Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been a long time fence-sitter in the tablet wars, but I finally decided that the Kindle Fire was what I was looking for. I had previously purchased the original iPad for my son, but he never used it so I was very worried about spending that much cash for what I feared would be an expensive toy. I was primarily interested in tablets for mobile web browsing, watching some videos now and then (I have a ton of digital movies), and that's about it. I have a very small music collection, which I've moved to both Google Music and Amazon's cloud storage, so I'm not what you'd consider a big mobile entertainment guy. So far, from the time I've spent with it, the Fire is going to fit the bill nicely. 1. WEB. The Silk web browser is fast enough. I don't bother running side-by-side tests, as all I worry about is whether or not I'm going to become irritated by page loads. Thankfully, that's not the case. The text IS a bit dithered (blurry) in some places, which I assume is an artifact of Silk's server-side rendering, but it hasn't seriously affected legibility. Web videos load pretty darned fast, and the entire browser experience just works. 2. VIDEO. I streamed one of my Amazon Unbox videos as soon as I opened the Fire, and was very pleased with the speed at which the video appeared as well as how quickly the controls just got out of the way so I could enjoy the flick. It's going to be an EXCELLENT device for videos. 3. MUSIC. The streaming music store works pretty doggone flawlessly. The only complaint I have so far is that I can't seem to find any difference in the equalizer settings. Beyond that, since I'm not terribly into music, it suits my purposes just fine. 4. BOOKS. Kindle Fire's weak spot, imo, and the reason I give it four stars. But to be fair, it was never going to compete with my Kindle 3. E-ink really is just that much more comfortable to read versus a (relatively low resolution) LCD screen. Text just isn't that crisp and the backlight actually interferes with legibility. I've read rumors that the NEXT Kindle tablet (due in 2012) might just feature a dual LCD/e-Ink display or even a Mirasol display, which would remedy this nicely. For now, though, I didn't expect miracles from LCD and, by golly, I didn't get them. :) 5. APPS. I'm not a big gamer anymore. (I used to be huge on Gameboy, but I got older and slower.) The App store, curated by Amazon, is exactly what I though it'd be. Some might complain about it not having a billion apps, but I really do think everything that the casual user would want is there. (But if you're not sure go browse it and see BEFORE you buy the Fire.) As far as accessibility goes, it's easy to get in and out of. As far as the Kindle itself, it's a SOLID little brick. It's not fancy, nor would I say it has that "Apple aesthetic" going for it, but it's a shick brithouse of a tablet. Amazon might just decide to advertise it as a personal defense device, if they decide the tablet business isn't working out. It's got a nice, rubberized back. It is, however, a bit heavier than I expected and is likely to be less comfortable for long-term reading than the (significantly) lighter Kindle 3 or Touch. The onscreen controls are easy to get to, which stood out to me since I saw some reviews complaining about the lack of physical buttons. Overall, the Kindle Fire is snappy if a little quirky. I figure it's early and that we've got plenty of time for Bezos 'n co. to tweak the software. The Silk browser WILL get faster as more users use it--which is the beauty of cloud storage/computing--and in the long run, I really think the whole Amazon/Kindle ecosystem is just plain excellent. If four and a half stars were available, I'd have shaved only a half a star for the e-Reader functionality, since I knew coming in that it simply couldn't replace my Kindle 3. If you're a Prime member already, this thing's a no-brainer. If you don't have another tablet and you weren't sure about the costs, it's a great time to get your feet wet. Amazon's always been incredible about returns if you don't like it, but I think if you're like me and you wanted a good little media consumption device that works pretty intuitively, does the main things you want it to, and doesn't break the bank, the Fire is a doggone great deal for the cash.