Kindle Fire- Uk?

Newgrange Warrior

I am looking to order a kindle fire from the UK via parcelmotel. Does anyone have experience on how they are working in ROI at present- downloading books, apps store etc.?

I popped into my local Curry's today who said they would not be getting them any time soon and the uk ones will require a UK IP address to work.

I had got herself one from US last year and I set up an US Amazon a/c and everything is grand except for the apps store. I was thinking to do the same and set up a new amazon a/c with a UK address.

Any advice/experience appreciated for the UK kindle.

vibe666

unless something has changed very recently, because of publishing rights issues you can't (officially) buy ebooks from Amazon UK if you are not resident in the UK.

you CAN however buy ebooks from Amazon UK if your primary address on your amazon account is in the UK, but that may or may not (depending on what checks they have in place) work if you are paying with a non-UK based credit card.

I got a Kindle Fire in the US on the launch day there, but I couldn't buy anything from the US amazon store on it directly as they had it locked down to people with a US address and also a US based credit card (so changing my address didn't work) and this was the case even for free downloads from Amazon, so angry birds etc. couldn't be downloaded even though the price was $0.00.

I soon learnt to sideload apps and games and manage ebooks with Calibre, so it didn't cause me too much trouble and now there are 3rd party ROM's for it, so it's running a custom version of Android Jellybean now instead of the Amazon OS (which is a locked down version of the Android OS underneath a Fugly Amazon skin), so I don't have any issues with it at all.

Personally, the only way the Kindle Fire would beat the Google Nexus 7 is as a content delivery system and not being in the UK you won't have that ability (yet), so it's a no brainer and I'd go for the Nexus 7 instead if I were you.

Sporkie

Just got one as a gift and the official answer from Kindle Support is 'sorry, we don't support Ireland'. Haven't managed to find any way to get apps or anything though it let me get some free e-books. (Tried using amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, ROI address, US address, etc. Only have an Irish credit card which I think is where they catch me.) Guess I'll be rooting mine.

starlit

So is kindle fire not in Ireland at all basically you be better off with an ordinary kindle with wifi and or with 3G? Or will they ever come into Ireland?

Sporkie

doovdela wrote: »

So is kindle fire not in Ireland at all basically you be better off with an ordinary kindle with wifi and or with 3G? Or will they ever come into Ireland?

I would say get any other tablet. You can get a Kindle app for it and read ebooks. The email I got from support was very no-promises, 'we hope to offer the kindle in your country at some point' etc. Who knows when that some point will be?

starlit

Oh right. Just thought the kindle fire do a bit more than the ordinary kindle but I rather just use a laptop/netbook than a tablet. I be happy enough to have the ordinary kindle to read books or any other e-reader. Are sony e-readers any good?

youcancallmeal

I'm a bit confused. If I buy the Kindle Paperweight in the Amazon UK can I not buy books for it from the Amazon store?

vibe666

it depends on if it's released here officially, which you'll be able to find out by trying to buy one. if it's not available here they will tell you so.

you'll also need to buy it from the international amazon store (which is US based) as the UK one is for UK kindle buyers only afaik due to licencing/publishing issues.

vibe666

vibe666 wrote: »

unless something has changed very recently, because of publishing rights issues you can't (officially) buy ebooks from Amazon UK if you are not resident in the UK.

you CAN however buy ebooks from Amazon UK if your primary address on your amazon account is in the UK, but that may or may not (depending on what checks they have in place) work if you are paying with a non-UK based credit card.

I got a Kindle Fire in the US on the launch day there, but I couldn't buy anything from the US amazon store on it directly as they had it locked down to people with a US address and also a US based credit card (so changing my address didn't work) and this was the case even for free downloads from Amazon, so angry birds etc. couldn't be downloaded even though the price was $0.00.

I soon learnt to sideload apps and games and manage ebooks with Calibre, so it didn't cause me too much trouble and now there are 3rd party ROM's for it, so it's running a custom version of Android Jellybean now instead of the Amazon OS (which is a locked down version of the Android OS underneath a Fugly Amazon skin), so I don't have any issues with it at all.

Personally, the only way the Kindle Fire would beat the Google Nexus 7 is as a content delivery system and not being in the UK you won't have that ability (yet), so it's a no brainer and I'd go for the Nexus 7 instead if I were you.

Just to clarify, amazon.com and .co.uk both use Ip address based geo location tools to see if you are eligible to buy from the respective online .com or .co.uk stores. You will only be able to make 5 purchases on amazon.co.ukfrom an ip address outside of the uk before kindle purchases on your account become blocked. Same for .com customers, you can make 5 purchases outside of .com supported countries before kindle purchases become blocked. Having a uk cc or address does not affect purchase eligibility.

Newgrange Warrior

A pity we can't avail of the black friday £99 offer.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0083Q04M2/ref=amb_link_172481927_1?ie=UTF8&nav_sdd=aps&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0DAH9NNZFE38JXBTJR19&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=346876807&pf_rd_i=468294

reaper180

Sporkie wrote: »

I would say get any other tablet. You can get a Kindle app for it and read ebooks. The email I got from support was very no-promises, 'we hope to offer the kindle in your country at some point' etc. Who knows when that some point will be?

hi there, any suggestions for a tablet, not very tech savvy myself in around €120 that kids can use for skype, facebook and the wife to read some books ,, cheers

Allyall

Newgrange Warrior wrote: »

A pity we can't avail of the black friday £99 offer.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0083Q04M2/ref=amb_link_172481927_1?ie=UTF8&nav_sdd=aps&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0DAH9NNZFE38JXBTJR19&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=346876807&pf_rd_i=468294

You can i think. Buy it from the amazon.com site. I read that on another thread, but i can't remember where.. *goes looking*

*returns, with half an answer*

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056817363

I'm not sure if you can, someone mentions you have to buy kindle from .com, but says it doesn't apply to the kindle fire. What about amazon.fr/de/es? i presume they're all the same, but it may be worth looking.

loup

reaper180 wrote: »

hi there, any suggestions for a tablet, not very tech savvy myself in around €120 that kids can use for skype, facebook and the wife to read some books ,, cheers

Google Nexus 7 for sure. There's a few threads on it around!

Allyall

loup wrote: »

Google Nexus 7 for sure. There's a few threads on it around!

It's a lot more than €120 though.

This is a good tablet at a good price
Ainol Novo Mars

Or for near bang on budget - Ainol Novo Crystal
The high resolution would also allow your wife to read with more clarity.

Ainol Novo 7 Crystal vs Google Nexus 7

Mars Bar

A Kindle Fire was purchased for me as a present for Christmas during the week.

So there won't be much I can do with it?

starlit

What I heard is that there is software issues that the kindle fire would not work in Ireland for some reason!?

Mars Bar

I've seen sideloading being mentioned in other threads here so I think I'll be grand. I have an android so I have the apk files for the apps I want. Just getting the books I want without having to resort to pirating books is going to be an issue isn't it? I don't like pirating ebooks.

vibe666

you can easily download and install ebooks (legitimately or not, entirely up to you) using the calibre ebook manager.

sideloading apps is just as easy, you just need to find the app you want and send it (they use the file extension .apk) and send it to your kindle fire and open the apk file to install it.

you can either google them (google for 'angry birds apk' for instance) and then download and email the url of the file (or the file itself) to your email set up on the kindle, or if you have an android device, you can use an apk manager (several available in the play store) to copy and email any app you have installed on that to your kindle.

the original kindle fire that i have now has fully functional 3rd party roms available for it so i have since rooted mine and i'm currently running an android jellybean rom similar to the one on the nexus 7, so i don't have to worry about amazon's horrible, clunky gui any more.

i'm sure that given that most of the hard work porting jellybean over has been done on the original kindle fire, iit shouldn't be too long before the new versions get rooted and have their own working roms, so don't despair, i'm sure you'll manage with sideloading until then.

Mars Bar

I rooted my first Android, too much hassle. Don't want to void the warranty either just in case. Sideloading sounds like a piece of cake. I'll look into Calibre. Thanks for pointing it out!

Apparently you can run Go Launcher on it without rooting so that'll sort out the Amazon GUI.

vibe666

it's a simple enough process on the kindle fire, there's ready made 'one click' tools to do it now and throwing on a new rom isn't much more difficult to do either.

that said, i don't know if the new gen fire's have custom roms yet as mine is one of the originals from the US last november.