Kindle Fire HD 6"

[Lynn LeFey]

I just got the new Kindle Fire HD 6" tablet, and thought I'd give some initial impressions.

First, let me say that this is not really a 'Fair' review. This compares the old, original Kindle Fire with the Fire HD 6. Maybe a more fair comparison would be against an HD 7 or HDX. I don't have either of those, so I'm just comparing my old to my new.

Second, this isn't a technical specs review. You can find a dozen of those easily. This is strictly a review of a user, not a techie.

First thing. Size and weight.
The 6" form factor is great. This tablet is now the size of a paperback book in width and height. The 7" form of the original Kindle Fire was just a tad too wide for my hand for a comfortable one-hand grip side-to-side, and a good deal too wide for two-thumb keyboard typing on landscape mode.

Weight on the 6" is a bit over 10oz. This is about 4 oz lighter than the original Kindle Fire, and about the same as a 600 page paperback book.

Form:
Decent size bezels around the edge give you a place to rest your fingers without touching the screen, but increase the tablet's size over some more space-saving designs. The front is glass, the rest is plastic. The overall impression is that it's a very solid little device. The sides of the device all taper slightly toward the front side, and the plastic has a good texture, making for a secure feeling grip. The original had a more rubberized feel to the back and sides. So, not a major improvement, but not a fail, either.

Resolution:
When reading ebooks, the higher resolution of the HD 6 is excellent. Considering my age and eye quality, I have to REALLY strain to see any pixilation on the curves of letters. On my previous Kindle Fire, this was considerably more noticeable. Brightness is about the same as from the original Kindle, but viewing angles are a lot better. Not that this should be really important for such a small, single-user device. I was able to read PDF pages more easily in portrait mode due to the higher resolution, even with the smaller screen. As this is one of my major uses for this tablet, this is a big win for me. Also, the faster processor meant virtually no noticeable lag in page rendering, which is another huge win.

WiFi
The WiFi signal was much stronger on the new HD 6. Streaming video, even at the higher resolution was flawless at 2pm (who knows what it'd be like on a saturday night when everyone on earth is streaming video, but that's hardly the machine's fault).

Color/Sound.
I don't see any problem or real improvement in color over the original Kindle Fire, but then I thought the original was excellent. So, no problem. No change in sound quality through headphones, but again, I never had a problem. Through the speaker, the sound IS better in the HD 6, I believe.

Boot time.
The original Kindle booted in 40 seconds, and shut down in 11. The HD 6 boots in 23 and shuts down in 7.

Web Surfing.
This is a MAJOR upgrade. The Silk browser from the original Kindle was ... okay. It could be a bit painfully slow at times. The HD 6 is a good deal faster at page rendering.

Sorry to say, but i can't review this on how it handles games. I don't play any graphics intensive games. Sorry. 

Camera:
We're all going to be happier if we don't discuss the camera. It's good enough for Skype. Don't expect anything more.

Value:
Here's the big win. The new HD 6 is available for $99 for the 8gig version. I splurged for the $119 version with 16gig of memory. For that price, this thing is fantastic. I use my tablets for a few specific tasks. If I want to go out on our deck and still web surf, I use the tablet. If I go to my friends house to play D&D, I use the tablet for PDF copies of rule books. And, let's be honest, I take it into the restroom. At this price, I'm going to be a lot less heartbroken if it gets dropped, or falls off a counter. For the price, I think this thing is amazing.

Last note: I originally ordered this thing in 'Citron'. I got a message from Amazon saying it'd be delivered at the end of November/beginning of December. I canceled and reordered the black one, and it showed up 2 days later. So, like Henry Ford said, 'You can have it in any color you want, as long as it's black'. At least for now.

[sawman]

I'm glad you're liking your new kindle. My wife and I got iPads and gave our kindles away to the nieces. Although quite a bit larger than a kindle, I find them ideal for most purposes. I still browse MTO on my laptop most of the time however for reasons of screen space and faster typing.

[Mr. Whippy]

Interesting.  I find reading on my Galaxy S5 (almost 6 inch) a little claustrophobic.  The Nexus 7 is the sweet spot for me for reader. 

I replaced my broken laptop with a Galaxy Tab S.  While not quite a laptop, it is very good.  Too big for e-reader in most settings though.

[Lynn LeFey]

looking at the dimensions on the Nexus 7, I think I'd prefer it to the 7" Kindles. the width looks acceptable.

How much was that, if you don't mind me asking?

[Mr. Whippy]

looking at the dimensions on the Nexus 7, I think I'd prefer it to the 7" Kindles. the width looks acceptable.

How much was that, if you don't mind me asking?

I think I paid $225, but they aren't latest/greatest  and can go for around $125 now

[Lynn LeFey]

Is that the 2012 vs. 2013 price difference I'm seeing then?

Update note. I've been playing with this thing off and on all day, and battery life seems very good. And I've been listening to audio versions of classic books synched to the text of the book. That's a pretty neat feature.

[Whoey]

yeah the Nexus 7 goes for about 200 (of whatever currency you prefer...) I have the 2012 model, and while it is definitely not as nice as the newer one in terms of screen resolution and not having a forward facing camera, it really is rather a nice little tablet. I had a more generic Spanish branded (BQ) 99eur tablet in the past and it falls well short compared to my nexus. Also the bloat free version of Android is also a perk for me.

After a few years of abuse my Nexus 7 still goes great, although I have dropped it a few times off the side of the sofa, or the cats have sent it flying across the room and it has survived that. Only thing really wrong is that the back cover has popped off and the tabs that secure it must have broken as it pops open a lot. I suppose I could order a new back cover, but part of me just wants to hold out until/if it dies or there is something far better available for a reasonable price.

At the price the fires are going for I wonder if anyone has done a stock android rom for them... they do run android right?

[dks]

I was tempted by the Fire models too as I was looking for a lower cost tablet to give as a present, but I decided to go for a "pure" android system. I ordered Lenovo yoga 8", as the price on Amazon.de seemed prety good.

The fire models do seem nice though.

[Lynn LeFey]

At the price the fires are going for I wonder if anyone has done a stock android rom for them... they do run android right?

A very VERY customized version of Android, yes.

I thought I'd make some notes on charge this morning. When i got the thing, I think the charge was about 70%. I used it a LOT yesterday, and a lot of that was streaming video. By the time I went to sleep, the charge was 27%. I left it on overnight to see what it's resting state drain was, and this morning, it was at 23%. I'm charging it now, and will check to see how long it takes. One of the things i really didn't like about the older Kindle was the time it took to charge, which was over 3 hours starting from about 25% charge.

[Lynn LeFey]

Whoey, looks like maybe this video would get a plain Android build on the Fire HD 6. Although it's for the HD 7, I don't think there's much difference between the two. And, if not exact, it'll get you in the ballpark. I haven't had the urge to fiddle with the operating system of any gadget I've had for about ten years now, but I have a lot of friends who like to tinker.



OR...

It looks like there.s a whole site dedicated to converting Fires to run a plain version of Android.
http://rootkindlefire.com

[Whoey]

I had a quick look after I wrote that and it appears to be something done quite frequently.

I think at that price I'd consider a fire vs nexus next time, obviously loading it with stock android.

[Lynn LeFey]

I figured I'd give a bit of an update, mostly in regard to charge time and battery life.

Like my previous Fire, charge time is terrible. 4 hours or more. Something like that, from about 25% to full. That's the bad news.

The GOOD news is that it seemed to handle pretty much a full day's worth of messing around, including streaming two movies, and not need to be recharged. So, if you're recharging overnight, this thing should have no problem with a full day of pretty significant usage.

Second... it just LOST a file I loaded on it. I put a bunch of PDFs on it, and when i tried to open one, something 'happened'. I don't know if there was a lag, or I somehow hit a delete combo or something, but the file just disappeared, and I had to reload it.

On the UP side, unlike my previous Fire, the new one allows you to create docs. The keyboard tracing method, instead of typing, is pretty darn fast, and VERY accurate. Dictation is okay, assuming you speak at a measured pace and E-Nun-See-Ate!

The streamed movie, BTW, looked awesome. I also downloaded a few games, and never had any chug playing them.

Good stuff. Very happy for the price.