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1. 

   JJCEO on February 16, 2015 at 1:37 pm

   1,899 of 1,974 people found the following review helpful

   
   A great upgrade for me from an older Kindle Fire!, October 3, 2014

   By 

   JJCEO (Greenwood, Indiana) –
   
     
   
     

   Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Fire HD 7, 7″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (Electronics)

   

   Customer Video Review Length:: 9:50 Mins

   I purchased the original Kindle Fire in 2011 and the second generation Kindle Fire in 2012. I gave my original one to my grandson and he is still using it for apps and reading. I liked both of them and I have to tell you that they have held up very well. One is over 3 years old and the other is 2 years old and I have not had any issues with them. Since I have not upgraded in 2 years I thought I would get a new one with a larger memory and a faster CPU and a higher resolution display. There are many improvements beyond even those features.

   I have to tell you that overall I am impressed with this new one. I didn’t feel the need to purchase a Kindle Fire every year and when I purchased the next one I wanted it to be a definite upgrade step to what I had. I stayed with the 7 inch size as I like to portability and weight for long term reading. I alternate between the Kindle Paperwhite for reading in the daytime and at night sometimes and I use the Kindle Fire for reading in the evening and at night plus browsing the internet and getting email. This new Kindle Fire HD 2014 version is very fast and easy to use. Setting it up for the internet and downloading my apps and books was a breeze. I like the fact that the larger memory allows me to carry more apps and books. The higher resolution of the screen is helpful in reading books as the text is clearer and easier on my eyes than the older Kindle Fires we own. The screen is better for playing apps and watching videos and movies and it is worth the upgrade from the older Kindle Fires.

   I like that this version has both a front and rear facing camera. I use the camera a lot on all of my tablets and I own many Apple iPads, Apple iPhone and Android tablets. The camera is just handy for that spontaneous photo or video and I take a lot of them.

   I also like the fact that the stereo sound output has been improved as I listen to a lot of books. I use the text to speech feature a lot and I also use the Audible book feature a lot. When Amazon sells the Audible version of the book at a good price when I buy the Kindle version of the book I usually get both. I like to use Bluetooth to stream the Audio book to my car’s stereo system and listen to the book while I drive, especially on a long trip. My wife and I enjoy listening to books together. This HD tablet pairs with my car and I can now use it instead of using my iPad or using my iPhone. This feature keeps track of where I am in the book regardless of whether I am reading the book or listening to it with Audible. The better speakers and louder volume is also nice when watching movies.

   The unit works well handling my emails and it makes it nice that I can switch from browsing, to emails to reading or playing an app on the same tablet. I also have Amazon Prime so I can watch TV shows or movies. This is a good tablet with a lot of flexibility. I am still not a fan of the push ads but I am so used to them now I just ignore them.

   I won’t discuss all of the specifications but I did include a table comparing the Original Kindle Fire to the first Kindle HD 2013and now the Kindle HD 2014. For me it was a quantum leap to go from a Kindle Fire First or Second Generation and I am glad I made the jump. This tablet is a good buy for the money as the specs are very good. The table below shows the differences between the different versions and you can see the progress that has been made in just a few years. I am buying this new kindle with confidence as my last two Kindle Fires have performed very well and I expect the same out of this one.

   One word of caution is that if you are buying this for a child then make sure to pay attention to the parental controls. Turn off the ability to make In App Purchases (IAPs) and I also turn off 1 touch buying. It is so easy for a child to make in app purchases and some of them can be as much as $99.99 on one item. Children are used to playing games with fake money and they cannot tell the difference and you will be surprised when you get the massive credit card bill. A few minutes of proper set up of the tablet for use by a child can save you a lot of headaches in the future.

   There are a couple of features that I do wish were in this product that I miss. I own and have tested many tablets and I love the ability of Android tablets to accept a Micro SD card memory addition. I even have some tablets that I use 128 GIG SD cards in and this is a great feature. A very good Micro SD card only cost $100 and if Amazon would add this feature this very good tablet would be a GREAT tablet. The second feature is the ability to easily use apps from the Google Play Store. Most of the office and game apps are on the Amazon play store and I really do like the Amazon Play store the best. There are though some powerful tools on the Google Play Store that will not work on the Kindle Fire…

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2. 

   Michael Gallagher on February 16, 2015 at 2:24 pm

   1,483 of 1,562 people found the following review helpful

   
   Great Value for $139, October 3, 2014

   By 

   Michael Gallagher (Houston, TX) –
   
     
   
     
   
     

   Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Fire HD 7, 7″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB – Includes Special Offers, Black (Electronics)

   I’m writing this review with the benefit of being an experienced Kindle Fire user vs. someone brand new to the Kindle family. In summary, for $139 you are getting a good deal on a tablet computer – especially if you compare it to the $500 or more you can spend on a Wi-Fi version of the iPad. Overall, if you consider the price and the functionality I think this is a great tool / toy if you watch a lot of video or play a lot of games on your device: the video quality is outstanding and you can really tell a difference between this and last year’s Fire. If you are a first-time tablet buyer, where price vs. value is a key consideration, or if you are looking for an affordable tablet for the kids, I’d recommend this “regular” Fire HD vs. a more expensive version. If you’re comparing last year’s HD model to this version and it is operating fine, I’d say save your money and continue to get your money’s worth out of that one.

   My review below compares a lot of the features of this version of the Fire to last year’s Fire HD but also some of the features for a first-time user.

   Consistent with my experience with setup of previous models of the Fire, setup took a while: despite being a brand new product, the Fire attempted to download and install several operating software updates. You just need to be patient while it downloads and installs.

   Screen Display / Video Playback:

   This version of the Fire has a great screen display and looking at the technical specs Amazon made some major changes in the display / resolution, and the picture appears more crisp: I compared the viewing experience watching an episode of The Lost Ship. The display on this Fire was one heck of a lot better in terms of sharpness than last year’s model. That may be a combination of some better technology as well as a new vs. year-old screen.

   Wi-Fi Connectivity:

   After the final operating software update I mentioned above, it was fairly easy to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi. My standard test for trying out new gadgets is to see how fast they run side-by-side with a known piece of equipment doing the same test at the best place of Wi-Fi in my house and the worst place where it drags. In this comparison, I had this version of the Fire sitting next to last year’s version of the HD Fire, as well as last year’s 8.9″ HDX Fire, and my iPad Air (yes, the Kindle guy uses an iPad for work), all just using a Wi-Fi connection vs. cellular connectivity.

   My “normal” website test is to hit the mobile websites of FoxNews, CNN, my personalized Yahoo page, Google, and the Houston Chronicle. The ones that were usually slow on the other devices were just as slow, and for the other sites I couldn’t tell a difference in speed in comparison to this model. Downloading The Lost Ship mentioned above from the Amazon site, strangely, tool a lot longer than any of the other Fires in my comparison – about ten extra minutes.

   Sound / Music Playback:

   The two speakers are located in the back of the Fire in two not-noticeable ports: both of them are on the right (or maybe it’s on the top, depending upon your screen orientation) side of the Kindle. My test of this feature was cranking up Van Halen’s Panama to maximum volume (I always want to see if it could really play the guitar licks), and I would alternate covering one speaker up over the other: you have true stereo sound with no degradation of the sound that makes you think you are about to blow the speaker. The Dolby speakers sound nice but “cranking” is misleading as it’s really not that loud: you do get to hear the bass if you install and use an Equalizer app and adjust until it sounds “just right” to you. Mixing the sound with an equalizer app, and using good headphones, it really the way I want to listen to music on the Fire as you not only have a better sound experience but you’re also not disturbing others in the room. The X-ray feature is pretty neat as it displays the lyrics on the screen if you are so inclined; if you are not, it is as simple as the tap of an icon to make the lyric feature go away.

   Email Setup:

   Consistent with previous versions of the Fire, email setup was very easy for my main Gmail account, both with the software came with the Fire but my primary use of an existing app called Enhanced Email I purchased here in the Amazon app store. I did setup the email app that came with the program with no problem – it took about a minute to set it up. Amazon made more enhancements to their email product, so I have deleted the third-party app and am happy with Amazon’s email client.

   New Tabs and Screen Layout:

   In addition to the normal tabs Amazon has continued to make tweaks with the look and feel to the overall display such as more things to scroll through to find what you are looking for in an easier manner. Consistent with my experiences with last year’s model of…

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3. 

   Willy and Christine on February 16, 2015 at 2:53 pm

   1,009 of 1,079 people found the following review helpful

   
   Even grandma has it figured out!, October 3, 2014

   By 

   Willy and Christine –

   Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Fire HD 7, 7″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB, Black (Electronics)

   I purchased this Kindle for my grandma, because I wanted a simple way to video chat with her. Our old process was pretty complicated: First, she had to turn her computer on, sign into Skype, call me to let me know that she would like to Skype and that she was online, then answer my incomming request. Since she is retired and has lots of time, this was okay for her, but didn’t work well for me, since I was often unavailable when she wanted to Skype.

   She now has a Kindle that she keeps in the living room, and I can send her a skype request directly to the device. This works great for me, because she’s always online, which means we can video chat during my breaks at work. I recently moved to Utah, and broke grandma’s heart, but she feels closer to me now that we can see eachother face to face.

   In addition to how easy it was to get this setup (which I walked her through over the phone), she has fallen in love with the games she now has access to. If my 80 year old grandma can figure this out, then I think most people will find it pretty simple to use.

   Pros:
   -Easy to setup (even for an 80 year old)
   -Functional layout and design
   -Syncs with Amazon Account for and easy way to purcahse apps. I can purchase an app for my grandma from my computer, and it will show up right on her Kindle.
   -Unlimited cloud storage for photos (my grandma is no longer afraid she is going to lose precious pictures of her kids)
   -Bright screen and great for reading

   Cons:
   Limited storage space (16gb is great for most people, but will fill up fast if you take a lot of video)

   ***Update: I updated my review. I ordered this for my grandma who told me that there was no power adapter included. Turns out she left it in the box. So far so good.

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