Kindle Fire Tips, Tricks and How to's

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LinH

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Thought this would be a useful thread to start...

I'm expecting mine later today - shipping cost was exorbitant! So first tip is make sure there is not a supplier in SA you can't use. It was still slightly cheaper but still - the mission factor was pretty high as I first had to set up an account at a forwarding company myus.com.
 
Sure. I have spent literally hours researching what can/cannot be done on a Fire outside the US and will be testing everything out in the next couple of days.

1) Amazon purchase price: R1680
2) Transport cost to US address (set up via www.myus.com): R82
3) Transport cost from US address to SA, Cape Town: R480 (ouch!)
4) At this point I'm not sure whether I'm also in for import duty.

Total: R2242
Total delivery time: Order place on 14 Nov and received on 21 Nov.

I know that user lived666 mentioned a cost of R2300 but I don't know whether this also included transport costs. If so it's a no brainer as to where to source it. Personally I haven't seen it for less then R2400 excl. delivery costs. I did ask who the retailer was but haven't as yet heard. What I should have done is get a friend in the US to post it to me..
 
My father ordered one for me, I have no idea when it will arrive. I didn't have the heart to tell him I already had an iPad2 because he wanted to do something nice for me, but I'm not quite sure what I'll do with the thing when it arrives. My wife is keen on using it for herself but I have a feeling once she uses it for a bit she'll find it clunky and will revert back to the laptop. I'm actually considering just rooting and flashing stock Android whenever there is a stable rom of 2.3.4 or above out there - ideally ICS.

Opinions?
 
It all depends on what you can actually do with the device over here.

Might actually be less clunky than other tablets.
 
LinH said:
Sure. I have spent literally hours researching what can/cannot be done on a Fire outside the US and will be testing everything out in the next couple of days.

1) Amazon purchase price: R1680
2) Transport cost to US address (set up via www.myus.com): R82
3) Transport cost from US address to SA, Cape Town: R480 (ouch!)
4) At this point I'm not sure whether I'm also in for import duty.

Total: R2242
Total delivery time: Order place on 14 Nov and received on 21 Nov.

I know that user lived666 mentioned a cost of R2300 but I don't know whether this also included transport costs. If so it's a no brainer as to where to source it. Personally I haven't seen it for less then R2400 excl. delivery costs. I did ask who the retailer was but haven't as yet heard. What I should have done is get a friend in the US to post it to me..
Click to expand...

Yeh you going to pay R260 duties and about R90 to DHL for clearing, you should of purchased locally for R2400, either way its so light compared to the ipad, still haven't played much, just busy at the moment
 
I would think it depends what you use a tablet for and what your wife would want to use it for.

The main reason I bought it is that I'm tired of the Chinese crap that only lasts for a couple of months - the Fire is my 3rd Android tablet. My laptop is my primary work machine while the tablet is my primary "entertainment" one in the form of extensive reading, light browsing, reading email, playing around with android applications etc. For it's price and for what I would use it for getting the Fire was the logical choice for me.

What would your intention be in rooting it? I ask this as you can install third party applications and markets For the kind of applications I use I don't need Google's android market as I can find everything I need from other sources (1androidmarket.com, 4shared.com, getjar.com etc.) . And if you don't like aspects like the launcher well just change it to a more android standard one. If however you would prefer a pure android tablet I would go ahead and root and check out Ice Cream Sandwhich - then let us know what it's like =). It would also be great to be able to install the full suite of Google applications.

Personally I'm getting irritated with the constant comparison to the iPad - inevitable I know but still. They just are not in the same price range which means that they won’t have the same features and therefore aren’t a direct comparison. A nice introduction tablet, but hardly a threat at this point in time.

Otherwise if you can get away with it just sell it or give it away - though that is rather awkard considering it was a gift I realise..I'm sitting with a couple of "gifts" myself that are doing nothing but gathering dust.
 
lived666 said:
Yeh you going to pay R260 duties and about R90 to DHL for clearing, you should of purchased locally for R2400, either way its so light compared to the ipad, still haven't played much, just busy at the moment
Click to expand...

You still haven't clarified how much yours was in total and where you sourced it from in SA?
 
There's a very good reason to compare it to the iPad - since the iPad is the benchmark for tablets. Price notwithstanding, if I have a cheap plasticky slow tablet I'm just not even going to want to use it. $200 is cheap for a tablet but you know what, it's still $200 more than nothing, and there are only a million smartphones out there that can do the same things and are already on contract.
 
Would like to know it's battery life and what the screen looks like in the sun.
 
cerebus said:
There's a very good reason to compare it to the iPad - since the iPad is the benchmark for tablets. Price notwithstanding, if I have a cheap plasticky slow tablet I'm just not even going to want to use it. $200 is cheap for a tablet but you know what, it's still $200 more than nothing, and there are only a million smartphones out there that can do the same things and are already on contract.
Click to expand...

I suppose that depends on whether you view the Fire as an e-reader on steriods or a proper tablet - in which case Apple had better watch out =) I would also argue that different tablets have different audiences and focuses. I just cannot conceive the two to be on the same plane. The Samsung Galaxy Tab definitely, but the Fire...hmmm.

I'm also talking about the kind of "iPad killer" hype that's going round. I don't see anything near this kind of comparison for other tablets.

I've been using my HTC Desire as an e-reader for a few months now and it's definitely not a long term solution. I don't quite put the Fire in the same category as a smartphone.

I did have reservations about having two similar devices but the bottom line is a smart phone is not meant to be an e-reader just as the Fire is not meant to be an all rounder tablet like the iPad.
 
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I'm also talking about the kind of "iPad killer" hype that's going round. I don't see anything near this kind of comparison for other intro tablets.
Click to expand...

That's because there are no other tablets that offer any kind of iPad competition at present. Frankly from the reviews it's been receiving I don't see the Fire challenging iPad either. Nook tablet looks great but it won't sell the same numbers as Amazon, just because it doesn't have the marketing push. I think the Fire will need at least 2 more generations of updates (software and hardware) to offer a compelling experience, but so far Amazon have proven that they can stick in the market. The first Kindles were horrible but they got a lot better.

Also it's not about being all-round.. it's about offering a superb experience at what it is that you're intended to do. From the reviews it looks like the Fire can't even do that right. The books are Ok...magazines are bad, comics are bad, browsing is bad... just nothing very compelling there.
 
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Nerfherder said:
Can you tell us how much it cost you eventually ?

Also what works on it (when you get it).
Click to expand...

1) Amazon purchase price: R1680
2) Transport cost to US address (set up via www.myus.com): R82
3) Transport cost from US address to SA, Cape Town: R480 (ouch!)
4) Import duty: R336

Total: R2578

Moral of the story - try and source it from SA. I'm also probably going to have to wait until tomorrow as DHL stuffed up the delivery!
 
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cerebus said:
Tha

Also it's not about being all-round.. it's about offering a superb experience at what it is that you're intended to do. From the reviews it looks like the Fire can't even do that right. The books are Ok...magazines are bad, comics are bad, browsing is bad... just nothing very compelling there.
Click to expand...

You're reading to much Wired =)

The reviews go from the one extreme to the next (quite a few thumbs up from what I've seen) so I'll reserve judgement until I actually try it out for myself. Of course I will be measuring it against criteria that are probably very different from yours. I am also not looking at it in the context as an iPad competitor - which it definitely is not nor was it ever meant to be. At least not yet.

The question also still remains as to whether there is anything else out there in the same price range and with similar functionality that is superior to the Kindle Fire.

At least you now know what to do with it. Toss it or make an Android sandbox out of it.
 
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I can get a couple of kindle fires for R2490, if anyone wants to get their hands on one today just send pm, collect from Halfway House area
 
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