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#askmodaco - Kindle Fire

Nov 22 2011 01:49 PM | PaulOBrien in Android

It's launch was rumoured for SO long but it's finally here - Amazon's entry to the tablet market - the Kindle Fire!

I have imported a unit myself and i'm here to take any questions you may have on the device, the OS, importing or using in the UK or, well, anything really!

I'm prepping a full review, but in the interim feel free to ask anything you like below or on Twitter to @paulobrien with the #askmodaco hashtag and i'll do my best to answer!

Questions, responses, photos and everything else will be posted after the break!

About the author

Paul O'Brien founded MoDaCo in 2002 as a site focused on Windows Smartphones and has grown it since then by concentrating on providing a friendly community for both experienced and beginner mobile enthusiasts.

14 Comments

N23
Nov 22 2011 02:00 PM

Does WiFi work for you? Even after the latest update? Some users are reporting that it's broken for us in europe...
Does privateinternetaccess.com work on it?What about Bluetooth support? And putting some ice-cream on it? Posted Image

Looking forward to receive mine in mid-december Posted Image

PaulOBrien
Nov 22 2011 03:31 PM

WiFi works for me... I haven't had an option to update it yet tho?

Haven't tested PIA (no VPN options out of the box?) and there is no Bluetooth.

P

tabor56
Nov 22 2011 03:40 PM

How much did it cost in total to import? including any charges?

What services and features do we have access to in the UK (e.g Appstore, Silk browser, etc)?

N23
Nov 22 2011 05:18 PM

I think no services will work, AA with Pauls route and a american account - but the other services use a ip-based country check, this is why we need vpn support (PIA - as modaco plus user Posted Image

)

The Fire has a multi-purpose-wireless-chip with wifi, fm and bluetooth support - it hopefully has only to be unlocked, like on the nook color.

PaulOBrien
Nov 22 2011 05:40 PM

N23, on 22 November 2011 - 05:18 PM, said:

)

The Fire has a multi-purpose-wireless-chip with wifi, fm and bluetooth support - it hopefully has only to be unlocked, like on the nook color.

Surely it also depends on the antennas tho?

P

phlo
Nov 22 2011 10:08 PM

I also imported mine, even with the update its working fine here.
Only the Instant Video stuff is not working because of the none US IP.
It does work with a vpn gateway.

But I would love to see a native vpn running on the Device.

phlo

N23
Nov 23 2011 11:13 AM

Paul, on 22 November 2011 - 05:40 PM, said:

Surely it also depends on the antennas tho?

P

No not really, because WLAN and Bluetooth use the same frequenzy (2,4Ghz) they also share the same antenna - there seems also a switch-chip for routing wifi and bluetooth signals. Bluetooth would be killer, so the kindle fire could be use, with a bluetooth gps receiver, as a car navigation system! how awsome would be that?

PaulOBrien
Nov 24 2011 04:27 PM

N23, on 23 November 2011 - 11:13 AM, said:

There are other tablets with GPS built in tho...

P

unrandomsam
Dec 07 2011 07:51 PM

Paul, on 24 November 2011 - 04:27 PM, said:

There are other tablets with GPS built in tho...

P

Yeah but bluetooth would be good (bluetooth keyboard (They tend to be more portable than usb ones).

I think I will probably get one just because of Amazon's kindle customer service that is as close to perfect as it could be.
(Send a new one by the next morning you have a month to send back the broken one).

Don't see why you couldn't just use an external usb gps with a little bit of hacking though even without bluetooth.

(Sometimes its good to have the GPS battery separate from the phone/tablet one).

OSF-Vector
Dec 08 2011 09:53 PM

How is gaming on this tablet? like 3d games ect.

Mark Dearlove
Dec 12 2011 04:55 PM

It looks like Amazon are readying an OTA update to address the performance issues on the Fire. It should be with us by Christmas according to a source quoted by the NY Times

renegade027
Dec 14 2011 05:04 PM

Paul,

What do you think of this?

http://forum.xda-dev...d.php?t=1388996

Would it be safe to apply the same procedure to shrink /data AND /system so as to address a major issue on the kindle - internal (and only available) storage space. This exercise could net us potentially up to 2GB on /media with a 512 Mb /data - enough for most people, I'd say?

Along the same line of thought, how much, do you think, could /cache be shrunk, especially if one decides to go the way of AOSP ROMs and does not expect to receive any OTA updates from Amazon.

Finally, do you have any idea what the /dkernel and /dfs partitions are for(200+ Mb of usable space)?

Thank you very much.

Nick.

bbnm505
Dec 24 2011 06:48 AM

Paul,
Hello, I’m not as techie as everyone posting here, but have a question you might be able to answer. I am in the US and currently watch bbc iplayer on a mac computer by signing in through London with an encryption service…Witopia. I have a new kindle fire and desperately want to watch bbc iplayer but Witopia has told me the encryption will not work on the kindle fire. Any ideas? THANKS!

bbnm505
Dec 24 2011 06:51 AM

Oh, and I do know about Cloakbox Pro...but it's expensive! Any other ideas? Thanks! B

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