Kindle Fire Review

I'm doing this tech review because a friend asked me to 'sell it to him'.  I am not sure if I want to sell it, but rather give a nice little 'overall' and let decisions be made based on this.  When comparing an iPad and a Kindle Fire side by side, the iPad will win. In my opinion, the iPad is still just an over-sized, overpriced iPhone, without the phone. Sure it's a tablet, with more power...but it is iOS, *sigh*. They are both tablets, but the Kindle Fire has a specific idea of what it wants to do for you and that is serving up content.  That being said, it's still much more powerful than many have let on.  Let's go ahead and list some features.

Kindle Fire, Landscape Mode.

• --The Kindle Fire can be held in one hand, which is awesome, although it does get heavy pretty fast (though not in my strong man hands.)
• --It has cloud storage, which I use for music and documents. (Free 5gb!)
• --All your content purchased through the Amazon store does NOT count against your free cloud storage and you can choose to DL and re-download it anytime.
• --Amazon whispersync PWNS.
• --Social Media is awesome on this device.
• --Battery life is comparable to other tablets. (It's pretty awesome.- I played a game, watched a 2 hour movie, and browsed the web and did other heavy wifi crap and it seemed to last forever.)
• --One month of Amazon Prime for free. Netflix available if you have it.
• --Great apps in the app store.
• --Silk browser is fast, intuitive, and you can use Dolphin HD browser or Opera Mobile if you like.
• --Can you say FLASH?

Kindle Fire next to Kindle 3

Now, the size is perfect for me. I don't want a big tablet, I have a laptop that pwns an iPad if I want to carry around something bigger.  The screen real estate is big enough for spending hours on it, and it's very clear.  Speakers are loud enough to use to watch movies and such, but only if it's quiet in the room you're in. Hardware specs are about the same.  I won't go into detail but you can check them on each manufacturer's websites.  I think I'll touch on some of the points that people like bringing up when they attempt to rip the Fire apart.

• --No camera.  Well... I don't need a camera on a 7" tablet, or anything larger than that. Imagine, on your laptop, that you had a front and rear-facing camera.  WTF would you need both for?  I have one that fits in my pocket, and on my phone for emergency snapshots.  While I think a front-facing camera would rock for Skypechat and such,  I still wouldn't want one for any other reason.
• --Screen Size.  Again, it's perfect for me.  I have a laptop with a 15 inch screen, and a netbook with a 10" screen.  Both of which kick the iPad's ass.
• --App Store:  Amazon Appstore is limited compared to the Google Android Appstore, HOWEVER, you can still download apps you're not supposed to.  I have already installed Google maps, Dropbox, Tweetdeck, and more.  It's easy.
• --No GPS, no 3g.  Location aware apps can usually use WiFi, and No need for GPS when WiFi is so much faster, and is EVERYWHERE.
• --No hard buttons.  Really?  It's a tablet. Who cares.  Ah- there is one hard button- on the bottom to power off.  I found it inconvenient and hitting it often, but after a couple of days I am aware of it, and if you want just flip it over so it's on top.  Not the worst thing in the world.

I can't remember completely, but I'm pretty sure you have to click on an icon to do anything on the iPad.  I like the carousel on the Kindle Fire.  It let's you open documents, books, play music, and open any applications right from the home screen.  It feels like more of an OS, and lends an air of real computing, at least to me.  Below is a video of me navigating around the Kindle Fire.  HD 720p available. BTW My fingers are calloused and sometimes don't work well with touch screens.  I'm getting some lotion.

I thought it would be just a delivery platform for content, and it is all that, but much more.  The social tools are amazing, and It turned out to be a powerful web machine.  I can see it being used for some business application, but I have yet to implement it.  The iPad rendered most sites faster than the Silk browser, but not all, and not enough to make me care.  One of iOS's mega downfalls is the absence of FLASH.  Most of the Internets is flash, so that's an easy decision for me when I buy a media-centered tablet, but it's up to you, really, if you want it or not.  iOS does have work-arounds but I can't stand living without full browser rendering capabilities.

Gaming on the Kindle Fire is...well...gaming on any tablet.  I am a hardcore gamer and have dedicated equipment and a fortress of a computer designed to make my headshots count, right down to a specially weighted mouse.  Precision is not something you're going to get in a tablet.  Even so,  I was surprised at the gameplay and graphics on the Fire.  Below is a video of Dead Space.  HD 720p available. There are plenty of games, including some pretty amazing HD games, and all the classics for you Angry Birds type of gamers.

It all comes down to what is right for you.  What will you use it for?  The iPad is a nice machine, and if someone gave me one I would take it, but I'd probably trade it for something else that fit my needs.  I was really surprised in exploring the Kindle Fire, it was much more than I expected, and has great potential.