Mods: if this is in the wrong place please move it.

Just received the new $50 kindle yesterday,did not come with instructions so I am a bit lost Before this I had an Ematic tablet (read POS),and a used kindle I got from ebay ,I've been using the used kindle,but one of the buttons died so when I saw the new cheap kindle I ordered one.

As near as I can tell there are a lot of icons that lead to stores on it,most of which are of no interest to me. It has a calender and calculator,also an address book that looks useful. What I need to know is how to remove some of the icons and how do I install a few (hopefully) freeware apps.

All I need is a media player that will work on movies and music,and a picture organizer/viewer. I guess the media player should be able to create a playlist.

Also how do I add files to the tablet to use? Like adding ebooks,mp3's or movie files? I've got a micro sd card ,but haven't installed it yet.

Thanks For Looking:)

Do you have an icon that looks like a shopping basket? that would likely be the Google play store you should be able to get all the android apps you need , you may need to set up an account as for the rest did it not come with a manual but I expect you can load stuff on by plugging it into your pc/laptop

Thanks Blaa,nope no manual,have it plugged into the computer and pasting some stuff over. As near as I can tell Amazon doesn't have googleplay on their devices. I guess I will to go by trial and terror.

Try looking google on-line for a manual/instructions the play store can be tricky if your device is not "authorized" you will also need to authorize it for DRM if you plan to buy/read bought books on it .. good luck

Thanks blaa, went into amazon app store and got a free file explorer app. Whatever is on board will play mp3s,but only half the movies. Unfortunately it doesn't see any of the mobi books on the sd. I can see the device has some great potential,but damn they made it hard to do anything on it.

[njtechguy]

you could use calibre for books

NJtechguy,I have it on the pc and used it to send some books to the device. Still need a picture organizer viewer,didn't find one on amazon store. Starting to get the hang of it,but it sure feels awkward.

[pony123]

I just ordered the
Fire, 7" Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB - Includes Special Offers, Black
from Amazon
It cost $49.99 ($50) with free shipping.
I have not received it yet but it seems like a good deal for my needs.
I hope it does not have a lot of problems.

[OneTiger64]

I was looking at these to pre order for my son to use and in reading the reviews several mentioned that it was not possible to side-load your own books onto the device. In finding that out I decided to spend the extra and get a galaxy tablet instead. I'd be interested to see if anyone finds a workaround for it though. Pretty crappy of amazon to lock it to their own over priced kindle store They also charged an extra 15 dollars to not have ads on the device which I found rather crazy

you could use calibre for books

When I had a kindle, that's what what I used to convert the books to mobi so I could read them. Plus, if you get rid of that tablet you can convert it to whatever you want with that software. It's great!

I was looking at these to pre order for my son to use and in reading the reviews several mentioned that it was not possible to side-load your own books onto the device. In finding that out I decided to spend the extra and get a galaxy tablet instead. I'd be interested to see if anyone finds a workaround for it though. Pretty crappy of amazon to lock it to their own over priced kindle store They also charged an extra 15 dollars to not have ads on the device which I found rather crazy

I had a kindle with special offers on it, the ads unlike what you've read aren't so bad. They're actually not really a bother. They just show up when you are unlocking the tablet.

Why did you pick a galaxy tab? I'm curious because I'm looking to get a new tablet.

[OneTiger64]

I was looking at these to pre order for my son to use and in reading the reviews several mentioned that it was not possible to side-load your own books onto the device. In finding that out I decided to spend the extra and get a galaxy tablet instead. I'd be interested to see if anyone finds a workaround for it though. Pretty crappy of amazon to lock it to their own over priced kindle store They also charged an extra 15 dollars to not have ads on the device which I found rather crazy

I had a kindle with special offers on it, the ads unlike what you've read aren't so bad. They're actually not really a bother. They just show up when you are unlocking the tablet.

Why did you pick a galaxy tab? I'm curious because I'm looking to get a new tablet.

That's good to hear. I ended up picking one up on black friday special for 35 dollars. I just couldn't resist the low price and I found a youtube video demonstration on a work around so I can even add the google play store and use the reader apps I normally use on my samsung tablet for sideloading books. Bad news is they're back ordered till december 24th so I have to wait to try it all out and see if it works lol.

Lets see, the reason I went with the galaxy tab is that they are just so very open to do anything you want with them. I can download 1000's of apps from the play store, use it for email, internet (firefox browser), music, watching netflix, and most of all reading. I have the kindle app for their free books mostly, then coolreader and aldiko apps which pretty much can be used for anything I find on the internet. The readers are completely customizable in that you can change the background, text, borders, lighting etc. It's also the perfect size in my hand, doesn't feel to large even with the cover and not to small either. Absolutely excellent screen resolution, movies and videos look amazing and the sound is decent though I mostly use bluetooth headphones to listen to music while I read. While the tablet is fairly easy to root I don't even find it necessary because you can do pretty much anything with it already and it has a microsd card slot so you can expand it to I think 128GB now. (I have a 32GB and I haven't used half of it yet) I don't know, I am not great at explaining but it really has been a great tablet and for a very reasonable price. I just bought the newest one for my son in october on amazon for 117 dollars and since they last for at least a few years it's well worth it to me.

[finfeature5]

Amazon UK has just reduced their price for the Kindle Fire 7" and 8". £35 GBP. I bought one. Brilliant little machine, pity it hasn't got Google Play Store. For the money it is great, especially if you are a Prime customer. Doesn't replace the full Android experience, but great for a runaround, or child. There is a major update due, which I think may tarnish the machine a bit, but all Android devices seem to be going through this at the moment.