I use my Fire at least 2 hours a day (at home and the gym) for reading and surfing. However, it has two major defects.
1) Amazon appstore only (I haven't bothered rooting it).
2) Wonky interface. It's android and you can tell. It's like using a cheap android phone, unpleasant and slow. (I have a droid bionic that is much faster, but obviously more expensive).
At this price point I can easily buy another $200 table and not feel bad about it. Plus I still get the kindle app, my amazon apps will all move over.
I use my Fire way too much not to upgrade to something better. I do this for the 7" form factor, the 10" tablet (android or iOS) simply would not be as useful.
I am not a big fan of the Fire. It's not bad, but it feels like it could be a lot more with just a few extras. It's alright for 'consuming' content, but for much else it's suboptimal:
* Amazon appstore means no The Economist app! I already paid for the magazine, dammit, and I don't want to pay again to read it on Amazon.
* No Google apps hurts, especially Gmail and Maps. The web-based alternatives are just not as nice as having the native apps.
* It's nice to have a camera - I'll get one of these to use as a video phone with my parents.
Anyone know if it'll be possible to get some kind of add-on keyboard for Google's tablet? Trying to type anything on the Fire drives me crazy.
Have you considered at trying something like the Swype keyboard? I don't know if it's available for the Fire, but I'm sure there's a tablet version, and it should work on the Nexus 7.
I only have it on my phone (a Galaxy Nexus, coincidentally), but it's really great there. I think it would be very good for a tablet as well.
I agree with all of the above, but as has been said before, getting Android Market on the Fire is not terribly complicated. Yes, it's probably not a viable solution for everyone, but if you already have a Fire and are somewhat technically inclined it's almost a no-brainer.
I use my Fire at least 2 hours a day (at home and the gym) for reading and surfing. However, it has two major defects.
1) Amazon appstore only (I haven't bothered rooting it).
2) Wonky interface. It's android and you can tell. It's like using a cheap android phone, unpleasant and slow. (I have a droid bionic that is much faster, but obviously more expensive).
At this price point I can easily buy another $200 table and not feel bad about it. Plus I still get the kindle app, my amazon apps will all move over.
I use my Fire way too much not to upgrade to something better. I do this for the 7" form factor, the 10" tablet (android or iOS) simply would not be as useful.