster than iPads. No they don't do as much as an iPad,
but if you want to mainly consume media, this device is incredible.
Again, I feel like the criticism this device has taken is unfair. It has
a couple first-gen issues, but Amazon should be applauded for putting a
product like this out rather than taking crap for minor blemishes that
do not ruin the experience.
As a long-time Kindle fan I was eager to get my hands on a Fire. For the
most part I've found that it does what I wanted it to, which is be the
one device I can take with me anywhere. There are some great features;
the reader app is excellent (though not without flaws), the app store
experience is terrific, videos are fantastic, and the device is quick
and for the most part dead-simple to use, all thanks to the services
Amazon provides. And of course the extras that come with Prime
membership really make it a real value - I won't be cancelling my
Netflix streaming account just yet (watching Netflix on the Fire works
very well) but I imagine within a year Amazon's free streaming video
catalog will be just as good as Netflix. The free "lending library" book
every month really is the icing on the cake though, and makes Prime
membership a no-brainer. The hardware itself is solid and has a quality
feel, it's just the right size for one-handed use, and the screen is
fantastic (for an LCD screen) with good brightness and excellent color,
and a very wide viewing angle. So as a reader, video player and music
streaming device the Fire excels, and as an occasional browsing,
emailing, game playing tablety thing it does pretty well.
But
there are some downsides too; the small bezel size makes holding it
without inadvertent page-turns difficult, the lack of buttons makes
controls harder, the accessible storage memory is limited to just 5GB,
which seems awfully small when carrying my own video content on a trip,
and overall the interface of the system is just a little awkward and
unfinished. Sometimes the back button doesn't work, buttons are hard to
push accurately or launch the wrong function, navigation isn't exactly
intuitive, etc. Particularly annoying are things like the way that
almost half the screen is taken up by menu bars when browsing in
landscape mode, the "momentum" of the browsing not stopping, menu bars
that sometimes just pop up randomly while reading, and the navigation of
Newsstand content like the New York Times is incredibly awkward. And
then there's the jerkiness that happens when browsing or navigating
other content; to me, this just shouldn't happen when reading a book.
This is a Kindle, after all, Click Here to Preorder the new Kindle Fire
On the missing or unfinished side
its disappointing that there isn't even a little bit of social media
built in - no sharing clips of books or newsstand material via email, FB
or twitter. Also missing is the "read out loud" found on other Kindles,
and the new "X-Ray" feature found on the other new Kindles. There is no
archiving or syncing personal documents - they have to be mailed
individually to the Fire. And there's no page numbers in the books -
c'mon, Amazon, this is even available for the old Kindles at this point.
The browser lacks some basic functionality like being able to rearrange
bookmarks, and other little annoyances. The email application is very
basic, and doesn't always format text properly, and doesn't have simple
things like a landscape mode to view a list of messages. But the biggest
"unfinished" feature of the Fire is the Cloud integration; the Cloud
doesn't work hand-in-glove with the Fire in the way you think it might.
In order to access features like the video or the docs, you basically
have to go through a browser the way you would from any other device.
For the most part the Cloud acts only as a digital locker for items
purchased from Amazon, not seamlessly as a repository for any kind of
content you want to access from the Fire. The way the Cloud seems to be
marketed, and the way it should work, is that the Fire and the Cloud
should work seamlessly together for all kinds of content; if you upload
your own movie from your PC to the Cloud, you should see it in your
Video tab on the Fire, and be able to stream it or download it. If you
upload folders of work documents to the Cloud, they should be available
to browse and download from the Fire's Doc tab. But that's not the way
it works. For whatever reason, the Fire's using a Frankenstein mix of
the Cloud, Kindle digital library, the app store, and local storage to
handle content needs. It just isn't quite ready for prime time, and it
isn't what people are expecting when they pick up the Fire.
All
of these little things add up to make what could be a great device
merely adequate. Many will be able to overlook these problems and enjoy
the Kindle Fire for what it is; an inexpensive all-in-one-entertainment
device. I only point them out to remind people that they should not
expect perfection from the Kindle Fire, at least not out of the box.
Over the next few months it's possible (likely) that many of the
problems I have could be fixed with software revisions - i.e. the bezel
problem could be fixed by making the margins in the reader app
non-active, for instance, and the problem with the menus taking up too
much room could be fixed by making them accessible via swipe-up or
swipe-down. Hopefully Amazon is already working on these things. Until
then, I'm trying to learn to live with the Fire as best I can. Maybe I
can learn to love it.
NOTE: This review has been edited slightly
since it was originally posted for the purposes of clarity and to answer
questions that have come up in the comments thread to this review.
Please leave a comment if you need clarification or think that something
has been missed.
UPDATE NOV 30: a recent software update seems
to have fixed several of the above problems, specifically the system
speed and page-turning speed are better, and the button response is much
improved. Random menus no longer appear when reading, momentum in the
browser doesn't seem to be a problem anymore, and the carousel is much
easier to use as a result of it having slightly more "friction" in
paging through the most recent items used.
OVERALL USE
The reading experience on the Paperwhite is excellent. The Paperwhite is much more enjoyable to use than the Kindle Touch or the Kindle Keyboard,
thanks mostly to the display (more on that below). The Home button
from the Touch has been removed, and you now navigate to the menus by
touching the top of the screen. Like the Touch, there are no physical
page turn buttons. If you want to advance the page, you either swipe, or
press the middle/right hand side of the screen (most of the display
area is set up to advance the page). To go back a page, you press
anywhere on the left 20% of the screen. To access the menu, you press
the top 10% of the screen. Contrast for the display can quickly and
easily be adjusted with two taps, so it can be brightened or darkened
without a lot of menu navigation. There are still eight font sizes like
previous generations had, but instead of just three typefaces, you now
have six (Baskerville, Caecilia, Caecilia Condensed, Publisher Font,
Futura, Helvetica, and Palatino). Publisher Font lets you use the book
publisher's embedded font. None of the books I have tried out yet have
this option, but I can see how it can provide them with a lot more
flexibility. The additional fonts, along with the ability to adjust
line spacing and margins, make it much easier to read books that a
publisher formats poorly to begin with (as anyone who struggled with the
early edition of 'Game of Thrones' can attest to).
The menu
system is a bit improved over the Touch. Instead of the basic list
display for your books, Paperwhite now includes a graphical display of
your book covers (like the Kindle Fire) in addition to the traditional
list view. Unfortunately, it will only display three books covers,
because the second row of covers are reserved for covers of Amazon book
recommendations. It's clear that Amazon wants to use the Paperwhite to
market their products more. Cloud integration is very easy as well. If
you have more than 1,000 books, just store some on your free Amazon
Cloud drive. Downloading them to the device is very quick and simple.
The Paperwhite comes with Kindle Collections which allows you to
organize and store your books more easily and put them into genres or
collections by author/subject, however the way collections are displayed
could be improved, since a list display will still show the individual
books on the list, even after you move them into a collection. Ideally, I
think it should work like a file system, where you sort them into a
collection and then those books will only display when you open that
collection folder.
DISPLAY
This is where the Paperwhite really
shines. The display is absolutely beautiful. I never had a problem
with the display on any of my previous kindles, and always thought there
wasn't much room for improvement, but you can really tell a difference
when looking at the two side by side. Kindles all use E-Ink displays to
mimic printed text. The Paperwhite has an improved e-ink display, which
is sharper, has improved contrast and resolution, and uses front-lit
technology with its built-in light. Images look much sharper, which
shouldn't matter too much since most people don't use their kindles for
images, but the text looks better as well. The resolution has increased
from 167 pixels per inch (PPI) and 600x800 resolution on all previous
models to 221 PPI and 768 x 1024 on the Paperwhite.
The lighting
is nothing like a traditional back lit screen (like you would see on the
iPad or Nook). It is very even and doesn't hurt your eyes at all. I
could stare at the display for hours as easily as reading a book.
Reading in bright sunshine is no problem and even improved over the
Touch. There are four small led lights underneath the bezel at the
bottom, which carry light through a grid built into the display. This
allows for very even lighting, as opposed to using a clamp on light that
directs light to one area, and then spills down to the rest. There are
24 different light levels so it is very customizable, and you can change
the level very quickly without having to spend a lot of time going
through menus. So the great thing is, you don't need to order a separate
light for your Kindle. Unless I am outside or in a bright room, I
always use the Amazon cover with built in light for my Touch, which I
would prefer not to do, because it adds weight to the device and doesn't
feel as comfortable as holding a bare kindle without a cover. With
Paperwhite, the screen is uniform and easy to read. It may sound like
the glow could get annoying, but it is very pleasing to the eyes and
easy to read from. It soft enough that you can read in bed with a
partner and not disturb them at all (with my Touch I had to make sure I
slept on the left side of the bed (the direction the light faced)
because the led would blind the person on the right). I cannot emphasize
enough how brilliant the screen is and encourage you to find a display
model to look at if you're on the fence about it. I've used the Nook
Simple Touch with Glowlight and the Paperwhite display blows it out of
the water. The only problem with it, is that there are four
thumbnail-sized shadows at the bottom of the display where the led
lights sit. They are not very dark, but they are noticeable at first and
prevent perfect uniformity. I learned to ignore them after a few
minutes. There is also one area on the top menu that does not
completely blend into the background when you bring the menu up. Not a
big deal but it is a small glitch.
FORM FACTOR
The Paperwhite
is a tiny bit smaller and thinner than the Touch, but not by too much.
Users of the Touch should not have any problems, but if you're coming
from the Kindle Keyboard, it will probably feel a bit awkward to hold it
with one hand for awhile, because you don't have as much surface to
grip since you can't touch the screen. To understand what I'm talking
about, try holding a paperback book in one hand, but only let your hand
touch the outer 3/4" of the front of it. You can see in the ads and
videos that users are just barely gripping the outside of the Paperwhite
so their hand doesn't get in the way of the screen. This is actually a
fairly awkward way to hold the Kindle for any significant length of
time, as users of the Touch may recall (I can guarantee you that girl
laying on the ground reading and just barely holding onto the corner
with her thumb did not hold it that way for long). You eventually get
used to it, but you still have to shift your hand every once in awhile
because it gets uncomfortable. I think the perfect way for me to hold it
is to cup your hand like you're holding a mug of beer, and let the
kindle rest on your pinky finger like an easel.
The Paperwhite
also now has a rubberized back (like the Kindle Fire) compared to the
smoother back of the Touch. With the Touch, you had to rely on your
palm and thumb to support it. With the Paperwhite, your fingers don't
slide off so easily and can assist to support the back. Although this
sounds like a small issue, anyone who has tried to hold a Touch with one
hand for more than 30 minutes will appreciate this. So it's easier to
hold over the Touch, but the Kindle Keyboard is still the most
comfortable to grip.
Two more great additions to the form factor -
since it no longer has an IR light built into it, the depth of the
bezel is half the size. This makes for a smoother transition to the
display, collects less dirt, and looks better. Lastly, the display
screen feels different than any previous kindles. It has a very slight
textured surface (almost like the page of a book) to it instead of being
completely smooth. It is hard to describe, but it is much more
pleasurable to the touch than the previous Kindle Touch, and swiping is
more pleasant.
TOUCH RESPONSE
Kindle Paperwhite now has a
capacitive touch screen. This is almost worth the upgrade alone. The
Touch used an IR-based touch screen, so it would register any movement
as a touch, even if it wasn't from your body. I would frequently be
reading in bed and move to get more comfortable, and the sheets would
hit the display and cause it to skip to the next chapter. So then I
would have to bring up the menu and go back. I was always careful about
closing the cover when I moved to prevent an accidental "touch." I've
always been very satisfied with the speed of the page turns on the Touch
and never had a problem with it, but this has improved as well, and
page turns now register a bit quicker. It is too quick for me to measure
the increase, but I think most people will see a noticeable change in
response and appreciate it. It is very easy to type with the built in
keyboard, so you can easily search for phrases or navigate to something
specific in the book. Flipping pages is very quick and page turns are
almost instant. Instead of having to move my finger to swipe or tap
into a page turn, I rest my thumb right against the bezel, and when I
want to turn a page, I just shift it very slightly so it touches the
screen.
BATTERY LIFE
I haven't been able to run reliable
testing on the battery, but Amazon's claim of 8 weeks battery (using for
30 minutes a day) even with the light on seems to me to likely be
fairly accurate given my limited use of it. Even previous Kindle
generations have had amazing batteries so this has never been a problem
for me in the past.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
The Kindle Touch came
with some new features, but I never really used any of them too much.
Paperwhite has several new features that make reading a more interactive
experience (if you want it to be):
- BUILT IN DICTIONARY - Long
press a word for about 2 seconds and you get an instant definition. I
use this feature all the time and it is one of my favorite advantages of
the Kindle over a traditional book.
- TIME TO READ - By far my
favorite new feature. Previous kindles provide a percentage or a visual
indicator of how long a book is. Paperwhite still does that, but also
tells you how many hours/minutes you have to finish a book or a chapter,
by calculating your average reading speed, and constantly adjusting it.
I do not know if it calculates this amount based on the number of
pages in a book or the number of words, but it proved to be incredibly
accurate, and I had to stop looking at it because I found myself trying
to "beat" it. A very fun feature and fairly useful for deciding if you
have time to finish a new chapter while waiting for your plane to board
or before going to bed. You can just tap it and it will switch to the
percentage + the confusing "location" view instead. Some books will
display Real Page Numbers to show you the actual page number that would
correspond with a physical book, but none of mine had this feature built
in.
- EXPERIMENTAL BROWSER - Kindle's "experimental" web browser is
back, and is a little bit improved due to the higher resolution, but I
still wouldn't want to use it for graphical-heavy sites. I'm not sure
how fast the 3g browser will be but the wi-fi version was decent enough
that I could use it in a pinch.
- SOCIAL FEATURES - Like the Touch,
the Paperwhite has integration with Twitter and Facebook, so you can let
people know when you're done with a book, or share favorite passages. I
can see how some people might like this, but I would much rather have
integration with Shelfari so I can update my account once I've finished a
book and rate it. This is Amazon's own service so it seems like they
are missing a huge opportunity here to promote it. Paperwhite also lets
you leave a rating when you've finished a book. I have no idea what
this rating is for or where it goes, but it would be great if you
integrated this into product pages and had a "kindle rating" where they
aggregated all of the ratings left by kindle users. This would allow
people to leave a rating without having to write a long-winded (ahem)
review and would also contain only ratings by people who had purchased
the book. Probably unnecessary but I really think they could do more
with the social features to make them useful.
- X-Ray - One of the
best features IF your kindle book comes with it. It's like a built-in
wiki for your book, and you can call it up at any time to learn more
about people, places, and subjects in your book. My current book has
684 characters, and this is great for keeping track of who everyone is.
-
WHISPERSYNC - I have a Kindle Fire, Touch, Keyboard, Kindle for PC, and
Kindle Cloud Drive, and Whispersync works fairly well to sync all of my
books across all devices. If I pick up my Fire to read a few chapters,
I want to be able to start at the same place when I pick up the
Paperwhite. Syncing is mostly accurate but sometimes it doesn't
register on one of my devices for some reason.
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR -
Amazon has announced this new feature that lets you view biographical
information about the author and character summaries at the end of the
book, much like a real book. None of my books had this feature yet, but
it seems like a great idea to add value to Kindle books.
ACCESSORIES
I
buy a cover for all of my kindles, mostly to use the built-in light,
but the covers add bulk and make it difficult to carry one in a pocket,
as well as adding weight to it which makes holding it for long periods a
bit frustrating. Amazon's official cover is the Paperwhite Leather Cover),
but with the Paperwhite display, I won't be using the cover unless I
travel with the kindle. This makes it much easier to hold and feels
less like I'm holding a tablet in my hands. The Paperwhite isn't
scratch-proof, but it definitely is a bit more rugged than the Touch and
I don't think most people will even need a cover for it. I do like the
cover better than the official one Amazon produced for the Touch, and
you can read my full review of it on the page for the Paperwhite Leather Cover).
CONS
-
Probably the biggest con for most people, is that the Mp3 player and
all audio features have been completely removed. The main purpose of
this device is to read books, so I don't fault Amazon for that decision,
but I did enjoy cueing up some light classical music occasionally on my
Touch and Kindle Keyboard right before bed. This of course means that
there is no more text to speech playback of books or integration with
audio books. As such, they have dropped the onboard memory to 2GB
(about 1,000 books). With integration to Amazon's Cloud service, this
should be more than enough for book storage.
- I love the matte
finish on the back of the device, but it does get a bit smudgy from my
fingers and You can't really wipe them off without a wet cleaner. The
smudging isn't so noticeable that it would bother me though.
- Slight shadowing at the bottom of the device from the LED lights.
-
I also actually wish the bezel on the right side was slightly wider and
offset a bit. Of course, this wouldn't help left-handed people, but it
would make it a little bit easier to hold without having your hand block
the screen at all. If you don't use a heavy cover on it, this also
shouldn't really be a problem.
- No Power adapter. It comes with a
micro-usb charging cable, but you have to have a computer or already own
a power adapter from another product to be able to charge it. Amazon
did this with the Touch as well and I think it is absolutely ridiculous.
I know Amazon wants to charge separately for this but I think not
including one is really greedy. If you need one, you may want to buy
the Kindle Power Adapter although I'm sure you could probably find a much cheaper one somewhere.
- No Shelfari integration as mentioned above.
CONCLUSION
In
my review of the Kindle Touch, I said that while it was a nice device, I
didn't feel like it warranted an upgrade for users of 2nd and 3rd
generation kindles. The Kindle Paperwhite is definitely upgrade-worthy
for all previous kindle users who read more than a few books a year. A
stunning display, better touch sensitivity, and software features that
Amazon should have come out with years ago, finally make the Kindle the
undisputed leader in the e-reader market. Previously I would go back
and forth between my Kindle Touch and Fire when reading books, but the
Paperwhite is such a pleasure to use that I can't imagine ever choosing
the Fire over it again. If you are an avid reader and have never
purchased a Kindle before, the Paperwhite will really give you an
appreciation for how far these devices have come.
In the past, I have always gone with Amazon covers solely for the reason
that I need the built in lights, and lighting options from other
companies are terrible. With the Paperwhite's new built-in lighting
technology, I'm no longer forced to use Amazon and can finally evaluate
their covers solely for design and functionality.
FORM FACTOR The cover design is very similar to the Amazon Kindle Touch Leather Cover.
It is a very tight fit, and can take some getting used to to learn how
to remove your kindle from it. Although I originally didn't like the
Kindle Touch cover because it was such a tight fit, this shouldn't be a
problem if you plan to leave your Paperwhite in the cover all the time.
It has an area cut out at the bottom for the power button and ac port.
The front of the cover is leather, but this time it has a cross-cut
textured pattern in it. It looks fairly stylish, and this is an
improvement over the Touch cover, which showed scratches and pits in the
leather very easily. All of the covers appear to be fairly true to
Amazon's images (I have not seen the saddle tan version yet), although
the actual Ink Blue cover is a little bit lighter and more
distinguishable as blue than what you see in the image. There is a soft
felt back on the front of the cover to shield the display when closed.
USE The
Paperwhite pops in to the rubberized back of the case, which hugs it
fairly tightly, so there's no chance of it slipping out. Amazon has
added a magnetic clasp to the side to keep the cover closed. This was
missing on the Touch cover, but I never really found it to be much of an
issue with the cover staying closed. The magnet in the clasp is not
very strong at all, but it does seem to do the job. It takes almost no
force to open it though. The best part about the clasp, is that opening
the cover will turn on the Paperwhite, and closing it will put it to
sleep, so you never need to use the physical power button at all. If
you are left-handed, the cover actually makes it easier to hold the
Kindle since you can open it like a book and use the front cover to
support it.
PROS - Opening/closing the cover turns on/off the paperwhite without having to use the power button. - Completely protects the Paperwhite. I can't see any real way for it to get damaged when it is on. - Makes holding the Paperwhite a bit easier. - Adds color and makes your Paperwhite a bit more stylish.
CONS - Expensive versus value - Very tight fit which can make it difficult to remove. - Adds weight and bulk to the Paperwhite and makes it less "pocketable."
CONCLUSION Although
I purchased a cover for my Paperwhite to try it out, I don't really
like how much bigger the covers make my Kindle. The size difference is
fairly small, but that little difference changes the Paperwhite from
something I can easily fit in my pocket, to something I can "somewhat"
easily fit in my pocket. I also don't like that it covers over the
rubberized back of the Paperwhite and effectively makes it a little more
difficult to grip, since your hand is holding the felt back which has
less friction. But mainly, I just don't like the added size. I think
the Paperwhite is almost the perfect form factor on its own and the
cover takes away a little bit of that. If you are pretty rough with
your electronics or you travel a lot with your Kindle, it may be a nice
option, but if you're like me and leave yours on the nightstand a lot, I
would recommend holding off on purchasing a cover until after you've
spent some time with the Paperwhite on its own and can decide if you
really need one. Unless you have the Paperwhite 3G, the price of these
devices has gotten so low that the cost of the cover and its intended
function should be measured against the cost of the device it is
protecting. But it's a very nicely-designed cover and it will keep your
Paperwhite in mint condition if that is your main goal.
UPDATE September 2012 - With the comparatively-priced Nexus 7 tablet out
now, and an official announcement of the Kindle Fire 2 expected to be
made this month, I don't recommend anyone purchasing the Fire anymore
unless you can find it at a discount. It is expected to be replaced
with a new version within the next three months. I still think it's a
decent e-reader/tablet hybrid and great for Prime members, but it's a
bit outdated now.
The first and most important thing that should
be said about the Kindle Fire is that this is not an "iPad-killer." It
is not designed to be. I have seen so many articles and comments
comparing this to the iPad, and surveys where people are asked if they
will be buying a Kindle Fire over an iPad this Christmas. If you are
expecting an iPad, or even a tablet, you will be disappointed. The main
purpose of this device is to deliver Amazon content to you more
effectively. It is designed for consumption, not creation. That is the
reason it is so cheap and why Amazon is taking a loss on it. They are
hoping to make up for that loss through sales of videos, music, books,
and apps through Amazon's Web Services. You can also use it to view
your own movies and media, but will find that it is more limited in that
way than a regular tablet. Personally, as someone who has ordered
several rentals from Amazon Video, and had to contact customer support
for every single one of them due to problems with Amazon's Unbox player
or purchases not appearing in my downloads, I can really appreciate
this. But if you don't plan on using Amazon at all to obtain your
media, you may want to take this into consideration before purchasing
the Fire. Additionally, the reason this product is so hyped, and one of
the reasons I like it so much, is due to the ridiculously low price.
Amazon reviews shouldn't focus on price, but it is hard not to with this
device. On price alone, this is a five star device. However when
looked at the Fire overall, and when compared with other touch devices
(what little there is to compare it to), I have to give it four stars,
since there are a few areas I feel could use definite improvement.
FORM
FACTOR - The Kindle Fire feels almost the same in my hand as my 3rd
generation Kindle but it is a bit heavier. It might be difficult to
hold it one handed and read a book for an hour or watch a movie. You're
going to need to rest it on something. The display is made of Gorilla
Glass, which is a highly damage-resistant. You can still crack it, but I
have used a phone with Gorilla Glass for two years on it and it has
zero scratches on it despite being kept daily in my pocket with my keys.
The back of the tablet is rubberized, so it won't slide around and
won't get scratched easily. It also feels good in my hand. Despite all
the companies that will be selling them, I do not think you need a
screen protector. I have scratched Gorilla Glass before, but it is very
difficult to do.
CONNECTIONS/STORAGE - On the bottom are a
headphone port (which will accept external speakers), micro-USB (for
charging and file transfer), and power button. The Fire doesn't come
with an SD card slot, with good reason. As mentioned, Amazon wants you
to get content directly from them. It also reduces the production
costs. You can transfer your own content to the device through the USB
connection from your home computer. The Fire comes with 8Gb of storage,
which is enough to hold about 8 downloaded movies, 80 apps, 800 songs,
or 6,000 books. I filled mine up right away so I never checked it out of
the box, but apparently it is closer to 6.5Gb as the OS is going to
take up some of this. You have to really become adept at managing your
content through the Cloud. Books won't take up much room, but magazines
are around 250Mb and movies are a little under 1 Gb. Free videos
available through Amazon Prime cannot be downloaded, only streamed. So
unless you buy a movie from Amazon or transfer one of your own, you must
be connected through a wi-fi connection in order to watch your movie.
AMAZON
CLOUD - If you have not tried out the Amazon Cloud Drive, you will be
pleasantly surprised. You get 5Gb (which they will probably increase in
the near future) of free online storage to store anything you want, and
you can access it from anywhere. This combines very nicely with the
Fire. 5Gb isn't much for my collection, so I upgraded to a higher plan
(rates are $1 per extra gigabyte per year). I can upload a playlist to
it and listen to it on my home computer, then when I get to work the
Fire can access it and pick it up where I left off. Any songs you get
from Amazon Mp3 are automatically stored on the Cloud and don't
contribute to the 5Gb storage space.
E-READER - This was going to
be the big determination in whether I should get a Fire or the new
Kindle Touch. Ultimately I ended up getting both since I prefer the
E-Ink technology to the backlit display of the Fire. If you are the
type of person who reads a lot and expect to spend at least 50% of your
use on reading books, I don't think you will be satisfied with the Fire
over your Kindle 3 or the Kindle Touch, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display - includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers.
It just isn't the same, and after hours of reading, the display would
make my eyes hurt a bit (just like with any tablet). However it is nice
not to have to use a lighted cover to see my books in the dark. The
Kindle Fire is difficult to read in bright sunlight or on the beach.
The touch navigation is very nice, but it doesn't function as nicely or
quickly as it does on the iPad or even the Kindle Touch. This can be a
problem for me, and the main reason I am using the Kindle Touch for
reading books. Additionally, the Fire doesn't support real page numbers,
even though the Touch does. So you have to use that ridiculous
"location 121 of 16077 - 2%" format. A year of that with my last Kindle
and I still don't understand what that means. They need to fix this in
an update. Being able to touch a word and have it bring up the
dictionary is incredibly convenient and takes less than 2 seconds. But
still, the Kindle Touch handily beats the Fire for reading.
MAGAZINES
- The Kindle Fire can also handle magazines, however the display is
just too small to be an enjoyable reading experience. I tried out
several different magazines, and the main problem I had was with the
formatting. I tried to read an issue of Bon Appetit and my eyes were
straining after three pages. There is no way to read a single article
without zooming. The Fire handles magazines two ways: with Page View,
which shows the original magazine display, and with Text View, which
attempts to just provide the text of the article. A lot of magazines
these days have several things going on in one page, with multiple
columns, little sidebars and boxes everywhere, etc. I couldn't view a
lot of this without zooming, the text is just too small. So Page View
did not work very well for magazines like this. It is especially tough
with magazines like Entertainment Weekly, Men's Health, GQ, etc. I
found magazines like that unreadable on the 7" display. Magazines that
focused mostly on the article, like Nature, Wired, etc, were handled
much better. Some magazines even come integrated with embedded video
and audio, which is a very nice feature, and one I can see being very
useful for things like Men's Health, but I haven't had as much of a
chance to use it yet. Text View is a very nice feature that works
mostly well, but seems to get a bit confused with magazines that have
complicated formatting, so it pretty much defeats the purpose since
those are the ones I need it for the most.
COMIC READER - This is
one of the main reasons I purchased the Fire. Amazon has a fairly
extensive collection of comic books available for the Fire, including an
exclusive deal with DC to publish many of their books. In addition to a
proprietary comic reader that comes on the Fire, Amazon also has a
Comics by ComiXology app available to purchase issues and subscriptions
through. Although I initially thought the 7" display would be too small,
it is actually decent enough to serve as a comic reader. I would
definitely prefer a 10" version if they came out with one in the future.
A 10" tablet is still the way to go for comics, but if you're looking
for a cheaper option and portability, the Fire isn't too bad, and
definitely beats a smart phone. It has a "panel by panel" feature that
lets you scroll through the issue by different panels, which it will
then zoom in on. You tap the panel when done, and it moves to the next
panel. This is great for getting a larger view and working around the
size restriction, especially since some of the text in the comics is
just too small to read. Although it is fairly decent, if you are
considering the Fire just for comic books, and you are a Marvel fan, you
may want to hold off and look at another retailer's device which I
think has a few more options. You can load your own .cbr comic files on
the Kindle, but you'll need to use a third party app, like Comicat to
do it.
AMAZON MP3/VIDEO - Amazon hopes that you will get the
majority of your content from them. That is why the Fire is so
reasonably-priced. Amazon music is DRM-free. DRM is copy protection.
That means that the record labels haven't locked down the music you buy
from Amazon to restrict how you use it. Amazon MP3 music is playable
anywhere, even on your Apple devices. It also has a very high bitrate
so you are getting great quality. You don't have to worry about not
being able to listen to your music 15 years from now if Amazon goes
under. It's yours forever. As far as video, I have always disliked
Amazon's Video services. The prices are very reasonable and they now
have a huge selection, but obtaining the videos is a huge pain due to
Amazon's terrible Unbox player. That changes with the Fire, as
everything is native and streams/downloads beautifully. If you make a
lot of purchases with Amazon, or if you have several Amazon customers in
your household, you should take advantage of their Prime program. In
addition to the large selection of free videos now available to Prime
members, the shipping advantages are amazing. I once had a 200 lb
exercise bike overnighted to my house for only $3.99. Everything I
order I get within 2 days. The Prime program seems expensive but it has
certainly paid for itself over the years for me, and now is even better
that it is integrated more with the Fire. The only problem I have with
video playback is that everything I watched did not fully expand to the
screen, and was letterboxed. Considering the small 7" display size,
this was an annoyance for me. I know shows have different aspect
ratios, but some should fit the display, and I think many users will be
annoyed that they can't zoom or stretch the display to fit.
WEB
BROWSING - This is another feature I was initially excited about. I like
the idea of being able to use the Fire as a netbook. Amazon advertises
"ultra fast web browsing" using Amazon's Silk browser. It is based off
of technology that is designed to increase page loading times by
pre-fetching part of the content. Sounds like a great idea, but doesn't
work as well in practice. I tried out the Fire on several different
connections and compared page loading times with other devices (all
connected wirelessly). The Fire was one of the slowest. Amazon's own
web page, which has actually recently been optimized to work with the
Fire, takes an average of 7 seconds to load. Other major portals took a
similar amount of time or slower. My iPad and my Xoom both load pages
much faster. It is not slow enough to be a problem, but not fast enough
to impress me or be worthy of Amazon's marketing regarding it. This
needs to be improved. UPDATE - As of February 2012, page loading times
are much improved. It can still be a bit slow and stutter at times, but
you can increase this by following the steps at the bottom of this
review. I am mostly satisfied with browsing now, although Silk still
occasionally won't recognize it when I touch a link.
BATTERY LIFE
- Amazon advertises 8 hours of reading or 7.5 hours of video playback.
As an average, that's probably fairly accurate. During testing I got
an average of 7.4 hours of continuous reading, and 7 hours of video
playback over five tests for each. This is a big change over the
roughly 30 days of continuous reading with the traditional kindle, so it
may hamper you a bit if you're a voracious reader. I just got into the
habit of charging it every night with my cell phone. You can shut down
the Kindle or put it in sleep mode. I keep mine in sleep mode all the
time because it is so efficient that it uses almost no battery. I can
leave it in sleep mode for 2 days and come back and not notice any
change in battery life, and since I don't have to reboot, it starts up
immediately.
VS IPAD - As said, this isn't designed to be an
iPad. I have an iPad and there is so much more I can do with it
compared to the Kindle. The Fire serves a different (but sometimes
similar) function. I just don't ever see Amazon building up the type of
app store that Apple has, and that's where you're going to find the
major differences. Additionally, the 10" display on the iPad makes a
huge difference to me over the Fire's 7" display when it comes to
watching movies and TV, and reading magazines and comic books. However,
I think there is definitely room for the Fire to steal some of iPad's
market share, as many people (I am one of them), will find the functions
they want in a tablet can be covered by the Fire.
USER INTERFACE
- The Fire uses a heavily modified version of Android. I really liked
the interface, however I don't think it works as well on the Fire as it
does on a full tablet device like the Motorola Xoom. Occasionally I
would try to make a page turn and have it not register on the Fire, or
have it register more slowly than I am used to. If you have a lot of
experience with the iPad, you are going to notice that the software
doesn't respond as quickly on the Fire as it does with other tablets.
Although this is an inconvenience and something I definitely feel needs
to be addressed, I can accept it given the lower price point. I will
have a problem though if this is not resolved through a firmware upgrade
in the future. The Fire's custom version of Android is very nice. The
most recent applications or files accessed will display in a carousel
format that you can rotate through. You can also set up commonly-used
applications as favorites. If you want to access movies and pictures
that you manually load onto the Fire, you have to open up the "Gallery"
app, rather than accessing them from the "Videos" and "Photos" tabs.
The gallery app does not very user-friendly at displaying these files.
For instance, it just creates thumbnails for all your video files and
doesn't let you view the file names when selecting a video. If you have
dozens of videos from a single TV show, there is no easy way to organize
them in the gallery. It's clear Amazon wants you to view their videos
purchased from them rather than your own. I would really like to see
them fix this through a simple firmware update but I doubt they will.
NEGATIVES:
-
No bluetooth and no HDMI. I could really use bluetooth for integration
with bluetooth-capable speakers and so I can use bluetooth audio in my
car. As a media player, I feel this really should have been included,
and I imagine it will with future versions. This is especially
important since the audio from the speakers is a bit tinny and weak. I
have been using headphones with all my media-playing, which
significantly improves the sound. There is also no physical volume
button, which is a pain when you need to silence the device quickly
(EDIT: You can sideload the "Volume Control" app by RubberBigPepper"
from the Android Market for a great software workaround to this). I
also would like HDMI output so I can take my Amazon video purchases and
watch them on my TV. Another big disadvantage in a device that is made
for media. This will also likely be included in a future edition, so at
$200, I don't feel bad about possibly having to upgrade a year from now
to get it.
- Only 8Gb storage space. As mentioned, this device is
mainly designed to integrate with Amazon's Cloud, so 8 should be enough,
but it would be nice to have at least 16. I imagine Amazon did this on
purpose to force people to use their Cloud service.
- Touch
capability can sometimes be sluggish. iPad and other tablet owners may
be disappointed with the touch reaction time and some aspects of the
software.
- Video doesn't include option to zoom or stretch the display to fit the screen.
-
Very limited selection of apps from the Amazon App Store. Most of the
apps are mediocre games. UPDATE - you can get around this by manually
loading apps onto the Fire. Do a search for "sideload kindle fire." It
is very easy.
- Web "Accelerator" is not as fast as other tablets.
-
No Micro-USB transfer cable included with it. Another way for Amazon
to discourage you from transferring your own files to the device. If you
want to do that, you will need to purchase one separately, like the AmazonBasics USB Cable - 2.0 A Male to Micro B (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters).
SUMMARY:
Bottom line, you will not find a cheaper device out there for streaming
music, video, and books than the Kindle Fire. The reason that this
device is so amazing is not for what it can do, but for what it can do
at such a cheap price. The price tag, not the technology, is the story
here. Although I definitely feel there is room for improvement and will
be interested in seeing Amazon's second generation of this device
(which I think will be significantly improved), the Kindle Fire is a
solid start. If you can wait a year or more for Amazon to work out the
kinks with the Fire (like it did with its 1st generation of the Kindle),
you should definitely do that. The next version should fix a lot of the
problems that keep the current Fire from being a "Five Star" product.
Unfortunately, reviews shouldn't focus on price, so due to some issues
with the form factor and touch interface, I can only give it four stars.
It is just not "perfect" enough for me to say it is a five star product
without taking price into consideration. But aside for that, there is
really only one device you can compare the Fire to - The Nook. So for
what it is, I would have no problems recommending the Fire to consumers
who can take advantage of it. This product more than lives up to what
it is DESIGNED to do. If you plan on getting most of your content from
Amazon AND you have a Prime membership, I think you will really find
this is a pretty incredible device for the money.
UPDATE 28 Dec
2011: After getting a new case for the Fire that makes it easier to
hold, I'm starting to use it more for reading (although I still prefer
my Kindle Touch for anything over about 45 minutes). Some magazines are
now better adapted to the Fire liked my subscription to Wired, and some
are still terrible and just compressed PDFs. An update released last
week adds more privacy features so you can delete recent history form
the carousel, and does improve noticeably on the touch sensitivity,
although it can still be frustrating at times and not as smooth as
something like an iPad. Browser loading times are still disappointing,
but not as bad as they were at first release, and I don't notice them as
much. I am continually impressed at battery usage for this device.
Despite using it less than an hour a day, I never turn it off and only
charge it a couple times a week. The rest of the time it sits in
standby mode which is extremely efficient. If they could improve a
couple more options I'd be closer to giving the Fire five stars.
UPDATE
7 Feb 2012: I have been able to update the browser significantly by
doing the following: Open up the browser and select the menu button at
the bottom, select the Settings button, and then change the following
options:
Enable plug-ins: Change this to "off." This will
disable Flash, so if you have any web sites that need it you can
re-enable it (YouTube works fine).
Accelerate page loading: Uncheck this. If your wifi connection is decent, it's not really necessary.
Mobile
(This one is optional, but I prefer to view everything in mobile mode
rather than having Silk trying to force a desktop view on a 7" screen."
For me and all the other Luddites still out there, this product is almost better than sliced bread.
