The Amazon Kindle Fire is one of the top gifts this holiday season. There is some new news regarding the 7' tablet sold for $199 at Amazon.com for less than it costs to make. It could be a money machine for Amazon, jailbroken for a different OS and a headache for parents.
The Amazon Kindle Fire received Consumer Reports' "Best Buy" rating and analysts note that it is more of a sales tool for Amazon than a great tablet. The Kindle Fire is the only tablet that may compete with the iPad for popularity and ecosystem.
Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Devitt believes that Amazon's main goal isn't to deliver a tablet experience that matches Apple's popular iPad but rather the large content ecosystem that Amazon has already built around the tablet, combined with its low price, will more than make up for its technical inferiority to the iPad.
"We believe that to control the monetization points of its device, Amazon.com has to facilitate the flow of content," reported Devitt "In order to do this, Amazon priced its device at $199 to drive consumer adoption. With a large installed base, app developers would have a real incentive to produce content that Kindle Fire owners will purchase."
Content isn't all that Kindle Fire that Amazon needs to control, because kids can buy a lot more than content when using a parent's tablet. Parents will find that when they hand over the Kindle Fire to kids who point to favorite toys and electronics on Amazon.com the 1-click service will purchase the product.
When the Kindle Fire is bought through Amazon.com it comes with Amazon account information preloaded and 1-click ordering. Anyone using the Kindle Fire can 1-click buy whatever they want on Amazon.com.
A father of 3-year-old, Scenic Labs founder Jason Rosenfled said that his daughter ordered a child's product. Rosenfeld stopped the sale after seeing the order confirmation email.
Kindle Fire does have the feature for parents to limit what their kids buy when using applications downloaded on the tablets. A father who is a software engineer became angered when he realized he couldn't de-register the Kindle Fire tablet he bought for his children and returned them.
Or perhaps someone could loana a Kindle Fire to a friend or relative who then buys a fortune of products from Amazon.
Kurt Roemer, chief security strategist for Citrix Systems, told Reuters that parents and other users should understand what the Kindle Fire is and how it works before letting anyone use one.
Another problem is that if a child drops a Kindle Fire, breaks it, and it has to be fixed. Do-it-yourself types will be happy to know the Kindle Fire is not that hard to fix.
When iFixit took apart the Kindle Fire they gave it a Kindle Fire a Repairability Score: 8 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair), the case is easy to open, the simple design and the LCD is not fused to the display, making replacement an easy task (if necessary), however the battery is glued to the motherboard and requires prying.
Many reviewers and analysts noted the the user experience on the Kindle Fire was less than optimal, we contend it is because the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system was developed not for tablest but for smartphones. The Kindle Fire has been hacked to used the latest version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich without Wi-Fi or audio. Those who are technically inclined and don't mind voiding the warranty may be ready for change soon.
CyanagenMod works without audio, which will be a problem with listening to music or watching videos.
The Kindle Fire has "issues" connecting to the Internet and does not have the optimal user experience.
The best features of the e Kindle Fire are the dual-core processor, free Amazon Cloud storage, cloud accelerated mobile browser and of course the $199 price. Previously reviewed shortcomings of the Kindle Fire include it uses Android 2.3(not a tablet OS) and lacks Bluetooth, cellular data, a camera and GPS. The Kindle Fire touchscreen is only 7 inches..
The whole 'kids will charge' or 'kids will go to bad sites' is totally overblown. The Kids Place app totally locks down the Android/Fire and only allows apps that the parents approve of to be executed. Also blocks purchases from the major stores.
Overall I'm really happy with my Kindle Fire. I was initially frustrated with the wifi issues which seem very common with lots of other users. I downloaded the nook app from http://www.kindlemad.com so I could access my B&N content for free using the Android marketplace and also got some help on sorting out the wifi. Everything is working great for now and I'm customizing with all my usual apps.
The Fire has a setting built-in to turn off 1-click.
According to the Kindle Fire Forum:
1-Click for the Kindle Fire is a different animal from 1-Click for your standard Amazon account.
You can turn your Amazon account's 1-Click On or Off.
Some members have commented that there is a "turn off 1-click for mobile" option, but I found no such option on my account and wonder if by "mobile" what is meant is a smart phone.
You have to set up 1-Click separately for the Kindle Fire and once you have done that, there is no way to turn it off for the KF. And you cannot set up 1-Click to work with a gift card on the Kindle Fire which would be one way of preventing a shopping spree.
Unfortunately, you need 1-Click to get even free apps from the Kindle Store and to borrow library books.
According to an e-mail I got from an Amazon rep, this is because those services are available only to U.S. residents and the credit card associated with the 1-Click proves one is a resident. I find this an absurd explanation.
The Kindle Fire is tightly linked to one's Amazon account, and if Amazon can offer credit card options for the Kindle Fire 1-Click, it can surely ascertain that at least one of one's credit cards has a U.S. address. (Apparently, Amazon wouldn't mind if you had other credit cards with addresses outside the U.S.?)
This is major security problem. And not, as some critics have suggested, a problem only for families with ill-behaved and untrustworthy children. The KF, by its very size, is designed to be portable. Forget it someplace, leave it lying around and anybody could go on a shopping spree. If you are going to take it away from home, at a minimum set up a "Lock Screen Password" with a very strong password. (This, unfortunately, makes it less easy to simply pick up the KF, turn it on and start using it.)
Workaround
I added a credit card I rarely use to my Amazon account, then changed the credit card associated with the Kindle Fire to that one. Then I deleted that card from my Amazon account. 1-Click for Kindle disappeared. Apps I had "bought" (they were free but all turned up on said credit card) still worked. This is a pain. But if you have or can get a credit card with a very, very, very low limit, it might be a half-baked solution. If you have only one credit card and have turned on 1-Click for the KF, wait until all your purchases have hit the credit card, delete it, then put it back after your 1-Click for the KF is gone.
Another Forum Post Noted:
The Kindle devices (KF or any other generations) should be handled with proper care because of it's nature being registered on your account. If your planning to give it as a gift to a child separate your account from his/her account and give him or her a gc if he want's a book or add your cc on her account for the meantime if they want an app. And if your child suddenly played with your KF it's either you call Amazon's customer service immediately or just make sure that you are not connected to wifi if your not downloading or hide it somewhere else if your waiting for some downloads. Just proper management, we can't blame it all to Amazon definitely they will be doing something about this to get it corrected.