I know we aren't alone in this decision but we decided not to go with iPads and made the plunge into Kindle Fires. I received mine as a Christmas present this year. Emily saved her own money and bought a Kindle Fire. And Jacob is a lot like his mama and loves gadgets and traded his netbook in for the Kindle Fire. So we are at 3 Kindle Fires in the household with the remaining two children awaiting their Fire on their next birthday. Sounds like a good wait to me!
I have heard rave reviews about the iPads and just when I start considering it, I find out the iPad 3 is coming out. I just can't keep up with the technology these days. It would be impossible for me to buy the newest iPad every few months just to stay on top.
I only have a few features on my kindle fire that I find to set me back a little.
1. There is no camera. No matter how much you try and justify that black dot in the top corner of the kindle fire...its not a camera. Yes, I know that the cases you buy have a cut out in that spot too...but really, there isn't a camera on the fire. Therefore, there isn't a webcam either.
2. It isn't 3G. So if I am not within wireless internet, I can't get online if need be. I suppose that is what my phone is for now. It works great at home, the library, select restaurants...unless I use my phone's hotspot, then I can get online anywhere.
See that wasn't too hard!! Now let's explore what my Kindle Fire does have!!
It has a huge amount a content at my fingertips! Not everything costs money...tons of free things!!
When you get your Kindle Fire for the first time it comes with a free month of Amazon Prime! Prime is $78 a year. Billed once a year. When you break that down...that's $6.58 a month! I think what keeps people from signing up is that $79 is a lot to take out at once from your budget. Many can justify the $6.50/mo easier. Isn't this cheaper than netflix?
With the membership you have more books available to you for free.
Unlimited instant streaming of movies and some tv shows. Their collection is pretty good actually! I kind of wish they had it where you can view through your wii...like netflix :(
Free 2 day shipping if ordering from the amazon website for a physical delivery. Since our oldest is still under his free month we ordered the kids a few things from the website with gift cards they received as part of a clinical trial at Vanderbilt. We ordered on Wednesday and they are anticipating a delivery today! I don't think there is a minimum amount that you have to spend either. So go ahead and order that box of cereal...afterall, it is probably cheaper than going to the store. A lot of items actually are and now they are offering subscription services to where you have a scheduled delivery of items according to when you "need" them.
As far as books are concerned...if you have Prime membership you can read 1 free book a month that is Prime eligible. I have not spent hardly anything on the books that I have on my device. I have taken advantages of websites that have found the "free" books for me. Such as Pixel of Ink. Each day on facebook they update what they have found to be free books! http://www.pixelofink.com/ I recommend following them on facebook! This is by far the best site that I have found and delivers great stuff everyday!!
I had a brief hiccup yesterday while trying to figure out the library lending system. But I finally was able to get it to work and read through a birthday cake book last night. I see on Amazon it is $3.82 but I "borrowed" it from the library for free. I will be browsing more later tonight. There is a 15 book limit to "borrow" from the library on your kindle. Now I need to figure out how to "return" the book!
One thing that really appealed to me about the Kindle Fire was the fact that the content came from Amazon. Not an actually "brick and mortar" store that can close...but its Amazon! I believe that they are infinite with the amount of content that they can carry. I have a "cloud" that holds my content for whenever I am ready for it. This helps from clogging up my device and using up the memory. Kindle retails pretty much everywhere for $199 and here in TN it amounts to about $220 after taxes. I prefer to buy my items at Best Buy because they have never given me a problem with returns if needed plus I am able to use the purchase points on my Reward Zone and that allows me to get free gift certificates...Free Gift Certificates + Wednesday Ink at 20% off = Sometimes Free Printer Ink!
