Huzzah, your bookworm reputation precedes you, plus some kind soul gifted you a shiny Kindle Fire. Here's how you can set it up properly-so you don't get burned.
Cover: Start It Up
First off, let's turn it on. Should be simple enough thinking about there's only one physical option on the darn thing. Just hold it down for a couple seconds and you'll see the Kindle Fire logo. Now, I wager you're just itching in order to plug it in and charge that. Don't do that! Here's a little secret: Let your battery power die before you reach for an electric outlet. You should try to do this all the time, however this is especially important during the very first charge cycle. Here's articles that explains why. The actual short version is that your electric battery will last longer if allowed to die between charges. Insert it in when it's 50 percent charged will degrade the life of the battery.
Prologue: Log In
If the Kindle Fire was a gift coming from someone else (there is no shame purchasing gifts for yourself!) you'll need to add your Amazon account to the device. Which, again, easy.
In the top right hands corner you'll see a products. That gear is where you are going to access all of your Kindle Fire's options. Tap the Wi-Fi setting and also hop on your network.
Next you'll need to add your Amazon . com account. Tap the options gear again. Tap on More and navigate to My own Account. Add your account. This is one way you'll purchase books, apps from the Amazon App Shop, and watch streaming videos through Amazon Instant Videos.
Without an Amazon account yet, what's wrong with you? Also, the best choice is to set one up from your computer before Shooting away. Get it?
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Chapter A single: Navigation
The Kindle Fire is an Android device, but not inside the usual sense. It's a personalized variant of Android produced by Amazon. Like Apple, Amazon . com wants tight control over your own user experience. The UI differs from any other Android device on the market.
Basically, your entire expertise is going to revolve around a "bookshelf" which greets you when you power on your device. Recently accessed items are stored in a slide carousel at the top of the bookshelf, although user-added favorites are stored store below. Want to add an book or magazine or perhaps app to your favorites? Just tap and its icon and you will be given the option to Add to Most favorite. All of your other content is huddled in a menu bar at the top of the particular screen below the lookup field.
Besides the power/wake up switch, there are no physical buttons. Once you launch an app, any menu bar appears at the bottom of the screen. If it goes away, just tap the display screen and it'll reappear. The Home button returns you to-you guessed it-home. The particular icon that looks like a piece of paper with writing on it provides you with access to settings for a offered app. And the magnifying glass is made for searches.
Chapter Two: Magazines and books
This is why you wanted a Amazon kindle fire in the first place right? Just tap Books>Store and you're in the Kindle bookstore. If you're already a Kindle customer, Amazon starts you off with some suggestions. If you nonetheless love actual real-life physical books and you're using the Kindle a lot more for browsing and applications, you can compare dead tree and ebook prices.
You can also find magazine subscriptions in the Bookstore, which tend to be mostly glorified PDFs of the print versions, even though some mags include the bells and whistles you might be used to from the iPad.
Although Amazon's books are wrapped in their DRM, they can be read from virtually any device you own. If you leave your Kindle Fire in the home, you can continue reading your e-book on your Mac, PC, smart phone, and tablet. Amazon provides apps for all these devices no matter where you read your own book, if you're connected to the Web, it will magically sync your house in your book on your entire other devices.
Now might be a good time to mention that if you're not an Amazon Prime fellow member, you should be. You can borrow books with the Kindle Owner's Lending Library, accessible directly from Amazon kindle fire in the Amazon Bookstore. You'll find it along the right side with the page. Not all books are for sale to borrow, and the pickings can be trim. But, with some diligence, you will find some gems-Philip Roth, Michael Lewis, the Food cravings Games trilogy-that you can download one of a month, for free.
Finally, you can borrow books from your nearby public library if it supports Overdrive. Navigate to your nearby library's site and select a book that can be found to be borrowed electronically. You may need a library card to do this, so you should head to the actual catalogue and get a card if you don't already have one. Once you find a novel, select "Get for Kindle.Inches You'll be directed to Amazon's site and required to log into your consideration. After that, the book will be shipped wirelessly to your device. Such as the real world, your local library has restricted copies of any given e-book available for checkout. For popular titles, you'll probably have to location yourself on a waiting list.
Chapter Three: Apps
In order to make it in this tablet-crazy world, you're going to need apps. Unlike additional Android devices, you won't have the ability to purchase apps directly from the Android Marketplace. Instead, you'll be directed to Amazon's curated Appstore. The market is smaller Search engine official bazaar, but like Apple company, Amazon doesn't want you downloading something that could potentially harm your own device or steal your identity.
That said, there is a way to side-load third-party apps onto the device. Visit Settings>More>Device. Switch "Allow Installation of Applications" on. You will end up warned that your personal data is going to be less secure and you danger unexpected behavior if you do this particular. But it's worth it to be able to install apps from third-party sites. Oh, but word of caution: you still won't be able to sign in to the Android Marketplace on your Kindle Fire. To do that would require rooting, that hasn't been possible since the Kindle Fire's most recent update. Unless, uh, you're sneaky
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Epilogue: Protection
You're walking around with a piece of glass as well as plastic, you might want to protect it in the event you drop it during a specifically rousing game of Angry Parrots. Lucky for you, there are already numerous Kindle Fire cases available, both from Amazon itself and reliable third-party vendors like Timbuk2. May I recommend the adorable faux-book seem? So appropriate, given the material.
