(16GB) was shipping that morning! (It was supposed to ship November 21st). Being the techy geek girl I am, I picked one day shipping when I pre-ordered so later that afternoon it was delivered! Whoo hoo!Being even geekier, I made my husband bring it in the car when he picked me up from the train station after work; (we stopped by my parents house to give my 18 year old brother his belated birthday gift). I just couldn't wait until I got home to open the box and check out my new Kindle! And... wow! Compared to the original Kindle Fire 7", the 8.9" is huge! Even though it weighs just a few ounces more than the original, it somehow feels lighter in my hands. It's also much thinner.
(Click on pictures to enlarge for better quality).
Size comparison: The original Kindle Fire 7" next to the Kindle Fire HD 8.9"
This is a bit hard to see, but the new Kindle Fire HD is MUCH slimmer
The new home screen- (with Amazon home screen recommendations turned off)
The new HD screen is so much more vibrant in color than the original Kindle Fire. The speakers are also better placed. And... there's now actual volume buttons on the side!
Larger & easier to use keyboard
Favorite's Toolbar
Pro's:
I have used my original Kindle Fire EVERY single day since I got it. I
just stopped using it on Friday when the new one arrived. So let's talk
pro's & con's between the two.
- Bigger Screen
- Vibrant HD Display
- Slimmer design & more comfortable to hold.
- TV & Movie's sound amazing with the dolby audio.
- The keyboard is bigger and more comfortable to use. And now it even underlines your miss spelled words in red so you can correct them!
- Amazon Silk browser is faster & more compatible with different websites. On the older model some websites wouldn't cooperate and let me scroll so I would have to use Opera Mini browser to get around that.
- Volume controls on the outside now!
- Speakers are spaced out better
- Finally a webcam & mic to Skype or take pictures and videos! (and this program I bought
gives you even more options for the camera/video).
- No more flash. Which means I can't view videos on 6abc or CNN, etc. Because Adobe is no longer making it for Android or mobile devices. Which means on older websites that still use flash instead of HTML5 you cannot view videos. (Original Kindle Fire had flash installed).
- Certain games that you may have purchased for the original are not compatible yet with the Kindle Fire HD 8.9". (Sims Free Play is now compatible!)
Silk Browser seems to crash more often if you have 'Accelerate Pages' box checked in browser options. (Maybe an update will address this)(Update has addressed this!)- TV & Movies sound amazing with the dolby audio, but I found playing music through the speakers didn't have the same quality. And there's no equalizer in the newer model.
- Lot's of Ad's. Supposedly you can pay $15 to disable all the ad's permanently. But, I did find in settings/applications you can turn off some of the recommendations. The only thing you can't disable is the ad's that show up on the screen when it's locked. Like I said though, you can pay a fee to disable them. It doesn't bother me too much yet though.
These are the kinds of ad's you'll see when the screen is locked. They can be disabled for a fee. The recommendations you can hide in your settings.
But, I did discover a way to get around this. I stumbled upon a mobile site called: 1Mobile.com. You can download so many more free Android app's & games for your Kindle Fire. To install the 1Mobile App to access the store on your Kindle, you have to go to settings/device and select on for 'Allow installation of applications from unknown sources'.
Of course, there is always a chance an app may not work or be compatible. Most of the programs I've downloaded so far have worked though. (I downloaded Instagram! The Amazon App Store doesn't even have that yet! And it works just fine on my new Kindle).
Apps I've downloaded from the 1Mobile.com Market that work on my Kindle Fire HD:
I'm still getting used to things that differ from the original, but all in all so far, I'm pretty pleased with my new Kindle Fire HD.
(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)
