Kindle Fire - First Editions

[Zoom-boing]

Anyone else own a KF first generation? I bought one Feb 2012 and gave it to the hubs for an anniversary gift May 2012. Works (worked) great for about six months then started giving us trouble when we tried to charge it. It was workable -- had to have the cord flat but it was ok. But it has gotten progressively worse since then. Today, it took me 8 hours to get it to charge from 19% to 38% and now it stopped. AGAIN. I have to shove the usb plug in, hope it starts charging, then carefully put in down, push it against the wall, push something against the KF to keep it "just so", then hold my breath that the cat doesn't run quickly by making it stop charging. The port in KF seems to be lose and the plug doesn't fit snuggly into the port like its suppose to and like it did when we first got it.

Called Amazon, they are sending a new power charger (charger and shipping is free; they gave me a $30 promotional credit). If that doesn't work they will issue a replacement KF. I did a lot of research and told them when I called that I know this is a known design issue with the first gen charging ports. No argument from them, they said they will issue a replacement KF if the plug doesn't fix the problem. The girl from Amazon will call me tomorrow evening after the charger is here to see if the problem is fixed.

Now that's how you do customer service. Figured I post this if anyone else was having problems. Call, be nice, tell them you know it's a known issue (go into discussion on the Amazon website and look it up). They were very helpful.

 

[Ringel05]

Ever time I go camping or fire up the wood stove I kindle a fire.........

 

[Chuckt]

I bought a refurbished Kindle Fire. It worked great when I bought it but we have a large church and stopped connecting to the Wifi there. I'm not sure what the reason is but my phone can connect to the Wifi fine.

Sometimes the browser says it is not connected to the internet when it really is so I don't know if I am launching the browser too fast or what the problem is.

Once in a while I have to reset my Kindle by turning it off and back on again.

If I use the wifi all day, I have to recharge the battery.

What do you expect for an iPad alternative?

 

[Zoom-boing]

I bought a refurbished Kindle Fire. It worked great when I bought it but we have a large church and stopped connecting to the Wifi there. I'm not sure what the reason is but my phone can connect to the Wifi fine.

Sometimes the browser says it is not connected to the internet when it really is so I don't know if I am launching the browser too fast or what the problem is.

Once in a while I have to reset my Kindle by turning it off and back on again.

If I use the wifi all day, I have to recharge the battery.

What do you expect for an iPad alternative?

I expect a product to last longer than six months before giving me trouble. Then again, I expect things to last years and years (if taken care of) like in the olden days when products were made here. Those days are long gone, planned obsolescence is the name of the game now.

I doubt that the charger will resolve the problem because the problem isn't the charger, it's the port on the device. It pisses me off because they knew about this issue, they knew it was a problem with the first generation, and they didn't do anything about contacting the customers who purchased it and offering a fix. Bad move, imo. But at least they've acknowledged the problem now and are doing something about it. We'll see how it plays out.

 

[Ringel05]

I bought a refurbished Kindle Fire. It worked great when I bought it but we have a large church and stopped connecting to the Wifi there. I'm not sure what the reason is but my phone can connect to the Wifi fine.

Sometimes the browser says it is not connected to the internet when it really is so I don't know if I am launching the browser too fast or what the problem is.

Once in a while I have to reset my Kindle by turning it off and back on again.

If I use the wifi all day, I have to recharge the battery.

What do you expect for an iPad alternative?

Kindle never was an i-pad alternative, it was an electronic "book" that got visions of grandeur. You're not one of those Apple snobs who loves to pay tons of money for some self perceived status lift?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I have had a Kindle fire since December 2011.
I have not had any trouble whatsoever with the hardware or software.
Sounds to me like you got a bad one.

 

[Zoom-boing]

I have had a Kindle fire since December 2011.
I have not had any trouble whatsoever with the hardware or software.
Sounds to me like you got a bad one.

I've read a lot about this problem, it seems to be a design flaw in the usb charging port on the device. Sounds like you got a good one!

I got the new charger, plugged it in, it started charging, went back 10 min later, not charging. Unplugged and tried one more time, waited 40 mins or so went back ... it charged a whopping 2% and was not charging when I checked. While this plug fits tighter, it is still loose in the port. It's the device. Of course, no Amazon chickie called me back so tomorrow it's back to the phone calls to get them to resolve this issue.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I have had a Kindle fire since December 2011.
I have not had any trouble whatsoever with the hardware or software.
Sounds to me like you got a bad one.

I've read a lot about this problem, it seems to be a design flaw in the usb charging port on the device. Sounds like you got a good one!

I got the new charger, plugged it in, it started charging, went back 10 min later, not charging. Unplugged and tried one more time, waited 40 mins or so went back ... it charged a whopping 2% and was not charging when I checked. While this plug fits tighter, it is still loose in the port. It's the device. Of course, no Amazon chickie called me back so tomorrow it's back to the phone calls to get them to resolve this issue.

That is the problem when dealing with ALL large corporations. As long as things are "usual" - you can expect everything to go perfectly smooth. But when something is wrong or out of the ordinary...Holy Cow.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Well, I just got off the phone with Amazon customer service. I purchased the Kindle in 2/2012 and gave it as a gift in 5/2012, started having charging problems around 6 months after that, so the end of last year. It wasn't bad at first, got progressively worse. The customer service guy said that because it was out of warranty he couldn't replace it but he offered me discounts on newer Kindles, including a refurbished 2nd gen for $68 and $100 off a new HD one. While that's great I told him that since this is a known issue with Kindle and that Amazon should have contacted all first gen customers and try to resolve the problem, wasn't there anything else they could do. He put me on hold then came back and said they would replace my Kindle with a factory refurbished first gen Kindle ... exactly what we have. However, that Kindle will be under a new one year warranty. I took the deal because when the new one starts having charging problems (which I am assuming it will) at least it will be under warranty and then I can have them (hopefully) replace it with a 2nd gen and maybe that will solve the problem. After reading a lot of threads in their discusssions pages, it seems that even newer models have some problems with charging, although I didn't get the impression that it is a widespread probelm like with the first gen.

At any rate, I was very nice, not bitchy or annoyed or yelling. When I get the refurb one I will send them back the broken one and the original charger, they sent a shipping label for the return. I am keeping the new charger they sent me. We'll see how this goes.

eta: just got notified by someone on the discussion board that it is a 90 day warranty not a full year warranty. Hmmmm, that's not good. Well, if it breaks I will just contact them again and perhaps the best outcome will be a good discount on a newer model. They really should have addressed this issue and should stand behind replacing this product when the issue is with the design/manufacturing (or whatever) on their end.

 

[Moonglow]

you can use a plain old phone charger for the Kindle

 

[Zoom-boing]

you can use a plain old phone charger for the Kindle

The problem isn't the charger, it's the Kindle, as I already stated in previous posts.

 

[hortysir]

Anyone else own a KF first generation? I bought one Feb 2012 and gave it to the hubs for an anniversary gift May 2012. Works (worked) great for about six months then started giving us trouble when we tried to charge it. It was workable -- had to have the cord flat but it was ok. But it has gotten progressively worse since then. Today, it took me 8 hours to get it to charge from 19% to 38% and now it stopped. AGAIN. I have to shove the usb plug in, hope it starts charging, then carefully put in down, push it against the wall, push something against the KF to keep it "just so", then hold my breath that the cat doesn't run quickly by making it stop charging. The port in KF seems to be lose and the plug doesn't fit snuggly into the port like its suppose to and like it did when we first got it.

Called Amazon, they are sending a new power charger (charger and shipping is free; they gave me a $30 promotional credit). If that doesn't work they will issue a replacement KF. I did a lot of research and told them when I called that I know this is a known design issue with the first gen charging ports. No argument from them, they said they will issue a replacement KF if the plug doesn't fix the problem. The girl from Amazon will call me tomorrow evening after the charger is here to see if the problem is fixed.

Now that's how you do customer service. Figured I post this if anyone else was having problems. Call, be nice, tell them you know it's a known issue (go into discussion on the Amazon website and look it up). They were very helpful.

Thanks
So far the Kindle Fire HD I bought MrsHorty is behaving fine, but....

 

[Ringel05]

I used to have an Etch A Sketch. No power adapter needed........

 

[Chuckt]

I bought a refurbished Kindle Fire. It worked great when I bought it but we have a large church and stopped connecting to the Wifi there. I'm not sure what the reason is but my phone can connect to the Wifi fine.

Sometimes the browser says it is not connected to the internet when it really is so I don't know if I am launching the browser too fast or what the problem is.

Once in a while I have to reset my Kindle by turning it off and back on again.

If I use the wifi all day, I have to recharge the battery.

What do you expect for an iPad alternative?

I expect a product to last longer than six months before giving me trouble. Then again, I expect things to last years and years (if taken care of) like in the olden days when products were made here. Those days are long gone, planned obsolescence is the name of the game now.

I doubt that the charger will resolve the problem because the problem isn't the charger, it's the port on the device. It pisses me off because they knew about this issue, they knew it was a problem with the first generation, and they didn't do anything about contacting the customers who purchased it and offering a fix. Bad move, imo. But at least they've acknowledged the problem now and are doing something about it. We'll see how it plays out.

The truth is that it is an electronic device and can be dropped, placed in the sun or exposed to the elements or water. It can be abused a number of ways.

If you placed a capacitor in the sun, it would dry out over time.
If you dropped a unit, what would happen to the screen, the solder connections or chips inside? Solder connections are sometimes checked under x-ray or microscopes for cracks in some factories that build electronics before they ship them out and I don't know if the repair shop offers the same services for checking out a refurbished unit.
Unless they give you a used unit with a new battery, what is the condition of the battery?
It depends on manufacturing and there are a lot of stories about manufacturing. Unless it is manufactured by machine, workers sometimes drop components on the floor and unless there is no talking, they can make mistakes as well especially if they are new since it is a 1st generation unit. Did they substitute a part for a cheaper one? It is like buying a can opener with a plastic gear. The gears will wear out because they're plastic and it is called "built in obsolescence".

 

[iamwhatiseem]

BTW - anyone buying any tablet should not buy one without also getting an impact resistant wrap around cover. Not the crappy cloth and cheap foam ones from WalMart - no - impact resistant cover made specifically for your model. I have a Marware cover, I have dropped it several times from a standing position on hardwood floors, it has fell out of my car a few times etc. - none the worse. They are very protective.