HDX Kindle Fire HDX - First Impressions

[FanciFreez]

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

Mine was going very slowly so I just downloaded the update from Amazon's website and sideloaded it. Went much faster that way.

Thanks.. I got it downloaded.. great.. Just having dinner.. I will check out this new toy after dinner.. excited.. I downloaded over a Verizon Mi-Fi card.. that was the problem..

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by FanciFreez

Thanks.. I got it downloaded.. great.. Just having dinner.. I will check out this new toy after dinner.. excited.. I downloaded over a Verizon Mi-Fi card.. that was the problem..

Yeah that would take awhile on that speed! I hope you love your HDX! I love mine especially now I figured out how to get the embed fonts to work so I can read with my font!

Oh Amazon now has Candy Crush Saga! I am soo addicted to that game!

[easterncoyote]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I have seen the HD and the HDX and the text on the HDX is significantly improved from last year's HD.

On the HDX you can't see any jaggedness or pixelation even if you zoom the text you can't tell any difference. It's the best I have seen. I am told the Nexus 7 has the same amazing text rendering. If you want it for reading go with the higher PPI you can't go wrong!

Thank you Blossom. That was my main consideration in deciding between the two models. You've sold me on the HDX

[mewmartigan]

so I got my Poetic Slimline case today....its very nice and worth 20 times more than the $0.95 i paid for it.

Thanks for the link Blossom, it was a great deal. I am usually very wary of the super cheap cases but this one is nice...good fit, on/off magnet works, it works well as a stand, etc.

Blossom, I need some advice. I just bought a Nexus 7.2 to use primarily as a control unit with my Canon dSLR camera. Apple iOS would have been better, but I didn't want to lug around my iPad 3. I'm already having to lug around all the camera gear.

Any way, I went to put Mantano on the Nexus 7, but the free version is crap and they now have two paid apps ($2.99 and $6.99) but their website is so piss poor that it is not at all clear which one has what. Apple would never let them get away with that crap, but I guess Google doesn't care. I want the least I need to pay for. I just want to be able to select between fonts and use my own embedded fonts on occasion. Will the $2.99 version do this. BTW, I don't care about their cloud as I won't be using it.

Also just FYI, I installed the Kindle for Android app. What a POS!!! I sure hope the Fire's reading app is way better. The Kindle for Android app has only one font, doesn't sync highlights or notes in personal docs, etc. It must be the worst of the Kindle apps.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Blossom, I need some advice. I just bought a Nexus 7.2 to use primarily as a control unit with my Canon dSLR camera. Apple iOS would have been better, but I didn't want to lug around my iPad 3. I'm already having to lug around all the camera gear.

What about an iPod touch? Will it run the apps you need for your cam?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Also just FYI, I installed the Kindle for Android app. What a POS!!! I sure hope the Fire's reading app is way better. The Kindle for Android app has only one font, doesn't sync highlights or notes in personal docs, etc. It must be the worst of the Kindle apps.

I have no complaints about the Kindle app on my N7.2 and Fire HD7. It'll let me change the background to sepia; the only setting I ever change. The other tasks you listed are things I'd never do.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

What about an iPod touch? Will it run the apps you need for your cam?

I think so as my iPhone 5 can run the app. But iOS would require a WiFi connection to connect with my Canon EOS 60D. My 60D doesn't have built in WiFi, thankfully, as that would drain the battery too fast anyway. I can buy a $300 CamRanger to provide WiFi connectivity, but that is yet another battery to keep charged. The Nexus 7.2 was a bit less expensive and can connect via a USB cable and an on the go cable, which is much faster than WiFi. The costs for either solution is about the same, but the Nexus 7.2 seemed like a more flexible option.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by easterncoyote

Thank you Blossom. That was my main consideration in deciding between the two models. You've sold me on the HDX

I really love it! I hope you do too!

I just can't recommend the Origami case. It was to awkward to hold reading. I love my $3 Poetic case though. So there are some nice ones out there. I bought another one as a backup because I know once the promo over it will go up in price Right now you can get it for 95 cents and if you have Prime the shipping is free! I paid $3+ Free shipping for the first and for the second 99 cents + 3.99 shipping but that seems to have changed to free with Prime. I should have waited but there only 10 in stock so maybe not.

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

so I got my Poetic Slimline case today....its very nice and worth 20 times more than the $0.95 i paid for it.

Thanks for the link Blossom, it was a great deal. I am usually very wary of the super cheap cases but this one is nice...good fit, on/off magnet works, it works well as a stand, etc.

I really love the case. It's a joy to hold. Nice and grippy texture on the back so I can read for hours. So light weight that I barely notice its there. I was shock when I remove the HDX from the original case that night to read with how much weight was lost! I bought two of them. I paid $5 for the second one so the price is slowly rising and I think either $12.95 or $14.95 will be the final price. I think it's worth that. Plus Poetic has a 3 year warranty and they honor it. I've been scouting them out on Facebook and lots of happy customers.

They make it for the Nexus 7 too and several other tablets for those who need a good inexpensive case.

What really impressed me what no odd smell! I can't tell you how many times I bought a cheap case or skin and it smelled really chemically strong. My Marware Eco-Flip case was like that and it wasn't cheap!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I think so as my iPhone 5 can run the app. But iOS would require a WiFi connection to connect with my Canon EOS 60D. My 60D doesn't have built in WiFi, thankfully, as that would drain the battery too fast anyway. I can buy a $300 CamRanger to provide WiFi connectivity, but that is yet another battery to keep charged. The Nexus 7.2 was a bit less expensive and can connect via a USB cable and an on the go cable, which is much faster than WiFi. The costs for either solution is about the same, but the Nexus 7.2 seemed like a more flexible option.

Gotcha; so you were after an OTG connection. Pity more devices don't include this feature. I've yet to use it on my N7.2 and N4.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Blossom, I need some advice. I just bought a Nexus 7.2 to use primarily as a control unit with my Canon dSLR camera. Apple iOS would have been better, but I didn't want to lug around my iPad 3. I'm already having to lug around all the camera gear.

Any way, I went to put Mantano on the Nexus 7, but the free version is crap and they now have two paid apps ($2.99 and $6.99) but their website is so piss poor that it is not at all clear which one has what. Apple would never let them get away with that crap, but I guess Google doesn't care. I want the least I need to pay for. I just want to be able to select between fonts and use my own embedded fonts on occasion. Will the $2.99 version do this. BTW, I don't care about their cloud as I won't be using it.

Also just FYI, I installed the Kindle for Android app. What a POS!!! I sure hope the Fire's reading app is way better. The Kindle for Android app has only one font, doesn't sync highlights or notes in personal docs, etc. It must be the worst of the Kindle apps.

Its best to go for the $6.99 version anything else is just not worth it and they keep removing features from the others so you buy the Premium. So buy the Premium one. It is well worth it. Trust me on this. I love this app. It's the best one out on the market. You will love it. You don't need to embed fonts it lets you have as many custom fonts as you want. The only con is the custom font wont show italic or bold that will be displayed in Droid serif but that doesn't bother me but if it does you, you can embed the fonts instead.

The premium version has collections just like a Kindle but even better you can have sub collections! you can sort by author, title, series, tags and alot more on the Premium version. It has highlighting tools which I never use, dictionary and Wikipedia look up. It even handles epub and pdf library books.

It has two column landscape mode as well!

You would only need the cloud if you sync between devices which I do. You can have up to 4 devices for 10 a year for me this well worth it.

I can't get the Kindle app to work on my SGP5. I gave up on it. One day it stopped working all together. Too many books I think.

Originally Posted by Blossom

Its best to go for the $6.99 version anything else is just not worth it and they keep removing features from the others so you buy the Premium. So buy the Premium one. It is well worth it. Trust me on this. I love this app. It's the best one out on the market. You will love it. You don't need to embed fonts it lets you have as many custom fonts as you want. The only con is the custom font wont show italic or bold that will be displayed in Droid serif but that doesn't bother me but if it does you, you can embed the fonts instead.

The premium version has collections just like a Kindle but even better you can have sub collections! you can sort by author, title, series, tags and alot more on the Premium version. It has highlighting tools which I never use, dictionary and Wikipedia look up. It even handles epub and pdf library books.

It has two column landscape mode as well!

You would only need the cloud if you sync between devices which I do. You can have up to 4 devices for 10 a year for me this well worth it.

I can't get the Kindle app to work on my SGP5. I gave up on it. One day it stopped working all together. Too many books I think.

Thanks Blossom! And sorry for the

I'll definitely get the $6.99 one. I thought I had paid for it but I didn't find it listed in my account in the Amazon app store or in Google Play Store. I had almost every other reader though, including Cool Reader, Moon+ Reader, FBReader, and Aldiko! Cool Reader isn't too bad. I cannot remember about the others now though. I was really hoping the Kindle for Android would be better by now, but it still just has one font to choose from. Not sure if it it allows embedded fonts I'll have to test that out. But as usual, Amazon hamstrung the personal docs!

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Thanks Blossom! And sorry for the

I'll definitely get the $6.99 one. I thought I had paid for it but I didn't find it listed in my account in the Amazon app store or in Google Play Store. I had almost every other reader though, including Cool Reader, Moon+ Reader, FBReader, and Aldiko! Cool Reader isn't too bad. I cannot remember about the others now though. I was really hoping the Kindle for Android would be better by now, but it still just has one font to choose from. Not sure if it it allows embedded fonts I'll have to test that out. But as usual, Amazon hamstrung the personal docs!

Not off topic it's part of the tablet experience really. I think you probably used the free version from SlideMe back when you had a Kindle Fire. You can no longer get the newest app from their only two places Google Play or Amazon.

The personal documents on the HDX are a joke! Amazon has changed it to where the Pdocs are more like office docs now not books. No TOC. No cover view and no covers!

What I am doing is sending a pdoc mobi version of the book to my HDX and sideloading the AZW3. When done reading on the AZW3 I open the pdoc version and go to the same location and then sync so I can read it later on my other Kindles that use the pdoc version without any problems.

Huge hassle but it works as for missing covers I just hide the carousel and pretend it doesn't exist.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Any way, I went to put Mantano on the Nexus 7, but the free version is crap and they now have two paid apps ($2.99 and $6.99) but their website is so piss poor that it is not at all clear which one has what. Apple would never let them get away with that crap, but I guess Google doesn't care. I want the least I need to pay for. I just want to be able to select between fonts and use my own embedded fonts on occasion. Will the $2.99 version do this. BTW, I don't care about their cloud as I won't be using it.

(

Yes, I have the 2.99 version, and I use my own font on it. Like Blossom said, the problem is the italics. Other than that, it's fantastic.

Originally Posted by booklover6

Yes, I have the 2.99 version, and I use my own font on it. Like Blossom said, the problem is the italics. Other than that, it's fantastic.

Thanks!

On my Nexus 7.2 I noticed an oddity last night that is apparent in both the Kindle app and in Cool Reader. The right margins are 1/4" larger than the left margins! I noticed it in Cool Reader first and thought it was just a setting issue, but then I saw it in Kindle too! I'm wondering if this is Nexus 7.2 thing or an Android thing or just a weird coincidence. @Tubemonkey, have you noticed this issue on your Nexus 7.2? Those with the Fire HDX, do you see this issue on them when it comes to readers other than Kindle? It looks like room on the right was added for a Menu or some GUI thing, but there isn't anything there except empty space. I haven't noticed it in any other apps.