Experience Using A Kindle Fire In Thailand?

[bud7]

Is anyone presently using a Kindle Fire in Thailand? I am wondering if it performs well here and if there have been any problems getting downloads of books, checking email, etc.

[justsumhelp]

I would wait about a month, for mobile world congress to be over, if your thinking about buying a kindle fire. The price will be reduced, and many more similar devices near the same price range wil be introduced.

[petertucker48]

No problems to download here in Thailand.

Easy if you have a WiFi connection to the Internet.(Wireless router) pain in the A**e if you try to connect direct with USB.(tried 6 hours yesterday to connect Kindle Touch to Apple iMac Unsuccessfully)

When you are Registering just give your Usa or UK etc Address (the place where your Bank is situated.)

[Sam Drucker]

There's been some rumors of perhaps an additional (maybe bigger?) Kindle Fire being intorduced sometime during the first half of this year. But would Mobile World Congress be the place they would do that? I don't think they've been big for e-readers in the past at that show, have they?

As for the existing Kindle Fire, it has only been on the market for not-even 3 months yet. Especially seeing how it's speculated Amazon has been losing money on these units, it seems early to be seeing them discounted before they introduce a successor (which would typically be around 1 year after introduction.)

For what it's worth, I compared several things between the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire, not the least being usage overseas. The Amazon Kindle was the easier of the two; as I recall, you are good for downloading content as long as you use a USA mailing address and USA credit card for your Amazon account.

The Nook was a bit more of a challenge for purchasing content overseas. Not only were they requiring the USA address and credit card, but they were also blocking purchases if you were logging in from an IP address out of the USA. These constraints could be overcome one of two ways however:

1) Have somebody in the States that you trust make the purchase for you online, using your Barnes & Noble account. Since only purchases of content were blocked, once it is bought, you can plug the Nook into your computer, log into your account from overseas, and download the content (or "sideload") it into your Nook.

2) If you are overseas and using a VPN (Virtual Private Network, for purposes like viewing USA Television from outside the States) you can set it to use an IP address inside the USA, then go to the Barnes & Noble account and purchase your content and download/sideload as mentioned above.

*I'm told that Barnes & Noble relaxed their requirements this past fall and no longer check the IP address you're logging in from. If so, then it is now the same as the Amazon Kindle above.

I bought a Nook Tablet in November, use it here in Thailand, and am happy with it. It's not my ultimate tablet . . . I'll probably buy a Samsung 7.7 later and keep the Nook as an e-reader and back-up tablet. But it's a good interim tablet and e-reader that will still work as a backup for me (or to give to somebody else) later.

Whichever way you go, Nook or Kindle, you should be okay, or at least easily able to over come any limitations for overseas usage.

[beachyman]

Highly recommend you get a Samsung 7 plus. Amazing device. You can download kindle and still actually do stuff on the device. I am coming from an ipad and I thought the fire was not very good when I played around w my friends.

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[merijn]

I have a kindle wife/3G and it works fine in Thailand.

I bought it online from Amazon and it was delivered at home within 5 days.

The free 3G connection works great.

[cdnvic]

Buy a different Android tablet that's far less gimped and put the Kindle app on it.

[SunSeek01]

Hey Bud7 - I just ordered a Fire here in the States and I'll be over there in Thailand next week. I'd be interested to hear if you go with the Fire. I already had Prime and I wanted to get it here at my home address. I do tend to agree with the guy before this post, get a different Android Tab, I didn't even know there is a Kindle App for Andoid. I have the kindle app on my notebook so that should have tipped me off.

Anyway, let me know or if you hold off buying it, I'll let you know. I'll be in Naklua/ N. Pattaya. - SS

[Murgatroyd]

I got a kindle Keyboard, (WiFi) for Christmas. It will not connect to my home wi fi... It recognises that it's there, but it simply won't connect. I've tried changing the security protocols and even removing any security from the wifi, but it doesn't want to play. It did connect when I was staying in a hotel for a couple of days, so there's nothing wrong with it. However it works fine when I use the USB cable, and I can download books from Amazon that way, so It's well worth having.

[SteeleJoe]

An Urgent Question from my mom!

I bought a Kindle Fire for my Grandson (and his dad, truth be told) and didn't realize he'd need a US credit card to register and download even free or very cheap Apps. Does anyone know if:

1) A debit card (from a Thai bank) can be used?

2) If I buy a pre-paid credit card in the US and send them the number, that will suffice?

[justsumhelp]

I got a kindle Keyboard, (WiFi) for Christmas. It will not connect to my home wi fi... It recognises that it's there, but it simply won't connect. I've tried changing the security protocols and even removing any security from the wifi, but it doesn't want to play. It did connect when I was staying in a hotel for a couple of days, so there's nothing wrong with it. However it works fine when I use the USB cable, and I can download books from Amazon that way, so It's well worth having.

Did you try changing the channels of that your wifi is broadcasting on?

[lleviathan]

An Urgent Question from my mom!

I bought a Kindle Fire for my Grandson (and his dad, truth be told) and didn't realize he'd need a US credit card to register and download even free or very cheap Apps. Does anyone know if:

1) A debit card (from a Thai bank) can be used?

2) If I buy a pre-paid credit card in the US and send them the number, that will suffice?

As far as I know, the Kindle Fire is pretty crippled without a US credit card. All of the movie and music content, even the App store, is only available in America right now. (App store worked in Canada too. Movies and Music do not.) Amazon does not have content deals outside of the states for anything other than Books. It uses the address attached to the credit card to check. A pre-paid credit card might work, or registering a US credit card on the account and then buying gift cards.

I have the Kindle 3 wifi here in Thailand and it works flawlessly. I have a Canadian credit card tied to my Amazon account, so Amazon sells me books available to the Canadian store - which is most of them. I can download over wifi - I've never used USB to download purchases from Amazon but do use USB to my Mac together with a program called Calibre to get other books onto it.

[ludditeman]

Buy a different Android tablet that's far less gimped and put the Kindle app on it.

Gamsung Galaxy Tab 7", available secondhand all over Thailand for about 9kbht

Much better than the Fire, works as a phone, 3G, bluetooth, GPS, Kindle App

The Kindle Fire just doesn't hack it.

Edited February 11, 2012 by ludditeman

[wpcoe]

2) If I buy a pre-paid credit card in the US and send them the number, that will suffice?

A prepaid US credit card works for me in Thailand with the Apple US iTunes store, so I suspect it will work with the Kindle.

BTW, if you find a prepaid US card that doesn't extort ~$5 per month in fees, can you let me know, please? I randomly bought one at a grocery store in the US and didn't realize they deduct that much from the balance per month!

[SteeleJoe]

2) If I buy a pre-paid credit card in the US and send them the number, that will suffice?

A prepaid US credit card works for me in Thailand with the Apple US iTunes store, so I suspect it will work with the Kindle.

BTW, if you find a prepaid US card that doesn't extort ~$5 per month in fees, can you let me know, please? I randomly bought one at a grocery store in the US and didn't realize they deduct that much from the balance per month!

Thanks.

(And yes, if my mom finds one that doesn't steal from us, I'll post about it).

[SteeleJoe]

Had the Kindle Fire at our house for the last couple weeks and it seems a fine little machine for the price. Does what it's supposed to and does it well.

Loads of great games 0 - 3 dollars from Amazon and if one were the sort to download books from the internet and sideload them AHEM I've heard there's thousands available for free...

Oh, and a US debit card works fine for downloading the free stuff from Amazon.

[kokesaat]

My daughter gave me a kindle fire for Christmas, purchased and registered in the US, and I have a US home addressed credit card. I'm now in Thailand.

I want to add a Thai keyboard and a Thai-English dictionary (the dictionary must have Thai script).

I'm getting the impression that I'll have to root the kindle before I can add such apps......and I'm not sure I'm up to the tech task of doing so myself.

Can anyone offer advice on the keyboard/dictionary question on an unrooted Kindle?

Thanks