Kindle Fire

[nullPointer]

I think the Fire is an outstanding buy, and I think you'll probably be happy with the device.

The one piece of advice I'd give is to do a bit of investigation about the apps you'd like to run in advance. The Kindle app store is a bit of a 'walled garden' in terms of what apps are available and what's not. Unfortunately using the Google Play store on the Fire is not currently an option. I'm not sure if you can side load apps onto the Fire or not, but that also might be worth investigating.

Here's an article comparing the two app stores.

OTOH I believe the Kindle can be rooted at which point you could just load up CyanogenMod and run whatever the hell you want. Not sure if that's appealing to you or not, but I believe it's possible.

Oh hey, regarding file management on Android, and moving files across your network ES File Explorer is absolutely awesome (it also has an integrated FTP client and a host of other goodies). Highly recommended!

[hansolo77]

Yeah I was already reading a little about rooting it for the very purpose of running apps not directly supported on the Fire because of Amazon's lock outs. I found the way to do it, but I wasn't sure what to do with it after the fact. I'll check out CyanogenMod and see if it's something I'd consider. Also, I'll read that side by side review here as soon as I finish replying. When it comes down to it, I'm really only interested in having the eReader functionality. Other apps and what not aren't the reason I'm buying one in the first place. I have an iPod Touch that runs apps, and if theres something I need I can use that. Don't get me wrong though, I like apps, and my iPod certainly has a lot of them.

[hansolo77]

Lol talking about eBooks in my other thread, mentioning Calibre, and I never even noticed this thread was here! HAHA!! Hopefully here soon I will have a better grasp of understanding, and be able to help participate in this thread!

[Draco1962]

You are aware that the popular eReaders - Nook and Kindle - have PC versions that you can run. Nice thing is that through their respective online services, once you have signed up, you can move your books back and forth between PC, Fire, or other devices associated with the account.You can find some books in the public domain in epub or other formats to play with and convert through Calibre, download and play with metadata changes and be ahead of the game!

[hansolo77]

Ok I bought the Kindle Fire HD from Best Buy for $199! Everything is a bit finicky at the moment. I bought a case for it too, but I think its whats giving me the problems. Like it says I type letters I'm not really typing. But I bought this so I could read with it, not do a lot of typing. I'm just in the process right now of setting it up, but I wanted to let you guys know..

Why is this all underlined???

[Draco1962]

Does the case have a clear membrane over the touchscreen? I have found that some of them are too think and tend to invoke multiple keypresses. I prefer the cases that surround the sides and back and using the protective films instead when available. Congrats on your Fire!

[hansolo77]

Actually it was a cheap $8 Odd Lots leatherette outside and cloth inside that secures the device with 4 corner elastic straps. It's made by a company called c|icon. I'm gonna try using it without the case and see if it improves. I noticed Dad having trouble with his too, actually tapping really hard trying to get it to work. He got the same case. I'm thinking maybe the elastic is just too tight. I guess that's what you get for going cheap. I just couldn't afford $50 for a "proper" case right now.

[celly]

Great Han! Glad you buckled down and picked up a tab.

[hansolo77]

Ok I think I can participate in this thread a bit better now, as I have my own issue. I downloaded a book series. I know what order they go in. When I added them to the Calibre library and edited the metadata, I typed in the Series name and changed the Number field as necessary. However, when I uploaded them to my Kindle, they show up out of order. Is this just something I have to live with? I think it's because it's in alphanumeric order. I thought about changing the titles to something like "1 - Title, 2 - Title" etc but that won't work if I get another series, since the next series will be inner mixed. I suppose I could have it like "Series - 1 - Title, Series - 2 - Title" but that just seems like a lot of unnessessary work. You know what I mean?

[nullPointer]

I tend to avoid the Kindle reader app, although it is a perfectly serviceable reader in and of itself. The main reason is because I want to store eBooks to my SD card, and as near as I can tell I can't change the location of my library in the Kindle app (which defaults to system storage). If anyone knows how to accomplish this with the Android Kindle app I'd be interested to know. For the most part I've found the settings and preferences available on the Kindle reader app to be rather anemic. Maybe it's different on an official Amazon device?

Ok I think I can participate in this thread a bit better now, as I have my own issue. I downloaded a book series. I know what order they go in. When I added them to the Calibre library and edited the metadata, I typed in the Series name and changed the Number field as necessary. However, when I uploaded them to my Kindle, they show up out of order. Is this just something I have to live with? I think it's because it's in alphanumeric order. I thought about changing the titles to something like "1 - Title, 2 - Title" etc but that won't work if I get another series, since the next series will be inner mixed. I suppose I could have it like "Series - 1 - Title, Series - 2 - Title" but that just seems like a lot of unnessessary work. You know what I mean?

The following apps will let you sort your library according to series metadata configured in Calibre:

Moon+ Reader: Hands down my favorite reader. Waaaay more robust than anything else I've tried (Kindle and Aldiko), Among other things it can connect to your Calibre Content Server for moving eBooks to your device, and syncing everything up. There's a free ad supported version as seen here, but I can't seem to find it on Amazon.

Calibre Companion: The primary focus of this app is connecting to your Calibre Content Server and transferring books from your library to your device. It doesn't have an integrated reader (as opposed to desktop Calibre), so you'll still need to have a reader installed for whichever format of eBook your transferring.

If I were to recommend only one of these apps it would be Moon+ Reader since it can do almost everything that Calibre Companion does, and is itself a reader.

[hansolo77]

I guess that Dad saw on the Kindle Fire forums that a lot of people are upset about the lack of series management because it exists on the older format Kindles. My aunt got an old Kindle from her neighbor and I saw how it works. There definitely needs to be some way to put a series of books together so you don't see hundreds of them all listed at once without relying on some 3rd party app.

[nullPointer]

I'm kind of curious if the Kindle app on the Fire has more functionality that the regular ol' Android version available through the app store(s). Can you connect to a shared library on the LAN with the Kindle app on the Fire? On the Kindle reader I have installed (the one linked) they pretty much want you to use your Kindle library and only your Kindle library as a source (and it won't even let me me move that library to my SD card).

Curious if I'm missing out on anything!

[hansolo77]

I don't have a kindle app on my fire, it IS a kindle! I know that you can connect to the Calibre library on the computer and download books through the web browser (that's what we were trying to do with my aunts today) but I don't know if you can connect to a shared network folder. Not that I'd have much use for it, but I can try.

[nullPointer]

I don't have a kindle app on my fire, it IS a kindle! I know that you can connect to the Calibre library on the computer and download books through the web browser (that's what we were trying to do with my aunts today) but I don't know if you can connect to a shared network folder. Not that I'd have much use for it, but I can try.

No sweat Han, don't worry about it. Sorry for all the questions. I'd certainly consider a Fire as my next Tablet, so I was just trying to get a feel for the lay of the land. I was trying to determine whether the reader software on the Kindle (however you want to phrase that), is more similar to an e-ink kindle (since the Fire is a Kindle), or whether it's more similar to the Kindle software available as an Android app (since the Fire is an Android device - as opposed to the rest of the Kindle eco-system). Probably oughta just do my own research, instead of bugging you about it.

Hey while we're on the topic, I'd definitely recommend taking a look at Calibre companion for connecting to your Calibre library if the browser method is giving you any grief. It is a 3rd party app, but if it meets a need that's not currently fulfilled (or at least not without jumping through hoops in your browser) it may be worth it. Just a thought. It really is as easy as starting the app, pressing connect, and you're instantly in your Calibre library with all the metadata and sorting options that Calibre enables.

[hansolo77]

Well after I posted the reply, I did try to access a shared ebook folder I have on my server. There is no way to directly access the folder. I did however manage to connect to the WHS's home page, and once logged in I could see the shared folder that way. But when I tried to download a couple of things, it didn't work (even though it said 'Download Complete'). So it looks like the only ways to get stuff onto the Fire are either direct buying through the Amazon store, plugging in the USB cable and uploading through Calibre or via Windows Explorer, or to wifi the Calibre server webpage running on the pc.

[nullPointer]

Thanks for investigating the matter there Han!

[hansolo77]

I have an update.... there is an app in the Amazon store that acts as a file browser for the Kindle Fire. It gives you the same menu/folder structures you see when you're browsing the device directly when connect to your computer via USB. When you have it running, you can configure it to browse the LAN, and then you can see the shared files there. I guess the problem I was having with the home server's website method was that a few of the files I tried to get had DRM restrictions on them that I didn't know about. The nice thing about this file browser on the Kindle is that you can find a file you want, and if you click it the file will load into a temporary memory so you can see if it opens and how it looks. Then if you decide you DO want it on the Kindle, you simply do a copy/paste to the appropriate folder. The app is called ES File Explorer. You can see how it looks on their website here (only their website sucks):

http://www.estrongs.com/en/products/es-file-explorer.html

Here's the link in the Amazon App Store:

http://www.amazon.com/ES-Mobile-File-Explorer/dp/B008K6HN8I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361482503&sr=8-1&keywords=es+file+explorer

The only thing I miss on the Kindle that I have on my iPod is YouTube. But so far I've used it more for reading anyway, which is great cause that's what I bought it for.