Kindle Fire HDX - Kindle Pt 2

As I mentioned in my first Kindle post, my husband spoiled me on my last birthday. He gave me not only the Kindle Paperwhite as my e-reader, but the Kindle Fire HDX as my tablet AS WELL!

Fighting for attention in my new wallet

Spoiled? Definitely! Overkill? Not a chance. My Kindles are like dear children that I don't want to play favorites with; I love them equally but differently.

The Kindle Fire HDX replaced the iPad2 that I never really formed a habit of using. My new Kindle has a 32 GB harddrive with 4G LTE service. So why do I love it when I failed to use my very nice, very expensive iPad? I suppose I viewed my iPad as a giant bulky smart phone. Right or wrong, whenever I should have used it, I grabbed my iPhone instead.

Lighter, more compact and with better resolution than the iPad, this beautiful little Kindle fits in my leather wallet/clutch and goes with me everywhere. It even opens up a new, albeit less extensive, app store for perusing content. I like variety and enjoy having both stores at my disposal.

I'm an Amazon floozy and I love having access to all my existing content, including a ton of free videos through my Amazon Prime prime account. If I'm stuck somewhere without access to my Paperwhite, I can still pick up where I left off in my current book, confident that my other devices will update my place accordingly.

This tablet takes a standard USB to micro USB power accord for charging, which is a huge plus in my book. Battery time is good (Amazon claims 11 - 17 hrs), though not nearly as good as the Paperwhite for obvious reasons. The Kindle does have a front-facing camera which I haven't used much because I use my phone through force of habit.

You can read more detailed stats here, but suffice it to say that the screen on this thing is gorgeous! The very responsive HD touchscreen is definitely a step up from other tablets I've seen. The videos I've watched are truly beautiful, making this my new best friend for long travel days.

The Kindle Fire HDX operating system is a version of Android called Fire OS. The internet browser is Silk. The home screen display features a carousel of open apps and active media that one can quickly flip through using the responsive touchscreen. The remaining apps and content are displayed in rows of tiles.

Anndroid OS with Carousel and Tiles

I see a few areas for improvement: I'm still adjusting to the user interface, which isn't quite as intuitive as the iPad's. It seems like the carousel gets a bit bogged down and I need to figure out how to organize my tiles. When trying to adjust settings I eventually had to do a search for them. Additionally, the Kindle seems to drop my WiFi connection fairly often. It might be a network issue in my house, but I have to reconnect to WiFi and often lose unsaved progress on web pages. It drives me batty!

I suppose I should try out the touted "May Day" video chat help feature, which I have yet to do. It might resolve several of my issues. The hubs is eager to see if the customer service reps will be as attractive as the girl in the commercials. I haven't felt the need to burst his bubble just yet.

The Kindle Fire HDX starts at $229 and can be purchased through Amazon or retailers like Best Buy.

This is quickly becoming my favorite gadget EVER! What's the cherry on top for me? The ability to blog while nursing of course!

Kindle Paperwhite - Kindle Pt 1

The Dark Side never looked so good.

I love books. I love holding them, flipping through their pages, and seeing them lined up on shelves. I grew up in a house where everyone had a book in hand at all times. When I was 16 my parents remodeled our house and turned almost the entire bottom floor into a library. They built floor to ceiling bookshelves over a couple thousand square feet of their home. I LOVED every inch of it.

I cursed the day I saw my first eReader. I'm no dummy; I knew it was the beginning of the end, and it depressed me. You can't start a conversation about what someone is reading on their screen without looking like a creeper. You can't dog ear a tablet or show off your high brow literature (like you always planned to once you picked up some high brow literature). So I staunchly held out. I was a purist and wouldn't get sucked into this digital craze.

AND THEN my parents decided to move and couldn't find a buyer for their crazy amazing house with its row after row of bookshelves. And their tens of thousands of books had to sorted and packed or donated.

AND THEN I had a baby and had to move my books from my office AKA nursery to a back closet where they barely fit.

AND THEN I had to nurse in the middle of the night with nothing to do but check Facebook for the umpteenth time in the dark. 

AND THEN I recalled all the times I desperately wanted a book but forgot to pack one, or couldn't read one in the dark, or got tired of holding up a large hardback Ken Follett saga while trying to block the sun from my eyes.

AND SO...

I was actually kind of thrilled to receive not one, but TWO Kindles from my husband for my birthday. He gave me the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kindle Fire HDX.  I unabashedly admit I love them BOTH for different purposes.

The Kindle Paperwhite has quickly become my go-to for reading. It dominates other readers because it has a softer (adjustable brightness) light, an exceptionally long battery life and much lighter weight. The best part?? You can read it comfortably outside in the sun or in a dark room or car. No more boring roadtrip nights listening to am sports radio for me!

I love that the eInk is so gentle on my eyes and that a soft backlight was added to the more recent models.  

The ability to link to my Prime account is great. Any content downloaded online through my account (through computer, phone, other Kindle, etc.) is available on the Paperwhite. Even the page I stopped reading at on another device is accounted for and I'm prompted to resume where I left off.

The Kindle Paperwhite gives the ability to highlight content, build vocabulary through an integrated dictionary, and be reminded of who a character is by tapping on the name. My sieve of a brain greatly appreciates these little tools.

Unlike many, I even love the screensaver ads. I learn about super cheap specials and books I normally wouldn't hear about. I don't have the data plan and I don't miss it. I already have months of content downloaded. 

I still miss seeing rows of spines, and the ability to flip through pages, but every time I turn on my Paperwhite I get over it a little more.