What the hell is an Amazon Kindle for?

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
350
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I have a Kindle Fire HDX 8.9.

I can't find a use for it. It has a camera. I can read kindle books on it. I use it mainly for a little bit of android gaming.

It's hard to see what it's supposed to do for the price.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
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For what purpose did you originally purchase it for?
 

ewdotson

Golden Member
Oct 30, 2011
1,295
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If it were a regular Kindle, I'd say read books. For a Kindle Fire, I'd say consume media. That is, surf the internet, watch videos, etc. If that sort of thing doesn't appeal to you (and there are plenty of people for whom it wouldn't), I'm not entirely sure why you would have bought it in the first place.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
350
126
The size of the market for tablets suggested they must be good for something. Then you see a sale and... let's find out what this is all about. I thought I'd use it for books.

That made some sense - lower prices (sometimes), and save the space the books would take.

I took a chance on an echo, and am enjoying it a lot for music.
 

Dulanic

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2000
9,957
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Echo I have a ton of use for and love mine. Kindle fire? No thanks. I have a kindle for books and a laptop for other uses.

My son is 3 and has a Kind Fire Kids... but that thing blows and crashes all the time. But he's 3 1/2 so he can deal with it :)
 

ControlD

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
5,440
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My primary tablet uses are:

- Reading books
- Watching Netflix / Prime / Plex
- Streaming music
- Web browsing

In other words, consumption. Generally while I am on the couch or sitting in an airplane. As mentioned already, if you aren't looking for a media consumption device then a tablet probably isn't going to be of much interest to you.

I think however you have summed up a lot of people's experiences with tablets. Everyone has one so they must be great. Then half of them sit on a shelf and never get used.
 
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Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
5,530
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Kindle Paperwhite - reading
Kindle Fire - watching

I imagine it's for anyone who heavily uses Prime Video?

Personally, I find nearly zero use for a tablet. My wife and I were gifted an iPad mini last winter, and after 6 months we ended up giving it to our sister-in-law.
 

Artdeco

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2015
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The big advantage for Kindle tablets (not the e-readers) is being able to download many Prime videos if you're a prime member for playback if there's no WiFi.
 
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Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
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The big advantage for Kindle tablets (not the e-readers) is being able to download many Prime videos if you're a prime member for playback if there's no WiFi.

Welllllllllllllllllllllllll I didn't know that, that's awesome :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
32,434
10,563
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The big advantage for Kindle tablets (not the e-readers) is being able to download many Prime videos if you're a prime member for playback if there's no WiFi.
You can do that with regular Google Android as well can't you? I do it on my phone all the time.

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Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
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I use my Android tablet for pretty much one thing: Reading comics. I have a bunch I bought through Play Books. My old android tablet died so I had to buy a new one.
 

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
38,466
3,067
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My mother in law bought the wife and sister in law the little $50 Amazon Fires for Christmas.

I really haven't messed with it much, but she loves the thing, from what I've seen it's pretty nice for $50. She uses it around the house all the time now instead of her phone for facebook, video stuff, etc. Yeah, we have Prime also.

She has one of my old gaming PC's in the guest bedroom for household things she hasn't even turned on much lately.
 
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stlc8tr

Golden Member
Jan 5, 2011
1,106
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I use my Android tablet for pretty much one thing: Reading comics. I have a bunch I bought through Play Books. My old android tablet died so I had to buy a new one.

Videos, comics, and magazines.

Lots of free digital magazine subscriptions available since it costs the publisher almost nothing to give them out.
 

Skel

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
6,218
678
136
I use my Android tablet for pretty much one thing: Reading comics. I have a bunch I bought through Play Books. My old android tablet died so I had to buy a new one.

cbr or comixology type stuff?
 

Midwayman

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
5,723
325
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The fire specifically exists to interact with the amazon ecosystem

Amazon Video
Amazon Music
Kindle Books
Shopping
Amazon app store.

Nothing you can't do on a general purpose tablet (except maybe the kindle lending library?) It just puts all that stuff front and center.
 

dainthomas

Lifer
Dec 7, 2004
14,830
3,780
136
Kindle Paperwhite - reading
Kindle Fire - watching

I imagine it's for anyone who heavily uses Prime Video?

Personally, I find nearly zero use for a tablet. My wife and I were gifted an iPad mini last winter, and after 6 months we ended up giving it to our sister-in-law.

What doesn't make sense is there are kindle and amazon video apps that work great. Why wouldn't someone just use those instead of getting locked into the horrible FireOS?