There is a reason Fires are cheap.
I had an HDX, and while it for the most part a nice tablet for the price, it is just much too limited unless you want to jump through hoops.
Plug for tom and because it’s the one I am considering.
Yeah but their lock everything down seems a bit unnecessary. I am all for convenience, am a Prime member, review almost everything on Amazon (I buy a lot there), and they don’t have to convince me to stay in their eco system. I have two Amazon Fire TVs, one Fire TV Stick, an Echo and an aging tablet. I prefer to keep everything in one place. I just want access to more apps, many of which are just… free. The sideloading is free but it has to be redone ever so often to keep the apps up to date since they won’t update naturally. It’s just a pain. I want Gmail and Chrome. I barely buy digital content outside of Amazon now, and it’s not because of the tablet.
Sure, but Android and iOS tablets get all the Amazon and Google stuff, and in the case of a Android, for only slightly more money, which includes a far better OS. Of course on iOS you have to buy Amazon stuff through a web page, not in their apps, but is the only difference there.
I haven’t used one of the budget Fires, but from what I have heard/read, they are grossly under performing. I guess if you just want a reading/streaming device they are pretty good though.
Unless it’s changed, you still can’t watch Prime Video content on non-Kindle Android devices.
They’re not grossly under performing though. I have one a Fire HD now that does what I wanted to do, it’s almost… 4 year old I think. Show me another 100 tablet that performs to your requirement… most likely your comparing it to a device that 2 or 3 times more expensive.
Sorry, forgot about that one. Figured they would have worked that out by now. I would be curious to what the market share of Fires vs Android tablets is. Surely Amazon must be far ahead?
I think they did with the Amazon Underground app.
Amazon Video Android app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.avod.thirdpartyclient&hl=en
I’ve been watching shows like Arrow and The 100 during my commute on my phone thanks to the Amazon Prime Video app. It must have been available for a year. And it lets you pre-download content. It’s really good.
Wendelius
See, I knew I could rely on Qt3 to refresh my memory!
(my Prime account lapsed while my partner was out of work, so I’m admittedly a little out of touch with that platform)
Don’t beat yourself up too much, Mr. Penblade. It actually took me forever to figure out that the app existed when I recently, impulsively decided I wanted to continue a show on my phone. Amazon does (or did) very little to help you find it naturally if you don’t already know what you’re looking for.
Which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me… then again their overpriced locked down phone didn’t make sense to me either.
Amazon has the best tablets on the market-- if you have little kids.
Their tablets aimed at kids are cheap, durable, come with a no questions asked replacement warranty, have a bunch of ways to control how your kid uses the device (no use after 8PM, must read 60 min of books to watch 60min of video, choosing specific content available, etc) and some of the models take SDcards for expandable storage too. The experience and flexibility Amazon offers for parents is completely unmatched. I’m at the age where all my friends are breeding and it is truly magical how giving a screaming child a movie to watch shuts them up.
Also the Amazon “Really Free” game program is excellent. They have a selection of mobile android games that are free to download and free to play too-- all the DLC is free.
If you don’t have kids, or your kids are older than 12 or so, Amazon tablets are still dirt cheap and make great media consumption and game playing devices. Just don’t try to do anything else. Their browser is shit, their email client is garbage, and their app selection is awful.
This is why I’ve been considering the others, but they cost a lot more than 90 and the reviews seem… iffy for something that much more. I see there is rumor of a Nexus 2016 though… which could be promising.
I tried this out. It doesn’t work for me. First of all their link to get the “Google USB Drivers” doesn’t work. So I looked them up and found them elsewhere, but then it says under Device Manager I should find the Fire and update the drivers. There’s no fire, just an unknown USB device, and when I tried to update its drivers as instructed, it doesn’t allow me to do it.
It gives me the error:
“The folder you specified doesn’t contain a compatible software driver for your device. If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for x64-based systems.”
So maybe the only way to do this is to turn off Windows driver signature verification, which is exactly what this method was trying to avoid?
The other possibility is that we have a machine at work that still runs Windows 7. Maybe I can take the tablet to work and install the appropriate things using that machine instead.
I need a new tablet and I’m looking for something with a big enough screen (at least 8, preferably 10 inch) so I can easily read digital comics. I use Comicrack for my digital comic reading, which apparently doesn’t work on Amazon Fire tablets, so those are out. Ability to play simple games (like Star Realms) is nice, too. Beyond that I don’t need much of anything…no kids stuff, no mobile connection, not planning to watch movies on it. What would the hivemind recommend?
I recognize you may not be interested in Apple but the iPad Air 2 at $299 is an awesome tablet.
In a lot of ways the Pixel C is slower and it is $499.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9972/the-google-pixel-c-review/2
To piggy back this comment:
@ineffablebob
If you do decide to go to an iPad - Chunky is a great digital comic reader (it can do manga too).
I have 4 tablets, and my absolute favorite for comics reading is the Asus Zenpad 8. High-quality display (same rez as the iPad), super lightweight and about $200 cheaper. Admittedly, I don’t do much mobile gaming, but Cthulhu Realms, Ascension and that Final Fantasy game all work just fine on it. It’s pretty much my go-to for reading books and comics now, though.
Thanks for the suggestions. That Zenpad looks pretty good, @charmtrap, and I see Amazon has the 10-inch version for $150. That might be a winner.