Amazon Kindle Fire is one of the finest gifts that I have received. When Shana, my lovely fiancée, purchased this Christmas gift for me last year I was delighted. I loved my previous Kindle E-book readers and this one is especially wonderful. I am very pleased with the first Kindle full color 7 inch multi-touch display. It makes all the difference in reading my digital magazines, newspapers, and books. I have waited a long time for this option.

After you read the remainder of this review you can scroll down to click on the items mentioned in this post if you want more information or would like to purchase them.  Full disclosure is that I am an Amazon Affiliate and will receive a small fee when you purchase these items through this blog at no additional fee to you. Nonetheless, I genuinely love my Kindle Fire (this is my fourth Kindle E-book reader) and I have shared my honest and even passionate thoughts and feelings about the value of owning one. With every product I review, I tell it like I see it with integrity and full evaluation. This is not a thorough technical review which you can find on other sites. As many of you already know, I  only promote products that I have owned long enough to completely examine for a review.

I have personally shared my pleasure for the Kindle Fire with many people and celebrated with those who had already purchased one. I want to share the value of this device with my social media friends and encourage you to purchase one for you or a loved one if it meets your desires and needs as it has mine.

It is small enough to fit in my photographer’s vest so that I can read between wildlife/landscape/seascape/nature/portrait/commercial photo shoots and when I take a lunch break. It is helpful to have some technical books on photography in the field when I need them for review. It is easy to read my Kindle Fire at the supermarket, café, Seattle Center, restaurant, medical and dental offices.  I can’t tell you have many times waiting was actually pleasant with my Kindle Fire. If any of you have been to a VA Medical Center you know exactly what I mean. I can also hold it in one hand when I am reading a novel at night in bed. Since it is back lit, I do not need a lamp and can turn off the device and fall asleep satiated. I do wish there were more settings for the back light but it works just fine.

I purchased a stand for it so that I can read my Kindle Fire hands free or to watch a movie in multiple angles in landscape or portrait view. While at a café, it is nice to place the Kindle Fire on the stand while I sit back and drink my coffee or tea.  The stand is folds up, is extremely portable, and easily fits in my pocket. I like the non-skid material on the base that keeps the stand secure on flat surfaces.

For keeping in touch with family, friends, and my clients when I am away from my desk I can use the built-in email app to check my e-mail accounts. This means that I am not without communication when I am near a WI Fi location. I do miss the lack of being able to more thoroughly connect in a wireless process as I can with my cell phone. My previous versions of Kindle E-book readers offered greater connections. I suspect the next generation device may offer better wireless connections later this year. Thus far, I have been able to find an abundance of WiFi locations to keep me connected and I can always use my cell phone when necessary. I must admit that it is a challenge to return to the small keyboard on my cell phone after the great built-in Amazon Kindle Fire keyboard.

Reading my favorite magazines such as Newsweek, Discover, Smithsonian, Poets & Writers, The Scientist, Astronomy, and Seattle with glossy, full-color layouts, clear photographs and illustrations is delightful. This is one of the reasons that I wanted a color Kindle. I can choose from hundreds of magazine titles. Special magazines editions like Vanity Fair, Wired, and GQ come with built-in video, audio and other interactive features. Kindle Fire uses similar technology to that used on the iPad for an extra-wide viewing angle.

Although I seriously considered the iPad, I believe that my Kindle Fire offers me more of what I really want. Since I do not own an Apple iPad I cannot provide a comparison. There are many websites that offer this for you.

An extra bonus of my Kindle Fire is that I can purchase or rent over 100,000 movies and TV shows, including thousands of new releases. I am an Amazon Prime member that gives me unlimited, commercial-free streaming of over 10,000 popular movies and TV shows. The beauty is that the Amazon Kindle has such a wonderful screen for viewing the movies and shows. I purchased earbud headphones that are great to use. The are very comfortable to wear which is important to me. Sometimes I watch movies at night in bed while Shana reads without disturbing her.

The Kindle Store offers over 1 million books, including 800,000 titles at $9.99 or less. I currently have about 1.76 GB of internal storage of 5.37 GB available that are mostly fiction and nonfiction books. Kindle Fire also gives me free storage for all my Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud which is very important to me. My books, movies, music and apps are available instantly to stream or download which is exciting and handy.

Although I do not have music in my library now, I can stream or download music to my Kindle Fire and listen offline with over 18 million songs in the Amazon MP3 Store. I know that this is important to many people.

Like my previous Kindle E-readers, Kindle Fire uses Amazon’s Whispersync technology to automatically sync my library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across my devices. I find this incredibly beneficial when I switch between several books which I am reading.  Frequently, I start streaming a movie on Kindle Fire, then pick up right where I left off. Essentially, it is an excellent and effective virtual bookmark!

Kindle makes it easy to take my documents with me. I can e-mail my Word and PDF documents directly to my Kindle Fire so that I can read them anytime, anywhere. I find this option very helpful when I e-mail a short story, novel, or nonfiction book manuscript that is in progress and I want to review it while using my Livescribe Echo smartpen to edit or add more text. (In a post in the very near future, I am going to review the exceptional  Livescribe Echo smartpen.)

The Kindle Fire display is chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, making it extra durable and resistant to accidental bumps and scrapes. I tested this one day when I unfortunately dropped the Kindle Fire on a concrete floor. It landed on the back of the Verso Prologue Case Cover that had I purchased for it. I like the secure corner elastic strap system with no-slip silicone. The strap length, tension, and placement hold onto the Kindle Fire tightly but allow me to reach the Kindle Fire touch controls easily. Nonetheless, it was good to know that the Kindle Fire could handle a significant fall without internal or external damage. I do recommend that you purchase a cover for protection and aesthetic purposes.

Below are a three professional reviews:

“If you’re thinking about getting the Fire, you have to decide not just whether you want a tablet, but what kind of tablet you want. This isn’t an iPad-killer. It has the potential to do lots of things, but there are many things I have yet to see it do, and I wonder if it will get there given the lean software support. It’s my impression that Amazon believes that the Fire will be so popular that developers will choose to work on its platform rather than on Google’s main trunk of Android, but that’s just a theory right now. Still, there’s no question that the Fire is a really terrific tablet for its price. The amount of content you have access to — and the ease of getting to that content — is notable to say the least. The device is decently designed, and the software — while lacking some polish — is still excellent compared to pretty much anything in this range (and that includes the Nook Color). It’s a well thought out tablet that can only get better as the company refines the software. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great start, and at $200, that may be all Amazon needs this holiday shopping season. ” -THE VERGE

“The Kindle Fire is a 7-inch tablet that links seamlessly with Amazon’s impressive collection of digital music, video, magazine, and book services in one easy-to-use package. It boasts a great Web browser, and its curated Android app store includes most of the big must-have apps (such as Netflix, Pandora, and Hulu). The Fire has an ultra-affordable price tag, and the screen quality is exceptional for the price.” - CNET

“The Fire gives me the features I want at a price point that’s less than half of the iPad 2. I can check my email, browse the Internet, maybe play a few games, most importantly; I can read magazines in color on a Kindle.” - GIZMODO

System Requirements: There are none since it is wireless and does not 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).

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.

Kindle Fire

Verso Prologue Case Cover

Arkon Portable Fold-Up Stand

JBuds J5 Earbuds-Style Metal Headphone