This is pretty simple. I usually just google "XDA Install Play on Kindle Fire" and get the steps. Even old steps usually still work as you install old versions but once things are running they update themselves to the current ones. IIRC, the gist of it is install a file manager, enable 3rd party apps, and install 4 apks, agree to Play TOS and Bob's your uncle.
Tweaking all of my Google permissions in a very thorough, time-consuming, and extensive way is one of the first things I do on a new Android device. Comparing Google to micro$hit is kind of silly, since at least Google *tells* you what data they're after and allows you the ability to control much of it. They have to have certain data and I'm okay with that, because it's innocuous enough and doesn't open me up to a bunch of bullshit, like M$ does.
So I plodded through a ton of other brands and ended up with one that appears to provide the total-device coverage I'm used to with Otterbox cases. That should come today. I can't believe how little the ads annoy me. I wish I had known in 2013 how unobtrusive they actually are. As noted before, I see one ad when I wake up the tablet. I swipe up and get the prompt to enter my PIN. The ad disappears--and I *never* see another one until the next time I unlock the tablet. As for its battery usage, I'm charging it overnight; when I start out in the morning it's at 100%; by evening, when I'm done using my laptop for the day and have time to play with the tablet, its battery is down to ~98% if I didn't use it AT ALL, and 96%-97% if I used it for an hour or so. I can live with that.
You're making a very valid point. However, I could easily counter with...????....dozens? hundreds? I don't know how many, but I'm sure there are a lot of cases where Google's tracking helped someone. I seem to recall something about a woman locked in the trunk of a stolen car, having no idea where she was, and she was found due to Google(?)'s tracking. I've heard similar stories with good endings, but can't cite any and am far too lazy to look anything up. My point is, there will always be pros and cons with ANYTHING in life, and people who like or dislike different things. I could say "isn't that blue sky gorgeous?!" and someone could respond "UGH!! I hate blue!!" *shrug*
I've been unhappy many times in my life when a company discontinued a product I really liked. But I got over it. Right now, I'm facing this dilemma with Amazon Drive--they're shutting it down in December of next year. Long story how I ended up using it for storage, after first using other sites like [paid] Dropbox and Google, but I really liked it. Combined with my Prime free, unlimited photo storage, a tiny paid Drive account gave me all the off-site storage I needed. Now it's on its way out. You know what? I won't hate Amazon for it. I won't bitch about it. I won't boycott Amazon. I won't forever relegate them to the land of horrible companies that did me wrong. IT'S JUST BUSINESS!
Meh, whatever. As long as I can do what I bought it for, I'll be happy. I just think it's silly and ridiculous that Amazon has really clamped down on letting us use *our* products the way we want. *shrug*
I know the feeling, yeah my battery will last around four days idle withotu charing eitherJust a little update since I've had the tablet for a bit now. I love it. I'm really glad I bought it. I can't believe how fast and responsive it is, and now that I've customized it a lot, it's looking and feeling more normal/comfortable. I'm not nearly done customizing it--but are we ever REALLY done?!--but each day I'm happier than the last that I bought it.
It's *almost* funny how strongly Amazon and Google don't want to play nice with each other on it.
Yesterday, I realized late in the afternoon that I had not put it on the charger the night before. Its battery was at 97%. To be clear, it hadn't been charged in over 36 hours, and had been used the previous day about as much as I use it each day. When I checked its battery, its estimated time left was two days!
I had my tablet turn off for a few days and just surprised it stayed at eighty percent, I usually charge mine around 45% and just wait until it is charge to do whatever customization was occuring at that time.
I got the Fire HD 10, with 64GB. It's the most recent version. They dropped the word 'Kindle' from the name at some point--my old one was called Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9" and the new one is just Fire HD 10. I've added my beloved [but long abandoned] Hacker's keyboard as its default, so now I feel like I'm home when I'm typing. I'm still tweaking ADW's settings, but have yet to find a solution to keep it set as the default launcher. That's the biggest thing Amazon clamped down on--and they've really made it a pain. I'm confident that one way or another it'll all work out fine in the end, even if I'm stuck with Amazon's launcher.
The upgrading thing doesn't annoy me nearly as much as it does you, but I do understand it. In general, when I'm alerted that XYZ has an update, I read *why* and *what* the update is for. If it makes sense, I go ahead with it. And it almost always makes sense.
Hmmm...I bought mine at the end of 2013, and it was their then-current model, but it had Kindle in its name.
Probably! As noted way back in this thread, my original Kindle...Fire....whatever....was still working great the last time I fired it up, which was probably, shit, I really don't recall, maybe three or four years ago. I tried reading a book on it when I first got it, thinking MAYBE I'd like this new-fangled way of reading books...but I didn't!! Give me a REAL book any day of the week. To me, there's simply no comparison between a real book and an e-version of it. I do admit, though, that the new-fangled method gives you access to millions of books in the space of one 'real' book, so if you were going on a long trip or something, and wanted to have lots of reading material, that's a much easier way than lugging 20 or 30 hardcover books around! But generally speaking, I'll always prefer real books.
Yep!! I love the physical experience of holding a book, turning its pages, the smell of it, the way you can thumb through it and jump from one part to another. I've said before that, as a child (and still today), one of my very favorite places was the beautiful main library in Pasadena. The very distinct scent as I walk through its doors makes me feel like I'm home again.
Plus a good friend of mine runs a book shop nearby.
