- As an e-reader:
- It's the size of a trade paperback and as heavy as a hardbound book (needs two hands or one hand and a prop)
- The screen is very clear and lighted (good for reading at night)
- The screen is large enough to hold a decent amount of text. Definitely better than trying to read on a phone-sized device
- As a web device (It has a web browser - Silk)
- Not as fast as on a laptop, but usually OK for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Email, Hulu, Crunchyroll, Netflix, etc.
- I hope Amazon can make web browsing on the Fire faster, though
- The screen is a little small for non-mobile web pages (many web sites detect you are on a mobile device and optimize the web page). The non-mobile web pages work, but they may be really small, and you will need to zoom in
- As a music and movie player
- Amazon supplies 5GB free, in the Cloud, to store your media, knowing that most of us need more than that (cynical me)
- There's only room on the device itself for a few hundred songs (with no expansion capability), so this is definitely meant to be a Cloud device
- It's a very nice size for one or two people to watch a movie or show. You can both read the subtitles without getting too chummy (unless you want to)
- It has built-in speakers and a headphone jack
- As a "casual" game device
- It plays "phone" games (like Angry Birds) - great screen size for that
- Crosswords, Sudoku, and Solitaire all look good on it
- It's a "charge once a day" device for moderate use (4 to 6 hours a day)
- The wireless is generally very good
- My only complaint is that the Fire is finicky when the wireless signal strength is low. In low-signal situations where my laptop stays connected, the Fire will drop and reconnect sometimes
- It would be awesome to be able to use it as a video phone (just the right screen), but no webcam or microphone. I knew that before I bought it, but ...
Overall: I am very happy with it. I give it a B+.
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