[nfbcs] Kindle Fire tablet

Wed Sep 7 15:31:36 UTC 2016

I got my Kindle Fire for the same reason. Also, I work with LD students mostly and after using the Fire for some time now believe it's the best platform for LD students and anyone mostly sighted with memory or learning challenges. It's true there are more apps for the iDEVICES, but the Fire is cheaper -- less of an issue if you loos it or it gets stolen. It also keeps all your "stuff" on Amazon and if you run out of room you can quickly make a menu choice that moves it all back to the Amazon cloud so you free up room for more data. This is only for stuff purchased from Amazon, but it's much easier to move your purchases back and forth than it is on an iDEVICE. Also in demoing it to people with learning challenges, I notice they grasp the interface more quickly than when I teach them the iPAD. The voice is super high quality, and you simply tap on a book to start reading. This works even if you don't use VoiceView, and like I said I mostly help sighted people, so I wanted to demo something to them that was easy for them and easy for me to support!

The iDEVICES are still more accessible for the blind, but I'm beginning to push most of my sighted students to consider the Fire over the iPAD especially if their income isn't high. Kindle textbooks are cheaper than print, and for those who need the voice to read to them, the Kindle instead of an iPAD will  Save them enough money for perhaps ten more books. 

Anyway, one thing to know is that there are several different methods for accessing the google play store, and most are documented online or in Kindle books you can cheaply purchase. The drawback is that you need the google play store framework on the Fire which means that you can't update the OS easily. I've read but haven't tried it because I want to keep getting regular updates which presumably improve the accessibility. All the different sets of instructions I've read or gone through on YouTube have you turning off the updates toFire OS so they won't wipe out the google play store. For me that's not a good solution.

Instead, I tried something else which is more manual but is working out well. Unlike iOS, Android apps are packaged as apk files -- probably just zip files with a different packaging scheme. Anyway, Android knows if it encounters an apk it should install it. So just like in Windows if you select a text file, notepad opens -- in Android if you select an apk file in a file explorer, the operating system installs the app.

There are several apk repositories online for all the free apps you can find in the google play store, and I researched to figure out which ones seemed the most trustworthy. I settled on apkfree but do your own research, because some of these are filled with malware.

Anyway, I found the apk files for the Bookshare GoRead and the Learning Ally apps. The Amazon app store doesn't have Bookshare or Learning Ally -- only BARD.

In the Amazon app store I found an app called Easy Installer, which does some integrity checking before allowing Android to install an apk file. I now use Easy Installer. I simply put all the apk files I want to install in to a folder, then run Easy Installer and it gives me a choice of which I want to install.

The fire also has a built-in app for app management, so it's easy to see how much storage each app consumes, whether it's installed on the main memory or SD card and in some cases I can move apps to the SD card. The app management in Android also lets you uninstall an app or just zap all its data -- Android app management is much more flexible, and open than on iOS.

The other thing about the Fire is that you can plug it in to your computer and copy stuff to it like a flash drive. You can also delete stuff. This thing cost $50 and I can move content on and off it far more easily than I can on a $500 iPAD, making it way more easy to support when I'm working with techno-phobic sighted people!
 I've really enjoyed exploring Android using this device.

--Debee

 -----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Campbell via nfbcs
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2016 6:14 AM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
Cc: Elizabeth Campbell
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Kindle Fire tablet

Hi Debra,

Thanks for your note.

I purchased a Bluetooth keyboard which helps  a great deal in using the Kindle Fire tablet. However, getting a notepad app in order to practice using the on screen keyboard is a great idea.  I believe that there is a way to access the Google Play store using the Kindle fire, but haven't figured that out yet.
I've used it some to browse the Internet, read and compose emails and shop on Amazon.

As I said earlier, for me, the Kindle Fire tablet is not a replacement for my iPhone with VoiceOver, but I like to keep tabs on what is out there and on how we can use other platforms.

Best

Liz Campbell

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong via nfbcs
Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2016 11:46 AM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Deborah Armstrong <armstrongdeborah at fhda.edu>
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Kindle Fire tablet

> If anyone is using the Kindle Fire and has any pointers, please pass 
> them
along.

Make sure you update it. They did fix a few VoiceView bugs.

Get a notepad type app to practice the keyboard with. For me, the shift wasn't a problem but the period was. Every time I reached for the period, I'd hit some button that triggered a keyboard selection menu.

The shift is in the same place as it is on an iPAD; if you've only used an iPHONE that can be confusing. 

I have been on vacation for a month but will try to get through reading this thread and see if I have more to say.

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Campbell via nfbcs
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2016 9:18 AM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
Cc: Elizabeth Campbell
Subject: [nfbcs] Kindle Fire tablet

Hi all,

I recently purchased a Kindle fire tablet to try since they are not very expensive.

I was wondering if anyone on list has one,and if so, what are your impressions?

I think the VoiceView is far more difficult to use than VoiceOver in IOS.
For instance, I am trying to set up my wifi so that I can enter my Amazon account information, but I can't get the shift to work to capitalize letters using the on screen keyboard, and my password is a mix of lower and upper case letters along with numbers.

I ordered a Bluetooth keyboard, but it hasn't arrived yet.

I like the idea of having a very small tablet for reading books, etc. when I'm traveling, and this is not to replace the iPhone or my Windows 10 laptop by any means.

If anyone is using the Kindle Fire and has any pointers, please pass them along.

Thank you.

Liz Campbell

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