Umm, it is an Android tablet. Amazon’s OS is just Android with a different label. You can install your favorite compatible Android apps. In the worst case by sideloading them. You might be able to sideload the Google Play Store programs and then use that from then on.
In any case, most popular/useful apps are also available on the Amazon app store.
Here is the forum on xda developers for the Kindle Fire HD7 (not to be confused with the Fire HD7).
Good news, it appears to be rootable. And you may also put Cyanogenmod on it to turn it into a non-Amazon Android tablet. It’s up-to-date to Marshmallow.
After entering the developer mode and turning on the controls needed there, it was very easy to follow online directions and add the Google Play store. I was able to add Upwords, which runs fine.
We’re happy. $50 happy, anyway. We get it isn’t an amazing tablet, but it is pretty good and runs fine for the price we paid.
I can not seem to get all the same books to show that I have on my Kindle apps. I have the Kindle app on my Ipod and Ipad, and on my Android phone.
I am used to having “device” and “cloud” for the two areas on my Kindle app. Device is what I have downloaded, while cloud is what I have availalbe. On the Amazon Fire, it looks different. I don’t see my books, even though I am logged in to the same Amazon account.
I really like my Digiland tablet. It does not have the best screen resolution, but it is great for general internet and app usage. I paid about $60.00 for it.
In that case, just scroll down (aka swipe up) to the list of apps instead, and never use the carousel again. You shouldn’t even see it when going back to the home screen, but, if you do, scroll down again.
My only annoyance is getting apps from the Android Store to work–it requires rooting, and stuff can shut down. Instead, I mostly install APKs, but then I worry that they might not be kosher. And I can’t do it for my one paid app–a DS emulator. Instead, I have to use a crappier one.
But the Amazon store isn’t horrible. Especially with all those paid apps that Amazon made permanently free. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s awesome!
Edit: Mahaloth, what directions did you use? If I can do it without rooting and without crashing, that would make things so much better. Heck, even with rooting would be fine.
I used these directions and my wife has now used Upwords and Minion Rush with zero errors. I have also downloaded an app called Kahoot that works just fine.
It did not, however, remove lock-screen ads. I’m not sure if it is stealing to that, so I’m OK for now keeping them. However, I would love to know how to get rid of them using a toolkit.
I was under the impression that the Google Play Services needed root to be installed, not the store. And those have to run in order to handle paid apps, to verify that you’ve paid for them.
But it seems Mahaloth’s post says otherwise–though I’ve yet to have a chance to try it. Though, since it involves plugging the device into the computer, it does make me wonder if they’re just using the same exploits that would normally be used for root to get the Google Play Services installed,
If you’ve just installed that Google Play Store without hooking the device up to a computer, and gotten paid apps to work, I’d love to know about it.
I have a very old first generation Kindle Fire that I rooted within about two days of buying it. Thing is, it’s definitely showing its age and the strange kludge of whatever proprietary version of Android Amazon is using combined with the rooting means that I can sometimes use it for things that stock couldn’t, but it’s never graceful. (Managing to use it for Southwest’s in-flight entertainment system comes to mind. It never would have worked had I not previously rooted it, installed the Google Play store, and a copy of Chrome.)
Thing is, I like some of the hardware design. The speakers are very nice, it’s about the right size for what I use it for, resolution is good enough for something that’s fairly small and generally covered with fingerprints, and its integration with parts of the Amazon store is nice as I use it a lot as an e-reader.
I don’t like proprietary versions of Android, which is why I’m not too interested in something from Samsung. I don’t really want a new Fire for the same reason. I’ve got a Nexus 5 which I like, but I don’t want a Pixel C (if I’m buying something with that kind of design, I’d rather have a Surface of some variety) and I don’t see any other stock tablets.
You don’t need a cable. Just turn off the ‘Only allow approved apps to install’ setting, and then you can download an APK for one of the other app stores from Silk. Once you have that, installation works just the same as using any other app store.
The samsung galaxy tab s2 or tab A.
I have the tab s2 9.7 and it’s excellent. But frankly even though the tab A doesn’t the resolution of the s2 it still has a good display. The 8" can be had for as little as $180. You can add a 128gb micro SD card too.
I thought I would update this old thread since I finally replaced (or at least supplemented) my old tablet with an Amazon Fire HD 8 (7th generation), since they’re practically free nowadays for what you get. The problem with my beloved old Blackberry Playbook (a 7" tablet originally designed for around a $700 price point) is that the OS and browser were both hopelessly obsolete.
There were some surprises both good and bad, but I figured for around $70 it was worth a gamble. The build quality is surprisingly good, and the 1280x800 screen is bright with excellent color quality. It took me about a day of fiddling with it, with quite a few frustrations mostly with media players, to get everything to work to my satisfaction. I didn’t particularly like the native Silk browser, there was no obvious way to install an ad blocker on it, and the native media player was surprisingly limited. The two freebies I downloaded from the Amazon app store, VLC and MX Player, both had their own issues. VLC is amazing on Windows but the Android version, at least on this device, was among other things incapable of producing decent volume or even quality of audio on any media I tried it on.
The saving grace to everything turned out to be sideloading the Google Play app, which gives access to the Google store. From there I got Chrome, Firefox, and an excellent media player called X Player, all free. And then through Firefox, the Ublock Origin ad blocker. I tried Adblock Plus but it’s screwy – when it’s enabled, startup of my Google home page lagged for five or six seconds.
I suppose one could be happy with the Fire HD out of the box if one had the kind of needs that could fully met by the Amazon environment, but I was really glad to get Google Play operational. I guess the moral of the story is, look at your needs, and either be prepared to sideload or pay more for an equivalent non-Amazon device. Just like the iPad might be a fine device for someone who’s willing to cough up the required $$ and is prepared to live within Apple’s truly walled garden. Most people I know have become frustrated with Apple’s proprietary mentality.
Wolfpup, I did the same thing. Using Google Play really makes it better, but I’m confounded by how much the UI fights you on it. There’s so much Amazon stuff you just can’t clear out, and the inability to load alternate launchers is a bummer. Still, very good media device for the cost.
I can not recommend this Asus Zenpad enough over the Amazon ones. It goes sub $100 sometimes. I got it for $109 for my wife and it is better than our Amazon tablets by a mile.
