I love the Kindle Fire, but it's not a replacement for a computer.

If all you do is check the internet and the occasional email, it might be ok, but the screen is small. Typing on it is interesting. I cant see writing a large email on it, or even posting much on forums with it. It has 8gb of memory, but when you take it out of the box, you only get about 6gb actual of memory because the operating system and the preloaded stuff take about 1.5gb of that.

I love the Fire, but I think Amazon screwed up when they didnt put an SD card slot in it. I think it would have been perfect for what it is if it had a slot for an SD card. I dont understand why they didnt give it an SD card slot.

For a kid, it might be a good first tablet. Mostly because it's cheaper than an iPad. I wouldnt be rough with it tho. Mine is in a really nice leather case I bought, and I baby this thing. When I go out into the world with it, not only is it in the leather cover, I also have a leather sleeve that I stick it into that's padded.

I'd like to be able to customize the screen a little bit more. There was a free app that I could have used to customize the screen a little bit, but Amazon disabled that app as soon as they figured out that people were using it to change the layout of the screen. (when I say disabled, they just took it off their app store. They didnt remove it from people's Fire's) I could get the app from the Android market, but I dont want to sideload any apps. I read something in Amazon's User Agreement that made it sound like if anyone adds apps that arent from Amazon's store, if the app screws up your Fire, then dont expect help from Amazon.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from getting a Fire. I love mine. I like that it's smaller than my iPad, and easier to carry around. I'd never carry my iPad with me like I do the Fire. I find that I actually do like reading books on the Fire. I changed the background on the books to a black background with white text. It's actually more comfortable for me to read that black text on a white background. (they also have a sepia color background) I can read it at night, without a light. Something that I cant do with my regular Kindle. I've watched some tv shows on the Fire, because when you order the Fire, they give you a free 30 day trial of the Amazon Prime, and with that you get to watch some tv shows for free on the Fire as long as you're on a wifi connection. (it's streamed onto your Fire, not downloaded to it) The screen is great. I was comfortable watching tv shows on it. The first hour I had it, I watched an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I'm watching the original Hawaii Five-O right now.

I was at a doctor's appt the other day with my mom. The doctor's office has free wifi. So I watched another DS9 episode while waiting for her. I'm really considering keeping the Prime membership after it expires. ($79/year but you get other stuff with the membership) It came at a great time. I used the Prime membership for discounts on shipping for a bunch of Xmas presents I bought last week.

I love this Fire, my dad gave it to me as an early Xmas present. I think it's a great e-reader, and it's fun to check email and look for crochet patterns on the internet with it. I did some of my Xmas shopping on Amazon with it the other day. I've put some games on it and those are fun too. It's probably because I'm a gadget-a-holic that I like it so much. It's the size of tablet that I wanted after I got my iPad. The iPad is easier to type on, but I can do most of what I do on the internet with the Fire that I can do with the iPad. (all I really do with my iPad or Fire is check the internet, read books, read email, or watch tv shows or movies)

I dont think the Fire or the iPad can be true replacements for a computer or a laptop. I still prefer a real computer for stuff like word processing or posting messages on forums like I am now. (I'm about to get a hand-me-down computer from my dad, so I'm all excited about that. Dad's giving me his Mac Mini)

I like the Fire for it's size (it's the same size as my Kindle 3, but is a bit heavier, especially with the cover) I dont think it's too heavy for MS hands. It's fun!