Mrsmitch offered to buy me one for Xmas, but I talked her out of it as it felt like yet another shiny gadget that I’d probably never use. However, I was looking at them in the local tesco tonight, and I have to admit they look pretty good, especially considering the price. My first generation kindles getting a bit long in the tooth now, plus, the wife’s getting fed up with me nicking her ipad, so I’m now thinking maybe – why shouldn’t I buy one?

Battery life and shiny screen.

I say that, I have an original Kindle and now have an HD. I really like the HD but I use it more for watching films than reading books.

But yeah, it’s not as good in bright light and the battery life is pretty crap, especially compared to the bonkers life on the original.

I’ve given my first kindle to my son now so I have to use the HD for every thing. Which is fine.

Mrs has fire hd

Dad has original kindle.

I want an original after comparison

Fire hd its crap for reading compared to the original kindle. Glary screen and its not e ink

Its a good tablet for the price though, its a bit laggy ( compared to my ipad at – 4 times the price and the browser crashed a few times but you wont get much better for so few pennys

Fire hd its crap for reading compared to the original kindle. Glary screen and its not e ink

That was my assessment of the HD when the missus was making the choice. Interesting to hear that you came to the same conclusion.

On the other hand the HD is better for pron.

and films. The lovefilm thing really is a bargain. fiver for a month. We’ve watched about 10 films on it at least since I subscribed, all in HD.
So that’s ten HD films for five pounds sub, we’ll probably watch another couple before the 30 days is up. All of them pumped to the main living room TV with a cheap cable.

I’ve also watched quite a few jeeves and wooster and red dwarves in bed.

I’ve got one and love it. never read books never plan to read it. battery life is great for a tablet and picture quality top. haven’t put it down since Xmas

me got 🙂 brilliant fun. battery is pretty good, so don’t understand the comments that it’s not, I’ve had 6 hours on half charge out of the box. gadgetry wonderful. the missus surprisingly likes it too despite moaning that I spent my money, hers turns up tomorrow!

written on my kindle:)

I was looking into them as a present for the GF but this review put me off – http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Kindle_Fire_Review

Went for a Nook instead but I’m thinking about a Nexus 7 for myself.

battery is pretty good, so don’t understand the comments that it’s not, I’ve had 6 hours on half charge out of the box.

Compared to the original Kindle which would go about a month between charges.

Don’t compare the e-ink kindles to the fire. They are totally different devices.

It’s not meant to be ‘the next version’ of the kindle, I dunno why Amazon didn’t make that clear with the device names.

For reading books – Kindle 3G
For tablet use – Kindle Fire

The reason the 3G screen and battery life is so good is because of the e-ink screen, but e-ink would be dreadful for tablet use.

Why are you comparing an original kindle to a kindle fire??

(Just read molgrips so +1 his comments).

For reading books – Kindle 3G

You don’t need to pay 3G money, and best for reading books is the Paperwhite IMO.

3G/wifi then.

The Mk1 Kindle Fire can be hacked to run full Android, making it a pretty capable little tablet. Not sure about the latest one.
I’ll have a hunt to see if I can find the link for the original article.
Can’t find it now, but this might help:

Kindle Fire Ice Cream Sandwich Launcher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1gzXlXN1yk
There are other videos on YouTube, just Google hacking Kindle Fire.

What Molgrips said.

If you want an e-Reader, the Kindle Paperwhite is where it’s at. The Fire is ok if you want a cheapish tablet that can also read books (like any other tablet can) and watch LoveFilm Instant on a 7″ screen. They’re different devices.

My mrs now has both. Downside is battery on the Fire HD but as it’s not a glorified etchasketch you can’t expect it to last that long. She loves hers but find that the brightness behind the screen doesn’t make it as comfortable to read as the basic one. In terms of everything else she’s happy [so am I!!!]

Why are you comparing an original kindle to a kindle fire??

Because a poster asked why the battery life was considered short.
For an ebook reader, and this is what it is being marketed as, it’s a short battery life. Even as a tablet, it’s a short battery life.

The OP, who has an original kindle, asked why he wouldn’t want one, presumably as a replacement for his existing box. And that was a valid answer.

Don’t you people read the questions?