# Fire HD 8 Reader's Edition



## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

I noticed this at Amazon today - It's a pre-order for a Fire HD 8 Reader's Edition:

$249.99 & FREE Shipping.
Up to $100 in savings on Fire HD 8, 1 year of Kindle Unlimited, and a rustic leather case ($349.86 when purchased separately)

One year of Kindle Unlimited included with access to over 1 million titles and thousands of audiobooks
All-new Blue Shade, an innovative feature that allows for comfortable reading at night
Designed with readers in mind, featuring an 8" HD display, fast quad-core processor and 8 GB of internal storage
FREE 30-day Audible trial, for new members, with over 180,000 titles to listen to

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=ods_gw_tab_mr_launch?_encoding=UTF8&node=13295758011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-hero-kindle-A&pf_rd_r=0EJ09FV92KN2MB0VM8GR&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2322060862&pf_rd_i=desktop

I am intrigued by the Blue Shade - that might be enough to get me to purchase another Fire.

ETA
OK - I'm weak. I preordered - but I didn't get the KU or the case, just the tablet...


----------



## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

that sounds intriguing and I really like that case


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I just upgraded my phone during the black Friday sale and it has a blue light filter button and it makes a huge difference in reading on it for me I found. It makes it possible for me to read on the phone while I wait at appointments and such. Mostly I read on my Voyage, but I only take my phone along outside so its nice I can finally read a bit. Amazing how much I can get done reading in 30 minutes waiting, which seems to be my average lately. 

I expect it to work equally if not better on the Fire. More screen real estate and Amazon knowing about making great reading devices 

Hope you like it Andra.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, I bit. 

I think I'll like the slightly larger screen, and I'm intrigued by the blue blocker thingy. I like the cover, though it's more expensive than the base model. And I used my Amazon store card so I get 5% cash back so my final price is $236.55 plus tax.

The device alone is $150 -- though that's also the stated price of the non blue blocker model which is currently on sale for $130. (I'm rounding here.  )
Amazon's non-leather cover is $40. 

So that's $190. I figure I'm paying an extra $30 for the leather -- based on the pricing shown -- so that means my year of KU is only about $16.50.  I've been thinking of that for a while but wasn't sure I wanted to commit to $10 a month -- not sure I could find enough I'd really ike to read.  But for less than $1.50 a month I expect I can. 

I suppose I'll give the box to the Hubs to wrap for me for Christmas. 

Should be delivered on Friday. . . . could have paid around $9 to get it on release day, which is Wednesday, but that didn't make sense. . . especially if I'm not going to open it for 3 weeks.   Or maybe I will . . . . I'll have to see.


----------



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-courts-readers-with-new-fire-hd-8-will-kindle-fans-bite/

The article above suggests that perhaps Amazon is trying to move away from eInk ereaders in favor of a tablet optimized for readers. And interesting notion, but I will not buy it until and unless my hand is forced because they stop making eInk ereaders and my old one wears out. I like the light weight and long battery life of an eInk reader.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-courts-readers-with-new-fire-hd-8-will-kindle-fans-bite/
> 
> The article above suggests that perhaps Amazon is trying to move away from eInk ereaders in favor of a tablet optimized for readers. And interesting notion, but I will not buy it until and unless my hand is forced because they stop making eInk ereaders and my old one wears out. I like the light weight and long battery life of an eInk reader.


Agreed!

I think this 'optimized' will be a good back up device . . . . but I expect I'll mostly use it for games, email, etc. and still use my Voyage as my main reader. Battery life is a HUGE thing for me -- and, I think, for a lot of high volume readers. Last thing we want is to be in the middle of a great story and get a warning that the battery's about to go flat. Plus, for me, one of the _advantages_ to the Kindle is that it doesn't have the distractions of a tablet.


----------



## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> The device alone is $150 -- though that's also the stated price of the non blue blocker model which is currently on sale for $130. (I'm rounding here.  )


I bought the standard Fire HD 8 which is on sale for $130 and it had the blue blocker feature. So I'm pretty confused what, if any, is the difference in the Fire 8 in this package. I think it's the standard Fire HD 8. If you go to the standard Fire HD 8 product page and scroll down far enough, it describes how it has the blue blocker.


----------



## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Agreed!
> 
> I think this 'optimized' will be a good back up device . . . . but I expect I'll mostly use it for games, email, etc. and still use my Voyage as my main reader. Battery life is a HUGE thing for me -- and, I think, for a lot of high volume readers. Last thing we want is to be in the middle of a great story and get a warning that the battery's about to go flat. Plus, for me, one of the _advantages_ to the Kindle is that it doesn't have the distractions of a tablet.


Not to mention it still won't help with reading outdoors


----------



## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Eltanin Publishing said:


> I bought the standard Fire HD 8 which is on sale for $130 and it had the blue blocker feature. So I'm pretty confused what, if any, is the difference in the Fire 8 in this package. I think it's the standard Fire HD 8. If you go to the standard Fire HD 8 product page and scroll down far enough, it describes how it has the blue blocker.


I started reading more closely AFTER I hit order (yeah, I know, go ahead and laugh) and it looks like you are correct. I think that the "readers" thing has more to do with the bundle than anything else. And they put the 10" on sale also so I may really have messed up with the 8". It has already shipped so I'll know tomorrow.


----------



## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Andra, I did the same thing. I read my email late at night. I didn't have a lot of time. I saw the offer for a new Fire. I thought that was strange after just releasing this year's Fires. I thought that it might be the current Fire, but with a bundle, I had missed seeing that the blue light thing strip shown was also on the the current tablets. Maybe I saw it, but thought that it was to point to the new Fire. I also thought it strange that Amazon didn't announce it on their homepage. Then, I started to think that maybe Amazon didn't send me the email. LOL! I was all over the lot. I am glad that I decided to get this tablet, except for only having 8GB. I would have preferred a 16GB's one. Today, I purchased the ScanDisk to add more storage. However, customers said that you can't add kindle books or audible books to the memory card. I guess it's for everything else. I wish Amazon would fix this for books.


----------



## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

It's going back. I wouldn't have ordered it if I had realized it only had 8GB onboard memory...
But I like the blue shade feature for sure. It's hard to describe but it's like sepia, only more so.
It is a little sluggish compared to my HDX7 but I expected that. Seriously contemplating the 10-inch one instead.


----------



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I'm not in the market, Andra, but those who are might be interested in how much of the eight GB was available to use.


----------



## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I'm not in the market, Andra, but those who are might be interested in how much of the eight GB was available to use.


Not much - maybe 2GB. I couldn't download a single movie.


----------



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Andra said:


> Not much - maybe 2GB. I couldn't download a single movie.


Wow, that's even worse than I expected!


----------



## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

I hadn't planned to buy any Fire Tablets this year, but I had decided to buy it to use only for reading some of my art books, which I stopped reading on my other Fires late at night because of the blue light. Then, I also wanted to try that speed reading thing. Can't remember the name at the moment. If I wanted to do anything else, I would put it on the SD card. I'm still keeping my other HDX's. 
Too bad that it's more sluggish, Andra. Thanks for describing what the blue shade is like.  A reviewer said that the image/pixels on the 10" is not as sharp as the 8" one. However, I haven't checked this out yet.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I'm not in the market, Andra, but those who are might be interested in how much of the eight GB was available to use.


I just got mine -- a day early -- and decided it was my late St Nicholas day present. 

Still playing but wanted to answer this question. I turned it on, it downloaded a system update and then I set it up. Didn't download anything else and checked the storage and there was about 3.5 GB available.

I have a microSD card around here somewhere I'm sure . . . once I find it I'll install it 'cause why not? According to the installed User Guide, you can have apps and games, music and videos, photos and personal videos on the external storage. Audiobooks, eBooks, downloads from the browser and email have to stay on the internal storage. Once you install the card, you then set it for the apps, movies, music,e tc to be automatically sent there or not. You can move apps back and forth via settings, but if you have a video in internal, it looks like you have to delete it and then re-download it and direct it to the card.

The carousel is indeed gone; swiping right or left moves to separate 'pages' for the various categories of content.

Opened a book. There's a different color option besides white, black, and sepia -- green!*  It's interesting, but I'm not quite sure about it.  I'm used to sepia on my HDX so I set the new one to the same. . . . On the new one, the sepia is a bit yellower and the color seems a bit more consistent from edge to edge. Switched to 'White' and the new one is whiter with less of the blue bleeding at the edges. Honestly for a, technically, less advanced screen it looks at least as good and maybe better. One difference is you can't set it to adjust brightness automatically -- though it looks like there's such a setting when you turn the Blue Shade feature on. I'll play with that some this evening.

The email client is pretty similar, but some sightly different ways to do things. Don't want to d/l too many apps until I have a card to put them on but I did get a couple just to see how they work. Responsiveness is comparable.

I thought it came with SOs . . . but, though there's an icon to look at offers, they're not coming up on the sleep/wake screen . . . .no, wait . . . spoke too soon. Just closed the cover again and this time when I opened it it wasn't the nice nature scene. Though the nature screen is still there as background on the home screen. On the other screens . . books, video, etc. . . the background is a faded/fuzzy image of whatever is the first item shown. Little weird, but it works.

At the bottom there's a triangle, a circle, and a square. The triangle points left, essentially a 'back' button. The circle is the home button. If you're doing something it goes home to that main menu area; if you touch it again it goes to home- home. The square flips to show the last bunch of screens you were at . . . not sure how far back it goes, but it could be useful for toggling between say changing what you're listening to and reading. I don't think the earlier Fires have such a feature.

Overall, I'm fairly impressed with it . . . . it does come with a bunch of pre-installed apps, many of which are sort of redundant since theyr'e also in the menu bar -- books, videos, etc. You can't remove them, but you can group them into a single folder so you don't have a ton of them on the main screen.

* Just realized that green was an option on the HDX as well . . . might have come with an update because I don't remember seeing it before.


----------



## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Ann, thanks for the review. I'm not crazy about the green color either that I have on my other Fires. I like Sepia the best. I don't like the idea of only having around 3 GB's to use, but I was able to have a bunch of books on my 1st Gen Fire, 8GB, so I am hoping that's the case here. As for audiobooks, I have my other Fires & Fire Phone to use for that. Thanks for letting us, especially me know how to use it.   When you put the apps in a file, is it like the collection that the other Fires have? Or, is it like an iPad, where you hold down an app until it jiggles & place it on another app, then type in a title?


----------



## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I'm not in the market, Andra, but those who are might be interested in how much of the eight GB was available to use.


I set mine up and installed a bunch of things before I got around to finding and installing the micro SD card I had. So everything at the moment is on the onboard memory. When I go to storage settings, it says "Your Files" = 4.12 GB and Free space = 1.47. Within that 4.12 of used space, 2.38 is "system files".

So I'd definitely say people should get an SD card. They're fairly cheap, so it's not a big deal to me.

I posted this in another thread but no responses so I'll ask here: In the video on the product page, near the end, it shows the Fire in landscape mode and a two page spread when reading - 2 columns. I don't see a way to do that. But maybe it's only an option on the larger 10"? (the video was for both). It's not a big deal, just wondering if I'm missing something.


----------



## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Mine came today!!! Yahooo! I still get excited about new tech tablets.  I unboxed it as well as the cover. The cover is like my special edition cover on my Voyage, but slightly different as I can do a fold over & attach to the back to keep my Voyage standing up very securely. I put in my SD card before placing the Fire in the cover. Now, I have it plugged in while it's downloading the update. The charge arrived at 72% & the downloading was slow. I'll check that 2 pages for the books for you on this Fire. I remember doing that on my older Fires, but it only works in landscape mode.


----------



## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

I played with it longer than I planned. Besides the tutorials, spending time in settings to set this up took me awhile. I have around 3GB's. I had a little trouble with responsiveness trying to shut off the voice over. It drove me nuts. Then, there was a million guestures to use, which is pretty cool. I'd have to take notes to remember them, but don't have time tonight. I decided to download a biography book. I didn't see the 2 page thing. I did try the word runner, which besides the blue shade is my reason for getting this tablet. OMG! I love it!!! So much fun!!! I haven't done anything else yet.


----------



## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Tonight, I used the cover as a stand in the verticle position. I was able to fold the leather in a way that it attached to the back -magnets- that is. Now, I love the cover even more.


----------



## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

I originally bought a non-Amazon cover for my Fire HD 8, but I didn't like how floppy it was when folded back to use the tablet. I ordered an Amazon one (went with a like-new warehouse deal from Amazon that saved m $5 and it was indeed like new) and I'm much happier with that, since the magnets hold the cover back securely when folded back.

I'll return the other cover, although Amazon wants to charge me like $7 for return shipping, for a $15 cover, so I won't get a ton of money back. I thought we used to have the option to pay the return shipping ourselves and send it US mail, but I couldn't find that option anymore - only option was for Amazon to take the cost of UPS shipping out of your return.


----------



## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

The only option available now is the one that makes the most money for Amazon. What a surprise. :shock:


----------



## MrBill (Nov 25, 2012)

>>>All-new Blue Shade, an innovative feature that allows for comfortable reading at night<<<

I've found that white text on a black background makes for VERY comfortable reading at night!  Actually, it's nice during the daytime also . . .


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The thing about the Blue Shade feature is that it works with other apps than just the kindle reader.  So if you like to play games or something but want less blue 'cause it's before bedtime.  The colors are wonky, but, unless you have some color deficiency issues, it works just fine. You can shade it from nearly red to barely yellow, depending on what's comfortable for you, as well as adjust the overall brightness.


----------



## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

That's great to know. I love the Blue Shade. I've only tried the sepia color so far. I also love the Word Runner. I'm reading a book that holds wonderful ideas, but is very "wordy" & the Word Runner helps my concentration as well as pushes me to go forward, so I don't digress re-reading what I just read.


----------



## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

Is this fire HD 8 the same as the readers edition? Just added the case and kindle unlimited? I'm interested in trying out the blue feature, but would like one in a different color if it's the same device. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I think it IS the same -- the reader's edition came with the software version that does blue shade . . . . other models may have to run an update to get it. Though, by now, they might have it. . . it's been a couple of weeks.


----------



## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

I notice today the price for readers edition has dropped to $199. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

That makes it even more challenging.


----------



## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

So I ordered it at the $199 deal. It seemed too nice a deal to pass up.


----------



## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

I'm trying hard NOT to order the $199 deal LOL


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

Yeah, good luck with that.


----------



## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

If they would let you pick the color of the tablet, I would order right away...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Cristiane Serruya (Mar 13, 2016)

Hi, I'm new to Kboards, but I'm already loving it, though I have to figure a few things yet.  
I'm pretty accomplished user of Kindle, as I have one since 2008, bought another a paper white three years ago, and Fire Reader last year. But it is just killing me!!  
I don't know if any of you can help me, as not even Amazon community has an answer to my question: Fire 8" Reader has-or has not-the "my clippings"?
Thanks a lot
-Cris


----------

