Besides reading Kindle books, what do YOU do with your Kindle Fire?

[Kareni]

Besides reading Kindle books, what do YOU do with your Kindle Fire?

My husband's tablet just died, and he's pondering whether a Kindle Fire might be something to purchase.

Regards,
Kareni

[Arcadia]

Play sudoku 

Use it as an alarm clock

DS13 use it as a timer for timed tests 

I have the smallest size one (probably 7”) and my boys have the 10” ones.

ETA:

My kids have the paperwhite as well and I have the oasis.

Edited December 18, 2018 by Arcadia

[Ottakee]

I read in my Kindle Paperwhite, never in my fire.

I use my fire with a small Bluetooth speaker for my audiobooks so I can listen as I work around the house and still keep my phone free.

[TravelingChris]

I use it to access the web so anything I may do on there.  I like having multiple ways to get on the internet.  I have watched Netflix on it too.

[theelfqueen]

I have some games on mine (Ticket to Ride and some word games) I watch movies and TV and its really easy to download (not just stream), nd Mango languages, and stuff through my local library and sometimes Alexa stuff. 

[lailasmum]

Mostly stream tv/movies or use apps, I also read documents. I used to have a 2013 fire hdx which was amazing but I recently had to replace it and chose the current fire hd and I'm really disappointed in it.

[nixpix5]

I do everything I would on my phone browsing the web, watch Netflix, hulu, use various apps, pay bills, pretty much anything you could do on any other tablet I suppose.

[Lady Florida.]

I gave my Fire up for a regular (Samsung) tablet but when I had a Fire I didn't read books on it. I read on my Paperwhite. I did however, read magazines, cookbooks, or other things that had illustrations or were in color.

Otherwise I used it as a very basic tablet. I went online and looked things up, checked facebook, came here to WTM, or read recipes on it. It was small enough and more convenient to have in the kitchen while cooking than my laptop. I occasionally watched videos on it, especially when out of town. I had a few games I played on it but I don't really play games on my devices with the exception of some jigsaw puzzles and a word game or two.

So really, I used it like you would use a small tablet. I just didn't find it as versatile as a regular android tablet. That might have changed because mine was early one - 2nd generation I think. 

[Kareni]

@Arcadia

@Ottakee

@TravelingChris

@theelfqueen

@lailasmum

@nixpix5

@Lady Florida.

Thank you all for you input.

Do you ever create documents on your Kindle Fire or does it not have that functionality?  (Can you tell I've never seen one of these in the flesh?)

Regards,
Kareni

[TravelingChris]

I will check when I get home

[Arcadia]

21 minutes ago, Kareni said:

Do you ever create documents on your Kindle Fire or does it not have that functionality?  (Can you tell I've never seen one of these in the flesh?)

 

There are 3rd party office suites apps but I prefer typing documents and spreadsheets on my phone or iPad Pro if I am using Google docs and Google sheets. 

Do you have a Best Buy nearby? They usually have Kindles on display that are not dummies so you can play with them. 

I have tried OneDrive, OfficeSuite Free, WPS Office + PDF. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Arcadia

[Kareni]

Thank you,  @Arcadia.  We do indeed have a Best Buy in the area, so we may need to take a trip there.

Regards,
Kareni

[nixpix5]

I put a word app on mine and use a bluetooth keyboard to type. I take it with me sometimes to type up homeschool plans while my kids are in class. 

Edited December 19, 2018 by nixpix5

[mumto2]

My use of my Fires have been pretty basic, web surfing, audio books, streaming........but my kids take them to whole new levels using them to program, create games, write papers.  In their hands a whole lot seems to happen beyond basic surfing.  Watch for deals because the price can vary quite a bit I believe.

[Teaching3bears]

Is there anything you cannot do on this that you can do on an ipad? Is it slower? Is the Kindle Fire a lot cheaper? What is its battery life?

[mumto2]

1 hour ago, Teaching3bears said:

Is there anything you cannot do on this that you can do on an ipad? Is it slower? Is the Kindle Fire a lot cheaper? What is its battery life?

My Dd loves the her iPad because of the bigger memory, she subscribes to a large number of podcasts like Night Vale and life is simply easier on the iPad.  She still uses her fire a whole lot.....that’s where she downloads her stuff for college.  She reads textbooks, articles, etc constantly on her fire.   She puts a whole lot on the fire because it is super portable.  Her iPad is somewhat old model wise , we bought it for her for Christmas last year refurbished.

My iPad is a bit quicker, the screen bigger,  and now that I am used to it I am taking advantage of memory size.  I actually pay a dollar a month for more cloud storage ability because of photos that I love being able to carry with me.  Battery life is about the same imo.  The fire is much cheaper and does get the job done.  I still use my fire every single day because it is convenient.

[Arcadia]

3 hours ago, Teaching3bears said:

Is there anything you cannot do on this that you can do on an ipad? Is it slower? Is the Kindle Fire a lot cheaper? What is its battery life?

 

Itunes but I can use my iPhone so it isn’t a big issue. I also like using GarageBand on my iPad Pro but that’s a convenience want rather than a need.

The same generation of iPad and kindle fire HD has about the same speed, as in you can’t tell since there isn’t a requirement for speed in any of the apps. I have iPads from 2nd gen to the second latest iPads, kindles from 1st gen to the latest.

Kindle Fire is lots cheaper especially when you factor in the expansion slot for memory card. There is no way to add storage space to an iPad.

I don’t know about battery life but Minecraft and Asphalt 8 (car racing) burns out battery at about the same pace for both when my kids play those games.

[ktgrok]

The iPad has more apps. 

[Wheres Toto]

We set up our Kindle Fires to use Android apps and have Google Play Store.  I use them for a variety of apps for my classes - Green Screen, Sphero Edu (robots), Edison (robots), a few other things.

My kids have the kids version Fires (we've already done the no worries replacement twice for each of them) and have a TON of games on them.  Everything you could think of, plus they record videos for youtube and do digital drawing.

[TravelingChris]

So with me on my not fiddled around Kindle Fire= I think I got it in summer 2017 and my son has not configured it to do google docs, etc like he has w/ my dh;s slightly better model, I can see pdfs, and some documents.  I am normally just downloading things like nature trail maps, sample ballots, that sort of thing.  It shows those clearly.  Some other doc using who knows what - is garbage.  I just use the basic Inkpad that came with the Fire already on it.  I take notes in church, at lectures, etc.

[madteaparty]

I use it as a coaster.

(sorry, I’ve no use for e-readers). 😂

[Kareni]

On 12/17/2018 at 5:46 PM, Kareni said:

My husband's tablet just died, and he's pondering whether a Kindle Fire might be something to purchase.

I wrote the above in my initial post.  To add to the joy, my desktop computer died a couple of days ago. 

I ordered Kindle Fires for both of us.  His arrived yesterday, and he was on an Amazon chat help line today for almost an hour due to out of the box glitches.  All seems well now.  (I'm keeping my fingers crossed.)

Mine is due to arrive on the 26 or 27th; I guess that red is a more popular color than blue!

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.

Regards,
Kareni