Fire HD 7, 7" HD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB - Includes Special Offers, Cobalt

CUSTOMER REVIEW








































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Length:: 9:50 Mins

I purchased the original Kindle Fire in 2011 and the second generation Kindle Fire in 2012. I gave my original one to my grandson and he is still using it for apps and reading. I liked both of them and I have to tell you that they have held up very well. One is over 3 years old and the other is 2 years old and I have not had any issues with them. Since I have not upgraded in 2 years I thought I would get a new one with a larger memory and a faster CPU and a higher resolution display. There are many improvements beyond even those features.

I have to tell you that overall I am impressed with this new one. I didn't feel the need to purchase a Kindle Fire every year and when I purchased the next one I wanted it to be a definite upgrade step to what I had. I stayed with the 7 inch size as I like to portability and weight for long term reading. I alternate between the Kindle Paperwhite for reading in the daytime and at night sometimes and I use the Kindle Fire for reading in the evening and at night plus browsing the internet and getting email. This new Kindle Fire HD 2014 version is very fast and easy to use. Setting it up for the internet and downloading my apps and books was a breeze. I like the fact that the larger memory allows me to carry more apps and books. The higher resolution of the screen is helpful in reading books as the text is clearer and easier on my eyes than the older Kindle Fires we own. The screen is better for playing apps and watching videos and movies and it is worth the upgrade from the older Kindle Fires.

I like that this version has both a front and rear facing camera. I use the camera a lot on all of my tablets and I own many Apple iPads, Apple iPhone and Android tablets. The camera is just handy for that spontaneous photo or video and I take a lot of them.

I also like the fact that the stereo sound output has been improved as I listen to a lot of books. I use the text to speech feature a lot and I also use the Audible book feature a lot. When Amazon sells the Audible version of the book at a good price when I buy the Kindle version of the book I usually get both. I like to use Bluetooth to stream the Audio book to my car's stereo system and listen to the book while I drive, especially on a long trip. My wife and I enjoy listening to books together. This HD tablet pairs with my car and I can now use it instead of using my iPad or using my iPhone. This feature keeps track of where I am in the book regardless of whether I am reading the book or listening to it with Audible. The better speakers and louder volume is also nice when watching movies.

The unit works well handling my emails and it makes it nice that I can switch from browsing, to emails to reading or playing an app on the same tablet. I also have Amazon Prime so I can watch TV shows or movies. This is a good tablet with a lot of flexibility. I am still not a fan of the push ads but I am so used to them now I just ignore them.

I won't discuss all of the specifications but I did include a table comparing the Original Kindle Fire to the first Kindle HD 2013and now the Kindle HD 2014. For me it was a quantum leap to go from a Kindle Fire First or Second Generation and I am glad I made the jump. This tablet is a good buy for the money as the specs are very good. The table below shows the differences between the different versions and you can see the progress that has been made in just a few years. I am buying this new kindle with confidence as my last two Kindle Fires have performed very well and I expect the same out of this one.

One word of caution is that if you are buying this for a child then make sure to pay attention to the parental controls. Turn off the ability to make In App Purchases (IAPs) and I also turn off 1 touch buying. It is so easy for a child to make in app purchases and some of them can be as much as $99.99 on one item. Children are used to playing games with fake money and they cannot tell the difference and you will be surprised when you get the massive credit card bill. A few minutes of proper set up of the tablet for use by a child can save you a lot of headaches in the future.

There are a couple of features that I do wish were in this product that I miss. I own and have tested many tablets and I love the ability of Android tablets to accept a Micro SD card memory addition. I even have some tablets that I use 128 GIG SD cards in and this is a great feature. A very good Micro SD card only cost $100 and if Amazon would add this feature this very good tablet would be a GREAT tablet. The second feature is the ability to easily use apps from the Google Play Store. Most of the office and game apps are on the Amazon play store and I really do like the Amazon Play store the best. There are though some powerful tools on the Google Play Store that will not work on the Kindle Fire Operating system and that is a shame. This limits the customer from being able to use the best available software available. This Kindle Fire HD 2014 is a wonderful top notch product but it would be a superior product if these features were included.

If you are upgrading from a first or second generation Kindle Fire then this is a great move. For someone that has the 2013 Kindle Fire HD this is a smaller leap in technology so you may have to really want one of the new features to upgrade. I like my new unit and I am glad that I got it. I am also glad that it came with the AC wall charger in the box. I rated it at 5 stars and recommend it based on the results I have seen so far. If you have any questions please send me a comment and I will try to answer you.

Feature:------------Original Kindle Fire----Kindle Fire HD 2013-----Kindle Fire HD 2014
CPU------------------Dual core---------------Dual core a5 1.5 GHz---Quad Core with dual
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------1.5 GHZ and dual 1.2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------GHz cores
RAM--------------------------------------------------------------------------1 GB RAM
Internal Memory---8 GB----------------------8 or 16 GB------------------8 or 16 GB
Available Memory-5 GB-----------------------5 GB or 12.2GB------------5 GB or 12.2GB
Display--------------7 Inch--------------------7 Inch-----------------------7 Inch
DPI-------------------169 DPI 1024/600-----216 DPI 1280/800----------216 DPI 1280/800
Cameras------------None----------------------None------------------------Front & rear facing
Camera pixels-----N/A------------------------N/A--------------------------VGA quality front
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------2 Mega Pixel Rear
Battery Life--------8 hours--------------------up to 10 hours--------------8 hours
Charging time----4 hours---------------------under 6 hours---------------under 6 hours
AC wall charger--yes included-------------Yes Included-------------------Yes included
Speakers-----------dual stereo speakers---dual stereo speakers--------dual stereo speakers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------virtual surround sound
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------emulated 5.1 sound field
Display screen--------------------------------------------------------------Gorilla glass
Case colors----------Black------------------------Black--------------------5 colors available
Microphone---------None------------------------None--------------------Built-in
Operating system--------------------------------Fire OS 3.0------------Fire OS 4
WIFI--------------------Yes------------------------Yes------------------------Yes
Sensors----------------Accelerometer, gyroscope in all versions
Size---------------------7.5"x4.7"x0.45"----------7.5"x5"x0.45"--------------7.5"x5"x0.4"
Weight-----------------14.6 ounces---------------12.2 ounces----------------11.9 ounces
Ports--------------------Micro USB Charging----Micro USB Charging-------Micro USB Charging
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------or use adapter HDTV or VGA
Volume Switches-----No--------------------------Yes------------------------Yes
Bluetooth--------------No---------------------------Yes----------------------Yes plus BT microphone compatible
Audio output---------all versions with 3.5 mm stereo jack

What's new!
* Links your account to your family so you can share apps, books, audio books and games and Prime instant video content.
* Each user can have their own profile page with email, Facebook and twitter accounts. With Profiles, create unique profiles for up to 2 adults and 4 children so family members can share a tablet.
* Bluetooth microphone support
* 2x the speed and over 3x the graphics performance of previous generation Fire HD for quicker apps and smooth videos
* Front and rear cameras--Take photos or capture videos in 1080p HD with a rear-facing camera or Skype with a front-facing camera. Plus, free unlimited storage in Cloud Drive for photos taken with Fire devices
* Dual stereo speakers which is 1.5x louder than other tablets under $150. Emulation of 5.1 multichannel sound fields for better sounding stereo.
* Mirror your screen to your TV or VGA monitor using the Micro USB port
* Get $5 free gaming coins
* Audio books from Audible which is something that I have been enjoying listening to even in my car by streaming wirelessly to my car's stereo system
* Free Amazon cloud storage

++++++++++++++++
Update: 10-4-2014

In continuing my testing I have streamed prime TV and movies without any issues. The quality of the video and sound was excellent. The video began playing almost instantly so that feature worked fine. The audio output volume and quality was better than any of the other smart devices that I own. I installed OOKLA SpeedTest and tested my WIFI speeds to the Internet. I got download speeds of 23.09 Mbps and an upload speed of 1.97 Mbps. These are very good since I only pay for 18 Mbps and 2 Mbps.