If you read my Fire TV review you know that I am tough on Amazon when it comes to their own items. It needs to deliver quality for the price point to earn stars from me. Please take the time to read my entire review and feel free to ask questions. I will do my best to respond to them as I can and update the review to reflect those answers and other things I discover along the way.
First my background. I own many Amazon Kindles (b&w, Fire gen2, Fire gen3) as well as Apple Ipad (gen 4), Samsung Note 3 and have an LG G2 smartphone (had a Samsung S4 before that), notebooks, chromebooks, etc. I have also used many other products including the Fire HDX line. I have a solid computer background as well but honestly I am more of a casual user when it comes to tablets like this one.
Amazon has changed many things over the life of the Fire product line. Adding and removing features (like cameras--the first generation had one but the second generation removed them but not they are back).
They are all useful devices but each one has its own niche so to speak so make sure whatever you get has the features that are important to you.
Now to this model. This is like a big smartphone--which is a big difference from past kindles. It is more compact, lighter and yet still very usable. In fact for me, the shrinking of size increases the usefulness. I find that I use my smartphone way more than my tablets--even the smaller Fire HD and Samsung Note tablets so I am expecting this to replace more of that "on the couch" usage which is great since it so much less expensive than most smartphones. That means you can feel less bad about scratches that might occur or the accidental drops. (I am guilty of both.)
The screen is very good--certainly not the top of the line but nice even if you factor paying twice the retail for it. It is bright, sharp with the same resolution as past
Comparing past Kindle Fires:
1st Generation 7 inch--1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi
2nd Generation 7 inch--1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi
3rd Generation 7 inch--1280 x 800 resolution at 216 ppi (the first step up in resolution)
4th Generation 7 inch--1280 x 800 (216 ppi) (This is the twin to this model and was just released)
Whereas this 6 inch model has 1280 x 800 (252 ppi). That makes this display higher or the same resolution than any of the past Kindle Fires with the exception of the more expensive HDX. It makes it sharper with more detail per inch than any of the past Kindle Fires of this smaller size (again except for the HDX). Yet this is the cheapest Fire yet which is quite impressive.
Now while Amazon may love my giving this 6 inch fire a 5 star rating, they wouldn't like this next sentence. There is absolutely no reason to even consider the newly released 7 inch fire. $40 more gets you a less "sharp/detailed" screen, more weight, more bulk (look at the extra space on the sides next to the screen of the new 6 inch and the new 7 inch) and the only improvements is a second speaker and a larger screen.
In my opinion you should consider this 6 inch Fire or consider spending twice as much to step up to the Fire HDX with many improvements (Mayday button, higher resolution, faster processor, dual-band, dual antenna (MIMO) Wi-Fi, and longer battery life). The HDX has some issues with a blue halo around the screen so read reviews of that before jumping.
So now that I have talked you out of the Fire 7 and covered some of the reasons for considering the Fire 7 HDX, lets talk more about the Fire 6.
Performance/Apps--It is quick (but I am never happy enough, lol), responsive and like Apple products--it just works. Now one plus and minus with all Kindles/Fires are that you can not use any app from Google's app store. That means you have to wait for apps to be brought into Amazon's app store which seems to be slow at getting new releases and new updates. This is really an issue for Amazon and one that still needs to be fixed. The plus to this is that Amazon keeps some of the junky apps out of the system and once they make it to Amazon's app store, they are proven safe and generally work better than the "fresh" apps because bugs have been worked out.
Amazon's own apps are very well integrated into this and past Fires. They keep improving them and adding features without adding cost. If you have Prime, you get streaming TV and Movies, free ebooks and now Prime Music. If you have Prime, the added free content you get on the Fire makes it a real standout against everything else.
I use my Fire 6 for reading emails, surfing the internet, watching videos (some of the time) and playing some games/apps like IMDB. I have found that it meets or exceeds what I have come to expect from these things in terms of performance and reliability. Are there bugs or glitches? Yes but less than my LG smartphone has and less than my Samsung Tab has.
Size--about the size of the new "large" phones is very nice--not too big but not too small. It is more portable feeling than the 7 inch tablets and it is easy to hold. It is fun to be part of the "cool club" without dropping 5-6 times as much or signing a 2 year contract.
Quality--Amazon has proven overtime that they can make quality products and this is no exception. At under a hundred dollars there is pretty much nothing else that is this feature packed with this finish quality. I have experienced no quality issues and do not expect anything given Amazon's solid history.
Battery Life--So far so good. I was able to stream video and surf the internet for well over 7 hours without any hiccups. From a device this compact with such a large screen that seems quite impressive.
Sound--Decent but Apple products are cleaner sounding to me. Volume is usable in most situations but not necessarily in noisy outside situations.
I am sure I have forgotten something so please feel free to ask questions. This is my own opinion and while I don't know everything, I do my best to deliver honest reviews since reviews help me so much when I shop.
If you are in the market for a little tablet and have prime, you have to decide between this Fire 6 or the 7 inch HDX for twice the cost. This 6 inch adds the rear camera and most of the performance while being smaller, lighter at half the price.
For a stand alone reader that would be fine. When a major selling point is full access ...
I may have been spoiled by hubby's Nexus devices. While only sporting 7" screens, they make the most of the real estate and have fabulous visuals and specs to boot. Sadly, the Fire HD6 fails to meet my lofty expectations. From the start, it feels thicker, clunkier and heavier (though it is lighter!) than the larger Nexus 7. The screen almost looks to be set further into the device. It's resolution is 1280 x 800 (252ppi), which is a far cry from the 1920 x 1200 (323ppi) I'm used to. For a stand alone reader that would be fine. When a major selling point is full access to Amazon Prime features like the HD VOD service, that isn't so fine. More on that later. Both sport Corning Gorilla Glass, both have front and rear cameras, both have quad-core processors,wi-fi, bluetooth and access to a wide array of apps. So, since one is more expensive than the other, you'd be inclined to forgive the screen issues and focus on what Amazon got right. Right?What amazon got right was the price. Sold for as low as $84 recently, you'd be hard-pressed to find a quad-core device of equal build quality for less. And with 1GB of RAM, it should handle light mobile games, email and some light web browsing with aplomb. But when you get to the software, that's where things go off the rails for me. Amazon skinned over the lovely Android OS with their own proprietary features, much to the detriment of the user experience. Perhaps it's because I'm used to a pure Android experience, but the devices seems seriously hamstrung by the Fire OS. You lose access to the Google Play store, you lose access to a synced Chrome (and all it's bookmarks with no way to import them), you lose access to the device synchronicity you're accustomed to, and you're forced into an ecosystem that is geared towards Amazon consumption at the cost of being truly user friendly. I found myself constantly frustrated by trying to do what I've been doing with my Android devices for years now, only have to try to learn Amazon's way of doing it instead. Yuck. What's worse is when you get into heavy web browsing, downloading, or typing, you get so much lag you want to fling the thing into the nearest wall. All the ports are at the top of the device, the single rear speaker is absolutely awful, and the camera, at 2MP, is positively anemic. Though it does sport an HDR mode and a wide array of editing tools, the pictures will never be anything to write home about, especially in low light conditions. The screen size is frustrating for me tapping and touching with normal sized fingers, and Hubby couldn't do squat with his much bigger Hubby paws. Amazon does sport it's own app store, but more than a few of the versions of the apps available, while seemingly identical to their Google App and Apple App Store cousins, are usually a few versions behind. Because, let's face it, there are two big dogs on the app block, and it doesn't make sense to spend a bundle on development for the two little dogs with very little market penetration, Amazon and Windows. Amazon has also locked the bootloader, which means no third party development is available, which is another huge upside for normal Android devices, and a hinderance for Kindles.I like having access to my Amazon Prime benefits. I like being able to stream my free video and audio benefits seamlessly. I like the Kindle features that go above and beyond the Kindle apps available for all my other devices. I like that it is small enough to drop in my purse and not know it's there. It seems to be very sturdily built with unobtrusive buttons that don't get hit accidentally. And I like the price. Aside from that, there is also plenty to make me say that I doubt I'd buy a Kindle on my own any time soon. The proprietary, frustrating nature of the OS. The ads on the lock screen. The focus on the "Amazon experience" and not the customer experience. The lack of synchronicity. The screen. And some personal experience. The memory on my first device was corrupted, and the charging port was borked. Amazon sent a replacement next-day air. But after several rounds with their "customer service" chat to figure out how to connect the device to my TV for a true HD video experience (6 different chats got me 6 different failed methods), I eventually gave up and resigned myself to a 6" sub-HD screen for the foreseeable future. I also don't know how I only have 3.5 GB of space on a 8GB device when it arrives. Too small to download a movie, and very little space for apps, media, or really, anything. I've used Samsung Galaxy Devices, LG devices, Asus devices, and Nexus devices. Kindle is dead last in my user experience.I wanted to like my Kindle. I wanted one for some time. Amazon shot for the moon with their Kindle devices and instead, for me, shot themselves in the foot. Perhaps I expected too much. If it's for youngsters, you have a relatively well built, relatively inexpensive device that they can stream the occasional video, play a few games, and read a few books. For a grown up, you're better off buying a grown up device. I received the above product(s) free of charge from Third Voice Marketing. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.
