# Thinking about getting a Fire, some questions



## Tar Heel (Jul 8, 2011)

Okay, please bear with me because I have never owned a tablet before so I'm sure some of my questions will be stupid.  

I want a tablet that I can read books on (especially at night), browse the internet, and play around with some apps. For I want to do the Ipad is WAY out of my budget. I thought about the Nook Tablet, but I've heard they've locked it and made it difficult to sideload (a concept I'm kind of familiar with, but not exactly sure how to do). So I'm considering the Fire as it fits my price range and seems to do what I want it to do. 

My biggest concern is no SD card slot. I know you can store things on the cloud, but I'm paranoid about losing my books or Amazon deleting them for whatever reason. Is it possible to save books you've bought on a flash drive? 

I know the Fire doesn't support Epub, but I've read there is a way to get around this, is there? 

Would a Fire fit what I want or is there another tablet in that general price range that would work better do you think?

Thanks for your help in advance! I am a bad "buyer's remorse" person, so I'm trying to avoid that, lol.


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## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

*--I thought about the Nook Tablet, but I've heard they've locked it and made it difficult to sideload (a concept I'm kind of familiar with, but not exactly sure how to do). *

Sideloading is easy on the Fire once you select the option to load third-party apps. (Gear > Settings > Device > Allow Installation of Applications: ON) _--I borrowed those instructions from a post by Betsy the Quilter. Thanks, Betsy! _

There are a few ways to sideload. Hooking up your Fire to a computer and using a USB cord is one way. I personally use Dropbox (get the PC software and the Android app from their site and you're good to go).

*--My biggest concern is no SD card slot. I know you can store things on the cloud, but I'm paranoid about losing my books or Amazon deleting them for whatever reason. Is it possible to save books you've bought on a flash drive? *

I haven't tried this with Fire, but it can be done with other Kindles, so I don't see why not. However, books you buy from Amazon have DRM and will only work on the specific device(s) you download them to. You can strip the DRM easily enough, but I assume discussing that is against the policy of this board, so I'll say no more.

*--I know the Fire doesn't support Epub, but I've read there is a way to get around this, is there? *

Yes. Take a look at this. http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,113146.msg1695636.html#msg1695636

*--Would a Fire fit what I want or is there another tablet in that general price range that would work better do you think?*

That's for someone else to answer, because I'm honestly not sure. But the Fire is a great deal IMO.


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## laurie_lu (May 10, 2010)

I use a program called Calibre to store all my ebooks on my hard drive.  It is like the iTunes for books.  It supports all formats.  I then can back up all those files onto other media.


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## Hadou (Jun 1, 2011)

I second the use of Calibre.  It's fantastic.


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## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

Have you looked at the Samsung galaxy tab 7? It's an actual tablet, and you can load the nook and amazon apps on it. It's a little more expensive, but it does have the sd slot. I would suggest you try out both and see which one you like best. The nook tablet is also a great device.


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## Steven Stickler (Feb 1, 2012)

On the issue of losing books you purchased...they're always available yo resend to your device if you bought them from amazon.

You mention budget. It is very hard to beat fire's price point.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2


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## Tar Heel (Jul 8, 2011)

Thanks everyone!

Luvmykindle3, I just read about that tablet yesterday. It's only fifty dollars more. I'm going tomorrow to play around with both to see which I like better. I've read great things about both of them, and honestly I think either one would work for me. So it'll just come down to which one I like to play with more


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## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

Tar Heel said:


> Thanks everyone!
> 
> Luvmykindle3, I just read about that tablet yesterday. It's only fifty dollars more. I'm going tomorrow to play around with both to see which I like better. I've read great things about both of them, and honestly I think either one would work for me. So it'll just come down to which one I like to play with more


Let us know what you decide to get!!


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## Xopher (May 14, 2009)

Personally, I like the idea of a full-featured tablet. The Glaxay Tab 7 and Acer Iconia A100 are both nice 7" tablets that have cameras, microphone, and other full-featured options (I know the A100 has a microSD slot - not sure about the Tab 7). Plus, they have access to all of the Google applications (as well as Amazon's). For around $50 more than the Fire, those options can be nice to have.

The one thing about the full-featured tablets is that they usually need a bit of tweaking to get the best out of them. The screen are pretty blank, so you can configure them to your liking. But that means taking time to configure them to your liking. The Fire will pretty much be ready to use right out of the box, and is made to be simpler to use.


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