I picked up a Kindle Fire, refurb, from Amazon a few weeks back for $139 delivered, 1 year warranty. It looks brand new.
Solid device! For $139, you can't beat it. It's a pretty basic tablet; wifi only, no bluetooth or GPS. But again...$139.
The Amazonized Andriod OS isn't that bad. The home screen has a carousel that takes up some realestate; under that you can add favorite apps. There's an app screen, then other screens for your e-books and other links to shoping on amazon, app store ect.
The Silk browser isn't bad at all. The native e-mail, while a bit basic supports push mail and is easy to naviate. The Amazon Appstore has a decent amount of apps for free, or purchase. It's nothing like Google Play, but you can get most of what you'll need.
If you used this out of the box, as is, I think you'd be a pretty happy camper.
Now, if you really want to nerd it up, you can root it. But that's beyond my abilities. I had a buddy help me with sideloading apps. The nice thing about this device, if you can find the APK file for an app, there's a good chance it'll work on the Kindle. A few that won't; Google stuff---gmail, play. That doesn't play nice with the amazonized version of Andriod.
My buddy was able to upload the APK files to his dropbox, send me the links, and I was off and running. I was able to install Dropbox, squeezebox wifi radio controler, wifi thermostat app, a file explorer, wallpaper changer and ADW launcher. (And a few others I can't recall offhand.)
The launcher is cool.Instead of using Amazon stock interface, it's more like an Andriod device. Sure, you can't use every feature, but I was able to plop some weather widgets on the homescreen, a few apps and everything else is neatly stashed in the app drawer.
All in all, really cool little tablet. If you're looking into getting a tablet, but don't want to drop close to $500 for a base iPad, this will fit the bill. Or, if you already have an iPad or higher end Andriod, this is a great second unit to have around the house.
Solid device! For $139, you can't beat it. It's a pretty basic tablet; wifi only, no bluetooth or GPS. But again...$139.
The Amazonized Andriod OS isn't that bad. The home screen has a carousel that takes up some realestate; under that you can add favorite apps. There's an app screen, then other screens for your e-books and other links to shoping on amazon, app store ect.
The Silk browser isn't bad at all. The native e-mail, while a bit basic supports push mail and is easy to naviate. The Amazon Appstore has a decent amount of apps for free, or purchase. It's nothing like Google Play, but you can get most of what you'll need.
If you used this out of the box, as is, I think you'd be a pretty happy camper.
Now, if you really want to nerd it up, you can root it. But that's beyond my abilities. I had a buddy help me with sideloading apps. The nice thing about this device, if you can find the APK file for an app, there's a good chance it'll work on the Kindle. A few that won't; Google stuff---gmail, play. That doesn't play nice with the amazonized version of Andriod.
My buddy was able to upload the APK files to his dropbox, send me the links, and I was off and running. I was able to install Dropbox, squeezebox wifi radio controler, wifi thermostat app, a file explorer, wallpaper changer and ADW launcher. (And a few others I can't recall offhand.)
The launcher is cool.Instead of using Amazon stock interface, it's more like an Andriod device. Sure, you can't use every feature, but I was able to plop some weather widgets on the homescreen, a few apps and everything else is neatly stashed in the app drawer.
All in all, really cool little tablet. If you're looking into getting a tablet, but don't want to drop close to $500 for a base iPad, this will fit the bill. Or, if you already have an iPad or higher end Andriod, this is a great second unit to have around the house.