Kindle Fire HD Q&A thread (read me)

SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl

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Details on the LTE subscription. Is this going to be $50 for one year only, then be forced into a regular data plan?

Is there any deal on the larger data plans or are they full price?
 

etnpnys

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Details on the LTE subscription. Is this going to be $50 for one year only, then be forced into a regular data plan?

Is there any deal on the larger data plans or are they full price?

+1 to MORE details on this.

I don't see that it makes sense to give somebody only 250MB...

...unless Amazon will give you unlimited from their servers! Prime video, music, cloud storage, etc.
 

farbster

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How will rooting this affect reading books? Is the android kindle app a different experience from the regular reading on a kindle? Does rooting it turn it totally into an android tab?
 

BigKenW

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Does the Fire HD have hardware volume buttons?

I haven't seen this in any of the reviews I have read.

I hated the lack of physical buttons on my original Fire. I thought I could get used to it, but it was horrible given some lag in the OS. Also, depending on the app, volume worked in different ways (Amazon Instant Video vs Netflix for example).
 

ucfgrad93

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Re: Kindle Fire HD Q&A thread (read me)

1. What hardware controls are there on the device?

Does the Fire HD have hardware volume buttons?

Judging from the attached picture (taken from the Amazon website) it looks like it will have a volume rocker.

- - - Updated - - -

What I hate is Amazon forcing advertizing onto a $370 tablet! That really and truly sucks great big spoiled bananas! It was really hard to justify paying that much for an advertizing player and I may cancel just because of that.

I have been hearing mixed reports on whether or not you can opt out of the ads. For now, I'm taking a wait and see approach.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/08/amazon-kindle-hd-will-allow-users-to-opt-out-of-special-offers-for-15/
 

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psugrad97

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Can you please tell me how the fire hd streams over a 3g hot spot? I have the capability on my phone and was wondering if i would be able to use that to access the amazon prime streaming movies.
 

darkmatter

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As to the large bezel. Its meant to be held. The large bezel is for you to let your fingers handle the thing witthout getting in the way of the screen.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2
 

BillyJoeW

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I am considering purchase of a Kindle Fire HD 7 and want to run Netflix and Comcast's Xfinity on it. Are the Netflix and Xfinity Apps readily available and do they run well on the Kindle Fire HD 7??
 

DroidDev

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Netflix works fantastic on it. It has pair of really good WiFi Antennas. Netflix is readily available. Not sure about Xfinity. Plus the Dolby Stereo on the Kindle is nice. Im on the fence between the nexus 7 and the kindle fire hd.

My main concern is the lack Google Play store. I not heavily invested in either ecosystem. But eh.
 

socialcarpet

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I'd love to see a list of pros and cons versus the competition. Personally I can't think of any reason why someone would get a Fire HD 7 over a Nexus 7, but I'd love to see your take on it.
 

cfbush2000

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I have used my phone as a hotspot. I have had only one failure, and I'm not sure why. You could stream movies, but I'm sure you have a cap on your data plan, and streaming movies will eat data fast.
 

Larry Pager

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I'd love to see a list of pros and cons versus the competition. Personally I can't think of any reason why someone would get a Fire HD 7 over a Nexus 7, but I'd love to see your take on it.

I picked out a KFHD 8.9" over a Nexus 10- so I guess it's the same, yeah?

PROS of the KFHD
- a totally different experience (it's not a bigger version of my Android phone). Hence I don't feel like I dropped $300 for a 8.9", no cell-radio version of my phone.
- you get full access to all Amazon prime content. BUT...
- you really don't need Prime to enjoy it- You can download netflix for videos. The prime for books are good for a free rental a month and the selection isn't great and you can cherry pick books or magazines you want to read. You can sideload nook or zinio if you like them.
- cheaper than the Nexus. If you don't mind the ads (and they are not intrusive at all, IMO), you can knock off another $15.
- amazing sound for a tablet
- it's so focused one particular thing that as long as it does the content consumption, who cares about JB, Google Now, new hardware. I don't feel like I'm in this rat race to constantly upgrade the OS or hardware. Who cares? Just let me borrow more books! Get more videos on Prime!

CONS of the KFHD
- buggy, the default internet browser sucks and the OS is not as stable
- some glaring omissions in terms of apps- although you can sideload apps very easily, it's an annoyance. No youtube app? For realz?
- you're not getting the full, apple bottomed experience of stock Android and the Google apps that come with it.
- no real great ROMS last I checked, but someone at XDA is working on it.
- you need to pay $15 for ads to go away
 

selwood75

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Larry - Your post says that you can "sideload apps very easily". How do I find how to do this? And how do I find a list of apps that actually work on the Kindle Fire HD? Thank you.
 

Larry Pager

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Larry - Your post says that you can "sideload apps very easily". How do I find how to do this? And how do I find a list of apps that actually work on the Kindle Fire HD? Thank you.
Warning- I am not responsible for what happens to your Kindle if you follow these directions. Follow them at your own risk.

The basics of sideloading
Every app has an .apk file, which is the file you use to install the app on your Android device. The 3 basic steps to sideload an app are 1) find the .apk file of the app you want and 2) get it on your Kindle and 3) click on the .apk file. It's the first two steps that people have trouble with, but really it's not too hard.

Except for Google apps.
Why? They use other .apk files like googleservicesframework.apk and stuff like that. In theory, find the right .apk files and you can install Google Play, gmail, any google apps. I haven't fiddled with it, so I'm not the best authority on that. I can use youtube, but I don't have an account so I don't know if you can log in or not.

Where to get .apk files?
- You can download them straight from the internet and other app stores. I'm a bit paranoid and don't quite trust what's out there. Unless it's straight from a developer, i.e. dropbox.
- You can get the .apk of the app you want on an Android device using ES file explorer. This is what I did.

This is the way I sideload apps- there are multiple ways of doing this using different apps. But the basics are the same.

Step 1- getting the .apk files from an Android device
- I installed ES file explorer from Google Play onto my old tablet
- Open ES file explore and click on "AppMgr" on the top
- Long press on the app you want to copy and a menu will pop up- click on "backup" and it will create the .apk file- I think you set the file destination- if not, it will flash a brief message to which folder it saved the .apk file.
- Do this for all the apps you want.

Step 2- Install dropbox on your KFHD- I didn't do this but just found this out. I downloaded the dropbox .apk file to my laptop, plugged in my KFHD to my laptop, and transferred the dropbox .apk that way.
- Go to www.dropbox.com/mobile on your KFHD
- Click on the Kindle Fire app.
- Follow the directions (if a warning pops up saying you can't install the app because it's a non-market app or whatever, click on settings and turn on the "allow for installation of 3rd party apps"

Step 3- Install ES file explorer onto your KFHD
- You can download this from the Amazon app store.

Step 4- Download the .apk files onto your KFHD
- Open ES File Explorer and go to the folder you downloaded the .apk files. Remember to allow the KFHD to install 3rd party apps. Click on the .apk file and you'll get the permissions info page and click on "install."
- Done!

Step 5- Make sure the app installed
- Remember, just because you installed the app does not mean it will show up in the carousel
- Click on the "Apps" menu on the carousel view.
- Still don't see it? At the top of the screen, you'll see the "Cloud/Device" buttons. Make sure you've selected "Device."
- Often the icons are blown up and fuzzy looking. That's normal. You can find .apk files that people have fiddled with so they have a sharp-looking icon.

This is a list of apps I've downloaded that have worked
- NY times
- Youtube
- CNBC
- Dolphin Browser
- Dropbox

I'm not aware of a list of apps that work this way.
 

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