Amazon Underground Games

With the recently released line of Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, I decided to give the new much touted "Amazon Underground" a spin and see what was really meant by "actually free" games.  Amazon advertises this feature as games that actually have free in-app purchases, lending new meaning to "free games".

Currently, free games means that the game is "free", but still charges for any in-app purchases that are made, thus leading the end-user/consumer to believe that the game is free but with hidden charges/purchases.

However, Amazon Underground now labels their games as "Actually Free" when you visit the Amazon Underground.

I tried out one of the Amazon Underground "Actually Free" games that I have played for a long time called Frozen Free Fall.

Well, much to my surprise, Amazon was not lying about being "actually free"!

When I first launched Frozen Free Fall, I was immediately awarded a large number of snowballs and ice crystal and ice picks before I even began playing.  In addition, all of the upper levels from the Seasons and Frozen Fever were also completely unlocked! 

When I browsed through a few more Amazon Underground games in the Amazon App Store, I was surprised to find several more expensive games such as Mickey Mouse's Castle of Illusions labeled as "Actually Free"!

I am really enjoying the Amazon Underground feature of "Actually Free" applications since it makes using the Amazon Kindle Fire as a much more enjoyable tablet for gaming vs. Android and iPad tablets which do not have this feature and still rely heavily on Free games with in-app purchasing.

Needless to say, when it comes to playing games on a tablet, I will stick to the Amazon Kindle Fire!!

Amazon Kindle Fire vs. Barnes & Noble Nook vs Google Nexus

I started researching new Android-based tablets for myself and I ended up comparing these 3 main Android tablets:

1. Amazon Kindle Fire
2. Barnes & Noble Nook
3. Google Nexus

First up, the Amazon Kindle Fire: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S5HFVGI/ref=fs_ods_fs_tab_ms

I have been a long-time Amazon Kindle Fire user and they are great tablets overall.  However, these are 2 major cons of these tablets that I have found over the years:

• They did not have expandable memory options through use of an optional microSD card
• They did not support native Android apps from the Google Play store.  The apps found in the Amazon Kindle store are still much more limited than the Google Play store.

Well, the latest version of the Amazon Kindle Fire addresses one of these 2 concerns by adding support for an optional microSD card.  This is a great selling point for the new Kindle Fire as well as the reduced cost of only $49 to buy a Kindle Fire with a 7" screen!

Next up, the Barnes & Noble Nook: http://nook.barnesandnoble.com/u/samsung-galaxy-tab-4-nook-tablet/379004262

I bought the Barnes & Noble Nook when they first came out with the Nook Color and the only reason I really bought it was its support for the ePub format as well as the optional microSD card which allowed me to expand its memory.

The new Barnes & Noble Nooks are a significant upgrade from the Nook Color by offering Samsung-based tablets that not only continue to have the optional microSD card but also have support for the Google Play store!

In addition, Barnes & Noble is now offering incentives to trade-in old Tablet devices towards credit for a brand new Nook!  http://nook.barnesandnoble.com/u/trade-in-your-nook/379004337?cds2Pid=49746

That is a pretty great incentive to trade up to the Barnes & Noble Nook in my opinion. 

Finally, there is the Google Nexus tablet: https://www.google.com/nexus/9/

It is the only tablet among the 3 listed tablets which does not have support for an optional microSD card making it an expensive and severely limiting tablet.  However, since it is Google's own creation, it ensures that everything from the Google Play store will work on it as well as always have support for the latest versions of Android.

If you are an Android user that wants the best of both worlds (Google Play store and tons of storage memory), I would definitely choose the new Barnes & Noble Nook.  However, if you are satisfied with the limited selection of Amazon Kindle apps provided in the Amazon Kindle App Store, the Amazon Kindle Fire will definitely be a much nicer tablet to use overall.

Resetting the Parental Controls Password on an Amazon Kindle

I recently forgot how to get into the Parental Controls on my Kindle and needed to reset the Parental Controls password without having to factory default the Kindle device.

Fortunately, I found this article which described exactly how to reset the Parental Controls password with very little hassle:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201590690