So , Amazon does n’t exactly highlight this , but all of its Kindle Fires are Androids on the interior . Amazon slap a heavy skin on top , so it ’s not at all recognizable , but it ’s Android all the same . dandy , so you get admittance to all of the Android apps , right ? Not precisely .
Amazon has strayed far enough from the Android itinerary that it does n’t have access to the Google Play Store ( formerly the Android Market ) . And while there are 50,000 offering in Amazon ’s Apps for Android store , that pales in compare to the 600,000 apps every other Android user has at their administration .
A destiny of what Amazon ’s neglect is detritus . But some very good apps got go out out in the frigidness . Here ’s what you ’ll be missing most :
Google Apps (obviously)
The Play Store is n’t the only Google - make app that did n’t make it over the piddle . really , none of them did . That meansGoogle Maps , Translate , Drive , Earth , Calendar , Wallet , Gmail , Chrome , YouTube , and others are n’t anywhere to be found among Amazon ’s Android apps . Which is a shame , because they ’re all the best at what they do .
This is n’t a huge surprise since the original Fire did n’t have a photographic camera , but as of now you wo n’t be able to browse your Instagram provender from your new Kindle Fire HD , either . If I could n’t see what Jesus Diaz has for dinner party every dark I reckon I ’d kill myself .
Groupon
Bargains ! undecomposed , cheap steal on things you likely do n’t postulate but damnit they ’re such a buy ! Well , none of that on your Fire ( at least not from Groupon ) . Although honestly , this might have just as much to do with the fact that Amazon owns a major interest in megacompetitor LivingSocial . Either elbow room , Groupon ’s a notable absentee .
Firefox
Firefox for Android is n’t perfect yet , but if you practice it as your main screen background web internet browser , you were likely psyched about being able to synchronize all of your bookmark , browsing story and all of that effective stuff . No Firefox and no Chrome ? As good as Kindle Fire ’s native web browser is , it ’s always decent to have options .
Games
Dead Trigger , Oscura , Minecraft , Grand Theft Auto III , Osmos , Shoot the Zombirds . All really , really honorable games . None of them available through Amazon .
Adobe PhotoShop Touch
require to do some semi - serious photo editing on your pad of paper ? Adobe ’s PhotoShop Touch is the current benchmark , and it ’s AWOL on the Fire . you may get PhotoShop Express , but it ’s not well-nigh as robust .
Widgets
One of the banner features of Android is widgets . They provide super quick access to the information you desire and/or instantaneous control condition for medicine , options , or just about any programme you want . They ’re really ready to hand , but they live on on your tablet ’s desktop . The Kindle Fire has ditched said desktop , so doojigger would n’t make any sense .
This list is just from a short skim through the top Android app and through stuff and nonsense I have on my telephone set . There are many others ( Speedtest.net , for example ) . In other instances , they ’ll have a free version , but not the more fully have paid translation , or frailty versa .
Now , there are some options for have these tantalizing proscribe apps onto your Fire , but none of them will appeal to the masse . It is potential to sideload apps on to the Fire , but doing so isa royal nuisance in the ass . And yes , it ’s potential to steady down the Fire and have it run a tradition version of Android , but most citizenry ca n’t or do n’t want to . More importantly , you probably should n’t have to . In terms of app ecosystem , Android is the hand - down winner .
Amazon may have more books and music than the Google Play Store , but here ’s the affair : in Android you may just download the Amazon MP3 app , or the Kindle App , and then you have access to all of those Amazon title , plus Google ’s , plus passably much anybody else ’s . There ’s no Amazon Instant Video yet , but with all of the other sources , you are n’t likely to escape it .
That ’s not to say the Kindle Fires are n’t more than decent . They are ! But remember that there are some gaping holes in its biz — the kind that do n’t show up on a spec sheet .
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