$50 Fire In Hand

[leebase]

Received the $50 fire. First impressions:

Thick and heavy compared to my iPad 2 mini. Not horrible, but not great.

For reading:
there is Kindle reader, of course. Only saw one other reader app in the app store. Will have to side load apk to get your desired ereader app if you aren't reading a kindle book.

It is wide screen formatted. Not my favored dimensions for reading. Can see the pixels. Not horrible, but not great.

Verdict - I would not use this much for reading. It's too heavy and awkward for my style. I'd probably read fiction on my iPhone 6 rather than this tablet. For those who prefer eInk - you still will.

For Movies:
There are Amazon Prime movies and shows built in. Works great, looks great, sounds great. Given that you can download movies with Amazon prime, this is a great device for traveling and taking movies with you. The wide screen aspect ratio that isn't so nice for books is great for movies and tv shows.
Netflix and HBO Go apps. Had a real hard time logging into the HBO Go app. Getting the keyboard to come up and then not have it "correct" what I was typing. Took about 5 minutes to just get past this. But no problems logging into Netflix. Loaded Plex app but didn't have my Plex server on my PC running just then. Have no problem with this combination with my Amazon Fire Tv Stick, don't expect to have a problem with this tablet.
Verdict: This is a fantastic $50 streaming video tablet. Once my microSD card arrives, I'll have to explore what it takes to just load and play movies "from the internet" that aren't part of the streaming services.

Games: I'm not much of a gamer. There are lots of free games and special child mode.

Google Play Store - will explore in the future what is involved in side this app and running general Android apps.

In all, this is a nice deal for $50 for folks who want a tablet without the iPad price. Screen is nice for movies and ok for reading. A little hefty to hold, but a case or a pillow would fix that for my "laying down" movie watching position This does not feel like a "crappy $50 pos tablet". It's a nice, no frills tablet with great integration with Amazon content.

[Josieb1]

You can sideload apps from Google Play, I do on my HDX, but I very much doubt you can get Google Play to work and again I haven't been able to run any app that needs Google Play.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by leebase

Verdict: This is a fantastic $50 streaming video tablet. Once my microSD card arrives, I'll have to explore what it takes to just load and play movies "from the internet" that aren't part of the streaming services.

For sideloaded media content you can download and install VLC or Kodi.
Either will play most every format out there.
I favor Kodi for its ability to lay ISOs from my homebrew DVDs from cable.

I'm also re-ripping my DVDs to FLAC. That might be overkill for a low-end tablet but Kodi streams it nicely off my home server anyway.

[leebase]

Further thoughts. Nice automatic integration with Amazon. In addition to Prime Movies and Kindle books, all the Amazon Cloud files are "right there". I can see the movies and photos that I have automatically backed up from my iPhone to the Amazon Cloud.

My "non platform specific" apps have been "fine". Buy "fine" I mean "exist and work" but just not as nice as I'm used to on the iPad or iPhone. Skype, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, OneDrive, Zite, Flipboard, Spotify

Google is hit or miss. The built in mail app works just fine with gmail. The google maps apps is available and seems to work just fine.

If you want a Google first experience with all that Google services bring to a tablet, you don't this device. Well, maybe if you are the type to root.

Still for $50, this is a nice tablet from a brand people know and trust. It's really great if Amazon services are what you are after. It's great for the major streaming: Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO Go. I'm sure with some effort I'll figure out a way to load movies onto the microsd card for watching as well. Still, if that's your primary use case, a generic Android tablet will probably get you there with less hassle.

I think folks who use this device as designed will be happiest with it. I'd much rather buy this tablet from Amazon than some no name Chinese tablet from Walmart. I've not pushed it by trying to run high end games...but it feels like a very snappy tablet. Nothing seemed slow.

It certainly may become my "take movies and tv shows on the road for airplane and crappy internet hotel" device. I don't think it does away with my desire for an iPad.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by leebase

Further thoughts. Nice automatic integration with Amazon. In addition to Prime Movies and Kindle books, all the Amazon Cloud files are "right there". I can see the movies and photos that I have automatically backed up from my iPhone to the Amazon Cloud.

My "non platform specific" apps have been "fine". Buy "fine" I mean "exist and work" but just not as nice as I'm used to on the iPad or iPhone. Skype, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, OneDrive, Zite, Flipboard, Spotify

Google is hit or miss. The built in mail app works just fine with gmail. The google maps apps is available and seems to work just fine.

If you want a Google first experience with all that Google services bring to a tablet, you don't this device. Well, maybe if you are the type to root.

Still for $50, this is a nice tablet from a brand people know and trust. It's really great if Amazon services are what you are after. It's great for the major streaming: Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO Go. I'm sure with some effort I'll figure out a way to load movies onto the microsd card for watching as well. Still, if that's your primary use case, a generic Android tablet will probably get you there with less hassle.

I think folks who use this device as designed will be happiest with it. I'd much rather buy this tablet from Amazon than some no name Chinese tablet from Walmart. I've not pushed it by trying to run high end games...but it feels like a very snappy tablet. Nothing seemed slow.

It certainly may become my "take movies and tv shows on the road for airplane and crappy internet hotel" device. I don't think it does away with my desire for an iPad.

Is the space divided into apps and books like the previous fires?

[leebase]

It appears to me, anyway, as one space. When I go to storage, I see listings for the system, for apps, for files. I don't see two partitions, but it may just be hiding that information from me.

You can add up to 256gb data via microsd.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by leebase

It appears to me, anyway, as one space. When I go to storage, I see listings for the system, for apps, for files. I don't see two partitions, but it may just be hiding that information from me.

You can add up to 256gb data via microsd.

The original under device it has application storage and internal storage.
1.17GB for apps and 5.37GB for everything else.

[Purple Lady]

If you can see the pixels, how does Prime video look great to you? Are you just not too picky when it comes to videos or does it look great for a $50 device?

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

If you can see the pixels, how does Prime video look great to you? Are you just not too picky when it comes to videos or does it look great for a $50 device?

You can try it for yourself. Videos look just fine. Reading is fine too but I cantell the difference between the retina screens I am used to when it comes to text.

Battery life isn't great. Just watched a couple episodes of Game of Thrones. Started close to 100% and have 31% left. Still, every criticism is mitigated by the price.

I might very well buy a few of these as gifts

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by leebase

Received the $50 fire. First impressions:

Did you get the extended warranty? It only has a 90-day warranty.

[leebase]

Nah, $12 to protect $50 didn't seem worth it. I think I can afford to buy another $50 new one if need be

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by leebase

You can try it for yourself. Videos look just fine. Reading is fine too but I cantell the difference between the retina screens I am used to when it comes to text.

Battery life isn't great. Just watched a couple episodes of Game of Thrones. Started close to 100% and have 31% left. Still, every criticism is mitigated by the price.

I might very well buy a few of these as gifts

If it's not sold locally I can't check it out. The resolution is worse than my 2012 Nexus 7 and that screen wasn't very good.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by leebase

Nah, $12 to protect $50 didn't seem worth it. I think I can afford to buy another $50 new one if need be

Thanks; I was rather surprised to see Amazon cut corners with the warranty to reach its price point.

[leebase]

There is no doubt that the screen isn't state of the art. It is nice and bright and colorful. I was able to be engrossed watching Game of Thrones with my Bose headphones. It's also a responsive tablet. None of what I did seemed slow or laggy. I did have trouble logging into the HBO app but that appears to be just that one app.

It's not a premium tablet for sure, but is not a piece of junk that I'd expect from most no name $50 tablets. Buy it and return it if you don't like it. The price and the fact it's from Amazon made it something to try.

It isn't replacing my desire for an iPad. I don't see myself reading fiction on it over my iPhone. I do see myself using it as a portable movie watching device. That's where Apples lack of memory card support is a real weakness. And I do think I could buy these as gifts

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by leebase

And I do think I could buy these as gifts

Don't forget -- if you buy 5 of them, you get the 6th one free.