Sunday, November 27, 2011

Lighting the Kindle Fire


Oh, what a glorious surprise when a dear friend sent me Amazon's Kindle Fire as an early Christmas gift. Most of you know that I have owned a Kindle 3G since Feb. 2011, and I used it all the time. I loved the portability and ease of carrying every book I own on a tiny device. When the Kindle Fire was introduced, suddenly my head was turned. This shiny, flashing, and intelligent machine was going to blow my other Kindle out of the water. Lo and behold, the mailman brought me this fantastic device last week and I have never been happier with a toy!
The gift card had a sweet note inside (thank you, Santa Jerry Claus!):


I immediately charged it up and began exploring her various mysteries!
Of course, all of my Kindle books previously-purchased showed up as soon as I registered the device. One-by-one, I downloaded the ones I wanted to read on my Kindle, and the others show up with a tiny arrow, reminding me to download them whenever I'm ready.

The device came with Netflix, and I have a streaming account with them -- BONUS! I watched some Law & Order and a couple of movies the first day. The streaming is seamless and the sound is excellent with or without headphones. Happy happy joy joy!

I can play on Facebook and Surf the 'Net with ease. I even added a free mapquest app so this Kindle can help me if I get lost. I do not own any other Smart devices, so I feel like this one will take the place of an iPhone or other such expense. Excited!

Here is a photo album of Ellen and her Fire, and you can see the affection is evident...

Licking the device is not recommended. 
It's okay to love your Kindle, but don't LOVE your Kindle...

I not only read Amazon books on this new toy, but I real PDF files, too. I uploaded a bunch of PDFs -- mostly of my own novels in progress -- and with the Adobe app (free on Amazon), I can read and mark those all day long. I love it!

Okay, so now what? I am busy writing this blog and have my Kindle fire sitting next to me, playing Pandora radio (another free app that came with the device). This is so awesome!

BOTTOM LINE: Extremely tech savvy people will undoubtedly compare this to the iPad or similar tablets, but for the money and the terrific performance, you just can't beat the Fire.

Here is a link to check out this Kindle Fire for yourself: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Fire-Amazon-Tablet/dp/B0051VVOB2/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Here are my favorite books for you to get for your Kindle:

Brooklyn NY: A Grim Retrospective by Jerry Castaldo (a gritty memoir of growing up in NY mob territory)

Rabbit: Chasing Beth Rider by Ellen C. Maze 99 cents special!!
(a freaky vampire trip with nearly 100 5-star reviews so far)

The Garden Key by Angela Dolbear 
(fantastic, humorous, un-put-downable love story, my favorite book of 2010)

I hope you enjoy your Kindles and have a super week!