Refurb Kindle Fire is the Goldbox Deal of the Day - $139

[foreverjuly]

They're offering the refurbished model of the Kindle Fire for $139 as part of the Goldbox Deal of the Day. Pretty staggeringly low, and of course refurbs are guaranteed and all that.

http://fireapps.blogspot.com/2012/03...us-todays.html

[booklover6]

If I didn't have a Nook Color, I would get one of those! But I don't really need a second 7" tablet.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Yeah, I've had that in my cart since 7:00 a.m. and have been staring at it with ambivalence. I've seen the IPS screen in real life and it's nice; I also like the form better than that of the Nook Color. But the KF isn't nearly as hackable as the NC, is it? I'd rather not be yoked to Amazon's content distribution.

If it were easy to root and the user still had access to the Amazon Store, I'd have bought one instantly. This deal's amazing for a relatively new product. Amazon was already selling the KF at a loss at the regular price.

[foreverjuly]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Yeah, I've had that in my cart since 7:00 a.m. and have been staring at it with ambivalence. I've seen the IPS screen in real life and it's nice; I also like the form better than that of the Nook Color. But the KF isn't nearly as hackable as the NC, is it? I'd rather not be yoked to Amazon's content distribution.

If it were easy to root and the user still had access to the Amazon Store, I'd have bought one instantly. This deal is great, since Amazon was already selling the KF at a loss at the regular price.

Other people know more about this than I do, but the Fire is much easier to bring third-party content onto than the Nook. It's very easy to sideload apps and other media. Rooting isn't that hard either, if that's what you're planning on doing. I guess at XDA developers there are some programs that will do it entirely for you. The bottom line is that you can really get content from anywhere.

[tubemonkey]

If it were $99, I get one for games, Netflix, and Pulse.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by foreverjuly

Other people know more about this than I do, but the Fire is much easier to bring third-party content onto than the Nook. It's very easy to sideload apps and other media. Rooting isn't that hard either, if that's what you're planning on doing. I guess at XDA developers there are some programs that will do it entirely for you. The bottom line is that you can really get content from anywhere.

Thanks, foreverjuly. I often read XDA when rooting other Android gear (CFW, etc.), but I hadn't thought about going there to research the Fire. I had a quick look and in fact there seems to be even more CFW for this device than there was for my Galaxy S. Besides which, releasing only one model tends to unify modders' approach. Users' only complaint seems to be about the 8GB cap.

I'll probably get an iPad3 ultimately when the price comes down (or an Android tablet with comparable screen resolution and power), but a 7-inch tablet with a sparkly IPS for $139 seems difficult to ignore.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

If it were $99, I get one for games, Netflix, and Pulse.

I'm half-heartedly thinking about getting one just to root it and mess with CM7 or CM9.
I'd like a Nook Tablet for this price.
But $99 would be even better

[foreverjuly]

I might think about a $99 New iPad as well, or a $99 Chevy Volt.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by foreverjuly

I might think about a $99 New iPad as well, or a $99 Chevy Volt.

Don't be silly...this is a refurb, not new.

[geoffwood]

I pulled the trigger on one to play with. At that price it's cheap enough that if I don't like it I can move it on eBay and not take a huge hit.

It does make me wonder about the return rate that Amazon is seeing as they don't seem to be short of refurbs. Or perhaps this is a sign of them blowing out inventory before an upgrade? Who knows, but for now their loss is my gain

[foreverjuly]

Originally Posted by geoffwood

I pulled the trigger on one to play with. At that price it's cheap enough that if I don't like it I can move it on eBay and not take a huge hit.

It does make me wonder about the return rate that Amazon is seeing as they don't seem to be short of refurbs. Or perhaps this is a sign of them blowing out inventory before an upgrade? Who knows, but for now their loss is my gain

This is an interesting point I've been thinking about as well (as I wait for my order to arrive). They would have to amass a lot of these to pull this off. Some of them, people just plain won't have liked, others may have had some issues with the device, but I bet there's a decent chunk that have been returned by people who just didn't understand their device--people who got freaked out about the lack of parental controls when there were already ways to handle that, or they didn't wait for updates that made it easy to remove items from the carousel or restrict purchases.

[soondai]

Originally Posted by foreverjuly

They would have to amass a lot of these to pull this off. Some of them, people just plain won't have liked, others may have had some issues with the device, but I bet there's a decent chunk that have been returned by people who just didn't understand their device

If this deal lasts the day, I'll be suspicious that some of them are actually new units.

[wizwor]

I was thinking about grabbing one to root, but I am guessing that these are clearing out to make way for v2. Probably get one to root when one of my family members decides they need whatever is coming.

[drjpreston]

I got one. It is the fifth KF I have bought for my family. Still have spent less than I did for my iPad.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by geoffwood

I pulled the trigger on one to play with. At that price it's cheap enough that if I don't like it I can move it on eBay and not take a huge hit.

Same here! I had some gift cert money in there, so it ended up costing me less than my refurb Nook Color.

Now to explain it to my hubby....hmmm....maybe the Easter bunny will leave it for the kids!