using an Amazon Fire tablet in Thailand , any problems ?

[oldcarguy]

the Amazon fire tablets have been pretty cheap this Holiday season in the US , below $30 at times for the 7 inch tablet  ,

 

yes they are not as good as a $100-$300 tablet , but they are much better than the no-name Chinese tablets,

 

Anyway are there any problems using them in Thai ,   yes you can put Google play store on it , but its not on it out of the box ,

 

Just wondering if it works in Thai , or if at times it defaults back to English  and becomes a problem (like if it was Chinese for us)

 

I was thinking of bringing a couple over for gifts ,  and just wondering how they worked for you  :)

 

thanks for your thoughts

 

[dddave]

Not specifically Thailand but there were articles in the press today that Google is blocking many of it products, like You Tube from Amazon devices.  They have been in an ongoing dispute over usage issues and I guess it has now boiled over and gotten nasty.  You might find a "Fire" tablet unable to access some of the most popular programs and apps.

[oldcarguy]

10 hours ago, dddave said:

Not specifically Thailand but there were articles in the press today that Google is blocking many of it products, like You Tube from Amazon devices.  They have been in an ongoing dispute over usage issues and I guess it has now boiled over and gotten nasty.  You might find a "Fire" tablet unable to access some of the most popular programs and apps.

thanks , I will try and find that.......in fact it was just mentioned on the radio here !

[dddave]

25 minutes ago, oldcarguy said:

thanks , I will try and find that.......in fact it was just mentioned on the radio here !

https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/5/16738752/google-youtube-amazon-punishing-customers-feud

 

It's not really clear if Google is blocking all Amazon devices such as the Fire tablets or just "Fire TV" and "Echo"

 

The 8" Fire tablet is a great device for well under $100, too bad it might be too limited to be really useful.

No doubt the "Fire" hacking community will probably come up with some work-arounds pretty quickly but that will require a dose of tech savvy to make use of.

[1FinickyOne]

I have a kindle and no problems. For thirty dollars you can't go too far wrong. 

[tweedledee2]

 

I have 5 Amazon tablets, an 8.9 4G, a Kindle Fire 7" and 3 Fire HD 7". The 3 Fire HD's are the newest bought in May 2016. The Kindle Fire 7" is the oldest bought in Feb 2014, the internal memory is full of kids games, still functions like new and is used mostly by my now 8-year-old, since it was new. It has to have close to 3000 hrs of use. The other tablets each have a few games but mostly educational or reference apps and are used to stream youtube and music videos by my 2 daughters and wife. I do know that my tablets do not have the Thai language included in the menu when you first set it up. I talked to tech support in the past about this and I was told Thai was scheduled to be included in future, unsure if it has been or not. But Thai can be added with downloads from the internet. 

[sawadee1947]

On 12/5/2017 at 6:14 AM, oldcarguy said:

Anyway are there any problems using them in Thai ,

I got a KINDLE, but I could not find THAI LANGUAGE on it, or do you mean THAILAND??????

[oldcarguy]

14 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

I got a KINDLE, but I could not find THAI LANGUAGE on it, or do you mean THAILAND??????

probably a little of both , if it is Thai language ,

or because it is being used in Thailand some Amazon things are blocked.....

[Mace648]

I have taken my Kindle with me to Thailand since 2013 and it works flawlessly. If you have access to a tablet that has Youtube on it you can also find videos on how to add the Google Play store so that you can get Youtube and many other apps on any new Kindle you buy.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

There's a big difference between Amazon's Kindle monochrome screen E-Readers and Amazon Fire tablets, the latter being basically Amazon's version of an Android tablet on which you can install and use most regular Android apps.

 

The OP here was asking about Amazon's Fire Tablets, which work fine as a basic tablet here. Of course, a lot of Amazon content is more accessible with a U.S. IP address that VPN apps can provide. No built-in support for Thai language in my Fire tablet version, but can download and install a Thai language keyboard app.

 

Typically, AFAIK, when you buy a Fire tablet online from Amazon, it comes registered to the country of the Amazon online store you bought it from, U.S., or UK, or a few others. In terms of the OS, my several year old model only has OS level settings for about 8 different language, including English, German, French, Italian, Chinese and Portuguese.

 

Two oddities I've noticed on my 2015 7-inch model:

--on a lot of Amazon's Fire tablets except the high end ones, they often don't come with A-GPS capability, and instead rely on wifi and other info for location services. So that can be a bit limiting.

--I've never been able to find a way to set my tablet's time setting to Thai time. AFAICT, it's not even listed in the time zones menu.

 

 

 

[dddave]

Old thread but I have two Fire HD8" Tablets, one for me and one hi-jacked by a niece.  

Though the Google Play Store or other Google apps are not included on the Fire, downloading and installing them is a very simple procedure taking about 15 minutes.  Many tutorials on You Tube.

The Fire8 is a really decent tablet for under $80 for the 32gb model...often sold for less than $60.

Not as thin and light as the premium Samsungs and Apples and not an Amoled display but the display is not bad at all.

Probably one of the best tablet values anywhere.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

35 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

--I've never been able to find a way to set my tablet's time setting to Thai time. AFAICT, it's not even listed in the time zones menu.

 

Just an update on this. At least on my 2015 Fire tablet, there is no time zone setting for Thailand or Bangkok. But, you can get the correct time zone setting by choosing one of the Russia time zone settings for GMT +7.

 

[claynlr]

Just bought 2 fire HD10 32GB on sale for $99 each for the kids. When I get to Thailand I will see if can change to Thai.

[claynlr]

On 4/28/2019 at 4:18 PM, claynlr said:

Just bought 2 fire HD10 32GB on sale for $99 each for the kids. When I get to Thailand I will see if can change to Thai.

Ok, on this brand new HD 10 the time set automatically and there is a Thai keyboard app loaded. Still no Thai language choice.

[claynlr]

Meant pre loaded

[dddave]

My niece was able to get full Thai language on her 2017 Fire 8.  I'll ask her how she did it when I next see her.

If you haven't already, go to You Tube "Kindle Fire Google" and you will find many tutorials on downloading Google including access to Play Store.  Once you have that, you can do anything any Android tablet can do.

[dddave]

1 hour ago, dddave said:

My niece was able to get full Thai language on her 2017 Fire 8.  I'll ask her how she did it when I next see her.

If you haven't already, go to You Tube "Kindle Fire Google" and you will find many tutorials on downloading Google including access to Play Store.  Once you have that, you can do anything any Android tablet can do.

OK, Me again.

https://www.techjunkie.com/change-language-amazon-fire-tablet/

This article will help loading a non-listed language on the Kindle Fire. 

Open it and scroll down to "DOWNLOAD EXTRA LANGUAGES IN YOUR FIRE TABLET" 

Not that easy to follow as it's somewhat complicated but this is how my niece got Thai language on her 2017 Fire 8HD.