# Alexa and other clutter slowing Kindle Fire



## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

I've removed the few things that had an option, and I disabled Alexa. It continues to store data without my consent. There's now so much bloatware, that the device barely functions. I get continuous low space warnings, and I can no longer keep books downloaded.

Several searches have turned up nothing but complicated possible solutions via rooting. I've started researching other ereaders and tablets. Any suggestions? Thanks.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

reset it to factory conditions? I'm not sure how to do that, but there's got to be a way. And then don't download anything except books. 'Course, if you're going to do that, I'd go with a Kindle as easier on the eyes. 

My experience with Fires has been that they tend to run slow. I got a couple of the early ones both smaller and larger and was never really happy. I've now got tablets by other manufacturers and am much happier.


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

Thank you. I've been holding off on the reset as a last resort. I'm almost certain Amazon will reload Alexa and all the other junk.  

I'm backing up and removing my documents and other things, but it hasn't made a dent in the low space and slowness problem. It was fine for reading, surfing, and email on the run, but all the new dowloads I can't uninstall has ruined it. Today it add a group sharing option for photos. This device isn't for the user, it's for Amazon. If there was an option to consent, and to uninstall unwanted apps that would work.

Are you allowed to suggest other devices? I've gone wide since I got the Fire. I've just started shopping for an alternative.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Secret Pen Pal said:


> Are you allowed to suggest other devices? I've gone wide since I got the Fire. I've just started shopping for an alternative.


Why wouldn't I be allowed. . . I don't work for Amazon. 

Seriously, though . . . we talk about all sorts here.

My larger tablet is a Samsung and I've been happy with it . . Galaxy S2, couple years old, probably newer models available.

My smaller tablet is a Verizon branded android. It's o.k. Rather older and some of the newer games freeze up on it. O.k. for email and such on the go, though -- still pretty portable with a bigger screen than my phone.

I also have a Samsung phone, the S7edge. It's also a couple of years old. It's about time for me to get an SD card and install it as it is getting a bit full. On the phones, at least, Samsung includes a lot of utilities/apps that you can't delete which takes up space when you want to load your own apps. You can disable most of them without causing problems -- though it warns you that it might when you try. I did it anyway. 

There are also a lot of folks here who use the fruit based technology  -- but that would be incompatible with any apps you already have for the Fire. Most should still work on any other android, even if you got them from Amazon, though some might be Fire specific.


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

Thanks that's helpful. I appreciate the detailed response. I'm gunshy about forum rules, so I ask.


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## jobo132435 (Jan 9, 2018)

I'm not sure if you want help, alexa, is really not slowing your fire down, the fire is so cheap as Amazon use lower spec components and clever programming to get performance, all the Amazon pre-installed apps will work just fine. It's all the other apps that slow them down, particularly side loaded ones and even worse if you have installations google, play etc, that runs all the time and just kills a fire

Apps run in the background, even when you have closed them and eventually things grind to a halt. You can go into setting and close them one by one or install one of the many utilities that will do that for you, with one click, including alexa.
Go on any forum for any android device and there are people complaining that there device is running slowly, for the exact same reason,
Your low storage warnings are almost certainly because you have close to the max things stored, one you have less than a gb, left, the warning keep comming, removing things, won't help unless you remove enough to get more than one gb of free space

_Edited. PM me if you have any questions. --Betsy/KB Mod_


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

If your primary use is to read, I'd second Ann's recommendation about looking at an e-ink Kindle instead of a Fire tablet.  It's only for books, so no apps to slow you down 
And I think the screen is much easier on the eyes.  If you have a Best Buy or some place near you that sells e-ink Kindles, go and take a look.  One of them may be better for you and then you can get a tablet based on your other use and just use it for reading in emergencies.
I consider my Fire and "Amazon media consumption device."  All I do with it is watch downloaded movies and listen to downloaded music.  I may read a book occasionally, but with way too many e-ink Kindles in the house, I'll reach for one of those first.
My actual tablet is a Lenovo and it does what I need without too much fuss.


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## jobo132435 (Jan 9, 2018)

Andra said:


> If your primary use is to read, I'd second Ann's recommendation about looking at an e-ink Kindle instead of a Fire tablet. It's only for books, so no apps to slow you down
> And I think the screen is much easier on the eyes. If you have a Best Buy or some place near you that sells e-ink Kindles, go and take a look. One of them may be better for you and then you can get a tablet based on your other use and just use it for reading in emergencies.
> I consider my Fire and "Amazon media consumption device." All I do with it is watch downloaded movies and listen to downloaded music. I may read a book occasionally, but with way too many e-ink Kindles in the house, I'll reach for one of those first.
> My actual tablet is a Lenovo and it does what I need without too much fuss.


What does your lenovo, do that your fire doesnt, I'm accepting it may do every thing a little better, but it cost 4/5 times as much so that's to be exspected, the time I've spent on fire forums have convinced me that they are predominantly purchased by people who don't understand computers at all. Who then blame the fire for their lack of undrrstanding.

I have an expensive lap top which I seldom if ever use as my fire does just about everything I need, to a good standard, which leaves me perplexed at people stating it's only good for Amazon consumption, as Amazon consumption is something I seldom use mine for


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

jobo132435 said:


> What does your lenovo, do that your fire doesnt, I'm accepting it may do every thing a little better, but it cost 4/5 times as much so that's to be exspected, the time I've spent on fire forums have convinced me that they are predominantly purchased by people who don't understand computers at all. Who then blame the fire for their lack of undrrstanding.
> 
> I have an expensive lap top which I seldom if ever use as my fire does just about everything I need, to a good standard, which leaves me perplexed at people stating it's only good for Amazon consumption, as Amazon consumption is something I seldom use mine for


I've just found every Fire tablet I've owned -- and I've had 3 or 4 of them -- to generally be heavy and slow. Just not as good as some other 'clean' android devices. Of course, it's all personal preference. I generally use my tablets for email, some games, and light web browsing. And the games I play are word games or card games . . . nothing too graphically intensive. No videos, no reading, no music. They all have the capability; it's just not something I use them for.


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## jobo132435 (Jan 9, 2018)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I've just found every Fire tablet I've owned -- and I've had 3 or 4 of them -- to generally be heavy and slow. Just not as good as some other 'clean' android devices. Of course, it's all personal preference. I generally use my tablets for email, some games, and light web browsing. And the games I play are word games or card games . . . nothing too graphically intensive. No videos, no reading, no music. They all have the capability; it's just not something I use them for.


Their really not slow out of the box, if you're isn't as fast as the day it came out of the box, then it's down to you, imy phone is slicker, but my phone cost 8 x as much, it unrealistic to expect it to be as good, it's like buying the cheapest Ford and complain its not as good as a merc, the weight is nearly all battery, it has a big battery to give reasonable use, the same battery duration from a lighter battery costs a lot more money.

They brought out the HDX,which was really well speced, but also cost much the same as big names tablets, they didn't sell, people wanted cheap. So they buy cheap and complain

The 10' fire is quite well speced,and a lot quicker, it's three times the price of a 7' . To Spec,the 7" to be as good as the 1 0' would mean it's costs the same money


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

jobo132435 said:


> Their really not slow out of the box, if you're isn't as fast as the day it came out of the box, then it's down to you, imy phone is slicker, but my phone cost 8 x as much, it unrealistic to expect it to be as good, it's like buying the cheapest Ford and complain its not as good as a merc, the weight is nearly all battery, it has a big battery to give reasonable use, the same battery duration from a lighter battery costs a lot more money.
> 
> They brought out the HDX,which was really well speced, but also cost much the same as big names tablets, they didn't sell, people wanted cheap. So they buy cheap and complain
> 
> The 10' fire is quite well speced,and a lot quicker, it's three times the price of a 7' . To Spec,the 7" to be as good as the 1 0' would mean it's costs the same money


Well, I don't feel like I've 'bought cheap' nor am I complaining. I'm just giving my experience/perspective. Yours, of course, may be different.

Here's the thing: I've bought 4 Fires over the years and none of them really worked well for me. I JUMPED at an amazon branded tablet when they first came out. It was o.k. but not 'all that'. As new models came out I'd try them: I kept hoping for The One that would really satisfy me. No joy. But the first Samsung tablet I bought over 3 years ago I still have and use almost daily. It's as speedy and responsive as the day I bought it -- even with 3 years worth of downloaded apps -- and can double as a utility computer (email, word processing, etc.) if I need it to when traveling. I tried that with one of the larger Fires I had and it was barely adequate for me.  Pricewise, the Samsung was comparable. In fact I think it was cheaper than the feature heavy (and just plain heavy) HDX 10 Fire that it replaced.

Bottom line . . . I'm pretty much an Amazon fangirl, and I LOVE the kindle. The Fire, not so much. Just haven't been as happy with any of the ones I've tried -- and I've tried ones at various price points, sizes, and feature levels.


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## jobo132435 (Jan 9, 2018)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Well, I don't feel like I've 'bought cheap' nor am I complaining. I'm just giving my experience/perspective. Yours, of course, may be different.
> 
> Here's the thing: I've bought 4 Fires over the years and none of them really worked well for me. I JUMPED at an amazon branded tablet when they first came out. It was o.k. but not 'all that'. As new models came out I'd try them: I kept hoping for The One that would really satisfy me. No joy. But the first Samsung tablet I bought over 3 years ago I still have and use almost daily. It's as speedy and responsive as the day I bought it -- even with 3 years worth of downloaded apps -- and can double as a utility computer (email, word processing, etc.) if I need it to when traveling. I tried that with one of the larger Fires I had and it was barely adequate for me.  Pricewise, the Samsung was comparable. In fact I think it was cheaper than the feature heavy (and just plain heavy) HDX 10 Fire that it replaced.
> 
> Bottom line . . . I'm pretty much an Amazon fangirl, and I LOVE the kindle. The Fire, not so much. Just haven't been as happy with any of the ones I've tried -- and I've tried ones at various price points, sizes, and feature levels.


Well you have bought cheap except for the hdx

If the Samsung was more of less the same price as the hdx, then it's nearly 4times more than a current 7" , it's meaningless to says it's better, of course it is, it's 4 times more expensive .

To put it in perspective, my memory card cost twice as much as my fire, a whole device for less than a sd,card, now that is cheap

_Edited. PM me if you have any questions. --Betsy/KB Mod_


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

jobo132435 said:


> Well you have bought cheap except for the hdx, and the person who started this thread was definitely complaining
> 
> If the Samsung was more of less the same price as the hdx, then it's nearly 4times more than a current 7" , it's meaningless to says it's better, of course it is, it's 4 times more expensive .
> 
> To put it in perspective, my memory card cost twice as much as my fire, a whole device for less than a sd,card, now that is cheap


I can't speak to the OP as I don't know what Fire they have.

BUT . . . I know exactly what I paid for all the ones I bought and I knew exactly what I was getting. I'm not comparing apples to oranges; rather, I evaluated each based on cost and features and adjusted my expectations accordingly. In ALL CASES -- whether the least expensive or most expensive model -- I was disappointed. My expectations were NOT met. They WERE met when I bought a different model tablet. It was much better value for money.

That said, by the time I bought the Samsung, it is true that I had a better idea of what I wanted. Having tried various models of various sizes and with various features, I knew what I didn't like. Ultimately, there was not a Fire model that had what I DID want.

It sounds like you've been happy with your Fire (or Fires) and that's great! I WISH I'd been able to find one that I really liked. But after trying several, I decided to look at other manufacturers.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Lynn Is A Pseudonym said:


> But I hate the fact that I'm stuck with just Amazon stuff on the Fires. So there's that.


When I had Fires, I was able to load non Amazon stuff by changing the setting to allow apps from 'unknown sources'. It STILL didn't allow access to the Google Play store for downloading, but 1Mobile is a sort of 'independent' app store, reasonably well regarded, and apps from there worked in most cases. You do have to be a little careful and shop for specific apps by specific developers. If you just download something randomly you're at risk for malware.


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## jobo132435 (Jan 9, 2018)

Your not at any serious risk of malware, but a,simple malware scan before installing the app will remove any risk at all, but there's the problem you've experienced, nonAmazon. Apps don't work particularly well on fires, they are to the most part designed for much more powerful devices, but then they don't run very well on any cheap tablet either. But really kicker is that they run all the time in the background and kill your fire slowly, the more non Amazon apps you install. The,worse the device,runs, its what your doing that is spoiling your fire experiance
You can however mitigate this by switching them off, ( some of them refuse to be,switched off, in which case they have to go) and this will return your fire to a pleasant experiance. Nb they will eventually kill your Samsung, it just takes a lot more,apps running to do so


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## jobo132435 (Jan 9, 2018)

Lynn Is A Pseudonym said:


> I wish I'd had better experience with other tablets. I have two and they suck. But my Fire tablets all still run really, really well (I have 3 that I actually use - 6" HD, a 7" second gen, and one of the cheap $50 Fires). Netflix and Prime video play great on all of them and I don't have any problems with books or storage. My *other* android tablets are pathetic--slow and unresponsive to the point of making me want to pitch them across the room.
> 
> But I hate the fact that I'm stuck with just Amazon stuff on the Fires. So there's that.
> 
> ...


Accordingly to what I've posted,above about having to switch apps off, you can get and run i just about any of the google play apps on your fire, just by Googling the name of the,app you want and down loading it direct from th developers web site, after allowing apps from unknown sources


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Secret Pen Pal said:


> I've started researching other ereaders and tablets. Any suggestions? Thanks.


Folks,

Let's respond to Secret Pen Pal's original question, snipped above. There have been good suggestions addressing the slowness and low space warnings on the Fire if SPP wishes to do that--restoring to factory settings and removing unneeded apps.

However, the question actually asked in the OP was about other readers and tablets. Let's focus on that and not argue about the Fire.

Jobo--you're a relatively new member with great enthusiasm for the Fire--and so a Kindle owner's forum is a good fit for you. But most of our members have owned Kindles for years and have multiple devices--heck, some even have Nooks! Everyone's different and the right device for one person's use might not be the right one for someone else. You love the Fire, that's fine--but Secret Pen Pal is asking about other devices. Let's respond to that. If that's not what you want to discuss, lots of other threads.

Thanks,

Betsy
KB Mod


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I've had several Fires - the earlier models were better I think - but none of them have quite worked for me, so I've moved to a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 which I really love. 

I've had Galaxy phones for a few years and have been really happy with them, which is why I chose that particular tablet and I haven't been disappointed. Although not the newest model in that range, it was more expensive than the current Fire models, but I've generally found it to be much smoother and zippier than the Fires and just all round more pleasant to use - and since I was familiar with the phones, it didn't take me long to get up to speed with where everything was and how it worked. As an android tablet you can use your Amazon apps on it, including the Kindle app.

Even so, I would second what others have said - if you primarily want to read on your device, an e-ink Kindle is a far superior experience, even if you chose to buy just the basic model. A mid-range choice such as the Paperwhite would give you everything you need as a reader. I personally have the slightly more expensive Voyage, which is smaller and lighter and I love it. I don't care for the Oasis, though others love it and if you have the budget for it, it might suit you too.


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

Thanks everyone, this was helpful. BTW, mine is the 5th gen Kindle Fire and it's been much more useful than I expected. It was my first ereader, and it's been handy for travel. 

I do have Firefox and Opera mini on it, which isn't ideal, but If you've ever looked at an Amazon book listing with Silk, you'll understand why it's useless to me. I publish via KDP. I'm not using any other outside apps.

I did find a workaround for using Googleplay, but I agree that sideloading more apps strains the device.

My main frustation is that I can't remove any of the Amazon bloatware. It isn't even possible to disable the stuff, other then temporarily. Yes, a reset might be worth a try. I'm going to back up all my photos and delete them from the device. That might help. I already deleted documents, cleared caches, everything I could.

Right now, I can only download one or two books at a time. It's a pain because I'm in Central America and often have slow or eratic wifi. I tend to use multiple books at a time for research and relaxation.

Thanks for the comments about low-end Android devices. I'll take a look at Samsung Galaxy. 

My needs outgrew this device. I got my $35 worth! I'll look at the newer ereaders, too. I won't be back in the states for a few months. My best option is a more powerful device. I enjoy having a second device. I spend hours a day on my laptop. I use the Fire for forums, email, travel books, photos. I can use it while lounging and on the go. 

I appreciate the help thinking this through.


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