Cooking (and other things) with a Kindle Fire

I have had my Kindle Fire for ten (crazy) days and I am in love. Due to a national holiday, I haven't used it as often as I probably will for the next ten days/weeks/years. Just the same, I feel like I have used it enough to give a humble review.

As the title states, the Fire does a wonderful job of doing things in areas where my beloved iPhone is weak. Reading ebooks is no longer an eye-straining, finger-wearing-out adventure. When reading a fiction book, the Kindle simply melts into my hand after a short bit and I forget I am even using an ereader. The built-in dictionary helped me figure out in a flash the history behind the German opera house where my current novel takes place. Since I bought my Kindle directly from Amazon, it came preloaded with my books already on "my" cloud, ready for me to pull them down and read away. Amazing!

I am simply crazy over one of the preloaded apps called Pulse. It allows you to create your own "newspaper" by adding news websites that you visit often. I have a page for local news, another for baseball news, and another for homeschool blogs. I hope to add more pages in the coming days. I cannot tell you how quick and easy it now is to get the latest news on the very items that interest me the most.

I have been surprised at the one area where the Kindle Fire has excelled: cooking assistance. I hosted Thanksgiving this year and was able to utilize the Kindle Fire while prepping for four days of house guests. The seven-inch screen was perfect for calling up recipe websites. I would carry the Kindle in one hand and walk around the kitchen, gathering ingredients and equipment with the other. I would then rest the Kindle on the island and follow the recipe. My low-tech, frugal gallon ziplock bag kept it safe from splatters and the empty paper towel tube held it at the proper angle. I set the screen lock for an hour and cooked/baked away. I hope to do even more cooking with my Kindle with the help of Evernote.

I am also impressed with the audio aspect of the Kindle Fire. I am uncertain why, but streaming Pandora uses a lot less battery than on my iPhone. I am able to stream it all night long and only have the battery level go down by the slightest amount. It is making me contemplate getting MLB at Bat 2012 for Indians broadcasts next season. I think it would save a lot of wear and tear on my iPhone. (I'm on my third iPhone 4 in seven months. Maybe I should write a review of AppleCare next.) Purchasing and downloading a mp3 album was almost too easy on Thursday morning. Amazon "knew" I had a $3 rebate/credit and the album was instantly on my cloud storage. Wow!

I am not a big movie/TV fan but I have enjoyed the limited time I have used the video option on the Kindle Fire. I have flawlessly streamed a Amazon Instant Video documentary and cartoon, a live TV newscast (something I could have never done on my iPhone without Flash), and an archived television show from the network's website. I was impressed with how simple it was to do each of these things. The screen seemed amply big and colorful.

I have been pleased that some of my favorite Apple apps are also available in the Amazon app store. It is very nice to see Words with Friends, COZI, and Grocery IQ on the big screen. The last one doesn't sync to my iPhone account, something I'm hoping will happen in an update.

I would have to say that the Kindle Fire's weaknesses are all things I was aware of before I bought it. In a nutshell, it isn't an iPad. I knew it wouldn't have cameras or a GPS. The app store is also slim pickings, at this point. I am still learning how to type quickly and navigate without a home button. Wi-fi only hasn't bothered me. I have not missed 3G service, nor the bill for it. None of these weaknesses would make me want to pay $300 more for an iPad.

In closing, I think the Kindle Fire is the perfect companion for this frugal, iPhone-owning bookworm!


(Disclaimer: Thanks to a wellness rewards program offered by our health insurance company, my Kindle Fire was essentially free. I am usually not an early adopter but I wanted to use the gift cards on something that would last. I had friends laugh when I told them I was comtemplating an ereader or a fuzzy logic rice cooker. I have thought it over and had I not gotten the gift cards, the Kindle Fire would probably be on the top of my Christmas wish list.)