Fire HD 6 - wifi work in UK??

[badgoodDeb]

Hey experts --
If I bought a Kindle Fire HD 6 in the USA, mostly to use as a tablet -- would it run a browser OK in the UK? I'm planning a vacation, and looking for a small tablet that I can do email and map searches on. And I can *always* use another Kindle. This looks small enough to be drop & travel resilient. Besides, I was planning to pack a Kindle anyway (gotta have my books).

But since the whole point would be for the wifi to work in the UK ..... what does Amazon's pop-up "only the content that you have already downloaded"* mean as far as "will the wifi actually work and let me run a browser to get my email and map out my route"? I understand that I would have to find wifi and not cellular signal.**

Hmmmm. I *think* I've almost answered my own question, and convinced myself that wifi is wifi, and it certainly ought to work just fine. But does anybody have experience?

*I'm find with pre-downloading my books before I leave the states.

**How easy is it to find public wifi in the UK? How about in small areas, if I were to take a coastal road and tour the perimeter of the country? Would I find wifi anywhere other than my hotel?

Yeah, I know .... I'm asking quite a lot here!

[Josieb1]

The tablet will work in the UK for books you download before you go, what the message means is that without wifi you won't be able to access anything in the Cloud. Public free wifi is quite limited here, it's not too bad in towns with coffee shop chains such as Starbucks offering wifi. Macdonalds is always easy to access as well, but in rural England, Scotland and Wales it's much more difficult to find, even 3G is difficult in really rural areas!

I think you'd be pretty much relying on your hotel and not all hotel's offer free wifi, so check carefully. You might be better off when you get here buying a miffi device from one of the mobile stores (like carphone warehouse) and a 3G sim for that, but you'd need to get some advice on what network you get one for.

[badgoodDeb]

Thanks. Just from googling "pay as you go phones" for UK, I found this one. Does it seem likely to have wide coverage, or not, in your experience? Any more costly than this, and I'll probably just stick with a paper map and hotel wifi! For a mere two week trip, I mean....

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/2876892.htm

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Thanks. Just from googling "pay as you go phones" for UK, I found this one. Does it seem likely to have wide coverage, or not, in your experience? Any more costly than this, and I'll probably just stick with a paper map and hotel wifi! For a mere two week trip, I mean....

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/2876892.htm

The problem is if you want to use your Fire you will need a phone with personal hotspot capability to be able to link to the Fire. I'm not sure if that phone has that feature. Using pay as you go ( which any phone like that is) is usually expensive especially for data.

It looks like it's locked to EE, (a mobile network) so you would have to find out what package you could have with it.

[badgoodDeb]

Oh, I wasn't thinking of connecting the two. The phone was probably instead of the Fire.

Or maybe I would still splurge on the Fire (always need a new Kindle, even if I've never lusted for a Fire) assuming it could pull up maps I had previously loaded onto it. Does it do okay with PDFs -- zooming in on them? My Voyage doesn't, but my iPad can zoom into pictures just fine. Which I would want with a map, because I don't plan to travel with an iPad. I'm thinking of the Fire as a safer to carry, "mini" tablet sort of thing. Can the Fire do some equivalent of pinch & zoom into a map like my iPad does?

Guess I'd better go see one in a store.

[badgoodDeb]

If an App is on the Amazon store and appears when I tick "Kindle Fire HD 6" does that mean it will run on the Fire HD 6? There is an app called "HERE - offline navigation & maps" which claims to download maps into your memory, and not rely on the Cloud. I wouldn't have navigational ability with a Fire HD 6 (the rental car would probably come with a GPS or a SatNav if you guys call them that). But would this App *RUN* on an Kindle Fire HD 6, and allow me to zoom in to the maps?

http://www.amazon.com/HERE-Offline-n...eywords=UK+map

[I think I'm looking for an excuse to buy the Kindle Fire HD 6 now! ]

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

..... what does Amazon's pop-up "only the content that you have already downloaded"* mean as far as "will the wifi actually work and let me run a browser to get my email and map out my route"? I understand that I would have to find wifi and not cellular signal.**

I believe this refers strictly to purchased media (specifically, videos) which are not available across the border you are crossing -- when connecting to Amazon's Cloud services they will geolocate you and block your current device from downloading stuff they aren't authorized to sell you in your current location.

And I think the exception is that they won't delete cached videos, but they will stop you from accessing new ones.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I believe this refers strictly to purchased media (specifically, videos) which are not available across the border you are crossing -- when connecting to Amazon's Cloud services they will geolocate you and block your current device from downloading stuff they aren't authorized to sell you in your current location.

And I think the exception is that they won't delete cached videos, but they will stop you from accessing new ones.

Yes, it's referring to streamed, rather than downloaded, content. You won't be able to access streamed content from services such as Amazon Prime or Netflix while you're outside the US.

As far as internet access goes, as Josie says, public WiFi hotspots are comparatively rare in the UK. Pretty much every hotel will have WiFi: it's generally free in small hotels and B&Bs, but you often have to pay in large "chain" hotels. Coffee shops, etc, will generally have free WiFi. What the UK doesn't currently have is the type of free "community" WiFi that many places in the US now have.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

If an App is on the Amazon store and appears when I tick "Kindle Fire HD 6" does that mean it will run on the Fire HD 6? There is an app called "HERE - offline navigation & maps" which claims to download maps into your memory, and not rely on the Cloud. I wouldn't have navigational ability with a Fire HD 6 (the rental car would probably come with a GPS or a SatNav if you guys call them that). But would this App *RUN* on an Kindle Fire HD 6, and allow me to zoom in to the maps?

http://www.amazon.com/HERE-Offline-n...eywords=UK+map

[I think I'm looking for an excuse to buy the Kindle Fire HD 6 now! ]

If it says it'll run on the Fire HD 6 then I'm sure it will.

I wouldn't be too sure that a hire car (in the UK we "hire" cars, we don't "rent" them ) will come with a SatNav. Better check with the car company first. Also bear in mind that virtually all British cars have manual transmissions, not automatic: if you want an automatic, you'll need to make special arrangements in advance.

[badgoodDeb]

I'm find with a manual transmission. I drive one now, and I've "hired" a car in Britain before and made the mental shift to doing my shifting with the left hand. I don't want to drive downtown in any cities, but otherwise I'll be okay.

I've run across a physical, paper spiral bound map book which may be the best way to go. My 83 yr old and 77 yr old passengers will be able to read THAT and give me directions, without having technical challenges. (They are not completely UNsavvy, but it's always hard if it isn't a device you are used to.) I've also run into a replacement micro-SD card with UK maps, for a Garmin SatNav. I need to investigate and see if it will work in the model that I already own. That might be worthwhile to bring, in addition to the map book for doing research in the evenings ("where do we want to go tomorrow?").

So now I'm trying to decide if I can justify buying a Fire HD 6 just to get my email and hotel info via wifi. Hmmm.... I mean, I *could* bring my iphone, just for email via wifi, but it's an expensive device to subject to travel rigors, if I can't actually phone with it. And the screen is rather small for web browsing.....

I wonder how the Fire HD 6's SILK browser compares to Safari (or, preferably on my laptop or desktop, Firefox). Will I be disappointed, do you think?

[Josieb1]

I think Silk is fine. What you might want to do though is email (especially if you are getting emails on the Fire) yourself a list of any specific web pages you might want to access if you know in advance, it will save time if your in a hurry as Silk should open from the email RL.

Of course you do have another option, how much is an iPad mini in the U.S. now, compared to a Fire? I know the first gen isn't retina but it's still an iPad, and the mini is a perfect size for traveling with.

Plus the added bonus is you have no apps to buy as you already have them for your iPad.

[badgoodDeb]

The iPad mini is $399 as compared to the Fire HD 6 $99. The Fire is justifiable as a snap purchase .... the iPad less so.

Plus, I really prefer to read on a Kindle and I don't use my iPad much, since my Coumadin seems to have given me a weird finger sensitivity. I can't comfortably play on touch screens, like I used to. So I just read, as my hobby.

Time to go to Best Buy, and play with a Fire HD at their counter, I think.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

The iPad mini is $399 as compared to the Fire HD 6 $99. The Fire is justifiable as a snap purchase .... the iPad less so.

Plus, I really prefer to read on a Kindle and I don't use my iPad much, since my Coumadin seems to have given me a weird finger sensitivity. I can't comfortably play on touch screens, like I used to. So I just read, as my hobby.

Time to go to Best Buy, and play with a Fire HD at their counter, I think.

My first Fire was the HD6, I loved it, it's a perfect size but I needed more storage so I handed that over to hubby who know loves it too and bought a 64gb HDX. I can't even imagine ever not having a Fire now, they go hand in hand with a kindle.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I mean, I *could* bring my iphone, just for email via wifi, but it's an expensive device to subject to travel rigors, if I can't actually phone with it.

Can't you just get a UK pre-paid SIM to put in your iPhone so it will work for phoning? While most US iPhones are carrier locked, they generally make an exception for international travel.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

how much is an iPad mini in the U.S. now, compared to a Fire?

A regular mini 16GB is $249, mini 2 (retina) is $299 & mini 3 (retina w/fingerprint sensor) is $399. A 6" Fire 8GB is $99, a 16GB is $119