Kindle Fire HD Tablet Review

 Rating: 4 stars====================Product price: Check new Price in amazon====================Buy with Secure Transaction Amazon now…====================
Product Description* 1280x800 HD display with polarizing filter and anti-glare technology for rich color and deep contrast from any viewing angle* Exclusive Dolby audio and dual-driver stereo speakers for immersive, virtual surround soundWorld's first tablet with dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi for over 35% faster downloads and streaming (compared to the iPad mini)* High performance 1.2 Ghz dual-core processor with Imagination PowerVR 3D graphics core for fast and fluid performance* Over 23 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, books, audiobooks, and popular apps and games such as Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, HBO GO, Pandora, and Angry Birds Space* Integrated support for Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and more, as well as Exchange calendar, contacts, and email* Front-facing HD camera for taking photos or making video calls using Skype, Facebook, and other appsFree unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content* Kindle FreeTime — a free, personalized tablet experience just for kids on the Kindle Fire HD. Set daily screen limits, and give access to appropriate content for each child* Kindle FreeTime Unlimited — just for kids. Unlimited access to books, games, apps, movies and TV shows

Kindle Fire HD Tablet

Customer Reviews:* In comparing this HD Fire to the "regular" $159 Fire, I would have to say I prefer this one over the $159 from a usability standpoint: is that differential worth $40 more? That's your call. I think so, as you have more functionality, better screen resolution, and much better WiFi in addition to the usual well as whistles and bells. To sum up what I will tell you about in the details below, for just $199 you are getting one heck of a deal on a tablet computer - especially if you compare it to the $199 for the first-generation Fire (that didn't have HD) this one is replacing and the $500 or more you can spend on a Wi-Fi version of the iPad. Overall, if you consider the price and the functionality I think this is an outstanding tool / toy. My review below compares a lot of the features of this version of the Fire to the original Fire, but also some of the features for a first-time user.Screen Display / Video Playback:The best improvement in this version of the Fire is the screen display. Amazon has made some major changes in the display / resolution, and I compared the viewing experience watching - don't laugh - the first episode of the Wonder Woman TV series from the 70's. The display on this HD Fire was one heck of a lot better in terms of sharpness than last year's model and even this year's model. For you technical folks out there, the display is 1280x800 vs. the 1024x600 on last year's model and you could really see a major difference.A cool feature on this one that is not on the $159 Fire is the HDMI micro connection port. I have an HDMI micro plug and was able to hook this up to the big screen to (yes) watch the Wonder Woman TV episode. It played back great.Wi-Fi Connectivity:My standard test for trying out new gadgets is to see how fast they run side-by-side with a known piece of equipment doing the same test at the best place of Wi-Fi in my house and the worst place where it drags. In this comparison, I had this HD version of the Fire sitting next to the previous version of the Fire, my Motorola RAZR smartphone, my iPad 2 (yes, the Kindle guy uses an iPad for work), and the new 7" Fire (the "regular" Fire is in a separate yet similar review) all just using a Wi-Fi connection vs. cellular connectivity..My website test is to hit the mobile websites of FoxNews, CNN, my personalized Yahoo page, Google, and the Houston Chronicle. The ones that were usually slow on the other devices and were still slow but faster than the other devices (Houston Chronicle and CNN), and for the other sites I couldn't tell a difference in speed at the location closest to my router. When I went to the slowest / worst reception location of my house, the speed did have a noticeable difference in the other devices as this one was faster which I would attribute to the dual antennas, except it did lose connection on CNN but all of the devices lost connection to CNN. On the signal strength bar, I always got one additional bar - meaning more strength - than all of the other devices.Sound / Music Playback:Different than last year's model and the $159 this year'smodel, the two speakers are located in the back of the Kindle Fire in two not-noticeable ports. My test of this feature was cranking up Van Halen's Panama to maximum volume (I wanted to see if it could really play the guitar licks), and I would alternate covering one speaker up over the other: you have true stereo sound with no degradation of the sound that makes you think you are about to blow the speaker. However, the sound is not as crisp as the $159 Fire as the sound is going away from you with the speakers being in the back.Email Setup:Email setup was very easy, but I will tell you I am using an existing app called Enhanced Email that I received here on the Amazon app store for free vs. what came as standard with the Fire. I did setup the email app that came with the program with no problem - it took about a minute to setup my main Google account - and I was able to send and receive emails with no problem. For those of you asking yourself why am I using the Enhanced Email program, the simple answer is like many of you I have more than one email account: you can quickly switch back and forth on the accounts with the tool. The lazy person in me appreciates that as I don't like getting out of the lazy chair once I'm settled in!New Tabs and Screen Layout:In addition to the normal Newsstand, Books, Music, Video, Docs, Apps, and Web tabs Amazon has added a new look and feel to the overall display such as rather than 5 rows of 5 apps per row on the apps tab it is now 4 rows of apps with 4 apps per row which means bigger icons and fonts (yes), but more things to scroll through to find what you are looking for. To offset that pain, I think that's why the added the new tabs called Shop, Games, Audiobooks, and Offers. While many of these are self-explanatory, there are a LOT of ads in each of the tabs - after all, Amazon wants you to buy a lot of stuff to help offset whatever the true cost of this unit is.While the apps tab has all of your apps in the cloud or on the device, the games tab basically slices and dices the apps you have to be game specific - that's pretty handy and helps out quite a bit, especially if you have a lot of apps and want to sit down and play a game (although you still have to scroll away to find, say, a business app in the app tab).What I think is a really nice new feature is the Audiobooks tab. Amazon of course gives you many opportunities in this tab to make purchases from their Audible subsidiary, but you also have a "Library" area where you can see your audiobooks that are stored either on the Cloud or on your Kindle Fire in the Device tab.Reading Books:When the Fire first came out, I preferred reading on my e-Ink Kindle and not at all on the Fire. That's because I think reading is easier on my eyes with the e-Ink version of Kindle, but I'm getting there! Turning pages is pretty darn easy - just tap the side of the screen to go to the next page or back a page, or you can swipe your finger across the screen to do the same.BLUETOOTH!Finally, there is a Bluetooth connection, which is the #1 thing I wanted on the $159 Fire and last year's Fire! I tested this by taking it out to my car, and having the Fire stream music through my car stereo. There were no delays or skips with the connection, and it paired up in about 30 seconds. Just make sure you give it a device name so you can recognize it and be recognized.Memory:You get 16GB of memory vs. the standard 8GB. With storage on the cloud, it could be hard to fill it up - my kids filled up 8GB, however, so the extra 8GB of storage is nice to me.Camera:I have used the camera for Skype conversations and it was good. I'm not much of a picture taker, nor do I Skype very often so the camera functionality is not something I was dying to have: besides, I think it would look funny as I've seen people with iPads flip the thing around to take a shot. Call me old fashioned, but if it's other than an impromptu picture I'd rather use a real camera. Besides, neither my daughter or I could figure out how to use the camera other than with Skype!What I wish It Had:The #1 thing would be a plug / charger that connects to an electrical outlet vs. a USB port on your computer or a USB-compatible charging plug you may already own. I realize they had to cut things out to keep the cost down to $199, and luckily I - like many of you - have lots of these things laying around. First time buyers may not, but they might be in the minority.Overall, at $199 this is not a great deal it is an outstanding deal. Kids will love it as they can read books, play games, watch TV and movies, and a whole lot of other things. Adults should like it for the exact same reasons, but while I try to minimize the amount of work-related stuff I do at home with the business apps that are available here in the Amazon App store and other places around the Internet I can also work on Excel and Word-compatible files when I have to without having to fire up my work laptop or whatever the case may be. The addition of HDMI, hard drive storage, and Bluetooth are more than worth the additional $40 than the "regular" Kindle Fire. If I had to choose just one between the two, I would pick this one. * I purchased the Kindle Fire HD a few days after it came out and I liked it well enough. However, it became my true companion and best friend this past week during the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, and I have a new appreciation for this awesome device!We lost power for a week, and this is when my kindle really shined. I was able to recharge it quickly at a charging station and watch movies (downloaded to my device using the librarys wifi) during the cold nights in my home. I was also able to listen to Pandora radio, read a novel in the dark, play games and watch a movie while waiting on a 2 hour line to get gas.My kindle was with me at all times during the week. Its portable and has awesome battery life.What I really appreciated about my kindle this week was that I could recharge it in the car so that I didn't need to constantly go back to the recharging station, and the charge lasted through movies, music, novels and games.I was able to take my kindle to the local library which still has wifi and surf the web and keep on top of the local news. It was much easier to carry around than my laptop, and kept its charge much longer. It also did a great job of detecting and connecting to wifi.My Kindle kept me sane during the hurricane! and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves to read, listen to music, play games, watch movies and surf the web.Great product!