Kindle Fire Phone - Hands On Review

[booklover6]

Plenty of people use it as a media device. This is unlocked and doesn't even come with a phone card in it. So you don't have to worry about that.

Just so you know, no Google play store.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by copyrite

Pardon me for not reading through this thread, but I have two questions:

Can the Kindle Fire phone use TTS in the Kindle App?

Anyone use this not as a phone, but as a Media device? Will it phone home to attempt to initialize an account, or is there a way to bypass this? My LG Volt (used for media only) is only annoying in that respect when I restart the device.

Thanks!

Don't know on question #1.

I use mine as a mini tablet. Since the phone is unlocked, it doesn't attempt to "phone home". The reason the Volt attempts to do so is because it's a no contract phone. If it was unlocked like this Fire Phone, then it wouldn't attempt to do so.

It's the difference between being unlocked vs no contract.

[BenG]

I got an email today that Amazon's selling the unlocked Fire Phone for $159. It includes a full year of Prime.
If you already have Prime do you get a year's extension?

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by BenG

I got an email today that Amazon's selling the unlocked Fire Phone for $159. It includes a full year of Prime.
If you already have Prime do you get a year's extension?

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Yes you do. It tacks on to the end of your current sub.

[BenG]

Thanks.

[copyrite]

Thanks all.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Don't know on question #1.

I use mine as a mini tablet. Since the phone is unlocked, it doesn't attempt to "phone home". The reason the Volt attempts to do so is because it's a no contract phone. If it was unlocked like this Fire Phone, then it wouldn't attempt to do so.

It's the difference between being unlocked vs no contract.

I thought this was the case, but wanted to make sure. The Volt gets daily usage for podcasts, but because I've not put a card in it, I'm limited in app usage.

Hubby has no room to complain about my multiple toys...his are more $$$ and definitely cost more to maintain!

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by copyrite

Pardon me for not reading through this thread, but I have two questions:

Can the Kindle Fire phone use TTS in the Kindle App?

Anyone use this not as a phone, but as a Media device? Will it phone home to attempt to initialize an account, or is there a way to bypass this? My LG Volt (used for media only) is only annoying in that respect when I restart the device.

Thanks!

Yes on TTS (for some reason there are fewer voice choices as with Fire, but it is enough). In theory, also immersion reading (with companion audiobook) but that has some issues.

You can use it without a SIM card, and once you register the device with Amazon it is fully functional, just as any wifi only Fire tablet. My wife used hers for months before we activated it as a phone.

[barryem]

I bought the Fire phone on sale yesterday and it arrived today. I've had Prime for years and it's been a good deal for me, living in a rural area with no car. I've already been given the added year of Prime so the phone basically cost me $60.

I have mixed feelings about the phone. It's replacing a 1st generation Moto G, which has been just fine. I don't have service. It's a portable tablet to live in my shirt pocket, as was the Moto G. I have a free phone from Medicare for phone calls.

Everything I've tried on it has worked okay. Very few things have worked as easily or as intuitively as on my Moto G, but things work well enough. The screen is better. The sound is a little better but not much.

The real surprise is the Kindle app. I read on my Voyage for the most part but I like having a phone with me to read wherever I might happen to be. On the Moto G I used Moon+ reader because I like to scroll but the Kindle app in this thing not only scrolls, it does so much more smoothly and easily than Moon+ on the other one. This thing is nice for reading. Not as good as the Voyage but very very good.

Not only does it scroll but I can scroll by simply tilting the thing back a bit. They've done that almost perfectly. I'd have liked to tilt back a little less to scroll down and tilt back a little more to scroll up, but it's so close to perfect that I'm really glad I have it.

Wouldn't it be amazing if the new Voyage, when it comes, scrolled like this. I don't expect it to happen on e-ink but it would be nice.

By the way the thing I like least about this is that it's battery life is significantly less than the Moto G. I charged that overnight and it was only at 80% to 85% at the end of the day. This one went down to about 70% in a couple of hours. I doubt it'll make a full day. I was using it a lot to play with it and explore but not that much. I often used my Moto G that much with little effect on the battery.

Barry

[Blossom]

If you are not using the phone part make sure you have it in airplane mode with WiFi on and Mobile data off this will improve battery life.

[Blossom]

I've got a question for those who do use this as a phone. How do I backup text messages? I've got over a years worth of them. I'd like to export them somehow to keep
a record. There seems to be no limit on this phone how many you can store but I'd still like to back them up.

[copyrite]

Originally Posted by Blossom

If you are not using the phone part make sure you have it in airplane mode with WiFi on and Mobile data off this will improve battery life.

Thanks for this. Should be arriving sometime today.

I might try this on the LG Volt.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by copyrite

Thanks for this. Should be arriving sometime today.

I might try this on the LG Volt.

Oh yes make sure the Volt is in airplane mode with WiFi on. You still have to go through the 5 minute activation screen but if it will improve battery life with airplane mode on. I use my Volt Daily to watch videos or listen to music. The headphones that come with the Fire Phone work perfectly with it. I use my Fire Phone as a Phone and a reader and on the go listening to music.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I've got a question for those who do use this as a phone. How do I backup text messages? I've got over a years worth of them. I'd like to export them somehow to keep
a record. There seems to be no limit on this phone how many you can store but I'd still like to back them up.

if you go into one of your message threads you can choose Edit, select the messages you want and then Forward, which will combine all of the selected messages into one. Then you can select all the message text, Copy, and Paste to another document. a bit ugly but, maybe a little easier than Copy Paste for each message.

While all of this can be backed up to the Cloud (if option is selected in device settings), I don't see any way to access the backed up data there.

Or maybe Mayday would have some other suggestion.

[copyrite]

I'm playing around with Firefly and it tells me

Trouble connecting to server

Can it only be used if it's used as a phone? Wi-Fi is definitely working.

Not a big deal of if I can't get it working. LOL

ETA: it would help if I'd set the correct time zone initially. Fixing that solved the problem!

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Blossom

If you are not using the phone part make sure you have it in airplane mode with WiFi on and Mobile data off this will improve battery life.

Thank you, this advice has solved the problem on my 2nd Volt, which was constantly turning on wifi for no reason. Now it stays off unless I turn it on!