So, 2nd generation means these are the… 2013 models?
Do they come with (or even support) whatever the latest Fire OS is (5.3 something or so)?
Edit: Looking closer, I think actually 2012, which would mean it only runs an old Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich based version of Fire OS…
Are these with or without special offers?
[MOD: Includes special offers (noted in title)]
Definitely worth $35. I have a two-year old refurb of the 7" 16GB 2012 Fire and I still use it on a near daily basis.
I wasn’t fond of the OS that it shipped with. I run cyanogenmod and while people don’t develop for these models anymore, there are still a lot of roms to choose from. Wasn’t too hard to replace the OS despite my limited know-how.
I watch a lot of live TV on it without connection/video problems. I primarily use it as a remote control for media on my PC. It can run most PSP games flawlessly, which is a lot more than I thought it was capable of. Screen is pretty responsive - I’m able to sketch on it when using a finer stylus.
I think I get some hiccups here and there when I start to multi-task. But that could also be because of the different firmware. Keeping the Fire OS probably will at least give you a little more stability.
That is the biggest question. Do these come with FireOS 5.3? or an earlier version?
From Amazon:
“Update on UltraViolet. Flixster will be discontinuing UltraViolet movie streaming and download on Kindle Fire devices starting Apr 15, 2016. You will not be able to view your collection, stream or play previously downloaded movies after that date. We’d advice you to delete any downloaded movies before that day. Alternatively, you can free up space by going into the Settings app. We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience.”
I found out just before a trip. I could still use the Fire to listen to music and surf the internet. But not for watching my movie collection which is was the only reason I registered the digital version to begin with.
Dudes, you can get the latest and greatest Amazon Fire for about the same price. Go check that out before pulling the trigger here.
Own one. Never tried loading a different OS. Wasn’t a big fan. It is good for the price (and I will say you get a lot for not much money). It is definitely no iPad, but it is 1/10th the price. We were spoiled with our iPad. Ended up buying another iPad. My wallet was not happy.
Includes special offers (noted in title)
They will have an earlier version of FireOS. The version may vary from unit to unit.
Translation: If you are a tech savvy tinkerer and want to devote the time, you can make these more usable.
But if you think cyanogenmod is a chemical dropped on trapped Syrians, this is not for you.
The current model is only 8 GB, but has expansion via MicroSD and is $49.95.
But I know little about these. Can the new models read the books out loud? Can music or books placed on the card be played/read? I assume you can’t pop in a card full of ePubs and read them?
I bought one of these in July and am very satisfied with it. I use it mostly to read books (surprise!) from Amazon or from public libraries using the Overdrive app. I download the books through Overdrive in the ePub format. You can also download audio books to play on the Kindle.
I have other devices for movies and games so I have not tried those features.
From what I have seen, you have to pay extra for a book on Amazon to use the narration feature.
This device seems to take quite a long time to charge. My Samsung tablet charges in at least half the time.
Aren’t there several other apps that can manage Ultraviolet? Or is it that only that one works on Kindle?
I have the current gen 8gb Fire and it has a lower resolution screen than this one. So I would expect the reading and video experience on these to be a little better (probably less pixelated looking).
From the description:
Booming sound with distortion
Interesting selling point…
If you mean “text to speech” as opposed to audible books, it looks like this model supports it.
I don’t have experience with the Kindle devices but I’ve been using the Kindle Android app and it’s able to read eBooks that are loaded into the relevant directory, though I think I’ve only tried it with the .mobi format and .pdf. I’d presume the Amazon tablets have at least some means of loading eBooks from other sources, though if it doesn’t work directly for some reason you can set up a way to email documents to your Amazon account. I doubt that would support the read-aloud feature on stuff not bought via Amazon though. But you can get books on MP3 from various places, and just load them the same way as music.
Why doesn’t my coupon code for $10 off $25 or more work?