Amazon Prime and the Fire Tablet. My review.

Discussion in 'Trucking Electronics, Gadgets and Software Forum' started by ethos, Oct 9, 2015.

  1. ethos

    ethos Road Train Member

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    So recently I heard that Amazon Prime was going to let customers download movies and t.v shows for offline viewing. As a trucker I sometimes am forced to park in areas that have no 4G therefore no movie streaming. I am a T-Mobile customer and although I have truly unlimited data, I give up coverage. In the Northwest especially I often have no data at all. As any trucker knows, truck stop Wi-Fi can be a joke so Amazon's announcement was met with much interest from me.

    I decided to become an Amazon Prime member and then buy a Fire tablet. I went with the top of the line model 8.9 hdx with a 64gb storage. The large storage was most important because I wanted to download as many shows as possible.

    Well let me say this combination is simply awesome. Most of Prime streaming is available for download, 64gb holds plenty of video. Easily enough to get you into another WI-FI hotspot to add more. The tablet is just great, loud speakers, beautiful picture. The interface is simple and quick.

    The Amazon site has plenty to offer, easy to use and multiple download options. 1080, 720 and SD. I have used them all and while SD does download faster I haven't noticed much difference between 1080 and 720. Downloading a movie takes quite a while though, about an hour or more actually. To me this is no big deal as I just simply queue all my choices and leave the tablet alone while I'm at the house or in a good Wi-Fi.

    Once offline your interface will change, when you hit video it will only bring up your library. I love how quick and easy it is. Simply select what you want and the device will warn you that you only have a certain amount of time to watch it. All of mine so far have had a 30 day limit from the time of initial viewing but I have heard some are only 48 hours.

    I'm quite happy with my purchase and Amazon's good decision to allow downloading. Sometimes it seems the world forgets about us truckers. It seems most electronic services just always assume you will have an Internet connection. It is nice to be able to watch my shows regardless of the coverage.
     
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  3. w.h.o

    w.h.o Road Train Member

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    Good review, I thought about doin it. I have amazon prime now for unlimited music which is awesome. Download free music and listen later on. I might cancel my netflix...
     
  4. ethos

    ethos Road Train Member

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    Well you know your routine, if you are having to park in bad coverage areas then it's an easy decision. The ability to download and watch offline just can't be beat. I bet more and more truckers will turn to this.

    I drive a tanker as many people know. Often I have to go wait in a drivers room. Even in good areas once you go inside a building you lose coverage. The tablet makes waiting so much better. I watched a great movie while getting loaded the other day, made the time fly by. For my situation this is the best thing for mobile entertainment, I am very happy.
     
  5. deglass

    deglass Bobtail Member

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    Sweet, thanks for info
     
  6. Dakota1358

    Dakota1358 Medium Load Member

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    That sounds perfect for me.Have Amazon prime but I occasionally park in those areas with no wifi or 4g service.I'll check out the Fire thanks for the review
     
  7. MidWest_MacDaddy

    MidWest_MacDaddy Road Train Member

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    I started to do this as well and it is nice to have offline access to content. I use it on an iPad but I too am thinking of moving my phone to T- mobile for the unlimited internet. Down load while in a covered area then send it up to my Apple TV to watch on the TV vs the small screen. I have a limit of 48 hours on the iOS device so they might give you a longer offline access if you are using the Amazon hardware.
     
  8. ethos

    ethos Road Train Member

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    One more thing, you can only have 25 titles downloaded at once. So right now I have 10 full length movies and 15 episodes of Justified downloaded all in 1080 HD. Of course add more movies and you can run into storage issues. According to my Fire total video storage is 33.56 GB. I have 17.80 GB free but unfortunately I am maxed out on available titles.
    I basically only use the tablet for videos but I do have a few games downloaded too. I do believe that shows will become more prevalent in my library so I should easily be able to add some books and games and still be fine on storage.
     
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  9. ethos

    ethos Road Train Member

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    T-Mobile doesn't have the best coverage. Voice is usually no problem but data especially 4G can be a pain. I use massive amounts of data a month so Verizon and AT&T are out. Coverage has gotten better in the past 2 years though. But still, it can be brutal depending on region. One minute north of Cheyenne, you won't get 4G again until Seattle. So the Northwest is by far the worst. Other than that all decent sized cities will have 4G. As well as some spots you wouldn't believe. T-Mobile will throttle you after I think 30 gigs depending on how many are on the network. It's not so much throttling as you don't get priority anymore. If few people are on then you won't notice a difference.

    However, usually this isn't a problem but there is a super easy work around. You simply change your network settings to not allow LTE and you get put on the 4G tower. Not as fast of course but still plenty to watch netflix or youtube.
     
  10. MidWest_MacDaddy

    MidWest_MacDaddy Road Train Member

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    Yes, I currently have an iPhone on Verizon and I am pleased with the coverage and cost but now that I am on the road, I know the data fees are going to kill me.

    So I am looking to get a new iPhone 6S Plus and put it on my Verizon account long enough to get a lower "bring your own or new phone" rate then move that number back to my smaller and more pocketable iPhone 4S and then move the new 6S Plus to T-Mobile basically for Internet...

    Then I will still have Verizon's footprint and access to there data IF needed and still have unlimited data on T-Mobile to stream or download movies/shows for offline viewing.

    Not sure if that is better than just paying Verizon $50+ per month for a bigger package or not... Still looking into it and not sure just how much data $50 more a month would get me but at least I would have the best of both worlds... Bigger footprint of Verizon while supporting an underdog in the marketplace too.
     
  11. snowwy

    snowwy Road Train Member

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    the amazon prime app can be downloaded to any android device.

    there's also a windows pc platform.
     
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