A year ago Amazon introduced a ground-breaking tablet, the Kindle Fire.
In the meantime others have been introduced, such as the more advanced $200 basic Nexus 7, and now Amazon has a set of new tablets and eReaders.
The original basic Fire, with some improvements, has been reduced from $200 to $160. A more advanced $250 Fire is faster and can stream to your TV or monitor if your internet service has enough speed/bandwidth to handle it.
If you don’t mind being limited to Amazon’s offerings and/or watch a lot of movies and video, either of the new Fires can be a good choice.
However, if you want a less proprietary device,which has easy access to more apps and capabilities, the Nexus 7 is the tablet of choice. Apple is also expected to introduce a 7-9” tablet, and there will be others.
In a separate posting I have outlined how to get the most out the Fires. If you want to save $40, or if you have an original Fire, some of the limitations of the Fires can be overcome.
My posting also is of use in setting up the Nexus, and I will soon have a posting on organizing your tablet for easy use.
Amazon also has reduced the price of its basic eReader to $69, a bargain for a still appealing device. While the Fires offer much more access to media, the basic Fire screen is easier on the eyes for long reading sessions, and the device reads books out loud.
A newer eReader has backlighting and long battery life, but no reading out loud. It costs $119. These devices are also very lightweight.
Right now I recommend the Nexus 7 and the basic Kindle eReader.
Anything you buy now will be superseded, but don’t let that stop you from using a marvelous easy-to-use device.
