Usage - Solar Charger

I picked up a Solio solar charger for my Fire at Radio Shack. It will be useful for trips, camping, power outages (offline, of course since the network will also be down) or other times when I'm away from a power source.



To try it out, I let the Fire battery go down to 69% then plugged the Solio in. After about 20-30 minutes, I checked the power on my Fire again and it was at 63%.

Come to find out, I didn't set the charger correctly and was using the Fire to charge my Solio. Sometimes it's worth the time to read the instructions.

This is what I bought:

Solio® Bolt Solar Charger
Model: S620-AH1RW | Catalog #: 23-1522
Cost: $69.99

You can see it (and order it) here:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12322646

The Solio folds to half the size shown above.

This could also be used to charge cell phones and other devices using a USB or micro-USB connection..

Technical - First Production Update

Amazon is getting ready to upgrade the software on the Kindle Fire.

All computer companies do this for any supported product. This seems to be coming pretty quick. My interpretation is that it shows that Amazon is responsive to market feedback. However, what time will tell is how efficient their release process is. That is, how well has it been tested before throwing it over the wall at their customers.

I'm also interested in seeing if the update will be optional, or will the Fire detect an update and "automagically" install it for you.

If it's optional, I'll wait a couple weeks before putting it in to ensure that all the bugs are worked out. With any upgrade, it's good to remember the old saying about Microsoft products: Never buy Microsoft product until service Pack 2 (the second major update). if you've ever updated operating systems before, then chances are you've been burned once or twice.

Here's an article describing the first release: Kindle Fire: Major Software Update Soon, By Paul McDougall InformationWeek December 12, 2011

UPDATE: The upgrade installed itself with me even knowing it.

I did notice that my Fire is more responsive to touch and that the browser works faster. My opinion is that the upgrade added value.

Downside - Clunky Volume Control and Kiddie Shopping

In an article titled "Amazon plots Kindle Fire update: Aims to weather first flap" a couple issues are brought up with the Kindle Fire.

One issue has to do with the lack of an external volume control and the number of clicks required to make adjustments. In the user world "clicks" are never considered to be a good thing.

So while Fire users develop calloused fingertips, Amazon is releasing a patch in two weeks to address this (rather insignificant) characteristic.

The second issue identified has to do with the click-to-purchase feature of Amazon products. Sure it's convenient. However, those that give these devices to kids may be in for a surprise when they receive their monthly credit card statement and discover that the kiddies have gone shopping.

Perhaps the ability to set an optional password for purchases would be an easy fix.

Downside - Data Harvesting

Hmmm.

There are some questions regarding what Amazon will be doing with the data accumulated by the Silk browser.

Never thought about that. Until now ...

The ComputerWorld article: Lawmaker dissatisfied with Amazon's answers on Kindle Fire's data harvesting By Gregg Keizer November 30, 2011 provides a couple more details, if you're interested.

12/13/11 UPDATE: With the first public upgrade, indications are that this will be configurable, making it a non-issue. Good thinking Amazon.

Tablet Market

A November 23rd article on CNN Money says that Amazon could sell $5 million Kindle Fire's this holiday season.

Here's the article:

One tablet to rule them all? Baloney. By JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter November 23, 2011

An earlier article on CNET indicates the Fire may cut into Apple market share:

The state of iPad sales: Think disruptive by Larry Dignan November 15, 2011

Technical - Citrix Access

When I ordered the Fire, I thought that I might have a 40% chance of accessing my citrix desktop at work remotely.

Turns out to be a 100% chance.

The citrix application would be pretty specialized to those with Citrix desktops (obviously). The Citrix desktop enables you to access email, documents and applications you use on your work PC.

I went to www.citrix.com to download the android client, but that didn't do anything for me.

Then I found the Citrix Receiver app through the available apps for the Fire and this was what I needed. It works perfectly.

You'll need to provide the following information to the app:

Address: (url to connect to)
User name
Password
Domain name

Our network guys have already documented this for apple users connecting and the same information applies to the Fire.

Note: I do experience some intermittent "freezes" of my desktop during citrix access.

Kindle Fire - Reviews and Evaluations

1) Apple Insider

This site [HERE] has a pretty favorable review.

The article mentions a couple surveys, one of which indicates that a number of Kindle Fire purchasers have put off their acquisition of Apple iPads.

It makes sense that this will cut into market share due to price. How much remains to be determined. Apple has a solid reputation and very loyal following.

2) Forbes Magazine

A brief article called Amazon Kindle Fire: Unboxed!, Eric Savitz, 11/17/11

3) An AP review comparing the Nook to the Fire

Review: Nook Tablet is Kindle Fire's worthy foe
By Peter Svensson Mon, Nov 21, 2011.

Svensson favors the Nook

4) MSNBC review

I sure hate MSNBC's obvious liberal political bias, but this tech review is decent enough:

Kindle Fire review: Yes, it's that good - By Wilson Rothman 11/14/11

Rothman states: "The Kindle Fire can handle about 80 percent of what I want to do on an iPad, for 40 percent of the price. And much of what's missing won't be missing for long. Even if you can justify buying one iPad, you may look to the Fire as a second device in your high-tech home. And if you can't justify an iPad this holiday season, you might consider Amazon's alternative."

Technical - Kindle Fire - General Technical Links

Some general technical information on the Kindle Fire.

1) Among other things, Techrepublic.com loves to tear apart equipment.

TechRepublic has been around for ~ 20 years now as a *FREE* grass roots technical site. They do charge for some help guides and other documentation, but those are all optional.

You can see their article "Cracking Open the Amazon Kindle Fire" by Bill Detwiler, November 16, 2011, 2:21pm PST

Viewing this info sure beats tearing apart your own $200 device and trying to put it back together ...

This could be useful to see the steps needed to replace the battery.

Here's a snapshot of what we've got ...



2) The Kindle Fire uses a Texas Instruments 4430 dual core 1GHz processor.

Here's a link to TI's product spec for this processor. This is probably more info than most people could ever want.

3) Software Development Kit (SDK)

If you want to write stuff for your Kindle Fire, a good place to start is [HERE] The Kindle Fire OS is based on Android.

Kindle Fire Sold Below Cost?

"Amazon is selling the Kindle Fire below the cost of manufacturing the device, the research firm IHS iSuppli asserts.

The research firm says its preliminary estimate is that the bill of materials for the Kindle Fire is $191.65; adding manufacturing costs, and the estimated total for the $199 device is $209.63."

Source:

Amazon Selling Kindle Fire Below Cost, Analyst Contends. Savitz, Eric. Forbes.com, 9/30/2011

The article further states that Amazon is planning on increased sales of associated products to offset the costs of production. Certainly an interesting marketing strategy.

My Order Status

11/18/11 (Update) Status: Delivered
Location: Garage
Delivered - November 18, 2011 12:57:00 PM
Idiots! They left my Kindle outside my garage. It was snowing earlier today!

"What Can Brown Do For You?"
Well, for starters, the lazy ass delivery guy can walk another 20 feet , knock on my front door and hand my shipment to my wife.

11/18/11 Status:In transit
It has arrived at our local UPS distribution center (15 miles away) and at 7:25 AM is on the road for delivery.

11/17/11 - Status: In transit Ship Carrier: UPS

11/16/11 (Update) 02:17:08 PM Columbia SC US Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit

11/16/11 - "Delivery Estimate: November 18, 2011"
Wow! Delivered in 3 days after order?

11/15/11 - Ordered online

Waiting ...

OK. So I "pulled the trigger" ...

I just ordered my Kindle Fire online.

Although my wife "agreed in principle" with this acquisition, she has been known to change her mind over time. Historically, I've learned to act fast before this happens. Especially since I have documented approval.

I wanted to get the order in prior to "Black Friday" to reduce delays. Here's the order summary:

Standard delivery will take 2-3 weeks

Here's my order summary:

Order #: xxxxxxxxxxx
Shipping Method: Standard Shipping
Shipping Preference: Group my items into as few shipments as possible
Items: $199.00
Shipping & Handling: $6.98
------
Total Before Tax: $205.98
Estimated Tax To Be Collected: $0.00
------
Order Total: $205.98

Delivery estimate: Nov. 22, 2011 - Nov. 29, 2011

1 "Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi"

Electronics; $199.00
Expected to ship in 2 to 3 days
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

The Sales Job

Had an email conversation with the wife.

For me, it's best to clear with "The Boss" beforehand, but she is pretty accommodating when I can provide reasonable rationalization.

Here is the email exchange:

WIFE:

If you want one, we will get you one! How/when do you think you would use it?

ME:

I think that I'd like a Kindle Fire for Christmas.

They're shipping now, but I don't know the lead times.

It is $199, only 40% the cost of an iPad2

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051VVOB2/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=8302881517&ref=pd_sl_7gl7b2uwu2_e

Some of the benefits of Kindle fire:

Low cost
USB port
Unlimited storage in the Amazon cloud (Amazon stuff only)
Less than 1 lb total weight
Supports .doc .docx and .pdf documents
Smaller than iPad - 7" display

CON

All plastic
Smaller than iPad - 7" display
No spreadsheet support
No built-in camera

UNKNOWN

How does it handle word processing and spreadsheets
I wonder if you can get at the OS ?

OTHER

Locked into Amazon music and books
8GB storage, 6GB available
No Apple integration

The Beginning ...

I bought my wife an Apple iPad2 about a month ago.

She hasn't put it down since.

When the release announcements of the Kindle Fire came out, I liked what I was seeing.

A tablet-like device for $200, or 40% of the cost of an iPad.

Apple does charge a premium for their stuff and they get away with it as it is perceived to be "cool". Candidly, I'd rather have the $300 savings and forgo the "cool" label.

I teach college classes and this would provide a conveniently luggable device to help with classes.

It would be nice to use this where I work, but I don't think it will initially work. I would need a citrix client loaded to access my desktop. Citrix does have a linux based client (I use this on my Dell NetBook) AND the Kindle Fire uses the Android OS (Linux based), but I'm not expecting too much to begin with ...

Technical - Kindle Fire Tech Specs

Display 7" multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors.

Size (in inches) 7.5" x 4.7" x 0.45" (190 mm x 120 mm x 11.4 mm).

Weight 14.6 ounces (413 grams).

Operating System: Modified Android 2.3 "Gingerbread"

Processor: 1GHz Dual-Core TI OMAP 4430 CPU

Memory: 512MB

System Requirements None, because it's wireless and doesn't require a computer.

On-device Storage 8GB internal (approximately 6GB available for user content). That's enough for 80 apps, plus 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books.

Cloud Storage Free cloud storage for all Amazon content

Battery Life Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as web browsing and downloading content.

Charge Time Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via included U.S. power adapter. Also supports charging from your computer via USB.

Wi-Fi Connectivity Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or enterprise networks with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks.

USB Port USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)

Audio 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, top-mounted stereo speakers.

Content Formats Supported Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8.

Documentation Quick Start Guide (included in box); Kindle Fire User's Guide (pre-installed on device). Additional information available online.

Warranty and Service 1-year limited warranty and service included. Optional 2-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately.

Included in the Box Kindle Fire device, U.S. power adapter (supports 100-240V), and Quick Start Guide.

The Story

I have a bunch of computers in my house, two are direct-connected to my router and the rest connect via wireless.

We have:

1) Microsoft 7 system
2) Microsoft XP and Ubuntu dual boot
3) Linux Mint
4) Puppy Linux
5) Windows 95 and Red Hat 5.x dual boot
(I use Win95 to play Warlords)
6) A Dell 9" Netbook running Ubuntu
7) A Dell laptop running Windows XP
8) My wife's iPad

So I really don't NEED another device at the moment.

But I saw the Kindle Fire come out and the price was attractive and ...

... Well here we go again.