Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I normally do not post reviews as most of the time I am not that impressed with a product to take the time to write about it in detail. This is the exception The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. I have had all of the previous versions of the kindle fires and thought they were good for movies, books, shopping at Amazon & music along with a few apps that were popular, but they lacked the hardware/spec/polish to be a great internet browser and tablet overall. I have used the Ipad 1 & 2 in the past and even those older versions surfed the net better than the previous Kindle Fires most of the time. With the addition of all the apps for Ipads and the straight android market it was tough for the older Fires to compete directly as a top quality tablet. I never bothered in the past to side load apps as I figured it was difficult and a bother and back then I was just using all the apps I needed on my Samsung Galaxy 3 from the android market. (More on Side loading apps later on the Fire) NOW...the new Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 changes everything that I did not like. I was able to purchase it at Staples with a $50 off coupon and for $329 I received the 16 gb version that now come with a charging kit. The old ones did not. That is a difference of $170 compared to an $499 Ipad Air 16GB. Even at $379 it is still a saving of $120. First impression was WoW the amazing light weight of the new tablet...Awesome! Next the screen is amazing. When I say that, I mean the best I have ever seen on any tablet including the new IPAD Air (more on that direct comparison later). I was hoping that these 2 improvements would not be the only thing that was upgraded as the software, apps and processor needed to be drastically improved to compete with the other new tablets coming out. The great news is that the silk browser is much improved as well as the whole operating system. Fire HDX 8.9 vs the Ipad Air I tested the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 against my friends new Ipad Air in surfing the internet 1st. Side by Side i would go to various sites on both tablets to see if there was a big difference in speed. They were both going over wifi and to my surprise the speed was basically the same (really good). Sometimes the kindle was slightly faster and sometime the Ipad was, but it was so negligible in most cases that I would not even notice it if not comparing them side by side. The great news to me was that the New Kindle was equal to the new Ipad Air in surfing the net which in the past it was not! My next comparison was to look at the screens while surfing and also watching movies. The Kindle Fire screen was indeed brighter and clearer in both movies and web sites in almost all cases. The Kindle Fire's screen is slightly smaller, but for watching movies in HD horizontally they were the same size on both devices because the Ipad has the black bars that limit it on I am assuming HD formatted movies. (I could be wrong in that maybe it is not always the case with the formatting). The Kindle Fire's coloring, brightness and clarity in side by side streaming movies with the Air was just plain and simple better. In darker scenes you could clearly make out details on the fire that I could not on the the Air. The Fire's screen looked brighter and clear with great colors that just stood out! I tried several scenes in 2 different movies and the result was always in favor of the Kindle Fire. I was shocked at the advantage as it was quite a bit better. (the Air has a good screen, just not as good as the new fires!) Also the Kindle with a Prime Membership lets you download some movies/tv shows for viewing offline later. It is not all movies/tv shows but there is enough for now to keep you occupied for several trips and hopefully they will continue to add more in the future. They let you chose the standard size or 720 or 1080 but each step up takes up more room on your tablet and takes longer to download. I have also heard that some have time limits as to how long you can have them downloaded but I have not yet experienced that with the shows I have downloads. (one negative is they do not tell you which movies are downloadable??? So you have no way of knowing until you click on it. Hopefully they will add that to the search option in the future in Prime) I just also want to mention IMDb for movies is something I thought I wouldn't use much, but I am really starting to like it. It tells you all about any actors on screen and also add's trivia about the movie or scene. It makes me want to rewatch older classic movies just to learn more about them! Ok, so far the Fire is lighter in weight, with a better screen and the speed when surfing the net was equal! I am really impressed so far. Now comes the area that bothered me in the past and almost had me going for an Ipad Air..lack of Apps in the closed off Amazon market. Now do not get me wrong Amazon has a ton of popular Apps that I am guessing would satisfy 75% of the people who would consider buying a Kindle Fire in the 1st place. They have all the popular games and apps that most people use. But they also do not have some that Google and Apple do provide. For example Amazon had my CBS sports fantasy Football app, but did not have ESPN's fantasy football app. along with Direct TV Sunday ticket! This drove me crazy as I wanted both on my new amazing Fire screen! So I decided to try to side-load these into the Kindle and they worked! I will not go into that process, but It was relatively easy to do in just a few steps. This process gives me access to most/all of the android apps!!! This is a great way to get all the apps you might not find in the amazon Apps store. I will always use Amazon apps 1st (since they approve them), but then sideload ones they do not have in their store. This really solves one of the biggest complaints you will hear about the Kindle Fire from techie/experts! It may take a little work at first to figure out how to sideload the apps, but once you do it is a pretty simple task. Lastly, I just received the OS update 3.1 for the fire and it added Goodreads and also Collections to the Fire. It added more improvements but I did not have a chance to use the others to this point. Goodreads is great if you like reading and seeing what others recommend or are reading! Collections lets you add Books or Apps into Groups which makes it much easier to find things on your tablet. The apps collections can go right on the Home Screen of the Kindle which is a nice touch that other tablets already maybe have (apple?). There are other improvements that I will try to come back and update at a later time when I have a chance to use them. In summarizing the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9- It has surpassed my expectations period. I find it can go side by side with the new Ipad Air in almost every respect and even beat it in screen quality, weight and price $170 less!!!! You can almost buy the smaller HDX 7inch for that if you catch a sale. I cannot recommend the 8.9 enough as I am for the 1st time really impressed with the whole package. It can do everything well and has the screen, processor, OS and price that puts it ahead or at least equal to the new IPAD air. Amazon with Prime & the HDX 8.9 is a killer combination of great Hardware/Software/2 day free shipping/Apps/Games and finally Great Amazon Support! The Mayday Button (Help) is amazing. I am pretty good at using technology and I used it a few times to help change a few settings on the tablet instead of searching for the settings. The customer service rep. was online in a video box on my table in 20 seconds and help me find the settings quickly. Another amazing aspect of this tablet is that it is great for novices as well as people who like technology and want to try to sideload apps for example. I just do not see anything on the market at this price with this many great and unique features that comes close to comparing to the HDX 8.9 Fire.