Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Got the 64 GB of storage model last week. It is fast and from what I can see the Snap Dragon processor and 2 GBs of RAM is plenty to power this tablet. Certainly puts Apple to shame. There are some down falls for sure. You are stuck with Amazons limited app store or you can take a chance with the 1Mobile app. 1Mobile allows you access to the Google's android apps. Some of these apps do not work well or not at all with the Amazon Fire's custom Android UI. You have to test 3rd party apps to see what works. The Desktop and lock screen Wall papers are 100% non customizable. From what I have read you have to root the Fire to alter the UI and I am not doing that while under warranty. That will be a huge deal breaker for some folks. ((Basically the desktop is Black nothingness)) with a carousel...yippee! Amazon failed miserably with that idea IMO. Next you have to pay an additional $15.00 plus tax to have ads removed from lock screens etc.. on a tablet which I just paid $579.00 before Taxes? Are you kidding me? That part had me nearly mad enough to send it back, but rather than go through the hassle I just sucked it up and paid the $15.00+ tax rather than feel like there was an ad malware ransom locked to my UI. I do like the tablet and the UI. Hopefully they do a few upgrades to the OS in the near future to allow some customizing and fix a few bugs with the carousel etc... Customizing is not a deal breaker for me, but I would prefer to customize. The carousel is non customizable and tends to leave empty gaps when you remove app shortcuts. These gaps fill back in as you use other apps, but the gaps fill in at random with the most recently used apps and things are a mess trying to find a shortcut at times. The apps screen is much easier to use once you get a large number of apps loaded in the carousel. I do like the way I was able to register my tablet directly to my Prime account. Automatically my photos and videos linked to my cloud account. Organizing the cloud is very limited and unorganized like the carousel. I would like to be able to create sub folders and better identify items with in the cloud. Right now Amazon dictates how files are stored depending on where the photo came from and date. Naming files the way I want is limited. I find that I edit photos on my PC and then upload to the cloud for later access from my Amazon Fire. I have yet to see a place for music on the cloud, but many say you can store all your files to include music. Pictures are suppose to be unlimited storage on the cloud with your Prime account and any photos taken with the Fire's camera. 5 GB storage for all other files unless you pay for additional space. The camera software is pretty lame, but no more so than Apples lame camera and video apps. 3rd party apps are the only real remedy for customizing pictures and videos. Then it is time to break out Photoshop or Premiere for final edits. These are just my preferences, but there are several editing apps available. Pick your favorites and go with it. When purchasing the Amazon Fire I did include the (Sim Card) for my Verizon account. For $10.00 a month and a one time $35.00 activation fee I added the device to Verizon and now I can get online most everywhere. Love that part. No more looking for WI-FI to get online. This may require me to change my More Everything plan with Verizon. I am still testing to see how much extra data I will use a month. I am still linking up to all my favorite WI-FI hotspots as I get around town to avoid unnecessary data usage on my Verizon account. I also purchased the (Belkin Keyboard Case). Please note the USB charge cord that came with the keyboard is very similar looking and easy to confuse with the Amazon Fire original USB cord. There is a huge difference in the 2 cords though. Only the Amazon Fire cord will work to connect the Amazon Fire to your computer and allow you to access files on your Fire from your computer. The keyboard cord will only charge the Amazon Fire and not allow USB access from your computer. Bottom line here folks...... I think with a bit of time Amazon could be running with the big dogs. They just need to make more quality apps available and UI Customization on board to sway the masses. I am willing to rerate this tablet if Amazon is willing to listen and allow the consumer to personalize the UI. We are individuals and our tablets should be able to reflect that. Lastly ...get rid of the Ads and stop with the putting a ransom on removing them. This is enough to make me look at other tablets next time. It is down right DEVIOUS! UPDATE: Turns out that I was able to rerate this tablet way sooner than expected. I am returning this paper weight. Now the thing has restored itself to factory new all by it's self. Watched a movie and fell a sleep. Woke up the next morning with everything setting as I had left it, but the HDX Fire was restored back to factory new. Everything gone. Yes I have a backup, but right now I do not even remotely care. I am all done with Amazon tablets. What a huge waste of money! I will stick with iPad which is what I should have done in the 1st place. I would have thought maybe we did something wrong, but after this happened for the 2nd time ...((((NO WAY)))) are we taking a chance. Amazon ...I would guess that tablets are not quite your Forté. Update: We already had the original iPad and the iPad mini so we opted to buy the new Galaxy Tab S locally here from Costco. The best decision we ever made! Absolutely Awesome Tablet! The only draw back is no iTunes on Android tablets. If Amazon ever decided to allow all Google Android apps to be installed and fix their broken UI .....then they will be in the tablet market, but for now The Galaxy and iPad have that market covered IMO.