Amazon Kindle Fire Review

The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY

Make sure you check out all the videos

amazon kindle fire

This is about the much talked about Amazon Kindle Fire tablet. With this Amazon Kindle Fire Review, we talk about NOT just its shiny-flashy details, but also about its apparent ‘shortcomings’ and how they can affect you, as a Kindle Fire user. Everybody knew that a tablet computer was coming from Amazon. Some even went on to predict that it might well be that iPad killer everybody thought every other tablet was going to be, but never was. Is the Amazon Fire as good as everybody says it is? Hold on tight and get ready to find out!

Here are the main points we address with this Kindle Fire Review

  1. The GOOD – 25 reasons why you should buy a Kindle Fire
  2. The BAD – 10 reasons why it’s not quite an iPad2
  3. The UGLY

Amazon Kindle Fire – The GOOD (25 reasons to own a Kindle Fire)

      1. Kindle Fire vs iPad 2 side by sideThe Price Tag – $199 (that’s $300 cheaper than the entry level iPad2 and $630 cheaper than the most expensive iPad2)
      2. Powerful Dual-Core processor – 1Ghz Dual-Core processor and 512 MB RAM (just like the iPad2)
      3. Wide angle viewing – Extra-wide so that more than a single user can enjoy the Kindle Fire at once (using a technology known as IPS -in-plane switching- again something the iPad2 also features)
      4. High resolution screen – 1024 X 600 pixel resolution with 169 pixels per inch (ppi). This is higher than the 132 ppi of the iPad2.
      5. Vivid colors – 16 million colors
      6. Multi-touch touch-screen/display – it’s a HIGHLY responsive touch screen from our experience. Sometimes these touch-screens (on various phones and tablets) don’t necessarily respond to your touch. Sometimes, you have to swipe multiple times to get a page to turn, that was not what we found out with the Kindle Fire as you can see on this image and video below it. This is the App that was used for the drawing below. But this is probably the best drawing app which we found later.
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      7. Great selection of Apps:  The Fire comes with a variety of apps including social networking apps (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instant messaging), productivity apps (To do lists, calendars), office/business apps (Documents To Go, QuickOffice, Workplace for mobile, B Folders, Exchange by TouchDown),  Movies and TV show apps (Netflix, Hulu Plus), sports apps (ESPN ScoreCenter, Yahoo Sportacular), music apps (Pandora, Rhapsody) eReading apps (Read it later), games apps (Zynga, EA, Gameloft, PopCap, Rovio, Angry Bird), educational apps, cooking apps, news apps etc. etc.  Checkout the video below that shows how to search for and download apps to your Kindle Fire.
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        You can check out all the available apps on Amazon’s page titled ‘Kindle Fire Apps‘. This page is kind of hidden within Amazon, not easy to search and find. So click that link and bookmark it for future reference! Don’t forget to check out our list of best Kindle Fire apps!
      8. 1 Paid App free everyday – check out today’s FREE app here. This is a great feature, many apps that are priced over $10 have been given away for free. Given below are some of the categories of Applications available for the Kindle Fire. Click on the image to open the Fire App Store in a new window
        Different categories of Kindle Fire Apps
      9. Durable display – Extra resistant to scrapes and bumps (special chemically treated material that is 30 X harder and 20 X stiffer than plastic). Not just the display, but the Fire altogether has a firm and solid feel to it with a good weight. Certain other tablets, especially those with plastic ‘shells’, creak when you hold them. That was definitely NOT the case with the Fire.
      10. Anti-glare display – According to Amazon, the Kindle Fire has an anti-glare display. From our hands on experience, and as you can see from our videos, it has quite a bit of glare. I guess, it could have been worse if it wasn’t for the anti-glare display and may be that’s what they mean. Your TV has it, your computer monitor has it, the iPad has it and so does the Kindle Fire… a common feature of LCD screens.
      11. Amazon Silk, ultra-fast web browsing – the computing power required to load web content is split between the device and Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) system. This is a first! Not even Apple has anything like this yet! There is a ‘cloud-mode’ (under web > settings > advanced > accelerate page loading) and ‘off-cloud mode’. When you have the cloud-mode activated the ‘weight’ of loading a web-page is split between the Fire and the cloud which makes browsing ultra-fast! We’re not 100% convinced that Amazon Silk is ultra-fast, we certainly didn’t notice a difference of page load speed compared to that of the iPad 2.
      12. FREE cloud storage backup – makes its expandable memory capacity virtually ‘unlimited’ (unlimited storage for  Amazon content and 5GB storage for your other non-Amazon content)
      13. 14.6 ounces – that’s nearly half a pound lighter than the iPad2
      14. 7″ true widescreen – lighter and easier to hold with just one hand; stick it in your pocket; read one-handed and true widescreen (Kindle Fire is a 16:9 screen whereas iPad2 is a 4:3 screen). You can’t hold an iPad in one hand (unless you have giant hands that is), it’s too broad. In contrast, the Kindle Fire can be held in your palm relatively easily.
      15. Music – 17 million songs in the Amazon MP3 store (supports MP3 and Audible digital audio formats; comes with a 3.5mm stereo audio jack and stereo speakers – iPad2 speaker is mono, but headphones are stereo)
      16. Movies – over hundreds thousand movies? Now that might be a problem! How are you going to watch all those?
      17. TV shows – over 10,000 popular TV shows. The video below shows all the movies and TV shows that you can get access to.
      18. eBooks – over 1 million books in the Kindle store and more than 2 million free out-of-copyright books
      19. Whispersync synchronization – Whispersync delivers ebooks, music, TV shows and movies and also synchronize among other digital devices
      20. Supports Adobe Flash player – the iPad2 does NOT support Adobe Flash web content
      21. Email – of course! There are Apps that will synchronize all your email accounts
      22. micro (B) USB 2.0 port – to charge your Kindle via a computer and for data transfer!
      23. Media bookmarks – start where you left off
      24. 1 month free Amazon Prime – if you like it, it’s $79/year after the 2nd month ($79 is per YEAR). Amazon Prime  comes with FREE Kindle book borrowing from ‘Kindle Owners’ Lending Library’, unlimited streaming of 13,000 + TV shows and movies and FREE UNLIMITED 2-day shipping on millions of items sold on Amazon. So you can either get (or use already existing) Netflix/Hulu memberships and/or Amazon prime depending on what you plan to do on your Kindle Fire.
      25. It’s from Amazon!

Convinced that the Kindle Fire will Kindle your Fire?

Get your Kindle Fire right away by Clicking Here

(we constantly check for deals and update the above link with current offers, if available)

Order Kindle Fire

amazon kindle fire review

The last time we checked, there was also a 6 month financing offer with the Kindle Fire

6 month financing offer on the Amazon Fire

You will need to Add it to your cart and see if you qualify for this offer. We don’t know if everybody gets qualified for this offer or if the offer is valid at the time you are reading this.

Amazon Kindle Fire – The BAD

10 reasons why the Fire is not quite the iPad2!

It is NOT quite an iPad2. The Fire doesn’t have some of the high end hardware features of the Apple iPad, but then that’s also why you’re paying $300 less than what you would pay the entry level iPad2.

      1. Wi-Fi only – No 3G (The entry level iPad2 (priced $499) doesn’t come with 3G either. The cheapest iPad2 with 3G costs $629. So if you want 3G, you need to spend an additional $430 over the price of the Fire. Don’t forget that 3G also comes with a monthly subscription plan!) UPDATE: If you MUST have 3G, there is a workaround. Have you heard about this gadget (click to open a new window). People have been using this to get web access for years and it should work with the Kindle FIRE too whereever there is NO Wi Fi.
      2. Storage – The Kindle Fire’s on board memory is not too big at 8GB. This is actually NOT a big problem because you get unlimited free storage on Amazon cloud for Amazon content and an additional 5GB for your other non-Amazon content; however if you go camping where there is no Wi-Fi, you’re stuck with the 8GB of content that is already on there. According to Amazon “That’s enough for 80 apps, plus 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books”. iPad2 has up to 64GB of storage, but it also costs up to $829! The entry level iPad2 (priced $499) comes with 16GB of internal storage. The Kindle Fire also has no MicroSD card slot, would have definitely been nice to have one!
      3. No camera or microphone – you can’t take pictures, shoot videos or record audio unlike with the iPad2. But then again, a lot of people are of the view that the 0.3MP and 0.7MP cameras of the iPad are not that good anyway, so in the end you’re not really losing a lot with the Kindle Fire. In fact, you will look a bit odd if you carry around your tablet computer making pictures and videos with it. However, a camera/mic would definitely have been nice for video chatting!
      4. 7″ display – that’s considerably smaller than the 9.7″ display of the iPad2. Even though 7″ and 9.7″ doesn’t sound like a big difference (err.. we’re talking about tablet screens here) it actually is if you think about the square area. A 4″ X 4″ square has 16 square inches while a 6″ X 6″ square gives 36 square inches. See the difference of square area the extra 2 inches gave rise to? More than 100%! Similarly, the 7″ Kindle Fire has approximately half the viewing area of the 9.7″ iPad2 (the values picked above 4X4 and 6X6 are purely for informational purposes to make it easy to understand – this is in response to some comments that pointed out that neither screen is square. The Kindle Fire display is approximately half that of the iPad2 – that’s the take home message!)
      5. 8 hours battery life – vs 10 hours on the iPad2. Again, my iPad2 never lasts 10 hours and don’t be surprised if the Kindle Fire doesn’t last the full 8 hours either. I seems to get about 7.5 hours on average, but there was one time when it only lasted about 6 hours when I used the speakers at full blast over a couple of movies. If you watch a lot of movies with the volume turned on high and/or have wireless turned on for prolonged periods, the chances are that the battery will not last as long as they say it would (would be the same case with any multimedia tablet).
      6. Less Apps than the iPad2 – but then again, not everybody makes use of all 140,000+ Apps available to the iPad2
      7. No Bluetooth – there is no microphone, so you wouldn’t need it anyway
      8. No GPS or maps – this would have been really handy
      9. The power button at the bottom – some people are apparently bothered by the fact that the power button is on the bottom edge of the Fire. So basically if you lay the bottom edge on a table or on your lap, the Kindle Fire will automatically power off/hybernate. There is a simple solution to that – flip the Fire by 180 degrees and the screen would automatically rotate 180 degrees and now the power switch is on the top and chances of you pressing it accidentally are minimal to none.
      10. No hardware button/wheel for volume control – some people seem to complain about the LACK of a hardware volume control. When you need to change volume, you need to go to settings and change volume using the touch screen. We personally didn’t find this annoying, but we agree that it would have been convenient to have one.

What’s UGLY about the Kindle Fire?

3G, camera, microphone, Bluetooth, GPS, longer battery life, larger on board storage, microSD card slot, HDMI out with a core i7 processor and 4GB RAM would have been awesome, but could Amazon have squeezed in all these features at $199?

Seriously, we don’t think there’s anything UGLY about Amazon’s Kindle Fire. You just can’t expect a $200 tablet to do the same stuff a $500+ tablet is capable of.

Convinced that the Kindle Fire will Kindle your Fire?

Get your Kindle Fire right away by Clicking Here

(we constantly check for deals and update the above link with current offers, if available)

Order Kindle Fire

amazon kindle fire review

If you really want all those features for a lower price point, we recommend you check out the Acer Iconia Tab. It has some really nice hardware features (e.g. 10.1” HD Multi-Touch Display, 1GB DDR2 Memory, 16GB on board memory, MicroSD memory card up to 32GB, Dual Analog Microphone, Bluetooth, 1X Micro USB 2.0 Port, 1X USB 2.0 Port, 1X Micro HDMI™ Out, 5MP Rear Facing Camera with Auto Focus and single LED flash, 2MP Front Facing Camera, G-Sensor, E-Compass, L-Sensor, and a Gyro-meter) for about $150 more (on sale at the time of writing). But be aware that you won’t get Amazon’s content ecosystem with the Acer Iconia Tab.

Hope It’s going to be an easy decision from now onwards!

      1. Did our Amazon Kindle Fire review convince you that it in fact is the right tablet computer for you? Find out MORE about the Kindle Fire here.
      2. Think an iPad2 will suit you better? Checkout the different versions of the iPad2 here!
      3. Or would you rather settle for an Amazon Kindle Touch? Read our ereader reviews and especially our Amazon Kindle Touch Review.

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Don’t forget to read about the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. When you purchase an Amazon Prime membership, you get to access the Kindle Owners’ Lending library which lets you borrow thousands of books for free. Read all about it below.

Leave A Reply (137 comments So Far)


7 × = fifty six


  1. Samantha

    I have a Kindle Fire and I agree with the above review. I also love my Kindle Fire. The reduced screen size has not been an issue for me and nearly all of the features we love about the iPad are available including being able to zoom Web screens with a touch. The apps and books download in a blink and even checking e-mail is no more difficult than with an iPad. This review is right on the mark and the $199 I spent on my Kindle makes me love it that much more!


  2. Linda Drake

    Article was helpful.

    I would like a side-by-side comparison of the Kindle Fire and the Nook.

    Also, if I like to read in bed before I go to sleep, do I have to have the light on? or is the Kindle Fire light so I can read it without a light on.


    • Admin

      We already have a Nook Tablet Review that compares features between the Kindle and the Nook. As for reading before going to bed, the LCD screen is bright just like on that of a laptop, so you don’t need an external light source whereas if you went with the Kindle Touch (anything with an E-ink screen), you will need an external light source! Hope that helps!


  3. michael

    so can you turn on and off your tv with this and also can I order netflix from here and watch on my tv as well


    • Admin

      Can you turn on and turn off the TV? You mean like with a remote? Not as far as I know.
      2nd part of the question – the answer is yes!


  4. Ignacio Escobedo

    Yes, it was quite easy to see pros and cons without much tech lingo,
    seems unbiased, thanks


  5. Ola

    Does the Kindle fire have a place for Sim card? & if ​Ɣε̲̣̣̣̥§, can any type of sim card be used?


    • Admin

      Nope!


  6. Anastasiya

    Thank you for the concise review. You answered all my questions before I even thought of them. :)
    I’m leaning toward buying the Fire because I already spend a lot of money on various amazon products (books, mp3, etc) and would love a second device ( I currently use my Samsung Galaxy S). However after your review I think I’ll wait for the next generation Fire and hope they’ll add an sd card slot and 3g as well as support for some native google apps like Maps.


  7. Oyin

    I live in Lagos, Nigeria and want to get a kindle fire. Will this be advisable, as it seems I may not be able to maximise its use & get the benefits it offers!


    • Admin

      Hi Oyin,

      Yes it appears that you may not be able to get the maximum use of it. But I read somewhere that you can get the ‘max use’ if you have (access to) a US address and credit card. So for example, if you have friends and family here in the US, you may be able to buy it through them and use their details. Then again, make sure what you’re doing is legal and doesn’t break Amazon’s terms and conditions. I also saw on their app store, they say that the apps are available only for US customers, so you may run in to a problem there as well!

      Sorry, I couldn’t give you a comprehensive answer there!
      Admin


  8. Iaan

    I got a Kindle Fire as a gift and I absolutely love it!. I had just got an Android-Powered phone 2 weeks prior (Samsung Galaxy SII) so I’d just begun to explore the possibilities of the Android O.S..

    Android offers WAY more free apps than iOS does, seriously I haven’t paid for a single app yet and I’m one of those people who downloads everything I want…

    and with the Kindle Fire…Amazon’s App-Store features a quality PAID application, for FREE.

    An AWESOME thing that Amazon does for Kindle Fire users… every day they feature a PAID application that you download for FREE.
    this isn’t the ‘Free Version” of the app.. you get the FULL REGISTERED PAID VERSION..

    In the last week I’ve got a $9.99 email application “Enhanced Email”
    a Full, Registered version of “Documents to Go” $14.99 office application (lets me create, view and edit MSWord, Excel and PowerPoint documents, and export to PDF. it also links to google docs and more..)
    a (really fun!) Tennis video game

    There are map programs on the FIRE, but of course you need to have wifi to use them ‘live” .. but if you have an android phone like i do.. you can tether the FIRE to the phone’s WIFI.. and you’re set!


  9. Chris

    Yes. This review was extremely helpful to me. I have decided the KindleFire would be best for me. Thanks!!


  10. Oyin

    The problems I got with the Kindle fire are lack of expandable storage&bluetooth.
    If I could expand storage I can carry even more media at a time and not have to think about what I should download or shouldn’t download.


    • bereview

      A micro SD card would have been great! But then they may not have been able to give it for $200. I read that Amazon loses $2.70 per each Kindle Fire! As for Bluetooth, to listen to music? There is no mic or camera, so you can’t use it to voice ‘chat’ anyway!


  11. tedster

    I really like the Fire, but is a bit too heavy. Anyway, if you want a little bit more technical review, check this one – includes rooting, side loading and real screenshots.
    http://reviewhorizon.com/2011/11/amazon-kindle-fire-review/


  12. Norbert Fey

    This review was very helpful, it gave me a pretty good summation of what the Fire is and what it is not.


  13. Lin

    Sure answered a lot of my questions. Very helpful.


  14. Sibu

    Will the Kindle function as well in Africa?


    • bereview

      It will function, but will the Amazon Prime membership work? Not sure. If you checkout the Amazon App store, it says, it is only open to US based customers. But at the same time, I’ve seen others saying that if you have a US credit card and address, it will work, but I’m not sure about that. Sorry I can’t help you with that!


  15. Paddy

    Very helpful. Thank you!


  16. tedster

    Already rooted, one day since they started shipping. Tutorial below:
    http://reviewhorizon.com/2011/11/how-to-root-jailbreak-kindle-fire-using-one-click-solution-superoneclick-also-enable-sideloading-apps/


    • bereview

      unbelievable!! :)


  17. S Thomas

    Can you read it in the sun? The older Kindles can but the iPad can not.


    • bereview

      I still haven’t taken it out! Will make a video on that soon! This one also has a LCD screen like the one on the iPad2. So theoretically, you will have a glare unlike in the case of the Kindle Touch, or other E-ink screens!


  18. Stephanie

    Another issue, i have the kindle app on my phone and I can not find the harry potter books at the store, and I’ve searched everything i can think of, any suggestions?


  19. Fay

    Found your review very interesting but am waiting till people have time for hands on with the Fire.
    I have a kindle 2 and know the battery life is only several years and then you return it to kindle for a new battery or replacement.
    Also you loose all of your content and must redownload everthing. Does the Fire work simular? I know with the Nook you can
    replace your own battery at a much less cost than the kindle process.


  20. Elizabeth Rush

    I did find your review helpful. I had already pre-ordered the Fire when I read it, so it did not influence my decision to buy it. What it did do was give me a “warm – fuzzy” abut the decision I already made. We have an iPad in the family and it is OK, but for me, personally the smaller size (yet larger than my iphone) and smaller price along with my love for my other Kindle prompted my purchase. Nothing said in this review makes me think I made the wrong decision.


  21. Stephanie

    I just have a question about the kindle fire because i would like to buy one, but i was wondering if i downloaded notes and power points from the internet would i be able to add to them from the kindle like the ipad can do, i ask for school based reasons, my lap top is just to much to bring with me everywhere and if i can use the kindle instead it would be awesome.


    • bereview

      Thanks for the question Stephanie,

      You should be able to using an app like this one The product description says

      The program supports Microsoft Office 97 to 2010 text documents – DOC and DOCX (open , edit, and save), Microsoft Office 97 to 2010 spreadsheets – XLS and XLSX (open , edit, and save), opening PPT, PPTX, PPS, and PPSX presentations, PDF files viewing, and integration with Google Docs.

      HOWEVER we don’t know yet if this app has been modified to work with Kindle Fire yet. This is an app meant for android devices and Kindle Fire is also an android device. However the android platform of Kindle Fire has been modified a little, so every single app that works on a regular android platform does NOT work on the Kindle Fire. So until we actually test it, we can’t say if it works on the Kindle Fire or not for sure. OK? Thanks!


  22. Mohith

    Kindle fire can never match ipad2. The review wants to say that Kindle fire is better than ipad? really? what a joke


    • bereview

      You got it wrong! Never said that! Kindle Fire cannot match the iPad 2, you obviously didn’t read the whole thing!


  23. Karen Culpepper

    My SigO ordered the Fire for me the first day it came out and I’m really jazzed. He has an iPad and dropped a grand on it and all the doo-dads. While it’s nice, it’s just more than I wanted. Besides, I have an Android phone and an iPod Touch – how much stuff do I really need?? I’m not settling – I’m getting something I will really enjoy and the review just reinforces that opinion!!


  24. BETTY

    STILL THE CAMERA IS IMPORTANT. REMEMBER WHEN THE IPAD CAME OUT… PEOPLE CRITICIZE IT FOR NOT HAVING A CAMERA…
    SO THE CAMERA IS STILL A VITAL FEATURE….


  25. Michele

    This was a very informative article! Thanks. My husband and I decided to give each other a Kindle Fire for Christmas…I cannot wait :D


  26. momof3

    Does the Kindle Fire have virus protection?


    • Admin

      There are certainly antivirus android apps originally meant for mobile phones. Here is a list I found starting at Free going up to $9.99. Right now, I don’t know if they will work on the Kindle Fire or not, sorry!


  27. Heather

    This was a great review. It answered alot of the questions I had about the fire. Thanks.


  28. gina

    excellent, concise, non-geeky review. thanks!


  29. Mia

    Thanks for the great review, I think the Fire will do for my need and budget:)


  30. Tamara Rossi

    Great review (except anyway does not have an s on it – no such word as ‘anyways’).

    It answered exactly every question I had when considering a Kindle Fire over an IPad2.

    Thank You!


    • bereview

      Thank you Tamara! Correcting it now!


  31. Mary Ann

    very helpful!!!! but i might wait to get the Fire to see if they add 3G. I currently own a Kindle DX and love it. It has 3G. What’s nice is that feature does not cost me anything. I wonder if Amazon will charge a fee if they do decide to put 3G on the Fire.


    • bereview

      Have you heard about the Verizon MIFI? If you really must have 3G, this is a solution!


  32. Sammy

    Great review. I purchased a Kindle 3G last May and now wish I had waited. I guess I’ll become a two Kindle family as the Fire really excites me. I am perplexed by the comment in the review that adding a GPS to the Fire would require 3G. I have several GPS units -I’m a “geocacher” – and know the GPS system is free and does not require 3G…unless you need 3G for maps. I am trying to decide if I want to buy a Fire now or wait and see what “upgrades” Amazon will put on Kindle II … which I am sure will follow. Again, thanks for the best Kindle review I have read to date.


    • bereview

      Thank you Sammy for pointing that out! Actually I didn’t express myself properly there. On the iPad 2, you get GPS only on 3G models (no idea why they didn’t include GPS on Wi Fi models); for some reason that confused me at the time of writing. Correcting it now! Thanks again!


  33. JOANN TURNER

    GREAT REVIEW! REALLY PROVIDED THE INFORMATION THAT I NEEDED TO MAKE A DECISION.


    • Admin

      Thank you all for the great comments. Please also don’t hesitate to point out the negatives, if any. We want to make it informative and useful to everybody as much as possible! Thanks again and really appreciate the time taken!


  34. Charlie

    Since it’s a kindle and I and many others are thinking about using it as a book reader, I am looking for a review that compares its comfort as a book reader with the E-ink kindles and the color nook.


    • Admin

      Thank you Charlie, will have that up sometime, but may not be soon enough to help you make a decision. Did you check our Kindle Touch vs Nook Touch review? We are going to have a Kindle Fire vs Nook Tablet review soon though!


  35. Ocras

    Wow! What a great review! I pre-ordered the K-Fire even before I read this, bit this definitely seals the deal. The person that I am giving it to for Christmas will absolutely love it!! She wanted an Ipad2, but I think she will enjoy the K-Fire even more. ;) Plus, you can’t go wrong with the price!


  36. Richard Hamstreet

    Thanks for the great review. I have recently been given a card from my wife presenting a Kindle Fire for Chistmas. Knowing very little

    about KIndle or ipad I found the information very usefull. Had I made the purchase myself this information would have convinced me to

    follow suit. Thanks, Fireproof


  37. Carl Iliff

    Excellent Review.. Am buying a Kindle Fire as soon as I can…….


  38. farmandor

    Great review. I have been checking between kindle and ipad2 for Christmas gifts and this will save me hundred of bucks.Thanks


  39. pablo mendoza

    Helped make up my mind. Does just what I need it to and at half the cost of an iPad.


  40. Craig Wadsworth

    Thanks for a good review. One great thing about the iPhone/Pad is the screen reader(text to speech), which Kindle lacks in a functional form. One really good thing about the Kindle is now being able to borrow from the Alliance Digital Media Library.


  41. Derrick G.

    Great review. Answered alot of questions I had about it.


  42. Pablo

    great review!


  43. Chris Cain

    Sounds great. I am normally a Mac person but this is for my husband who is an avid reader. I also like the availabilty of Pandora and Nwtscape as well as Amazon. Can’t wait to be able to use it!


  44. nora garcia

    Kindle Fire looks and sounds great.


  45. Josh Hunt

    I don’t see the smaller size as a downsize. I think it is better for reading. There is such a thing as just the right size.


  46. John Pomeroy

    Excellent review. Answered most of my questions. Will order a unit tonight. Thanks.


  47. Jody Nichols

    I’ve read that the kindle does not have a full web browser. Does this mean that you can only view mobile sites or what?


    • bereview

      The Kindle eReaders don’t. But the Kindle FIRE does – called Amazon Silk and supposed to be fast because it’s ‘cloud-accelerated’


  48. Nancy Ryan

    Thank you for the thorough, informative reviews. I think I am going to hold out for the upcoming next edition of the Fire in the hope that it will offer 3G. What I love about my Droid is Web access while traveling in the car, and WiFi doesn’t exist where we go.


  49. Capt. Phil

    An interesting review… perhaps a little biased toward the Fire. I’ve already ordered mine and expect it to be very useful and fun too.
    The iPad is no doubt somewhat superior but I would not spend twice the cost of the Fire to get a larger screen.


  50. Cathy

    Great review… I want it all so will try a Toshiba Thrive 10 inch tablet. It seems to have all of the features for half the cost of ipad. Hope Amazon makes a larger version.