I had been flirting with the idea of getting an e-reader for the last few months for several reasons; the primary being that all of my books take up too much damn space. I had not done any real research on the available e-readers and tablets but the Fire appears to be near the higher end of the spectrum but definitely not on the same level as the iPad.
I set it up as soon as I could and immediately bought my first e-book, Cuyahoga by Carl King. I was very excited to finally read the book, which is only available on e-readers. Hopefully I will find some time to do a book review in the near future, because it is a very enjoyable read.
When used as an e-reader, the Fire presents quite the attractive interface and has so far presented no problems. There are a number of font options as well as text spacing, margin, and size options in addition to having the option to change the background color of the "page".
The size of the device is comparable to a paperback. Here it is next to other small things that people use everyday:
The Fire is also quite thin:
Here it is laid next to an iPod for comparison:
I have been an iPod Touch user for the last several years so I am accustomed to the performance of that device. The Fire uses the Android OS, which I have had no experience with. Amazon has been touting their proprietary web browser, Silk, as an alternative to Chrome and Firefox. My initial impression regarding Silk is that the program is not as polished as the alternatives. Sometimes it is downright clunky. There is often a delay between selecting a link and the the page loading. I haven't been impressed as of yet; I have not experienced any of the lightning-fast speeds that it has been touted for. Don't worry, trusty Firefox-equipped computer, I will not be replacing you with a tablet anytime soon.
Regarding the touchscreen, the Fire also falls short when compared to my iPod Touch. Selecting an icon often requires touching the screen more than once to successfully select the symbol. This is especially true for the very small icons in the upper right corner that select the wireless connection and setting options. Swiping through books and applications on the main menu is easy, but sometimes when touching the screen the select a book or app, the gesture is mistaken for another swipe, and the line of apps will continue to move. Obviously when I get more time with the Fire, I may be able to adapt to these initial touchscreen issues.
There is no camera, so if thats a necessity, keep looking. I have no intention of using it as a tablet-type computer very often so thats not particularly a concern of mine. There seems to be a light sensor on the upper-left corner of the screen. This is apparently an artifact from the Fire's original existence as a Blackberry PlayBook. There is speculation that an eventual firmware update will allow the Fire to detect ambient lighting and adjust screen brightness automatically.
Battery life is very good, although running apps and wi-fi use will obviously deplete the charge faster. I would bet that a charge would last several weeks if a person were to limit their wi-fi and internet connectivity and only use the Fire as an e-reader.
I wish there was a way to change the lock-screen wallpaper. Although the supplied images are perfectly fine, it would be nice to have the option to change the pictures. There are ways around this, but I am not willing to root the device just yet in order to have a few pics of my own on a lock-screen.
The Fire has approximately 6.5gigs of internal storage, which is sufficient for storing e-books. Amazon is urging their users towards streaming cloud services for music, movies and other media, which I'll venture is the reason the Fire doesn't have more internal space.
Perhaps an extra incentive for the Fire is that it comes with a month of Amazon Prime included for free. I'm not going to elaborate here; you can read about what Prime is elsewhere. If you intend on using the Fire as a tablet device, the month of Prime may be a “first hit is free” inhale that gets you hooked to the drug.
So, I'll conclude with my final grade.
As an e-reader: A
An a tablet: B-
I'll post another update as soon as I start to use it more, get acquainted with all the intricacies and accidentally knock it off a few tables.
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