MUO Amazon Fire, Manual

Page 1: ...Copyright 2017 MakeUseOf All Rights Reserved ...

Page 2: ...here http www makeuseof com tag your unofficial kindle fire manual This ebook is the intellectual property of MakeUseOf It must only be published in its original form Using parts or republishing altered parts of this ebook is prohibited without permission from MakeUseOf com Copyright 2017 MakeUseOf All Rights Reserved ...

Page 3: ...Books on Amazon Prime 17 5 1 Sync Media to the Amazon Fire 17 5 2 What Is Amazon Prime 18 5 3 Buying Movies TV Shows Music and Books with the Amazon Fire 19 5 4 Buy and Watch Videos 19 5 5 Video Sync and Settings 20 5 6 Finding Music for Your Amazon Fire 22 5 7 Playing and Managing Audible Audiobooks 23 5 8 A Focus on Reading 25 5 9 Finding Free Titles to Read 26 6 Accessing the Web on Your Amazon...

Page 4: ...g for Security 37 9 5 Updating the Amazon Fire Operating System 37 9 6 Is Your Amazon Fire Lost or Stolen 38 10 Troubleshooting the Amazon Fire 38 10 1 Restart the Device 38 10 2 Tracing and Dealing with Problem Apps and Games 39 10 3 Dealing with Synchronization Issues 40 10 4 I ve Lost My Password 40 Get Reading 41 Copyright 2017 MakeUseOf All Rights Reserved ...

Page 5: ...ge of quality tablets that can be used to read books enjoy videos and browse the web Over the years 6 inch and 10 inch varieties have been released At the time of writing the current devices are the Amazon Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 The Fire HD 6 and HD 10 tablets can still be purchased in some regions While the specific features of each differ these tablets have specifications that make them ideal for ...

Page 6: ...re is an Android tablet The difference comes from the marketplace ecosystem On Android you re mostly tied to Google Play On the Amazon Fire it s the digital services of Amazon As such the Amazon Fire requires an Amazon account rather than a Google account Using Android as a starting point for the Amazon Fire tablets means that various Android apps and games can be downloaded from the Amazon App St...

Page 7: ...ily slip into a pocket With millions of fans the Kindle is a popular eBook reader recognizable by its striking graphite frame What really sets the traditional Kindle and Amazon Fire tablets apart however is the differences between the displays A traditional Kindle e reader uses E Ink a proprietary electronic ink solution that looks like paper It can display books on a screen without the use of a b...

Page 8: ...arious pieces of personal information and an email address Make sure you create a strong password too Note also that Amazon will require you to associate a credit or debit card with the account This is so you can purchase books video and music to enjoy on the Amazon Fire Of course to get this far you should have already connected to a local wireless network We ll look at the various options for th...

Page 9: ...rface on the Amazon Fire is very different than most Android systems Fire OS 5 is based on Android But instead of the familiar styling of the Android user interface you ll find an environment that can be scrolled and swiped Here books and apps are listed along with games movies and even audiobooks In short if you can buy and enjoy via Amazon s digital delivery service you ll find it here You ll al...

Page 10: ... to interact with your Amazon Fire First and foremost is the basic tap the tablet version of a left mouse click on a computer Following this is the tap and hold which offers a context menu of additional options in some scenarios The swipe will enable you to browse your device contents while the pinch to zoom gesture uses the forefinger and thumb and is used to zoom in and out of images and web pag...

Page 11: ...ter or find a certain word This can be done in book view by tapping the magnifying glass Search button and inputting your search term Note that successful results might take a while to return the longer and more accurate the search phrase the better Note that other search engines can be selected in the Settings screen see Chapter 8 3 3 Using the Keyboard After getting to grips with the gestures an...

Page 12: ...s and any mistakes can be dealt with using the backspace key on the right hand side If you need to make any changes to the text you have entered tap your finger in the text entry field and add or delete more text You can drag the cursor into position if necessary 3 4 Copy and Paste Tools Copy and paste is also available To select text on a web page or book or in a field you have completed double t...

Page 13: ... field or simply use the close keyboard using the back button When you re done use the submit key which changes its label depending on purpose 4 Installing and Launching Apps With your high speed full color media consuming tablet all set up you can spend all of your free time enjoying books magazines and browsing the web at your leisure Additionally you can also install and launch apps courtesy of...

Page 14: ...ed of the app s imminent download complete with a progress bar indicating the current status 4 2 Other Resources for Installing Apps Want an app or game that isn t available in the Amazon App Store Don t worry there are other services that you can call upon to enable you to install apps and games Before doing this however you will need to ensure that your Amazon Fire is setup for installing apps f...

Page 15: ...the Home screen where native and newly installed apps can be found These can be listed By Title or by the most recently used and the Search tool is provided to find any that you can t track down The second place is the Apps screen Note that if you re looking for Games they can be found in the appropriate screen Finally the Recents screen provides links to all recently used apps games and media Fro...

Page 16: ...t let your day be ruined by rain Evernote the popular note taking app is available for the Amazon Fire Pocket if you ve ever come across an article on the web that you would like to read but don t have time for right now this app will help you out Netflix enjoy TV shows and movies from the Netflix streaming service A monthly subscription is required In addition to these the usual Facebook Twitter ...

Page 17: ... Prime is designed to provide your Amazon Fire with a marketplace and digital distribution over Wi Fi streaming content directly to your device for your enjoyment To enjoy this the Amazon Fire is equipped with a media player capable of playing back music and video stored on your device and streamed to it from the web And as an Amazon produced device reading eBooks magazines and comics is simple 5 ...

Page 18: ...To enjoy your media return to the Amazon Fire and tap the Disconnect button You can then remove the USB cable and start enjoying the synced content 5 2 What Is Amazon Prime As a product that comes straight from Amazon the Amazon Fire is designed as a media consumption device a receiver for digital distribution This means that several Amazon services are integrated such as Amazon Prime Initially la...

Page 19: ...t how do you get started buying or renting content By this point you should have three things 1 A wireless network connection 2 An Amazon account 3 A credit or debit card associated with that account With these ready you re all set It only takes a few taps to find and download the music movies or magazines you want to read However the process for buying the different types of media on the Amazon F...

Page 20: ...ch but don t have time or money to buy or rent it now use Add to Watchlist to come back to it another time Once the transaction is complete you can begin enjoying the film or TV show of your choice 5 5 Video Sync and Settings If you foresee being offline for any length of time it s a good idea to sync videos from your PC rather than downloading via Amazon To do this connect your Amazon Fire to you...

Page 21: ...ow is displayed intended to prevent accidental purchases of videos that are more expensive than their standard definition alternatives Simply tap the switch against this option to disable this warning Meanwhile you can also Clear Video Search History This is effective for video searches only Other options include Stream Download which helps you determine the best quality for your connection and re...

Page 22: ...ases and synced music via My Music To play a song tap the title or album art The player will display a progress options to pause and skip back and forth through your collection as well as a volume control continuous repeat play and random mode Music can play while you do other things on your Amazon Fire such as reading or browsing the web Just tap the square Overview button to switch apps Of cours...

Page 23: ...here s also the Offline Music Mode for playing music without a connection and Clear cache a useful option for speeding up search and playback of tracks 5 7 Playing and Managing Audible Audiobooks One of the many benefits of Amazon s ecosphere is the Audible audiobook range which is available to Amazon Fire users You ll find it has a dedicated screen where all audiobooks that you ve previously boug...

Page 24: ...s that you can use your credits to buy use the Buy for 1 Credit button to do this If buying one credit every month seems too much find out about Audible s secret Silver Plan To play your audiobook find it in your Library and tap Play it s that easy You might want to make sure your device is connected to the internet for the book to download before you head out though Copyright 2017 MakeUseOf All R...

Page 25: ... recognizable Kindle devices the Amazon Fire remains at heart an eBook reader Via the Books menu you can find titles to read that are either stored locally or in your account but stored in the Amazon cloud the latter can be checked via Books Library where All books can be sorted By Author By Recent and By Title To buy books and magazines open the Books tab then tap Store Your tablet will display t...

Page 26: ... use the search tools in the Kindle Store but the downside with this is that you might spend hours browsing through the free titles Various websites offer updates when new eBooks are available free while some Kindle users even maintain Amazon wishlists of free titles If you have any magazines and books saved on your computer in a suitable format these can be copied to your device by connecting a U...

Page 27: ...e as fast as possible something achieved by using the Amazon cloud servers to process some of the requested web page information Accessible via the Silk Browser link in the Home screen the browser which like Google Chrome is based on the open source Chromium project presents you with a new tab at launch an address bar and some regularly visited shortcuts including Facebook and Google The address b...

Page 28: ...nth The Clear All button at the top of this page will delete your history While using the browser you will notice that the address bar scrolls up as you make your way down a page When you re ready to visit a new URL or perform a new search scrolling back to the top will restore the address search bar Finally the hamburger menu button offers various features such as Reading List and History The Dow...

Page 29: ...anwhile under Advanced you can change your Search engine and set Site settings to ensure a secure browsing experience As such sites will have to ask permission for accessing your Location Camera etc Also in Advanced you ll find Cloud Features which when enabled will speed up browsing If you would rather bypass the Amazon Cloud cloud storage explained this can be disabled 7 Parental Controls on the...

Page 30: ... sale on Amazon physical and digital It s recommended that you enable Password Protect Purchases regardless of whether you have children This is usually enabled by default Social Sharing is also blocked by default Finally profiles can be monitored Monitor the Profile and restricted Set Restricted Access using the toggles at the end of the Parental Controls screen This means that you receive report...

Page 31: ...ness a brighter screen can be achieved by dragging the slider from left to right Note that a brighter screen means faster battery drain Wi Fi setup and configure connectivity options and tap to toggle on and off Aeroplane Mode toggle this when flying or if you want to quickly disable Wi Fi Blue Shade adds a suitable filter for night time reading Do Not Disturb prevents notifications from disturbin...

Page 32: ... tablet correctly is important While it is quite safe to charge with a USB cable connected to a PC for optimum charging use the charger supplied with the device You should aim to use this at least once a week A full recharge will take four hours with the correct charger There are various reasons why the charge might appear to be drained quicker than expected Intensive use and high brightness and v...

Page 33: ...onfirmation After connecting to a network you can check some further details about it if required To do this tap the network name where you will see a status information about security and signal strength and the speed of the link as well as your device s IP address useful if you re attempting to troubleshoot local networking issues 8 3 1 Advanced Networking Options Due to the various configuratio...

Page 34: ...that if you connect to a large number of wireless networks when using your Amazon Fire you will eventually end up with a long list of them this is maintained to make reconnection easy In order to tidy this up simply tap on the entries and then choose Forget to remove it from the list 8 4 Display Settings Minimal options are provided for adjusting the Amazon Fire display As mentioned above the Brig...

Page 35: ...s apps games books basically anything running on your tablet while stored in a pocket or bag although a dedicated case for your Amazon Fire is recommended Two variations on the lock screen are available By opening Settings More Security and switching Lock Screen Password to On you can toggle between the standard tap and drag swiping of the orange chevron to unlock or combine this with a password o...

Page 36: ...ere you might sell your tablet or they might be more functional such as applying an update Changing the account on your Amazon Fire means deregistering the device which can be done via Settings My Account Once an account is deregistered a new Amazon account can be entered or setup as described in 2 Setting Up the Amazon Fire This will then prompt the device to sync the new owner s purchased conten...

Page 37: ...perating System Whether you intend on getting the maximum functionality from your device or you want to make sure that the new recipient has a device running the latest version of the Amazon Fire software you should be aware of the regular Over The Air OTA updates that Amazon sends out Over The Air basically means that the updates are distributed to devices while they are connected to wireless net...

Page 38: ...nd tricks that you can use to overcome any issues that you might face as a Amazon Fire user 10 1 Restart the Device Should your Amazon Fire freeze or lock up or if apps fail to respond correctly and you cannot return to the Newsstand then there is only one thing that you can do turn it off and back on again There are two ways of doing this the normal way and the desperate way However before perfor...

Page 39: ...ou will be able to find the app in question using the Filter by drop down menu and check how much Storage it is using the size of the app s Cache and any Defaults and Permissions To check for an immediate improvement in performance use the Force Stop button This usually works but if not use the Clear Data Clear Cache and Clear defaults buttons Failing success here of course you should Uninstall th...

Page 40: ...be dealt with by opening your Books list long tapping the item in question and selecting Remove from Device Once this has been done switch to Cloud view find the book and tap the cover illustration to download properly Restarting the tablet can also help if problems persist these solutions can also be used for problems syncing magazines 10 4 I ve Lost My Password Taken steps to secure your device ...

Page 41: ...10 inch tablets from Samsung and others You wouldn t bet against Amazon All in all your Amazon Fire offers an enjoyable user experience You ve got direct access to your favorite movies TV shows and music and a great selection of apps and games And don t forget your Kindle books and Comixology comics The joy of being able to carry thousands of books around in your pocket has been upgraded Now every...