Apps and reading on the Kindle Fire HD 8� Part 2

Apps and reading on the Kindle Fire HD 8� Part 2

Continued from Apps and reading on the Kindle Fire HD 8 Part 1

3. OneDrive - If you prefer not to access your servers over a LAN and abhor using the micro USB cable, then you can move files to your Kindle Fire HD 8 using OneDrive instead. The OneDrive version available on the Amazon Appstore is the same as the version on Google Play, so its certainly an option if you own a Windows PC or an Android tablet and want to exchange files with your Fire.

4. Xodo PDF Reader and Editor / Adobe Acrobat Reader - Xodo PDF Reader is a reliable and lightweight PDF viewer, and a good alternative to the long in the tooth Adobe Acrobat Reader for Android. Both can handle large file PDFs on the Fire HD 8.

5. OneNote - If youre the type to take notes while reading, then OneNote is good for collecting screenshots and taking text snippets when needed.

6. Flipboard

7. IMDb

8. Perfect Viewer ($2.99) / Comics Manga Reader - Perfect Viewer is an excellent Android app for reading scanned out-of-print comic books and 70s-80s Spidey titles (not the absolute crap Marvel Comics has been publishing the last decade). Perfect Viewer costs $2.99 on the Amazon Appstore, but once installed, you can also install the separate PDF plugin and File Source plugin.

If youre stingy and have minimal needs, you can opt for the modestly designed, but perfectly usable and free Comics Manga Reader.

9. Text editor(Notepad) - There are several text editors available on the Kindle Appstore, but the creatively named Text editor(Notepad) is more than adequate when you need to jot down plain text.

Note: OneNote is fine, but adds extra markup and isnt the best if you plan to use unformatted UTF-8 characters for an e-mail, web page, or document.

Reading .mobi files on the Kindle Fire HD 8

There are thousands of articles online regarding how to read .mobi and .epub files on the Kidle Fire HD 8. Amazon restricts .epub support for obvious reasons, despite the companys already strong hold on the ebook market. However, there are workarounds to reading .epubs on Fire tablets, though the following are the most common methods:

• Sideloading EPUB reader apps
• Installing Google Play and installing EPUB reader apps
• Converting EPUBs to .mobi or .azw using an application like Calibre

Note: Publishers are so aware of this Amazon limitation that many of them actually provide instructions on their website on how to support EPUBs on Amazon devices. For my part, I actually use a Kobo Glo for my EPUB files and use the Kindle Fire HD 8 for the occasional .mobi file, which is a file format option when downloading books from Gutenberg.org.

Arguably the simplest way to open a .mobi file on the Kindle Fire HD 8 is to copy the .mobi file to the Books folder in the internal memory. You can then use a file manager to open the .mobi file, which automatically uses the Kindle app to display the contents of the file.

You can copy .mobi files to the Books folder in the Fires Internal storage. The Kindle app creates temporary folders when you open the .mobi file however.

Note, however, that copying the .mobi file to the Books folder will not list the book in the Kindle app, which is the reason why you would use an app like File Commander to open it.  Also, this method creates an extra folder in the Books directory for the .mobi file, which the Kindle app uses to read the compressed contents.

A .mobi file opened in the Kindle app.

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Apps and reading on the Kindle Fire HD 8 Part 1�

Apps and reading on the Kindle Fire HD 8 Part 1�

Although the tablet market is shrinking thanks to user dependency on 5.5" and larger smartphones, consumers can still benefit from affordable midsize screen devices such as the Kindle Fire HD 8, which are great for magazines and books. Although the Fire HD 8 isnt recommended as your primary Android productivity device, its perfect if you read regularly or have a large collection of digital comic books, magazines, and PDFs of user manuals or scans of old books such as those found in Archive.org.

Selections from the Amazon Android Appstore and Amazon Underground

Talking about apps is tricky when it comes to Amazons tablet products because it really depends on why you bought the Fire HD 8. Users expecting a productivity tablet comparable to the Samsung Galaxy or ASUS ZenPad series will no doubt complain regarding lack of access to Google Play Store. For productivity users, even the sum total of apps from Amazons Android Appstore and their dedicated free repository Amazon Underground can be disappointing. On the other hand, casual users who love games and trivial apps will be more than satisfied with the selections.

More technically adept consumers shrug off the lack of Google Play access on the Amazons Fire tablets. In fact, Android techs all agree that despite Amazons efforts, Fire tablets are one of the easiest products on the market to customize and modify. Side-loading apps, removing Amazon restrictions and ads, and replacing Fire OS are pretty pedestrian tasks for Android enthusiasts.

Mainstream users who use the Fire HD 8 as a dedicated reading device, however, might want to try the following apps available on Amazon Appstore and Amazon Underground:

1. File Commander - If you regularly access Linux, macOS, or Windows machines on your network to transfer reading material, then File Commander is a great option. File Commander is available on Amazon Underground and is "actually free" but comes with ads. You can even use it to access FreeBSD-based NAS and consumer storage products such as the WD My Cloud.

For details on accessing the WD My Cloud using File Commander, refer to Accessing WD My Cloud using the Fire HD 8.

2. VLC for Fire - Users who complain about VLC for Fire probably arent very familiar with the popular cross-platform multimedia app. As with the Windows 10 Mobile, Linux, and FreeBSD versions, VLC for Fire may occasionally struggle with rendering large or poorly encoded videos on low to mid-range hardware such as the Fire HD 8. However, its still a great video app for watching your own ripped or converted videos. Moreover, a recent version of VLC for Fire supports Local Network access, which means accessing servers is easier than ever.

Note: As with its desktop counterpart, VLC for Fire can playback .iso video files. However, note that the ARM Cortex-A53 of the Fire HD 8 might have problems playing high-quality videos compressed into an ISO file and users may experience a noticeable lag in frame rate.

If youre not a fan of VLC in general, you can certainly use Amazons preinstalled My Video app, or install EQ Media Player or MX Player, both of which are available on the Amazon Appstore.

Continued in Apps and reading on the Kindle Fire HD 8 Part 2

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