3 thoughts on “Mobile Desktop for Kindle Fire”

  1. J. Chambers
    J. Chambers says:
    December 9, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    It’s beginning to look a lot like Windows… Note: I installed Mobile Desktop on my Kindle Fire HD 7″, where it ran without any noticeable glitches.As anyone who’s used a Kindle Fire knows, there are only two ways to sort your apps: Sorted by Title or Sorted by Recent, with either Grid View or List View. If you have hundreds of apps, this just isn’t very workable. Mobile Desktop for Kindle Fire is a new app that allows you to have a Windows-like desktop for apps and to put groups of apps into folders. I’ve played around with the Mobile Desktop for Kindle Fire enough to have a good feel for it, and I like what I see. By default, the app shows a desktop view. I added several apps that I use every day (email, calculator, Kindle Fire settings, and a couple of games I play a lot). The desktop view alone is a big improvement of the Kindle Fire’s native display, but the real strength of the Mobile Desktop is the ability to put apps in folders. The default folders are Main, Games, Utilities, and Others, but you can create folders too. I created a folder named “My Stuff” and selected several apps to put in it. Then I created a “daughter” folder to put inside the “parent” folder My Stuff. So you can “nest” your folders, although I didn’t try to see how deep they can be nested.The settings allow you to use the default background (blue) or load your own background image. You can also check a setting that scans for newly installed apps when the Mobile Desktop runs.This is an impressive app. I haven’t seen anything else in the app store that has the capability and flexibility of the Mobile Desktop for organizing apps. I learned to use it by clicking the different items; it’s intuitive enough that no complicated instructions are necessary. (Read the Product Description – that’s all you need to know to get started.)Two thumbs up for a very useful app.

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  2. Matthew Coenen "Ah. Books."
    Matthew Coenen "Ah. Books." says:
    December 9, 2013 at 9:16 pm

    Great App (and a Few Suggestions/Hints…) This app is completely worth the $2.99 purchase price. I’ve tried other “Launchers” with little to no success. After all, the Kindle is more of a “tablet” than a “phone.”PROS:1. Extremely easy to install with an instant “tutorial” when you first open the app2. You can set your own background image! Note: This image is only for the Mobile Desktop — NOT for the “screen saver” when you lock/close your Kindle.3. The Mobile Desktop remains “on top” (default) as long as it was open when you closed your Kindle Fire cover. In other words, when you “unlock” your Fire, you’ll be taken to the MD screen first — not the Kindle carousel.4. Swithing from MD to the Kindle carousel is EASY (another reviewer mentioned difficulty getting books to open in the default Kindle mode). Do the following: – Install MD and add it to your Kindle “favorites” – Make sure you have the “Kindle Launcher” app on the main screen of MD – From MD, choose “Kindle Launcher” to switch to the regular Kindle interface (carousel) – From the Kindle carousel, access your favorites (swipe up from bottom) and choose MD – There ya go… Now you can read a book from the “carousel” and then go back to MD when done.5. Adding folders/apps is extremely easy, and MD can automatically search for new apps when installedCONS:1. You are only allowed so many “icons” on the MD desktop-view screen. 18, I think. Would be nice if the row and column settings could be changed, as well as removing the text labels.2. The background image changes/stretches if you have a “folder” set up on the desktop and then open it up to view items contained in that folder. Minor issue, but not pretty depending on your picture. :)3. The “delete” function (to remove a folder/icon) is odd. It’s not difficult, mind you, just more steps than necessary. I should be able to long-press an icon and delete it. Instead, I have to go into an entirely separate “delete” menu.Admittedly, I’m an Amazon “geek”, so have zero issues with the actual Amazon interface. I’m okay with the carousel, and I’m probably one of the few who likes the “suggestions” from Amazon (I’ve found many good books/movies/apps that way). Also, the apps I access often can easily be added to my “favorites” and a quick “swipe up” lets me access them. Unfortunately, until I’m allowed to tweak the carousel and/or change my background images, MD is a great option.

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  3. Aaron "Kindle Fire Fan"
    Aaron "Kindle Fire Fan" says:
    December 9, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    Nice! This works really well on the KFHD. It lets you organize your apps and and also lets you customize your background. Just when I thought I could get to reading, I now how something else to mess around with. Everything works as advertised and installing this app is a lot safer than rooting your devise and a lot less time consuming than installing and setting up an alternate launcher (which won’t work after the update anyway). The only thing that you’ll have to work around is that the app won’t launch the Kindle app for reading that is installed on the Fire and Fire HD. However if you also download the same companies book sorting app, you can use that it works just fine.Good stuff.

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