Android Kindle Fire has arrived

[431unknown]

My wifes Kindle Fire just arrived updating the software on it now and then going to play around with it in the name of getting it set up for her. I'll post my impression of it along with a few pics afterwords.

 

[emigre]

Can I have please?

 

[notmeanymore]

Looking forward to it getting rooted. May purchase one when it does.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

This will probably be my go-to tablet once OnLive for Android launches as fully playable if this tablet can run it. I also want to do some more research into seeing if I could use it for schoolwork (like do documents, spreadsheets, Powerpoints, etc).

Still, $200 is really nifty. I'm secretly contemplating talking to my dad and my brother about chipping in for one for my mom for Christmas. She always talks about how she wants something to check her mail on and browse the web and stuff, and this would be perfect. Affordable, easy to access, and streamlined.

 

[SifJar]

Looking forward to it getting rooted. May purchase one when it does.

Considering it can side load APKs, there'll probably be a usable root APK within a week or two I'd guess. There are numerous exploits compatible with 2.3 unless Amazon have specifically blocked all of them. (Gingerbreak, zergRush, probably others), one of them should be usable I'd guess. If not, I'm sure it won't be long.

Does the Fire have ADB support? If so, SuperOneClickRoot may already work with it.

 

[431unknown]

This will probably be my go-to tablet once OnLive for Android launches as fully playable if this tablet can run it. I also want to do some more research into seeing if I could use it for schoolwork (like do documents, spreadsheets, Powerpoints, etc).

Still, $200 is really nifty. I'm secretly contemplating talking to my dad and my brother about chipping in for one for my mom for Christmas. She always talks about how she wants something to check her mail on and browse the web and stuff, and this would be perfect. Affordable, easy to access, and streamlined.

There was an app free yesterday on amazon for that I grabbed it for her but I haven't played around with it yet.

I got some pics taken but my wife is now home from work I'll wait till she goes to bed before I post them as I don't want her knowing it came today. It's an Xmas gift after all. She knows I bought her one but I told her that they were on back order because of high demand.

Looking forward to it getting rooted. May purchase one when it does.

Considering it can side load APKs, there'll probably be a usable root APK within a week or two I'd guess. There are numerous exploits compatible with 2.3 unless Amazon have specifically blocked all of them. (Gingerbreak, zergRush, probably others), one of them should be usable I'd guess. If not, I'm sure it won't be long.

Does the Fire have ADB support? If so, SuperOneClickRoot may already work with it.

I did see when browsing the settings that there was a slider to turn on the loading of 3rd party app sources.

 

[431unknown]

First some photos:

Spoiler

Now my impression of the thing. From the little that I played with it it was super fast. Apps downloaded and installed super quick, the web browser loaded GBATemp up really fast. The unit itself is just the right size for my wife to carry around with her, but upon first picking it up it felt heavier than my ipad,she might not like that. From what I got to see while playing around with it I'm really considering picking one up for myself. At 200$ it's a very nice little tablet at a very nice price.

 

[Techrosh]

So what's the difference between this and a Ipad?

Also from the picture it looks lovely.

 

[SifJar]

So what's the difference between this and a Ipad?

Also from the picture it looks lovely.

There are many, many differences, here are just a few:

Costs much less ($200 vs $500 or whatever iPad is)
No camera or microphone
No 3G
Runs (modified) Android, not iOS
Smaller screen (7" vs 10.1")
Only available in 8GB storage capacity
Heavily linked to Amazon cloud services (as opposed to iCloud on iPad)
Lower resolution screen
Less powerful processor and less RAM (not sure exact figures)

 

[iFish]

So what's the difference between this and a Ipad?

Also from the picture it looks lovely.

There are many, many differences, here are just a few:

Costs much less ($200 vs $500 or whatever iPad is)
No camera or microphone
No 3G
Runs (modified) Android, not iOS
Smaller screen (7" vs 10.1")
Only available in 8GB storage capacity
Heavily linked to Amazon cloud services (as opposed to iCloud on iPad)
Lower resolution screen
Less powerful processor and less RAM (not sure exact figures)

The processor isn't any less powerful than that on the iPad 2. And I'm pretty sure it has MORE RAm than the iPad 2. I thought the Kindle Fire had 1GB of RAM, when the iPad 2 has 512MB.

Also, the resolution(which I don't know the exact numbers for) would make sense to be smaller, since it's a smaller screen. That's just logic :\

 

[nando]

http://www.geek.com/...wdown-20111114/

the fire seems to have the same ram as the ipad 2

 

[SifJar]

My bad.

Anyway, for anyone interested, Fire has now been rooted [http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1348830] (apparently rooting prevents Amazon's Video On Demand service working, easily fixed by unrooting and rebooting device - I would guess there'll be a workaround sooner or later) and has Market access (and other Google apps) [http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1348738] (you need to read through a few pages of that thread to find full instructions for Market, it involves sideloading a couple of APKs, then using a file manager to modify the permissions of one of them - doesn't need root though)

 

[Techrosh]

So what's the difference between this and a Ipad?

Also from the picture it looks lovely.

There are many, many differences, here are just a few:

Costs much less ($200 vs $500 or whatever iPad is)
No camera or microphone
No 3G
Runs (modified) Android, not iOS
Smaller screen (7" vs 10.1")
Only available in 8GB storage capacity
Heavily linked to Amazon cloud services (as opposed to iCloud on iPad)
Lower resolution screen
Less powerful processor and less RAM (not sure exact figures)

So the verdict is that Ipad is better?

 

[SifJar]

No I would never buy an iPad. They are overpriced and rubbish. Plus they run a very locked down OS made by a company who refuse to let you run what YOU want on YOUR device. The Fire would be my choice everytime. It's cheaper, it's a more convenient size IMO, it's Android. Lower resolution? Meh. No microphone or camera? I wouldn't want/use those features on a tablet anyway. 8GB storage? Plenty for me. Overall, it is a much better value package.

 

[431unknown]

I'm actually going to pick up another Fire for myself. I played with it more today, installed some apps, watched a movie, browsed ebay and such. I like it more than my iPad right now, but that could just be because it's something new to play around with. It's nice to see it got rooted relatively quick that's a big plus in my decision to pick up another one. I also like that the Amazon app store gives away a free app every day too.


Just want to add that for most people imo this is going to be more than enough tabley for them.