December 6, 2011

Kindle Fire and Dropbox

I love my Kindle Fire. All the gaming PDFs I've been amassing are much more useful and all those great books that seemed kind of pricey in hardback are now great as PDF options.

I've been using Dropbox on my various devices for a while now and it's a great way to make gaming stuff available on your computer, your phone, what have you. Strangely, Dropbox isn't available from the Amazon App Store yet.

If you Google for instructions on how to load Dropbox onto the Kindle Fire, you'll find many complicated ways to install it (via the USB port, etc.).  Here are a couple simple ways to access your Dropbox account from the Fire:

1. Use QuickOffice (which is pre-loaded on the Fire) or QuickOffice Pro: You can associate your Dropbox account with either of these apps and, bam, instant acccess. QuickOffice Pro doesn't have its own PDF reader, so it will prompt you to choose one from those already on your device. This might actually be a plus over QuickOffice Pro if you don't care for QuickOffice Pro's PDF reader.

2. Use the Dropbox Android app: In order to do this, you first have to go to your Kindle Fire's "Settings" screen, select "Device," and then toggle "Allow Installation of Applications" to "On."  Then, download the Dropbox Droid app right from the Dropbox website: link. Ta-da. You now have the Dropbox app on your Kindle Fire.


Alternatively, you could just use the SugarSync app. It is available from the Amazon App Store and seems to be more or less the same thing.  I didn't use it because I didn't want to go through the hassle of switching from Dropbox.

2 comments:

  1. I was wondering if the Fire would be good for RPGs I really really need something good for all my books but it's hard for me to read on the computer because its not comfortable or can I lay back. I would love an iPad but they way too much. But I haven't heard too much about using the pdfs on the Fire of course I'm worried about how much space they take. I have a lot of course I dont need put them all on there lol. Thanks for any info.

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  2. I have been using it for gaming PDFs and really like it. The default PDF reader is okay, but I use the ezPDF reader app because it has nicer features.

    Although PDFs display better on an iPad than a Fire (because you can see the whole page rather than needing to scroll, etc.), I really like the size of the Fire. It feels like a digest-sized book and is easy to hold, etc. Much to my own surprise (I passed on the iPad because of the cost as well), I actually think I prefer the smaller size for these reasons.

    As for storage, I haven't ran into any problem. Also, apps like Dropbox and Sugarsync let you store your PDFs off the device, so that helps a lot.

    In my opinion, the main thing to keep in mind when thinking about a Nook or a Fire is whether you use (or plan on using) Barnes & Nobles vs. Amazon. If you use Amazon a ton, like I do, the Kindle Fire is the way to go. If you are a Barnes & Nobles kind of guy, the Nook is probably the better choice.

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