Kindle Fire HDX 7″, HDX Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB – Includes Special Offers

3 thoughts on “Kindle Fire HDX 7″, HDX Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB – Includes Special Offers”

1. Steve the Amazon Reviewer says:

   December 21, 2013 at 1:58 pm

   A good upgrade from last year’s model – Beautiful Display, Great Device – Fell short on battery life For those who are looking at getting the best tablet out there at the moment, this is the one you should be looking at.My profile: Heavy tablet users for personal and business purposes. I work on my tablet around 4-5 hours a day (Email / Documents / Spreadsheet / PDF ) and use it 1-2 hours for personal use such as watching movies or reading books/magazine. Tablet is my go-to device for all internet related search I do.I have the following and/or used the following before:1) iPad 12) iPad 23) iPad 44) iPad Mini5) Kindle Fire6) Kindle Fire HD7) Kindle Fire HD 8.98) Asus Transformer with Keyboard9) Nexus 7 First GenAs you can see, I been through many devices and hope this review with my experience helps users decide if this is the right device for them. This will be an ongoing review for this device throughout this next year. For comparison sake, I will use last year’s Kindle and iPad mini as they are the closest size to this HDX 7″Speed (9/10):This is leaps and bounds faster than last year Kindle HD. Last year Kindle struggles to go through any HD video content I put in. This year’s HDX able to play seamlessly all the HD 1080p contents I added. It is incredible how much the 2.2Ghz quad processor improved vs last year’s model Dual 1.2Ghz.Screen (9/10):This is the biggest improvement over last year’s model. The screen is in true HD 1080p (1920×1080). This means any HD content I throw at it will view in its intended resolution. The screen is crystal clear (much better than iPad mini) and the viewing angle is incredible. I have this Kindle hanged in the middle of the car and at any seat it is view very clearly. Last year’s model was not as clear as this. This is excellent for my minivan with my kids watching all the HD movies. The brightness of the screen is also much brighter than last year’s modelSound(8/10):The sound system in this Kindle Fire HDX is using Dolby Digital Plus with virtual 5.1 surround sound. That gives this device a much better surround sound then previous generation’s.Build (8/10):This HDX is more “angular” than last year’s device. It’s slightly rougher to hold in the corners than last year’s model due to sharper edges though I doubt any users will hold their tablet by their corners. The device is noticeable lighter (395g for Kindle Fire HD vs 303g for Kindle Fire HDX). This mean you can hold this for longer time without fatigue.The power and volume button placement on this Kindle Fire HDX is interesting. It is behind the device which allows it to hide away from front view. However, this can cause user to accidentally hit the on/off button or the volume button when not being careful. Aesthetically it is great but it is definitely not a practical solution when you are trying to use this on the go.It does look sturdy enough to survive minor drop but I highly recommend getting a case for it. Those sharp corners seems more prone to dents than round corners for last year’s model.Battery (6/10):This is probably the biggest drawback for this device. The battery life is not as good as last year’s model. This is quite logical as last year’s HD has a 4400mAh battery while running 720p while this HDX runs Full HD 1080p but runs only on a 4500mAh battery (only 100mAh more than last year). The 1080p screen pulls a lot of power vs last year’s model when the screen is on, especially when running HD videos. I’m able to achieve 5 hours of heavy use compare to 7 hours for last year’s Kindle Fire HD at medium brightness with Wi-fi on all the time. I tend to bring around an external battery pack but prefer something that is integrated (like a battery case)Software & software compatibility (8/10):The amount of app is still lacking compare to App store or Play store but has been steadily increasing which is a great sign. Games and software boot time has increased noticeably and compatibility is not an issueSilk browser has definitely improved compare to last year’s tablet with multiple tabs actually now usable on the HDX. For last year’s version, it is practically unusable after 2 tabs due to the lack of hardware resource on the tablet (especially when the website is not optimized for mobile use). The HDX has no problem going through any webpages I throw at it.Hopefully more apps will be optimized to use quad core soon. I’m guessing some of these apps are only optimized for last year’s dual core.I haven’t got the opportunity to use Mayday yet but will review about it once I get more update on this.Complimentary Accessories (3/10):For all smart devices, one of the most important time is the number of accessories available. At launch, it is understandable the lack of accessories but productivity focus…

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2. NF says:

   December 21, 2013 at 2:02 pm

   Excellent 3rd-generation tablet that compares favorably to the competition This is the middle model of the three models that Amazon is shipping this year: the Kindle Fire HD, the Kindle Fire HDX (this tablet), and the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″. This is the successor for last year’s Kindle Fire HD but with an updated operating system and new features, a redesigned shell (with the power and volume control buttons more readily accessible), an absolutely amazing display, superb sound, an included power adapter, and the new Mayday feature. See http://www.amazon.com/review/RNH700DOM9WN3/ for my review of the Kindle Fire HD and http://www.amazon.com/review/R2YPITHVTYLCZT for my review of the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″.Update: Some users are reporting a bluish glow around the edges of the screen for the HDX. If you search on YouTube for HDX Blue Haze, you can find a video showing the issue. Amazon has updated their “Learn More” link with the following info:”To achieve the perfect color accuracy on Kindle Fire HDX 7″ at the lowest possible battery consumption and device weight, we used blue, not white, LEDs. Blue LEDs allow for a much more accurate and rich representation of color and result in an up to 20% improvement in power efficiency.””As a result of using these blue LEDs, you may notice a very narrow, faint blue tint around the edge of the device when looking at items with a white background, such as books or web pages. All displays have some level of light emission around the edges, and the light on the Kindle Fire HDX 7″ is blue due to the technology used to render perfect color accuracy.”If this is something that you think would bother you, I’d recommend taking a look at the YouTube video or taking a look at the HDX at a local Best Buy or office superstore. I’ve also uploaded a user image here of my HDX with a book loaded so that you can see the blue glow (http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B00DOPNO4M/).The Amazon tablets are primarily content consumption devices, best suited for connecting to the Amazon ecosystem, including videos, music, books, apps, and so on. With the free Prime trial subscription, you can check out the Prime Instant Video options and watch movies and shows at no charge for 30 days. For videos, music, and books, the Amazon selection is at or near the top of the list; for apps, much less so. 90% of the top 100 apps are available on Amazon.com, as well as 100,000 others, but that’s only a small fraction of what is available with Google or Apple.It’s not quite as bad as it sounds because, while the competition has ten times as many apps, most of those apps are, um … how shall I put this … less than stellar (look up Sturgeon’s Law). If there are specific apps you need or want, you definitely should double-check before purchasing to make sure that they are available. The apps that will likely never become available on the Kindle Fire ecosystem are those apps that require Google services (i.e., anything that uses Google location services). One ameloriating factor is that it is possible to side-load most of the apps from the Google Play store onto an Amazon tablet and a web search on side-loading apps onto Kindle Fire will show dozens of websites with detailed instructions. If the app you are sideloading requires a Google service to work, though, it will not run on the Fire, even if you manage to successfully install it.Like the other Kindle Fire tablets, as well as the Apple iPad and the Google Nexus, the Kindle tablet line doesn’t have a micro-SD slot, so the assumption is that you’re consuming content from the cloud. This is fine when you’re using your tablet with wifi; not so good when you’re traveling and want to load up your tablet with content for the trip. If the latter is something you expect to do regularly, you might want to consider the 32GB or 64GB versions, or pay the additional price for the 4G version, which is available on the 7″ tablet for the first time. Also, if all of your content is on iTunes or on Google Play, you would have to side-load everything onto the tablet. As is true of Apple and Google tablets, there’s no way to automatically connect to the cloud storage of the competition.Something new this year is the ability to download Prime Instant Videos. I verified that I can download Prime Instant Videos to my Kindle Fire HDX. However, that option is not available for all movies and TV shows. It looks like they had to get the permission of the studios and not all of them said yes. So, for example, I was able to download “Casablanca” but not able to download “The Avengers” even though both are part of the Prime Instant Video collection and both are available for free streaming.Update: Adding a bit from a reply in the comments: Amazon is clearly looking at the Enterprise market with this launch, at least based on the details they provide. They’ve added full accessibility support (required in order to get government…

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3. Michael Gallagher says:

   December 21, 2013 at 2:16 pm

   Nice Tablet with Sharp Display To sum up what I will tell you about in the details below, for $229 you are getting a good deal on a tablet computer – especially if you compare it to the $199 for last year’s first-generation Fire HD and the $500 or more you can spend on a Wi-Fi version of the iPad. Overall, if you consider the price and the functionality I think this is a great tool / toy if you watch a lot of video or play a lot of games on your device: the video quality is outstanding and you can really tell a difference between this and the new HD Fire. If you are a first-time tablet buyer, where price vs. value is a key consideration, or if you are looking for an affordable tablet for the kids, I’d recommend the “regular” Kindle Fire HD that is only $139. If you’re comparing last year’s HD model to this version and it is operating fine, I’d say save your money and continue to get your money’s worth out of that one.My review below compares a lot of the features of this version of the Fire HDX to the original Fire HD as well as this year’s model of the Fire HD, but also some of the features for a first-time user.Consistent with my experience with setup of this year’s model of the Kindle Fire HD, setup took a long time: despite being a brand new product, the Fire HDX attempted to download and install several operating software updates. Software updates on a Kindle are usually in the background, and it was annoying watching the crashes and manual reboots. Consistent with the Fire HD, it crashed during setup, playing a song, watching a TV show, and reading a book. It took a little over an hour to get this thing up and running without consistent crashes but after the final software update it has worked as expected without further issues.Screen Display / Video Playback:This version of the Fire has the absolute best screen display of any Fire model to date. Looking at the technical specs Amazon made some major changes in the display / resolution, and the picture appears more crisp: I compared the viewing experience watching with my standard test of the Fire devices over the past couple of years – don’t laugh – the first episode of the Wonder Woman TV series from the 70’s. The display on this Fire was one heck of a lot better in terms of sharpness than last year’s model as well as this year’s model of the Fire HD. For you technical folks out there, the display is 1,920 x 1,200 with 50% more pixels per inch than the Fire HD.Wi-Fi Connectivity:The initial Wi-Fi setup took some time as it wouldn’t remember the password for my router after each software update / crash / reboot series. After the final operating software update I mentioned above, however, it was fairly easy to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi.My standard test for trying out new gadgets is to see how fast they run side-by-side with a known piece of equipment doing the same test at the best place of Wi-Fi in my house and the worst place where it drags. In this comparison, I had this HDX version of the Fire sitting next to last year’s and this year’s version of the HD Fire, as well as last year’s 8.9″ HD Fire, Motorola RAZR smartphone, my iPad 2 (yes, the Kindle guy uses an iPad for work), and the first-generation 7″ Fire (the model from two years ago) all just using a Wi-Fi connection vs. cellular connectivity.My “normal” website test is to hit the mobile websites of FoxNews, CNN, my personalized Yahoo page, Google, and the Houston Chronicle. The ones that were usually slow on the other devices were faster on the HDX (Houston Chronicle and CNN), and for the other sites I couldn’t tell a difference in speed at the location closest to my router. When I went to the slowest / worst reception location of my house, the speed did have a noticeable difference in the other devices as this one was a little bit faster than all but last year’s model of the 7″ Kindle Fire HD; yes, it was also faster than this year’s model of the Fire HD but I attribute the increase in speed to the dual antennas on the HDX.Sound / Music Playback:The two speakers are located in the back of the Kindle Fire in two not-noticeable ports: one on the top and one on the bottom. My test of this feature was cranking up Van Halen’s Panama to maximum volume (I always want to see if it could really play the guitar licks), and I would alternate covering one speaker up over the other: you have true stereo sound with no degradation of the sound that makes you think you are about to blow the speaker. The Dolby speakers sound nice and you do get to hear the bass. However, I am still of the opinion the speakers aren’t going to do very well being placed in the back as I am in the front: I want to be able to hear whatever I am listening to without really having to crank it up and disturbing someone else in the room (that’s what happens when you start losing your hearing like I am). While the cover for this…

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