Kindle Fire HDX

I love a good bit of technology but I have to admit that I have never been that bothered about the Kindle Fire. Now don’t get me wrong I loved my Kindle keyboard and my Kindle Paperwhite is even better but when looking for a tablet I automatically chose a Nexus as I wanted an android based system and who does android as well as Google?

My mum has a Kindle Fire HD and she really enjoys it and although I know that there were some issues with lack of app availability for the Kindle at the beginning having had a look in the current app for android store I am really quite amazed.

The Kindle Fire HDX has some brilliant new features that puts it way out in front of the previous Kindle fire tablets and with the introduction of Free time it is branching into the family friendly market too.

There are so many childrens apps available in the amazon app for android store that you will have really happy children with many apps free and some licensed apps around 60p. When I first started playing with the Kindle Fire HDX I was concerned that you don’t get to choose to go to the adult or child profile at the beginning, however the reason for that is brilliant. If you shut down the device from within the Free time app it will automatically boot into the Free time app. To exit Free Time you need to input your password. You can have separate profiles for each child as well as set the parental controls on the internet and apps. You also have the ability to set screen time based on the application so you can limit the time playing games but allow unlimited reading if you wanted too.

Another feature which I absolutely love is Quiet Time. A brilliant setting that you can turn on and off at will, it turns off all of your notifications so you don’t get bothered by emails, tweets, Facebook or anything else that can interrupt you when you are doing something on your tablet. The Quiet Time settings also feature the option to automatically turn it on if you are watching a film, reading a book and more options. It can be switched on for set periods of time too which can make it easier for time management when you are busy. Far too much of my day is wasted looking at and answering things that I get through a notification and many a day on my laptop i keep Facebook closed to prevent any form of distraction only to get the notification on my tablet or phone.

I was slightly irritated by the special offer screen savers but for a small amount more you can but the Kindle Fire HDX without them and I definitely think it is a great idea to do so if you think they might irritate you.

The other new feature that you might have seen on the TV is the Mayday Button. To put this to the test I decided to ask them to help me restore my Kindle Fire HDX to factory settings as I am giving it as a gift. Unfortunately it took three calls before we were successful in actually being able to both hear each other and one the third call I lost visuals with the Tech Advisor. We believe that this could be due to the poor internet connection that I was using at the time and that Mayday decided to substitute the video feed for the audio which is good. The Tech Advisor was a great help and he talked me through how to reset and even drew on my screen so I knew what he was talking about. I didn’t actually need his help as the menus were very straight forward but I did want to put it to the test and the Tech Advisor seemed very knowledgeable, helpful and happy to chat whilst we were running all sorts of tests on my sound.

Reading my books on the Kindle Fire HDX is no different than reading them on my Paper white but the ability to stream movies straight from Love film is fantastic, especially as each Kindle Fire HDX comes with a free one moth trial of Lovefilm.

A Tablet for me has always been about family and I can finally see the Kindle Fire storming into that market, great kids app, kid friendly cases, Free Time and the chance to watch kids programmes and movies via Lovefilm. A Kindle Fire HDX is not just for you, your kids will steal it too!