I'm Hooked on my Kindle Fire HD 8.9

by Bill Matthews
(Irving, Tx)

My adventures with my Kindles are much the same as many owners. When the Kindle DX came out I was still working and doing quite a bit of traveling with little time for reading pleasure. I had a stack of books to read and enjoyed them. I did see people on airplanes with their DX devices but I thought that I didn't have the time and didn't want to carry yet another electronic device.

After I retired, my wife wanted to get a Kindle (the 2nd generation had come out), so I got her one for Christmas. In the process of setting it up, I realized that this was a "good thing", so I bought myself one and got it in time for Christmas also. Both of these machines gave us excellent service with no problems and are still in use.

Being somewhat of a techie, when the Kindle Keyboard came out the next year, I just had to upgrade - even though it also was giving me flawless service. (Well, I did call Kindle Customer Service and get the cover replaced, which was and has been my only call to CS.) One of my sons, who shares the same love of books and likes the same genre that I love, now has that Kindle along with his own iPad - that way he can have access to my books when desired.

Shortly before I got the Kindle Keyboard, my wife got an iPad (V1 w/ 3g) and a red case that makes it look like an Eatch-A-Sketch which she loves and it is her constant companion. It is a real attention getter. As long as that company does not make one for the later versions, I don't expect that she will want to upgrade.

On the other hand, when the first Kindle Fire came out, it did not take me long to put one on order and it arrived the first day of shipments. I went with the wi-fi only version since I did most of my email and browsing on my laptop and I also had a netbook for traveling.

I spent the next 11 months with a device that gave me no trouble. It went with me most everywhere and was "happy" in its red cover. Its main job was as a reader and on occasion for watching movies.

Then, the Kindle Fire HD devices were announced. I delayed making any decision for several weeks, until the larger 8.9 had started shipping. Then, as people began using these, I finally decided to make the plunge and had one in my hands within a couple of days.

Now, I'm really in love. I can do email (using K-9), browse the web (I have a form of a "home page" on one of my internet web sites), watch movies - both streaming as well as downloading some that I've converted from DVDs and even read.

I have found that I use the device in landscape mode the majority of time. I also decided to go with the 4G version, which I do not regret since the email and web browsing is so much better in the larger format.