# Kindle User Experience is a bit Frustrating and Embarrassing



## lkn4truth (Nov 11, 2011)

Leading up to the release of the Kindle Fire all I heard about was Amazon signing another huge deal to offer more content to Amazon Prime members.  Knowing that the device came with one free month of Prime, I was excited to see all the great stuff.  However, I'm a little disillusioned now that I find out I can only watch free Prime content if I'm connected and streaming.  I love the idea of the Kindle but I am literally scratching my head trying to figure out how to get a damn thing ON it to watch when I'm not connected to Wi-Fi.  Everything is pay, pay, pay, to download (but stream for free).  I was so excited about taking my Kindle Fire to the gym to work out and watch movies, etc but I can't find any "free" content to watch and can't get wi-fi at the gym.  More often than not I'm no where near free wi-fi. I'm even more frustrated to find that all of the aps I've installed also don't work if I don't have wi-fi.  A co-worker was so excited to see my new Kindle and the first thing I tried to do was show her a cool app.  Ooops, can't open without wi-fi.  How about I show them the video capability? Ooops, can't show video without wi-fi.  How about email...ooops, etc.  My Kindle is like a brick. I can show her an ebook and that was about it.  Frustrated and embarrassed here.


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## jd78 (Dec 8, 2009)

I can understand why you are frustrated, but honestly the information has been out there. Amazon was forthcoming about their tablet being a connected experience. Also, all streaming services require internet access... You could however, rent a movie or show and it will store i locally and would not require internet access to watch.


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

How did the book you showed your co-worker get on your Fire?  Via wifi.  After that you don't need wifi to read the book.  Same with some apps.  I am addicted to Free Cell.  I downloaded that with wifi on.  Don't need to be connected to play it though.


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## Star56 (Nov 18, 2011)

lkn4truth said:


> Leading up to the release of the Kindle Fire all I heard about was Amazon signing another huge deal to offer more content to Amazon Prime members. Knowing that the device came with one free month of Prime, I was excited to see all the great stuff. However, I'm a little disillusioned now that I find out I can only watch free Prime content if I'm connected and streaming. I love the idea of the Kindle but I am literally scratching my head trying to figure out how to get a d*mn thing ON it to watch when I'm not connected to Wi-Fi. Everything is pay, pay, pay, to download (but stream for free). I was so excited about taking my Kindle Fire to the gym to work out and watch movies, etc but I can't find any "free" content to watch and can't get wi-fi at the gym. More often than not I'm no where near free wi-fi. I'm even more frustrated to find that all of the aps I've installed also don't work if I don't have wi-fi. A co-worker was so excited to see my new Kindle and the first thing I tried to do was show her a cool app. Ooops, can't open without wi-fi. How about I show them the video capability? Ooops, can't show video without wi-fi. How about email...ooops, etc. My Kindle is like a brick. I can show her an ebook and that was about it. Frustrated and embarrassed here.


Umm...just load one of your movies in MP4 format to the Fire.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

lkn, it sounds like the Fire is not all you hoped for.  I'm sorry about that.  But the good news is that Amazon has a very generous return policy. . . .if it's really not going to work for you as you'd hoped it would, return it.  You'll pay return shipping and that's it.

For myself, I am enjoying it. . . . .


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## NightReader (Apr 25, 2010)

If you don't have a smart phone that can run a wifi hotspot, have you considered getting a mi-fi type device?  They run on cell phone service and create a wifi connection for your wifi only devices.  It has a monthly cost, but they have the benefit of not being tied to a specific device.


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## parakeetgirl (Feb 27, 2009)

NightReader said:


> If you don't have a smart phone that can run a wifi hotspot, have you considered getting a mi-fi type device? They run on cell phone service and create a wifi connection for your wifi only devices. It has a monthly cost, but they have the benefit of not being tied to a specific device.


Yes, the MiFi devices work very well. And you can get them prepaid. Virgin Mobile makes one.

I think Amazon was more than honest though about how the Fire works.People have to do their homework regarding new gadgets.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

If you have any music in the Amazon Cloud - you can download to your Fire and listen to it offline.  Though I haven't tried it yet myself (since I have Cloud) you could probably bring in music without Cloud for offline listening also.  Ditto movies.  And books.  And games.


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## trastan (Nov 14, 2011)

parakeetgirl said:


> ... I think Amazon was more than honest though about how the Fire works.People have to do their homework regarding new gadgets.


Agreed.

lkn4truth, the only thing embarrassing here is that you tried to show off a product that you did minimal research on, and had no experience with. You tried to boast about your new purchase, and it didn't work out because you didn't know what it was, how it worked, or why you even had it.

I'm not seeing a lot of fault on Amazon for this one.


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## Finished (Feb 14, 2009)

I am sorry that the OP doesn't like the Fire, but I have a overwhelming need to say that Amazon has been extremely honest in describing this product. The OP's complaints show a lack of understanding of the product's description, not deficiencies in the product itself.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

I'm not sure 3G would even stream a movie very well, and if the Fire did have it, there would be a data charge, just like with a smartphone. Could become very expensive! There's no way Amazon would be able to offer it free like they do for e-ink Kindles, which only move very small text files, for the most part. 

I thought long and hard about the Fire because of the lack of 3g, but then I realized that my 4G phone tends to not get a signal in almost any public building. If I'm lucky, I can get it in the grocery store. My daughter's school? Forget it. Restaurant? Nope. Mall? Haha. However, my home, work and even the gym all have wi-fi. If I'm on the road and absolutely need something, there's a McDonalds at almost every exit. It has everything I'd need. Bathroom, Fries, and Wi-fi.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm curious as to which apps you were trying that didn't work unless there is WiFi.  Things like NetFlix  and Hulu won't, true, because they depend on streaming.  It's inherent in the app.  Also, things like Flixter and IMDB depend on "live" databases online, so they don't.  But most of my games, my sketching app, and Audible (as long as I've downloaded the books I want to listen to) work without WiFi.

I'd suggest you give it a little more time to learn more about the device, knowing that you can return it within the 30 day window if you still don't like it in another week or so.

Betsy


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## lkn4truth (Nov 11, 2011)

Thanks for the comments. Just a quick note to those who are suggesting I just didn't do my research or that Amazon made everything perfectly clear and I must not have been paying attention, that unfortunately is not true. I have been subscribed to a google alert daily for Kindle news since September and have been reading a TON so I was aware. I just assumed that I could download content while connected to a wi-fi and then view it off line when I'm not around wi-fi. That was totally acceptable to be and I saw nothing saying that wouldn't be possible.  Last night I spent hours trying to get a video to play that I moved over to the device.  I even converted an avi to mp4 as all the tech sheets say and it still doesn't show up on my device.  I don't get it and I want to keep trouble shooting this until I get it to work.

Please note, I love my Kindle Fire and I do not want to return it.  I wish people wouldn't jump to conclusions just because something frustrates me and suggest that I should just return the product and go away.  I'm here on these boards to ask how to get around my issues from those of you who are using it like me. I am trying to get constructive feedback and suggestions, not be told to do more research next time and/or return my product.  My question was in hopes that someone would tell me how they overcame that problem too.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

lkn4truth--

As Amazon said quite clearly in their information that Amazon instant videos would not be able to be downloaded but must be streamed, you'll have to forgive our members for assuming you hadn't done research.   From what I've read, the videos moved to the device have to be viewed through the "Gallery."

I suspect that this is something that will be refined over time, and since you plan on keeping your Fire, you'll be able to take advantage of software changes that I'm sure will happen.

As we're all fairly new to the device, we're all kind of learning about it together!  Hang out here and learn with us!

Betsy


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## lkn4truth (Nov 11, 2011)

As I read through the tone of some of the posts in this thread I have a feeling this thread could quickly become a bunch of people getting progressively nastier with each other.  Again, my intent wasn't to bash Amazon, bash the Fire, or anything like that. I was simply trying to relate an experience of having a new tech toy and being embarrassed when you can't show someone who's interested in buying one themselves. I wasn't trying to "boast", "brag" "show off" or anything.  I am not an idiot nor did I fail to do research or know what I'm talking about. I was simply relating an incident in which a co-worker was excited to see my brand new fire and I was embarrassed realizing I can't really show her anything yet. I'm sorry I offended anyone or attacked something they love personally.  I'm going to stop responding to this thread as I think it is going to get nastier and I didn't come here to fight with people.

Thanks.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

lnk4truth,

I think there has simply been some misunderstandings...

Betsy


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## trastan (Nov 14, 2011)

lkn4truth, I appreciate your decision to not get riled up by dissenting opinions. 

That being said, you did come to a Kindle-centric board, venting frustration that you directly attributed to the device and Amazon's service through it. The issues that you described were based on a lack of information that could, and should, have been easily found prior to purchase. No one is calling you stupid, or saying that you're bashing anything. But there is a case to be made that, had you done some research on the subjects of your difficulty, you wouldn't have tried to show Wi-Fi-only apps and videos to a colleague when there was no Wi-Fi available, and you would not have made this post to complain about the embarrassment you received.

All of that being said, I would love for Amazon do allow temporary, or otherwise limited, video downloads from the Prime streaming video catalog. That would give this device (and their Prime service) some serious driving power.


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## Finished (Feb 14, 2009)

With regard to MiFi, Virgin is a bargain and buying the device from Amazon right now is even more of a bargain. It lists for $149, is sold at Walmart/Radio Shack/online for $129 and is available from Amazon for only $69 at this moment. I just bought one for delivery tomorrow. It is a prepaid plan, so you pay $10 for 10 days, $20 per month for low usage, or $50 per month for high usage. You pay by making a phone call when you want to use it. You can just pay for periods you want to use it. Virgin's coverage (actually the Sprint network) is pretty good for most places, but you should check the coverage map on the Virgin site to make sure it works for you.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

Even on my iPad 3g, streaming movies will be choppy and rapidly use up my 2GB data plan. Until cell phone data plans get faster and allow more data, these things are just going to require wifi.


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## Finished (Feb 14, 2009)

I agree MiFi is not a good solution for streaming or downloading video. But it is a good way to get wireless coverage when you are away from free wifi.


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## jd78 (Dec 8, 2009)

Just Wondering said:


> With regard to MiFi, Virgin is a bargain and buying the device from Amazon right now is even more of a bargain. It lists for $149, is sold at Walmart/Radio Shack/online for $129 and is available from Amazon for only $69 at this moment. I just bought one for delivery tomorrow. It is a prepaid plan, so you pay $10 for 10 days, $20 per month for low usage, or $50 per month for high usage. You pay by making a phone call when you want to use it. You can just pay for periods you want to use it. Virgin's coverage (actually the Sprint network) is pretty good for most places, but you should check the coverage map on the Virgin site to make sure it works for you.


Keep in mind that the 10 days of usage only allows for 100MB of Data usage which isn't much IMO.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Here's a link to the Virgin MiFi at $69.00


I've been using the MiFi for about a year now with my iPad. I'm near WiFi most of the time; I used the MiFi for those times when I won't be. If I'm going to be at a location for two or three days and won't have free WiFi, I get the 10 day plan. It's enough for heavy usage, and $10 for three days use is better than what the Hilton in NY wanted to charge me ($15/day).

I typically get the $20 for 30 days/500 MBs though when I'm travelling. That's enough to keep me going during the day, and then I use the hotel WiFi at night and in the morning. I don't stream a lot of video during the day, it's fine for email and net surfing (for me).

Betsy


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

yeah, that's the way to use it. I think the average Netflix movie is like 400-500Mb


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## Shastastan (Oct 28, 2009)

DYB said:


> If you have any music in the Amazon Cloud - you can download to your Fire and listen to it offline. Though I haven't tried it yet myself (since I have Cloud) you could probably bring in music without Cloud for offline listening also. Ditto movies. And books. And games.


You can transfer content via usb without going on the internet.


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## malligator (Jul 1, 2010)

I think the basic message here is:

1. Impromptu content will be streamed.
2. Content you may want eventually can be put in the Cloud and downloaded over wifi.
3. Content you know you want access to at all times should be sideloaded via USB or downloaded from the Cloud ahead of time.


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## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

lkn4truth said:


> Last night I spent hours trying to get a video to play that I moved over to the device. I even converted an avi to mp4 as all the tech sheets say and it still doesn't show up on my device.


As Betsy indicated, you'll need to use the Gallery app to view the side-loaded mp4 video. But there are alternatives on the way; I found an app called MovieGallery that has a much nicer interface than the gallery. It's not in the Amazon App store yet but is somewhere in the approval process. The author has made a free version available on his website:

http://www.tools4movies.com/2011/11/moviegalleryfree-for-kindle-fire/

The author's post includes instructions on how to install the app - you'll want to open the url on your Kindle and download directly from there but will need to set your fire to install apps from unknown sources first.

I hope you find this helpful and you start enjoying your Kindle Fire more! I love mine and have already sideloaded several movies that I'll be watching while I fly cross-country next week.


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## lkn4truth (Nov 11, 2011)

kcrady said:


> As Betsy indicated, you'll need to use the Gallery app to view the side-loaded mp4 video. But there are alternatives on the way; I found an app called MovieGallery that has a much nicer interface than the gallery. It's not in the Amazon App store yet but is somewhere in the approval process. The author has made a free version available on his website:
> 
> http://www.tools4movies.com/2011/11/moviegalleryfree-for-kindle-fire/
> 
> ...


Thank you so much...this is the kind of information I've been waiting for! Someone mentioned the gallery earlier but didn't mention it was an app so you both simultaneously solved that little mystery for me and gave me another option as well. Thanks so much!


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## malligator (Jul 1, 2010)

That is good information. Every time I watch a movie the Gallery would pop to the front of the carousel. I had no idea I was watching the movie in Gallery and wouldn't have looked there to find a movie.


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