hello Fire!

I love it. this was the one thing Taryn asked for for Christmas, and I already had my eye on it. she has proven her responsibility with electronics- never had to replace the screen, or even screen protector, on her iPhone 3G, she cleaned it, took good care of it.. put some Hello Kitty stickers on the back under the silicone case, but.. no damage in the few years she had it.
      the Fire arrived Friday and I made it a whole 4 hours before I opened the box. she comes home today from her dad's- I've decided to leave it out.

my research was between the Nexus 7, naturally, or the Kindle Fire HDX 7.

now we all know Android, live in Google-land, and love it. but Mumma also lives in Amazon-land.. Prime membership with access to tv shows and movies for free or to own/rent, Amazon MP3 Cloud storage (our entire collection) and web-based player, Kindle books and whatnot.

so not only did the Fire give access to more service we already subscribe to, it also has fantastic parental controls- which unfortunately, the Nexus 7 does not, at all.

block the web browser, email, calendar. require a password for any purchases- the only thing it allows is Prime free movies and tv shows- even if the app is free, password needed.

within FreeTime, give access to apps and content on the device. of course I signed up for FreeTime Unlimited after seeing the content. her favorite Disney and Nickelodeon shows, movies, tons of books.
      the only thing I don't care for, is the parental control password is required to get out of FreeTime. I completely understand why it's there.. but I'd like an option.

the Netflix Android app does not support Profiles. c'mon now. so my watchlist is full of stuff for Taryn..

the screen is beautiful and bright! our ripped DVDs look great. Netflix streams without *any* issues, as if it were over Ethernet. Angry Birds is more fun on a larger screen. Silk isn't so bad- but I will be sideloading Chrome if possible. Pinterest is more pleasant. I'm sure we'll find more fabulous things as we play more.

battery- as with any other Kindle, WiFi disconnects when put to sleep. last night, I fully charged and then shut the screen off- waking up now about 15 hours later, 50% battery. an app killer might be a good idea.

side-loaded movies- they show up under Photos, but once opened, it's in the Carousel, long press, selected Add to Home, and then the Videos folder is right there for easy access.
      of course this can be done for any app or book or anything that shows up in the Carousel. there are also Remove from Carousel, Remove from Home, Remove from Device, and Add to Collection options on a long press.

I'm impressed.. not that I have a lot of tablet experience (none actually) to be this over the moon, but..

edit 1/9/14: Netflix now has profiles for the app. the Kindle keeps Taryn quiet and still for a length of time. perfect purchase.