kindle fire?

[ramonesfreak]

my dad bought my mother one for xmas. neither are gadget people and my mom is only just learning to use a computer

so, my dad gives me the kindle to get comfortable with and learn so i can teach my mother when he gives it to her. despite my urging to get an ipad

well ive got about 8 hours into this thing today, playing with it and reading articles and watching tutorials...and im very frustrated by the thing. i really really appreciate how easy apple's operating system is and how everything is integrated to make it easy and convenient and how great everything is presented and organized on the screens

for example, i wanted to load it up with wedding pics and baby pics etc....but, no micro usb in the box. how nice! had to drive to best buy and get one. ok, after multiple attempts plugging it into my laptop, my computer finally sees it. i transfer pics via usb. open kindle, no pics. try again, pics show up. now that pics are there, i would like to arrange them into albums like "wedding pics" "baby pics" etc.... but ill be damned if i can figure out how to do it. i see no option to create albums with custom names. my iphone can do this and i figured out how to do it in 2 seconds. what am i missing, not to mention that the gallery app on the thing is very clunky and slow

i could go on and on about its glitchy software, no external volume buttons, crappy pinch-zoom, no dedicated home button, lousy navigation menu, sometimes the touch screen doesnt register a touch, sometimes its too sensitive etc....

this is no product for a 65 year old mom who barely knows how to search with google on a laptop if i cant easily figure it out after an entire day

is anyone happy with this thing? any tips, secrets or encouragement from anyone that has one?

[tchanson]

This pretty much mirrors my recent experience.

My 68 year old mother bought one when they came out in mid-November. When back home at Thanksgiving, I installed a wireless router for her and got the Fire set up.

After playing around with it for a bit, I found it slow, counter-intuitive and ultimately frustrating compared to my iPad. I'm no APL fan boy, but I was not at all impressed by the Fire.

I suppose that it does meet Amazon's modest goals, at roughly a third of the price of an iPad and maybe a third of the capability.



Tim

[Uber-fanatic]

Originally Posted by tchanson

at roughly a third of the price of an iPad and maybe a third of the capability.


Tim

3rd of the price, but only a 1/10th of capability. And that's being kind to the Kindle.

[ramonesfreak]

its 11pm and ive been messing with it on and off since 8am...

im pretty good with tech stuff but this thing is a bit challenging to learn...its not intuitive. it doesnt have the feel of something thats been tested over and over and perfected. its not the piece of crap i thought it was this morning but im not loving it. i am getting better with it though

but things like trying to figure out if you can sign out of your email account should not take me 30 minutes of searching online forums.

is your mother using it?

[ramonesfreak]

and the home screen carousel wow what an awful idea...anything you do on it, including me just reading this page on it, shows up on the home screen for anyone to see...with no way to delete? what on earth are they doing not allowing deletions

i hope my mom isnt into porn or everyone that picks it up is gonna see it! yuck

EDIT: i found this to clear the home page in case anyone needs to know. thank god i found this

Deleting from the Carousel [Settings = gear icon in the upper right corner of screen]

To clear Videos:
Settings > More > Applications > Amazon Video > Clear Data

To clear Apps:
Settings > More > Applications > filter by All Applications > AppManager > Clear Data

To clear Web Pages:
Settings > More > Applications > Browser > Clear Data

[JavaBrewer]

Should have read the reviews and gone with the Nook Tablet. My daughter is an avid book reader and the Tablet will be in her stocking this year...rooted and sporting a slick ROM of course. Curse B&N, Amazon, ATT, Sprint, etc...who all feel the need to neuter the Android OS.

[ramonesfreak]

i read alot and advised my father not to get it based on what i read. i advised him to get an ipad. for an old lady with no computing experience, i knew anything but apple would be too complex, frustrating, confusing and not fun. and also because im not in the mood to learn android and then have to teach her android when me and my brother already know apple's system and can explain things over the phone to her when we are not around.

but, price won out and he seemed to find all the good reviews for the kindle

[JavaBrewer]

I totally understand. I just setup my Father (he is 78) with an iPad. He refused my recommendation on an android tablet cause all his buddies said the "iPad was the best". He didn't like that it came in white...his generation all the 'Pro' stuff was black anodized...

So now after lessons from me and the Apple store he is still lost with the iPad. No idea how to transfer pictures to it after all the help. He can get his email...and browse the net...but after that he is afraid to touch it.

Sucks to get old.

[JavaBrewer]

Actually for mainstream stuff, email, web, pictures, music, there is ZERO difference between Android and iOS...unless you are already invested in the Apple train...

[ramonesfreak]

does he want to trade his ipad for a kindle fire? haha

its tough when you take someone in their later years, who has never used a computer, and to expect them to understand and use something as advanced as an ipad or kindle or smartphone. im only 39 and have been on the computer since my commodore 64 and this stuff still takes me a long time to learn.

[LeeH]

My wife gave me a Fire as an early Christmas present so I would have it for a trip to Belize. Is it perfect? No. But for $200 I think it does a lot for the money.

[porsche4life]

Played with a fire for a few minutes when we were picking up dads iPad today. I much prefer the ipad.

I love my kindle touch to read, but if I wanted a web tablet, it'd be an ipad....