And it reads ebooks too!

TechnoCat · 11-21-2011, 09:47 AM

Hello. My Kindle Fire arrived Weds 16 Nov. First off, thanks to Blossom(?) for her posts on getting books onto the puppy.

Some thoughts and questions.

Built-In features:

Amazon Video is pretty impressive
I have a super-fast commercial fibre connection and N WiFi, but Netflix is so jumpy it's unwatchable
What? No Exchange email support? (See below)
No Calendar?
The Cloud base storage is a bit small
As is 7GB or so of storage
Love the screen
Not loving how many apps Amazon's store claims are "not compatible"

So... I started working around it. Currently I have...

Quantum's Enhanced Email; I needed 2xExchange accounts, and even TouchDown can't do that.
Business Calendar, which Amazon claims is not compatible, but which works wonderfully with both calendars.
Opera Mini. Yeah, Amazon includes a browser. I prefer Opera.
File Expert, which is a fantastic way of getting files on the Fire. It can access a Windows share directly and even install from it, and while it can't seem to do that with a Mac SMB share, it can act as a web server for copying to the Fire from the Mac.
Root stuff: SuperUser, Root Explorer, SQLite Explorer. Useful for me, probably not for most people. I haven't used it for anything a non-developer would care about.
Voodoo OTA RootKeeper, so that I can turn root on/off and keep Video working.
My own list/password/shopping app, which syncs to my PC, Mac (yes, I use both) and any J2ME, Nokia and Android devices I'm using. I had to fix a small bug in it but it doesn't require any Kindle-specific code.

One very bizarre thing: I buy all my books from Amazon and have been using Kindle software on my iPod and Android phone for a long time. Last week I sync'd a "sample" of Terry Pratchett's Snuff onto my phone. Two days later Snuff was no longer available, sample or full, for the Kindle. Still on UK site (which I will forever think of as BookPages), but not in the U.S.

Any idea what's up with that? Even in the sample if I try to buy, it's "Not available".

Thanks

weatherman · 11-21-2011, 10:07 AM

Good app suggestions - thanks!

The book you downloaded was probably pulled by the publisher for some reason - maybe an editing problem or perhaps a license dispute. That's my guess.

TechnoCat · 11-21-2011, 10:26 AM

The interesting thing about Snuff is that it was (judging from the Amazon comments on it) online for quite a while with typos, and then a few months ago a fixed version was released.

MarkY · 11-21-2011, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechnoCat

Opera Mini. Yeah, Amazon includes a browser. I prefer Opera.

Thanks

I assume you had to sideload Opera Mini?

Blossom · 11-21-2011, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkY

I assume you had to sideload Opera Mini?

Yes you can get it here. Site is slow but it works.

Blossom · 11-21-2011, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechnoCat

Hello. My Kindle Fire arrived Weds 16 Nov. First off, thanks to Blossom(?) for her posts on getting books onto the puppy.

Thanks

You're welcome. Happy you found my posts useful!

RainingLemur · 11-21-2011, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechnoCat

[*]Voodoo OTA RootKeeper, so that I can turn root on/off and keep Video working.

Aha. This sounds right up my alley.

TechnoCat · 11-21-2011, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkY

I assume you had to sideload Opera Mini?

Yes, but my approach is simply to adb pull my apps from my Android phone and File Explorer copy/install them on the Fire. Takes less time than finding them on a website or even the marketplace.

11-21-2011, 09:47 AM	#1
TechnoCat Zealot Posts: 131 Karma: 150390 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Pacific NorthWest Device: Kindle Fire	And it reads ebooks too! Hello. My Kindle Fire arrived Weds 16 Nov. First off, thanks to Blossom(?) for her posts on getting books onto the puppy. Some thoughts and questions. Built-In features: Amazon Video is pretty impressive I have a super-fast commercial fibre connection and N WiFi, but Netflix is so jumpy it's unwatchable What? No Exchange email support? (See below) No Calendar? The Cloud base storage is a bit small As is 7GB or so of storage Love the screen Not loving how many apps Amazon's store claims are "not compatible" So... I started working around it. Currently I have... Quantum's Enhanced Email; I needed 2xExchange accounts, and even TouchDown can't do that. Business Calendar, which Amazon claims is not compatible, but which works wonderfully with both calendars. Opera Mini. Yeah, Amazon includes a browser. I prefer Opera. File Expert, which is a fantastic way of getting files on the Fire. It can access a Windows share directly and even install from it, and while it can't seem to do that with a Mac SMB share, it can act as a web server for copying to the Fire from the Mac. Root stuff: SuperUser, Root Explorer, SQLite Explorer. Useful for me, probably not for most people. I haven't used it for anything a non-developer would care about. Voodoo OTA RootKeeper, so that I can turn root on/off and keep Video working. My own list/password/shopping app, which syncs to my PC, Mac (yes, I use both) and any J2ME, Nokia and Android devices I'm using. I had to fix a small bug in it but it doesn't require any Kindle-specific code. One very bizarre thing: I buy all my books from Amazon and have been using Kindle software on my iPod and Android phone for a long time. Last week I sync'd a "sample" of Terry Pratchett's Snuff onto my phone. Two days later Snuff was no longer available, sample or full, for the Kindle. Still on UK site (which I will forever think of as BookPages), but not in the U.S. Any idea what's up with that? Even in the sample if I try to buy, it's "Not available". Thanks

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11-21-2011, 10:07 AM	#2
weatherman Addict Posts: 385 Karma: 1010052 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: (previous: Kindle 2, Kindle Fire) Kindle 4 WiFi, K3K, KPW	Good app suggestions - thanks! The book you downloaded was probably pulled by the publisher for some reason - maybe an editing problem or perhaps a license dispute. That's my guess.

11-21-2011, 10:26 AM	#3
TechnoCat Zealot Posts: 131 Karma: 150390 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Pacific NorthWest Device: Kindle Fire	The interesting thing about Snuff is that it was (judging from the Amazon comments on it) online for quite a while with typos, and then a few months ago a fixed version was released.

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