Kindle Fire?

[Jasongar8]

Do any of you guys have a Kindle Fire? If so, what's the general opinion of it? I'm looking for something to get my Mom for Christmas. Really all she would be doing with it is reading books and checking emails, and some web browsing.

Is there any other tablet you guys would recommend in the $150-$250 price range over the Fire?

[Sandman]

The fire is nice but has limited memory (8 gigs but after the OS it has about 5-6). If that is all she intends to do then go for it. It has some less than stellar reviews among the fantastic reviews on amazon.

[NRA]

they do have some poor ratings but my daughter loves hers. the trouble I have read about is the lack of a volume control and security issues with buying stuff from Amazon with credit card on file and that the last viewed book/web site is displayed on main screen. Amazon has a patch comming out in the next two weeks to "correct" these issues. They also expect to sell a boat load of these tnings however.

[Guest nysos]

The nook color has expandable memory from my understanding so you may want to take a look at it. My brother's office got a kindle fire to play around with and he was thoroughly impressed with how responsive the OS was, he says it seems more responsive then his galaxy tab 10.1. If she is going to be using it primarily for reading books, do her a favor and get her a straight up e-reader. Tablets are still backlit LCD panels and strain the eyes. E-readers with the e-paper is a much more pleasant reading experience for long sessions.

[kb4ns]

I bought my wife one for Xmas, so I'm not sure how she's gonna like it. The reviews for the Kindle Fire were mostly good. I also considered the Nook Color, but the reviews were all over the place. Seems there's a lot of unhappy buyers of the Nook.

[TMF]

I think this is what my wife is getting me. I'll be sure to give my opinions when i get it.

[Guest NashvegasMatt]

take a peek at this article... CNET provides excellent reviews

Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet: How to choose | Android Atlas - CNET Reviews

[Jonnin]

I would not trade my old kindle black and white for this thing. It has 3 major issues. 1) No 3g global wireless, it only works if you also buy a wireless router to go with it, increasing the price if you do not have one of these (I do not, and besides, half the point is car trips or airplane rides). 2) The color screen does not display printed text as cleanly as the B&W and is more reflective and 3) the touch screen is a touch screen, it gets fingerprinted as you use it constantly, I hate that. I have checked it out, as one of my friends got one right away. Its better if you want to watch movies or play games, but its far worse if you want to read a book. If you want to do movies and games, why the heck did you buy an ebook reader, its not made for it and there are better choices. It also costs a lot more, more than double.

[BLACKVANDRIVER]

If you do get a fire make sure to get the ZAGG invisible shield for it. It helps with smudges a bit and will protect it. IMO most other post have been spot on. If she wants it to read books then get an e-reader, if she wants to play Angry Birds, check emails ect and has wifi then the fire is a decent choice in its price range.

[Defender]

I've got a nook color. I added a root card to make it into a ful fledged Android OS tablet. I love it. Now B&N have come out with the Nook Tablet, and a newer nook color. The newer nook color is great. I think the hardware is bigger, better and faster than the Kindle fire, and the cost is the same now that B&N broiught out the tablet, they owered the price of the nook color to the same as the Kindle Fire. On it, she can do all that you said she needs to do. BTW I read an article recently compariing these, and the nook came out ahead, but not by a whole lot. Whatever you get, Id also recommend the Zagg Invisashield screen protector.

[willis68]

Do any of you guys have a Kindle Fire? If so, what's the general opinion of it? I'm looking for something to get my Mom for Christmas. Really all she would be doing with it is reading books and checking emails, and some web browsing.

Is there any other tablet you guys would recommend in the $150-$250 price range over the Fire?

Jason,

For what your Mom will be doing with it, she will love the Fire we bought a few for family members and while they cannot compare to my loaded IPad, for $200.00 you can't go wrong

[Murgatroy]

I desire to pick one up, but I can't honestly think of a reason to have one.

I have an android phone, carry a netbook with me daily and have desktops at work and home.

I still want one.

[BLACKVANDRIVER]

FYI the Blackberry Playbook normal retail of $499.99 now on sale this week for $199.99 starting today at Bestbuy!

[Lumber_Jack]

FYI the Blackberry Playbook normal retail of $499.99 now on sale this week for $199.99 starting today at Bestbuy!

I'd say Blackberry is on the verge of going tango uniform. I don't know if that affects support down the road or not.

[Guest nysos]

My brother won a kindle fire in a raffle at his office last week, already having a galaxy tab 10.1 he gave me the option of buying it off him at a discount. I let my girlfriend crack it open and play around with it. She likes it enough that it is going to be her christmas present. It isn't the fanciest tablet, but for the cost standpoint and what it can do - it is a good buy. The browsing and menus are not the most responsive, but I am sure with software tweaks down the road it will get better. The picture on it is pretty good as well.

For her use it works - she wants something small/portable that she can surf on and watch videos. From some of the reviews I have read, the nook tablet seems a little better buy, but considering I was getting a deal on the kindle I couldn't pass it up.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

A few months ago was trying out all the pad puters at Best Buy, and at that time the biggest detectable difference between the cheap and expensive ones that would bug heck out of me for day to day use-- The cheap ones you had to use a "very heavy hand" to control the screen. Whack heck out of a cheap pad to press a button, but just lightly tap a spensive pad to press a button. Push hard to swipe across a cheap one, and lightly stroke with a spensive one.

Does the kindle have a pretty responsive touch, or do you have to work hard at it?