Topic: Amazon Fire 10 Tablet

[8ullfrog]

Holy poo do I hate this thing.

First off, it's not mine, it's my mom's, but setting up all household tech is my burden.

The entire setup process is a long series of "No, I do not want to sign up for that".

The home screen is not intuitive, like android. I can't tell if they just jammed a faceplate on android or if it's running something else.

Signing in and registering was not difficult, but you have to jump through several "add your credit card now" hoops, which appear mandatory but can be bypassed.

Installing apps seems to use some sort of amazon checkout process, so I just have her watching youtube through the silk web browser that is built in.

The reason we went with Amazon instead of Samsung was price. I didn't want to pay what Samsung is asking for a current tablet, and the Fire 10 is $150.

It looks like I'm going to pay more though, as they enrolled her in the "special offer" that adds ads to the lockscreen.

Props to google though, I have security alerts set up to protect her from fraud, and I got those with a promptness.

[smokester]

Blimey that cheap!

If it were mine I do away with the bootloader and get something like a Lineage rom on it. Then it could be fun. I know that's a no-no as it's your mum's but it must be hard work with the Fire OS.

[8ullfrog]

Just had to explain she isn't in the google ecosystem anymore, she didn't like the email app on it, so I showed her how to go to gmail.com in the web browser.

The silk browser isn't particularly offensive.

One thing that does suck is the home screen is populated by default, and a lot of the icons can't be removed, Alexa for instance.

I also had to explain that the search bar at the top runs through amazon now, not google.

The way I explained it to her is like changing from windows to mac. That turned the lightbulb on.

I actually couldn't find a legit youtube app on their store. So yeah, Web browser for everything.

I'm starting to think I should have paid the upcharge for the samsung.

[6pairsofshoes]

My sister got me a Kindle and I returned it immediately.  The reason?  It seemed more of a marketing device that would limit my flexibility.  Instead, I got a used iPad off of a guy on craigslist for a hundred bucks.  It still works after many years, although it's limited as it runs only iOs 5 or some goofy system like that.  I use it for reading and email only, sometimes listening to music, but it works for that, and if I get ripped off, it won't kill me. 

Re: craigslist or Nextdoor, some people get them for gifts and don't want them and sell them for under market, or they upgrade and sell gently used ones at a substantial discount. You need to exercise caution with any used electronics, but this can be a good alternative.  It's interesting to read about the various trials and adjustments you have had to make and I admire your abilities in that area, but I often will just figure out a way to find other hardware.