TechtalkRadio's Dave Petrie Shares his review of the Kindle Fire from Amazon
I’m just going to get this out of the way right now...IT’S ONLY $49.99!
It’s true. Back around the Holidays, Amazon introduced a new line of Fire tablets, including the Fire (5th Generation) with features including a 7” display, Wi-Fi connectivity, 8GB internal memory storage along with a micro USB expansion slot for up to an additional 128GB of storage all for UNDER FIFTY BUCKS!
The good news is, If you didn't grab one during the holidays, it's still not too late to get in on a nice looking tablet for a more then reasonable price.
While links in this column will provide you all the information you need to buy one or more Fire Tablets, I hope to share the experience with my Amazon Kindle Fire via photos from cracking the package to downloading and running graphically intense apps to push my Fire to the limit.
Let’s begin by reviewing this Fire’s specs:
- DISPLAY (1024X600)*1
- WIFI
- 8 GB INTERNAL MEMORY
- 1.3 Ghz QUAD CORE PROCESSOR
- FRONT and REAR CAMERAS
- MICRO SDHC FOR UP TO 128 GB ADDITIONAL STORAGE
Package included the Fire 7” tablet (5th Gen), Amazon 5W power adapter, USB charging cable, built-in rechargeable battery, personalized special offers and sponsored screen savers.
At first glance it looks and feels as if it is significantly smaller than my two year old Kindle Fire HD, but when placed side by side, fact replaces “feelings” to reveal a smaller footprint overall, yet the actual display screen is nearly identical.
Both units are listed as having “...7 inch display…” with the older Kindle Fire HD having a resolution of 1280x800 at 216 ppi, with 720p video, and the newer Fire comes in at 1024x600 resolution at 171 ppi and SD video playback.
By matching the card included in the box with the top of the 7” Fire you can see that just about everything is managed from here:
- Headphone jack
- Volume Control
- Microphone
- USB Connection and Charging Port
- Power Button
- Front and Rear Cameras
- MICRO SD slot (on side) for up to 128GB additional storage space
One of the first things that caught my eye when reading about this new Fire 7” tablet was the inclusion of a MicroSDHC expansion slot for a whopping additional 128GB of storage, an absolute must have IMHO. So of course I scanned through Amazon’s supplier pages to find the “best deal” on 128GB MicroSDHC card and found one for under $12
Of course ordering the CHEAPEST thing you can find tends to net you nasty notes and raspberries from the better quality device in which you plan to use said card. Fortunately for me the 128GB microSDHC disc I installed seems to be working just fine for now.
TIME FOR A TEST DRIVE
After downloading a few of my favorite apps and a couple of e-books - which was lightening fast over its built in WiFi - it was now time to see how far I could push the limits on my new Fire tablet. Now that I have 128GB of storage added via the MicroUSB slot, I went about the task of moving as much data off the internal memory and onto the SDHC card. There is also a setting to allow all new downloads/apps to load directly onto the storage card (if allowed by the app) which I have since enabled.
Opening up a book on one of my favorite subjects (all things Star Wars of course) while reclining in the dark in my bedroom, I found the Fire Tablet very easy to read, same in any room of my house with or without lighting, other than ambient light coming through window; however, walking outside into the sunlight made reading off the tablet very difficult. (Which is the same with my older Fire HD and most tablets out there.)
Another nice thing about the 7” Fire Tablet is that it is just about the same size as a standard paperback book and weighs about the same, if not even a little LESS.
One more thing to note about this (and most every Kindle Tablet) is that this unit comes with advertisements on the LOCK SCREEN (usually you save $15 or more for having this option...NOT an “option” for this $50 tablet though)
*What, you were expecting HD for 50 bucks? Still it’s a solid unit that’s lighter and faster (1.3GHz quad core processor) than my Fire HD is with its 1.5GHz dual core processor.
Check out the available line of Amazon Kindle Tablets Here
Here is more information on purchasing the Amazon Kindle Fire