Amazon Fire and KGS

[oren]

I only care about one app, and that would be a KGS app. Since I can't be sure it with be available for the Fire any time in the future my best bet is probably to buy a Kindle Touch for 99 bucks, which will not be money wasted even if I eventually buy a Fire, since the Touch would give me an entirely different reading experience for all my Kindle books, and allow me to use the lending library.

I posted a link which seems to show how to get the Android Market onto a Kindle Fire earlier in the thread. I'm sure you can find more around now.

[goddess]

Well, now maybe it will have to be the Fire. I am so conflicted I can't stand it.

Terri

[pitirre]

i have the new kindle fire and it is great. the only problem is that there is not a good app for playing GO online. i can play chess, reversi, chinese chess...BUT not my favorite; go.

please, someone, an app for playing live go.

[goddess]

After deciding that the video offerings from Amazon are not good enough to justify purchasing the Fire I reactivated my Netflix account and removed the DVD service. I did finally purchase the Kindle Touch, and I am glad I did. It is an entirely different reading experience than the iPad. The page turning experience is only slightly annoying with the transition from one page to the next, and it is fairly easy to get used to it. The smaller you can keep the text the less frequently you need to turn pages, so I have settled on a fairly small font size. In two days I am already nearly halfway through my first free loaner book from Amazon. I was lucky enough to get a loan on the 28th of November and saw that I could borrow again on the 1st of December. So they apparently go by the calendar month rather than the date you first borrow. I'm not going to regret getting the Kindle Touch even if I go on to eventually get the Kindle Fire. I tried the text to speech functionality, and the voice was less robotic than I expected it to be. It was kind of nice to be able to follow along with the audio while the pages were turned automatically for me. I didn't do that for long, however, as I prefer to read for myself.

Has anyone managed to get the KGS phone app on the Fire yet? If so, what is the experience like?

Terri

[kirkmc]

A colleague returned the Touch for the regular Kindle, because he was annoyed by the page turning, and felt it was just as easy to press the buttons on the cheaper Kindle.

I did buy the cheap Kindle, and while the contrast is better than the Kindle I bought a couple of years ago, it's still not good enough for me. I prefer the iPad's backlight, even though it's much heavier than the Kindle. I also find the Kindle's screen to be a bit too small.

[goddess]

My initial impression was that the contrast wasn't sharp enough for me either. But then I realized that I just needed to "put a little light on the subject". I was so used to being able to sit in low light to read on the iPad that I had forgotten the importance of lighting for reading. I found that I got used to the contrast fairly quickly, and I like the fact that it is lighter and smaller for reading. I doubt that I will abandon reading on the iPad altogether. Whisper Sync insures that I can pick up where I left off on either device. I'll probably continue to use both.

Are you saying that the page turning on the regular kindle doesn't flicker like it does on the Touch? I doubt I would trade it in to get rid of the flicker. It sure is nice to have options.

Terri

[kirkmc]

I find that in the same light I use to read dead-tree books, it's not enough light for the Kindle.

No, it flickers; I think my friend was just saying that there's more of a lag than when pressing the buttons on the regular Kindle.

This said, I would like to see the Fire, and how it stacks up just as an ebook reader. It's a bit lighter than the iPad, though the screen is smaller.

[goddess]

I am sure that the Fire would be a nice book reader. I just felt that it was going to be too much like the iPad. What I was surprised about is how sturdy the Kindle Touch is. As I was opening the package I thought it looked a lot like an external usb hard drive from the back. The metal is nice.

Terri

[alejo]

I'm also wondering if I should get myself a Fire for Xmas... actually it's more or less like an ipad 2, smaller and lighter (with its pros and cons), and since you can insert both android market and/or other android OS. And it's price is about a third of the ipad2 in Spain...

the real question is: is it really comfortable to spend long hours on a device like ipad? I mean it because of the retro-ilumination should tire your eyes...

[LocoRon]

the real question is: is it really comfortable to spend long hours on a device like ipad? I mean it because of the retro-ilumination should tire your eyes...

I think this is something you'll have to try for yourself. I've seen some reviews where the person can't stand reading on tablets because of the backlight. Personally, I do all my reading (other than textbooks for school) on a 10" Android tablet, and I think it's a great experience. But then, I spend 90% of my time in front of a screen anyway, so maybe I'm just used to having a backlit display.

[oren]

Just a couple more weeks for Asus Transformer Prime.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/asus ... me-review/

[kirkmc]

the real question is: is it really comfortable to spend long hours on a device like ipad? I mean it because of the retro-ilumination should tire your eyes...

I can read for hours. Remember, you can adjust the brightness of the backlight, so you can find the most comfortable lighting for any conditions (though a backlit device doesn't work well in bright light, such as outdoors in sun).

[hyperpape]

I know I shouldn't reignite any tablet wars, but c'mon...

One final annoyance: when mounted in the dock, the whole contraption is disconcertingly top-heavy, the Transformer itself weighing considerably more than the lid of your average laptop. This made the thing very prone to tipping over backward. In fact we inadvertently sent ours tumbling off of its perch and toward the floor while writing this very section of the review. Some deft reflexes, honed on years of Samurai Showdown and its ilk, saved our tablet from crashing into the floor, but suffice to say you should always use yours in a secure location.

[oren]

I know I shouldn't reignite any tablet wars, but c'mon...

One final annoyance: when mounted in the dock, the whole contraption is disconcertingly top-heavy,

Yeah, I have no plan of getting the keyboard add-on. I have a netbook for that. I think it's neat, but I don't particularly care about it.

[wms]

Agreed. I love my transformer (I love that I used it nonstop on a 24 hour set of flights recently and it lasted the whole way), but I have no interest in the dock. I just use it as a pad and it's great for that. If I wanted a laptop I would have a laptop.