Unboxing and Setup of the $50 Amazon Fire Tablet

Richard Hay, Senior Content Producer

October 1, 2015

43 Slides
Unboxing and Setup of the $50 Amazon Fire Tablet

 

A couple of weeks ago Amazon announced its new line of Fire tablets.

The entry level device, a 7 inch $50 tablet, can actually be purchased as a six-pack that basically gives you one free tablet with the bundle. The package has been so popular that there is now a month long backlog for order fullfilment.

I ordered just one of these $50 Fire tablets from Amazon so that I could check it out and see how it performs. Having never tried one of Amazon's Fire devices, this is a new experience for me and I will be bringing you my thoughts about that more in depth in a couple of weeks. In the interim I did get the device unboxed and setup so I wanted to share those images with you now.

The only hardware related flaw I have seen to this point is a single white pixel that is constantly turned on about two-thirds of the way down in portrait mode on the right edge of the screen. I have not asked Amazon about their return policy for this but I will be researching that as I continue to use the device. It is on the edge of the screen so it does not interfere with using the tablet.

I do have a few Initial observations though:

  • Flaky/Slow WiFi connectivity

  • Slow navigation between menus and dialog boxes

  • Needs a case or stand for watching streaming videos

  • Streaming seems to work great and image quality is good. The WiFi issues I mentioned above only seem to be in and around the tablet OS itself.

  • The single speaker is on the back of the tablet so all of the sound goes away from your ears.

  • The Amazon Underground app store is full of free apps and games including DLC and in app purchases.

I will of course be bringing you more about this tablet in the near future.

Did you grab one of these yourself? What are your initial impressions about the device?

 

About the Author

Richard Hay

Richard Hay

Senior Content Producer, IT Pro Today (Informa Tech)

I served for 29 plus years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer in November 2011. My work background in the Navy was telecommunications related so my hobby of computers fit well with what I did for the Navy. I consider myself a tech geek and enjoy most things in that arena.

My first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then I used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and WindowsObserver.com is the result of the work I have done on that site since 1995.

In January 2010 my community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when I received my first Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for the Windows Operating System. Since then I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP each subsequent year since that initial award. I am also a member of the inaugural group of Windows Insider MVPs which began in 2016.

I previously hosted the Observed Tech PODCAST for 10 years and 317 episodes and now host a new podcast called Faith, Tech, and Space. 

I began contributing to Penton Technology websites in January 2015 and in April 2017 I was hired as the Senior Content Producer for Penton Technology which is now Informa Tech. In that role, I contribute to ITPro Today and cover operating systems, enterprise technology, and productivity.

https://twitter.com/winobs

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