Pleasantly surprised

[renegade600]

 a couple of hours ago a fire hd and show mode stand arrived from amazon - could not resist the early black friday sale.  Finished setting it up a bit ago and am surprised as to how well it work in show mode and, how well it can hear  commands.  was afraid I was going to need to keep the echo dot and use a different wake up name.    Now just need to do some personalizing  and figure out what to do with the extra dot. 

[Laurel]

Renegade600 I will be interested in hearing how you find it down the road.  I bought the cheap Fire 7 a few months ago, and it is awful.  So slow that I never use it. 

[jwlv]

Fire 7 tablet is the lowest-end model that Amazon sells. Renegade mentioned he got the Fire HD, which is a high-end model. The middle of the line is the Fire 8.
I got my Fire 7 tablet last year during Black Friday. I agree with you. It is painfully slow. I hate it. And I don't like the Amazon user interface. It is too Amazon-centric. I'm thinking about ditching it completely and going with a Samsung Tab.

[renegade600]

I mainly got it for my security cameras.  I wanted something that will show them and turn them on on command than having to continuously log on to the computer or use a smaller phone screen.  as far as using it as a regular tablet, never planned on it.  I have a real tablet for that.  It also could come in handy for other things like recipes since it is located near the kitchen.  I also used it to replace an echo dot. 

I do agree, it is slow and I don't like the amazon interface either.   I also don't like not being able to connect to bluetooth with a command.  Hopefully that will get updated. 

there may more good and bad points about it but still a lot to learn. 

[scottrods]

I was kinda surprised as well, I have a house full of Fire Tablets...2 - 7", 1 - 8", and 1 - 10HD. The 8 and 10 both do Show capabilities as long as plugged in. So I just set up the 8" one as a Show in the Den to help with microphone placement and checking the Security camera at the front door (for my retired and old in-laws). Works a Charm. I've had all these tablets for about a year now and continue to be impressed by their usefulness. for the money I have not seen a better deal on a tablet with the functionality and clarity these have. The little ones are a bit slow compared to the 10HD, but they are still really nice for the money. With Alexa Built in to all of them it makes them all AI helpers in the house as well.

[mike27oct]

Last year I upgraded my 2012 iPad model to the 2017 model.  I was very happy with the older one, but it was showing it age so I upgraded to the new one to get better "everything" and for less than the first iPad cost. Not a big fan of Apple (or even less for Google), but I am a fan of the iPhone and iPads.  They are compatible with their apps, unlike some Android devices are.
I also have Amazon Fire HD tablets vintage 2012 and there is no way they could match the iPad of that era.

iPads today are a better value than they were in the past and competitively priced.

[Laurel]

I have the Kindle Fire HDX  7 from 2013 and it is the best little reader and tablet ever--very fast even all these years later lol.

[scottrods]

Last year I upgraded my 2012 iPad model to the 2017 model.  I was very happy with the older one, but it was showing it age so I upgraded to the new one to get better "everything" and for less than the first iPad cost. Not a big fan of Apple (or even less for Google), but I am a fan of the iPhone and iPads.  They are compatible with their apps, unlike some Android devices are.
I also have Amazon Fire HD tablets vintage 2012 and there is no way they could match the iPad of that era.

iPads today are a better value than they were in the past and competitively priced.

The iPads *are* a great value today, but they also offer some overpirced iPads as well (I know... I have a 12.9" iPad Pro 2n'd gen and Apple Pencil, And I love it as well). But bang for the buck still belongs to Fire Tablets... of pretty much every size and capacity. I wouldn't give up my iPad for a Fire Tablet if I had to make a choice... and I paid a ton of money for the iPad last Christmastime. But I don't have to choose too much so I have a little bit of everything I guess... except on phones... I do like my iPhone over anything android. Another choice.