I'm in the market for a new affordable phone and the fire phone was really looking like a winner until a local carrier started selling refurbished nexus 5 for $200CAD. I had a lengthy debate with one of my friends about which one to buy and at the end of it came out more confused. Since it looks like today is the last day to buy the fire phone, I need to make a decision today. Any advise?
Nexus 5
Fire phone has no custom Roms or custom kernels.
Not even a custom recovery.
I think it will never get anything of that.
I have Nexus 5 and fire phone
Got my Fire Phone from amazon.de for 10€ at a price fail.
Fire Phone is useless for me.
Ombraz said:
I'm in the market for a new affordable phone and the fire phone was really looking like a winner until a local carrier started selling refurbished nexus 5 for $200CAD. I had a lengthy debate with one of my friends about which one to buy and at the end of it came out more confused. Since it looks like today is the last day to buy the fire phone, I need to make a decision today. Any advise?
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Click to collapse
You're not going to get too many balanced opinion about this from XDA, this is an Android bias forum obviously (including me) and most people here probably bought the phone for cheap in order to root or hack it and are not big Amazon customers, they aren't using the phone for how it's intended.
I haven't used the Fire phone yet, but I would recommend the Nexus 5. Nexus phones will get you the latest version of Android which is ahead of Fire OS (which use Android as its base but is behind in version number). Currently Android is a more complete ecosystem. You will have a better experience overall. $200 is a great price for a Nexus 5 as well.
I bought the Fire phone because of the 1 year free prime membership so I see it as $100. If both phones are going for the same price I will take the Nexus 5 over the Fire phone. They are comparable in specs except for a few things. It's the software that make all the difference, and right now Android Lollipop is the most complete mobile OS and provide the best experience to me.
There are benefits of getting a Fire phone if you heavily relies on the Amazon ecosystem. Though unlike Google which do not have any of their apps on Amazon Appstore, Amazon have their apps available on the Google Playstore. So if you buy a Fire phone, you will miss out on Google apps (sideloading Google apps does not count). If you buy an Android phones, you can use both Google apps and Amazon apps, so it's more of a win win.
Well I guess that makes sense. I currently have a handful of other phones, but my most recent android phone is a galaxy nexus which is really failing me right now. I thought the fire phone would be a fun toy to play with and with the right tinkering maybe become my daily driver. It being stuck on android 4.2 and no custom roms really hurts it though.
My vote is Nexus 5. I like the hardware of the Fire better, but the N5 is nice too, and it wins hands down on software.
I had a Fire Phone for a while. I can tell you that it will disappoint you more than it will enrich your life and make you smile. When I bought the Fire Phone two months ago, Amazon was quick to toss out freebies to me in order to get me more entrenched into the ecosystem. Outside of Prime, it was fairly lackluster.
A Nexus 5 - be sure to buy the right device for your region (I didn't) - will serve you better.
choose nexus 5 for safe.
fire phone is not bad choice. i have been a heavy gmail service user for more than 3 years but i found fire phone quite usable. but fire os for phone is on 1st generation, which means somehow needs to be improved.
Here's the thing - a streamlined interface on the Fire Phone that was optimized for the device would make using it a lot less painful. As it is, the phone is slow and cumbersome for basic tasks.
Running on Android and based on Android result in different experiences. I'm sure on a tablet the Fire OS is nice. I would try a Fire Phone again if I could get it cheap.
Get the Nexus 5, I simply hate my Fire Phone with a strange passion.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
Related
I'm checking out both KindleFire & NookTablet dev forums to decide which one I should get.
I'm really looking for a reading experience (with colour considering I will be reading a lot of design-related ebooks) thats also easy on the eyes (much like the e-ink)
I don't mind another Android experience but thats not a priority since I already have that through my phone that supports native Android 4.0 (+HTC Sense 4.0)
The only worry is developer support for stable working ROM's and the hardware&storage specs difference between the two, not to mention battery life.
Or should I just wait for the Kindle Fire 2?
I've posted this question in both forums to see both sides of the spectrum.
Thanks!
I suggest the Nexus 7. It has a higher resolution screen and is a little easier on the eyes than both those tablets.
Just get the nexus 7. Has a lot more features than both. But if must get one of them I you can boot a os from the sd card on the nook. But I guess I would prefer the nexus over my of and the nook.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda app-developers app
i have all three in my house, (kindle, nook, nexus) and i agree with VEEMAN because the nexus has a better screen and and not much need to root it and install a custom rom (except i did and i installed paranoiandroid rom )
tobiascuypers said:
i have all three in my house, (kindle, nook, nexus) and i agree with VEEMAN because the nexus has a better screen and and not much need to root it and install a custom rom (except i did and i installed paranoiandroid rom )
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Click to collapse
+1 for nexus 7. However, the Kindle UI is actually pretty great/useful so if that was a part of your consideration I would say Kindle Fire. Nook Tablet is honestly not a good tablet, particularly in stock and rooting is kind of a pain with it currently because you have to first drop it back to an older version of the software and then root it and then you can do other things like flash ROMs. It is true that you can run ROMs from the SD card but I wouldn't recommend that because it would be easy to lose your data that way. Nook tablet is a glorified e-reader, kindle fire is a tablet with e-reader functions and nexus 7 is a full blown tab that you could read books on if you so decided. It really depends on what you're looking for.
Development is also going to rank in best to worst: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet
If I were buying now I'd buy the Nexus 7. However, I have no need to buy since my KF does everything I want.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda premium
I need a 7" tablet, a cheap one and dnt know wich to get .... you think there gonna be a way to unlock te kfhd bootloadder soon?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777
xXreptar said:
I need a 7" tablet, a cheap one and dnt know wich to get .... you think there gonna be a way to unlock te kfhd bootloadder soon?
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Click to collapse
Well I don't know what you're looking for on a tablet, but currently the 1st gen would be the best to get I think considering the price. Don't buy the $160 2nd gen model, you would have to find one on eBay or Craigslist.
The devs on here are coming closer everyday to getting ROMs for the kfHD, so if you want all the new and exciting features that Amazon had to offer go for that.
If you want an open device that is amazing, then I would go with the nexus 7. It has most of the same specs as the kfHD, but is pure vanilla Android with a few bonus features for the same price.
There's my rundown on things. Hope this helps!
xXreptar said:
I need a 7" tablet, a cheap one and dnt know wich to get .... you think there gonna be a way to unlock te kfhd bootloadder soon?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777
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Click to collapse
The KFHD is nice as far as specs go, minus the lack of immediate expansion via an SD slot, but KF1 has a robust development community. One problem with the KF1 though is it is aging in a fast moving technological world. It will be hard for it to keep "keeping up" with the ever expanding hardware requirements. Well, any piece of computer related gear is going to be outdated quickly.
If you want something "cheap" without bells and whistles, the KF1 is a good buy currently. The KFHD will be unlocked sooner or later although in a year the KFHD will be old news and something much superior will then take the stage. The Nexus 7 looks pretty sweet and that's what I would buy if I had money lol
Sent from my Fire Kindling A-Pad
guitarman2010 said:
The KFHD is nice as far as specs go, minus the lack of immediate expansion via an SD slot, but KF1 has a robust development community. One problem with the KF1 though is it is aging in a fast moving technological world. It will be hard for it to keep "keeping up" with the ever expanding hardware requirements. Well, any piece of computer related gear is going to be outdated quickly.
If you want something "cheap" without bells and whistles, the KF1 is a good buy currently. The KFHD will be unlocked sooner or later although in a year the KFHD will be old news and something much superior will then take the stage. The Nexus 7 looks pretty sweet and that's what I would buy if I had money lol
Sent from my Fire Kindling A-Pad
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Agreed, wanted the nexus 7 but my gf got me one of the last kf1 for my birthday, I hated it until I found this website.
Barb3r said:
I hated it until I found this website.
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The KF1 stock is a setback compaed with present tablet technology. If one is used to the common features of many tablets currently (camera, mic, BT, copious amounts of memory and being a non-slave device) it sure is hard to grasp the stock Amazon experience. I remember when I first got the KF1 and thought it was pretty sweet as stock.
The reason for me saying this was because the only other tablet I had experience with BEFORE I had the KF1 was a horrible El cheapo WM8650 7" resistive screen running Froyo. That thing claimed to have an 800MHz CPU but sure didn't act like it. If the battery lasted 3 hours I felt lucky. I have a Samsung Android phone that runs Froyo and has 256MB of RAM just like the WM8650 and that phone will out perform that tablet anyday! So when I got a Kindle I felt lucky but eventually was tired of the limitations of the stock software.
Ok....maybe back to the topic at hand. I can understand your frustration with a stock Kindle lol
Sent from my Fire Kindling A-Pad
rebelog chase
please save your money and buy a nexus 7. Its got good hardware and community support.
Yeah get a nexus 7 or if u can save more buy nexus 10
***//'?'\\***
shantam said:
Yeah get a nexus 7 or if u can save more buy nexus 10
***//'?'\\***
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Whats the rsp of the 10 ?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777
I do agree the nexus7 seems to be top of the line, however it does have a few downfalls that would steer me away from it (and did) 1- no rear facing camera 2-no landscape mode and 3 - no sd card slot. I would recommend a samsung galaxy tab 2 7.0 it has all the above features and is priced comparable to the nexus 7 and imho it would be the better tablet also the 8 gb version of the nexus 7 is no longer available forcing you to buy the 16 gb version which is more expensive with LESS FEATURES .....hope this helps i got my daughter the samsung galaxy tab 2 7.0 8 gb version for Christmas and both of us couldn't be happier. the galaxy tab also has a feature on it that's called ir blaster that allows you to use it as a universal remote all of this and the fact i only paid U.S. -175$ (retail i believe is around U.S. -199$) i think the samsing would be a better deal for features and price.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda app-developers app
xXreptar said:
Whats the rsp of the 10 ?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777
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Click to collapse
Buy what you want, for gaming nexus 7, best quality kindle fire hd? More features samsumg galaxy tab, see that the kindle fire hd is faster than the samsumg.
Sent From My Super Modded KFHD
Personally, I'm kicking myself for not buying a nexus 7. Here's my point of view: the Samsung one has a camera on both sides and an SD card slot. I don't really need either. The KFHD has stereo speakers and an HDMI port. I thought they would be handy but it turns out those features are not terribly useful to me either. The nexus has crap speakers that can be fixed with a free volume app, landscape mode is locked but there's a free app for that as well. You can't plug it straight into the TV but that's also not much of an issue, because you can send it to a Roku box, or a Google TV add on box. What really takes the cake for me is, even the wifi only nexus 7 has GPS. A nexus owner can carry his tablet around the house, doing his reading, texting, and redditing; then walk right out to the car with it and drive across the country with sat-nav powered by tomtom while pumping your mp3s through the car stereo. All the while enjoying having the latest version of android.
PS. Kindles don't natively read epub files, which take up 1/3 the memory of Amazon's mobi format, without downloading a 3rd party app like moon plus or aldiko.
Sent from my KFTT using xda app-developers app
I agree w/ some others on here, nexus7 is a better buy! KF1 is still kind of awesome in its own lackluster way though.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Getting a tablet for Christmas. These two tablets got my eye in the 7" tablet market. I love pure nexus devices. But, I noticed that the hdx has some crazy specs! Was wondering which one I should get? Not a fan of Fire 3.0, but later on I think the HDX will get some nice rom development. But, again the nexus 7 comes with kit kat and already has a unlocked bootloader. Also, it has access to almost all of amazon'a features, as amazon does not with googles cool stuff. Help me out here guys! I'm on the fence!
T Greezy said:
Getting a tablet for Christmas. These two tablets got my eye in the 7" tablet market. I love pure nexus devices. But, I noticed that the hdx has some crazy specs! Was wondering which one I should get? Not a fan of Fire 3.0, but later on I think the HDX will get some nice rom development. But, again the nexus 7 comes with kit kat and already has a unlocked bootloader. Also, it has access to almost all of amazon'a features, as amazon does not with googles cool stuff. Help me out here guys! I'm on the fence!
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If you want an android tablet, get the nexus. Amazon really locked down the kindle with their OS, as you stated, google integration is a pain.
The HDX was made to be a consumption device for people who use solely the amazon ecosystem. I think the choice is clear
Hi friends..First of all I would like to say that I hv gone through the reviews and also some of the videos on youtube regarding the Fire phone and m really confused actually.Currently m using sony xperia M..Prior to that I was an user of Lumia 520..The reason I switched it to xperia m was due to my wish for decent app and also for better performance...I hv heard that the firephone is quite simple to use and does the basic functions quite smoothly.The requirements of mine are
1-Good display
2-Great Sound quality(headphone,loudspeaker both)
3-Very Fast and smooth
4-Very Nice Camera quality
5-Decent Battery backup.
6-It has to Fulfil the basic tasks like texting,calling quite fast.
7-It shouldnt be taking a long time to charge the device.
8-Texting should hv to be possible with the help of one hand and also by lying on the bed.
9-Durable(The devices tht I use often fall from my pocket due to my carelessness )
Pls suggest me guys should I go for it or not
Riju1212 said:
Hi friends..First of all I would like to say that I hv gone through the reviews and also some of the videos on youtube regarding the Fire phone and m really confused actually.Currently m using sony xperia M..Prior to that I was an user of Lumia 520..The reason I switched it to xperia m was due to my wish for decent app and also for better performance...I hv heard that the firephone is quite simple to use and does the basic functions quite smoothly.The requirements of mine are
1-Good display
2-Great Sound quality(headphone,loudspeaker both)
3-Very Fast and smooth
4-Very Nice Camera quality
5-Decent Battery backup.
6-It has to Fulfil the basic tasks like texting,calling quite fast.
7-It shouldnt be taking a long time to charge the device.
8-Texting should hv to be possible with the help of one hand and also by lying on the bed.
9-Durable(The devices tht I use often fall from my pocket due to my carelessness )
Pls suggest me guys should I go for it or not
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion the Fire Phone does meets all of your requirements, except for number 9. I don't think the display and the glass back can survive careless falls from your pocket. For more opinions, read the Fire Phone Customer Reviews on Amazon.
Riju1212 said:
Hi friends..First of all I would like to say that I hv gone through the reviews and also some of the videos on youtube regarding the Fire phone and m really confused actually.Currently m using sony xperia M..Prior to that I was an user of Lumia 520..The reason I switched it to xperia m was due to my wish for decent app and also for better performance...I hv heard that the firephone is quite simple to use and does the basic functions quite smoothly.The requirements of mine are
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got the Fire Phone so not an expert yet... but here's my humble opinion about it:
I think that the Fire Phone does really makes sense for people (like me) who are current Amazon Prime subscribers and are planning to keep renewing the service. My renewal for Prime was due next month so I was going to pay $99 to renew it anyways, thus getting my Prime membership renewed and getting a Fire Phone added for $30 gives me a very capable unlocked/no contract phone that fulfills most/all your requirements.... and now I'll have a happy 12 year old kid with a new phone that cost me just a few bucks ....... there's absolutely no other unlocked Smartphone in the world with these capabilities/quality that you can get for $30.
Now then... if you're not a subscriber of Prime, or are not interested, or live in a country where there's no Prime, then I think the Fire Phone does not makes sense, as it would be a $140 phone (current eBay price) that is essentially doomed from official support and down the road you'll need to stick with outdated stock OS or put CM11/Slimkat that are somewhat stable but have a lot of quirks.
According to the experts the best budget Android phones (less than $200) available in the market right now are the Moto G 3rd Gen ($180) or the Asus Zen Phone 2 ($200).... personally I would get the Asus..... you could even settle with the Moto G 2nd Gen for $150 and would still be better than with the Fire Phone I think.
The Thing is I don't wanna use android and my budget is also not that high.So the options I m having is Blackberry,Windows and Iphone 4S.I was preferring I the fire phone because I hv heard that it does the basic works quite fast and it s also fitting my budget.
Riju1212 said:
The Thing is I don't wanna use android and my budget is also not that high.So the options I m having is Blackberry,Windows and Iphone 4S.I was preferring I the fire phone because I hv heard that it does the basic works quite fast and it s also fitting my budget.
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Click to collapse
Just an FYI.... the Fire Phone is Android..... it's just that it's an Amazon modified Android OS, but everything underneath including the Apps are Android.
Again... if you live here in the US so you can enjoy the free year of Prime then it's a great phone that includes Free Movies, TV and Music... plus all the other benefits of Amazon Prime, then it's a great phone with great hardware.....
If you live outside of the US so no Prime services, then you won't have the free movies, tv and music... so you end up with a $140 Android phone, and you would be better served with other Android phones..... if you don't want Android, then the Fire Phone should not be an option for you.
i just picked one up coming from a one plus one and i love it
very smooth
great build
long batterry life
My tab s is officially dead .
It infinitely reboots after 30 seconds of being on in recovery, dl mode, and system. What would be a good priced tablet to buy second hand? Pixel C, s2? I want an android tablet so no iPad for me .
I want to use it mainly for Kodi and watching movies, with some light gaming, so 16:9 or similar is preferred.
Appreciate your feedback!
I don't know about second hand market. It seems like most Android tablets have some kind of a big flaw which begs a question, why pay premium prices for them? I'd look into buying the Amazon Fire HD 10, which may have flaws, but has decent specs, and is actually cheap.
Akopps said:
I don't know about second hand market. It seems like most Android tablets have some kind of a big flaw which begs a question, why pay premium prices for them? I'd look into buying the Amazon Fire HD 10, which may have flaws, but has decent specs, and is actually cheap.
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Can you please elaborate (Android tablets have some kind of a big flaw) What flaw are you talking about ?
Well, I don't know of any well rounded Android tablet on the market right now. For example, Tab S2, updates probably ended with Android N, no stereo sound in landscape mode. Asus Zenpad, same story. Looking at the Tab S3 forums, there is a long list of issues with it too. The new Huawei Mediapad M5 has no headphone port. and so on.. Every Android tablet has some kind of a pain in a butt problem, which makes me wonder, if there is no good mid-level or high-end Android tablet, why pay premium prices for them? The Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017) costs something like 150USD or less and actually has decent specs.
Akopps said:
Well, I don't know of any well rounded Android tablet on the market right now. For example, Tab S2, updates probably ended with Android N, no stereo sound in landscape mode. Asus Zenpad, same story. Looking at the Tab S3 forums, there is a long list of issues with it too. The new Huawei Mediapad M5 has no headphone port. and so on.. Every Android tablet has some kind of a pain in a butt problem, which makes me wonder, if there is no good mid-level or high-end Android tablet, why pay premium prices for them? The Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017) costs something like 150USD or less and actually has decent specs.
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Click to collapse
I am not sure what you are looking at in terms of the tab S3. I have one and it is an excellent tablet. I bought it as my old Tab S was getting a little slow after 3 1/2 years. The only issue I have with the tab S3 is the lack of ROMs as while stock is fine, I like to tinker. I also have a Fire HD and it is pretty basic, you get what you pay for.