Is Kindle Fire Version the same?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a new tablet for preaching (just accepted a new call), but my budget is limited. The price of a Kindle Fire HD intrigues me, but not if the version of Logos that runs on it is limited as well (compared to iOS or regular Android).

Are all three versions the same? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

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Comments

JT (alabama24)

There are unique challenges with Amazon, but it should be the same version. However, I have not found fires to be reliable.

HJ. van der Wal

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1191776#Comment_1191776

There are unique challenges with Amazon, but it should be the same version.

I do not own a Kindle device but from what I have read the main issue with the Logos app(s) on Kindle is the number of years that the app is supported (compared to regular Android). This has to do with Amazons own operating system Fire OS which is based on Android but does not have Google services. This should not be a problem as long as you remember that the current version of Fire OS (7) is derived from an older version of Android (9). At the moment the minimum system requirements for the Logos app is Android 7.1.1 which should be comparable to Fire OS 6.

Robert M. Warren

Hi Jack:

Welcome to the Logos forums.

JT answered your primary question; I will offer my experience as an addendum. I am on my second Fire tablet. I am not a pastor/elder or a scholar. My first, a Fire HD 8 (~2016) was not a high-performer, but acceptable for casual use. I eventually had to replace it because the OS version was kicked off the bus by Logos. The replacement, a Fire HD 10 (2021) has vastly improved performance and reliability. Both were very inexpensive ($50 & $80, respectively, on sale). Because of the pricing and my lack of performance demand on the tablets, I find them an acceptable gamble.

As HJ. noted, the Android-equivalent of the Fire OS version is often behind a cycle or two when the Fire tablet is first purchased. (Fire OS 7 = Android 9). So, be careful, as there is no apparent linear relationship between the two numbers. With regard to the OS that the current and immediate future versions of Logos will support: that wheel's still in spin, and there's no tellin' who that it's namin'. Every surprise announcement of an OS abandonment provides a plausible explanation for the heave-ho. And while the explanations have a common theme (e.g., development/support costs, nobody uses that version any longer), the latest one also blamed some sort of versioning hall monitor. For those of us outside the tablet/phone OS cognoscenti, the explanations can have a bit of a whimsical feel to them. But, the world is what it is.

In recent years, it seems Amazon has been making an attempt to upgrade existing Fire tablets to a newer OS, but I don't know how much one can count on that happening for a given tablet (the wheel again). Additionally, as HJ. indicated, Fire tablets don't have the Google store, and there are some apps, apart from Logos, not available in the Amazon App Store. You can side-load the Google Play Store, but it takes a lot of tap-dancing and I'm getting too old for that stuff.

The pastors I have been under during the Current Tablet Era do not preach from tablets. But based on what I have heard from podcasts and those here on the Logos forums, the best recommendation is to purchase the best iPad you can manage, because of performance and reliability. If a tablet in the pew freezes, or does something wacky, it's only aggravating for that user. I don't have to tell you what that would mean in the pulpit.

HJ. van der Wal

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1191797#Comment_1191797

the best recommendation is to purchase the best iPad you can manage, because of performance and reliability.

For day to day use I would agree with this advice. However, a cheap Android tablet would do if you are looking for a tablet to use only on Sundays (and for funerals etc.). On weekdays I use an iPad and on Sunday I use an old 2016 Android tablet which runs the Logos app just fine.

David Thomas

my budget is limited. The price of a Kindle Fire HD intrigues me

Kindle HD10 runs the same Android app. I concur with other comments that you want a 2021 version of the HD10. I upgraded to the 2021 version when my 2019 could no longer run the FireOS required to run the Android app of Proclaim Remote. I know that other users encourage the POWER and longevity of iOS devices. For my limited use of the app, I paid less for 2 Kindle Fires than I would have paid for 1 iPad.

BillS

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a new tablet for preaching (just accepted a new call), but my budget is limited. The price of a Kindle Fire HD intrigues me, but not if the version of Logos that runs on it is limited as well (compared to iOS or regular Android).

Are all three versions the same? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

I've been a long time Kindle user (circa 10 years), including trying to preach from it, using it for narrations in lessons & carols in a darkened room, etc. I was never very happy with using the Kindle that way & ended up abandoning it as a bad idea. (It kept timing out when I wasn't looking, making for very awkward pauses in worship). I went back to paper.

When Logos ended support for the Android version on my 2 year old Kindle (Amazon doesn't update their software more than about once for each device I've bought, one-each on gens 1-4), I decided I can't afford to keep investing in a new Kindle every 2 years because it runs such an old version of Android. I bit the bullet & invested in a 10.2" iPad (my 2nd ever investment in Apple, following a switch to iPhone for similar reasons), & I couldn't be happier. I expect this iPad to be running the current version of iOS for at least 5 years, more than paying for the difference at the rate I've been investing in Kindles, even buying them on sale.

While I haven't yet tried the iPad to replace paper, I'm confident that its ability to SEARCH for the setting I need (turn off screen saver) will make it EASY to use in worship, any way I want to. I couldn't be happier.

Blessings on your choice.

Kathleen Marie

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a new tablet for preaching (just accepted a new call), but my budget is limited. The price of a Kindle Fire HD intrigues me, but not if the version of Logos that runs on it is limited as well (compared to iOS or regular Android).

Are all three versions the same? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

The reason I bought my last Kindle was because I was offered an amazing deal on a package that included the keyboard and a year of MS office that not only worked on the kindle, but other devices as well. Money was very tight and that one purchase set me up for a year to do what I expected to need to do THAT year. I have learned not to look ahead too far. For ME, that works better.

I can never imagine the crazy things that will happen to me next. I don't plan for my life to be "normal" anymore. That is the one thing that I know to expect: NOT normal. There are an infinite number of NOT normals, and I get the privilege of doing lots of them.

Most of the time, I use the most current Android Police instructions to install the Google Playstore. I use another app more than I use Logos on my Kindle.

I have more than I expected to have this year, due to a stimulus check and temporary free EBB internet at home. I use my Kindle more in bed than for all the things that I used it for when I first got it. I used to carry it to the library and use it there and download things to bring home. Kindles work better offline that some other options.

xnman

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a new tablet for preaching (just accepted a new call), but my budget is limited. The price of a Kindle Fire HD intrigues me, but not if the version of Logos that runs on it is limited as well (compared to iOS or regular Android).

I try to be a frugal person. A few of years ago... I wanted a tablet. I did my due diligence and reseached Kindle, Samsung, Apple, and such. I didn't keep all the things I compared and went through... but Samsung Tab S won because of....

1. Known name with a known history behind it.

2. Faster than Kindle.

3. Known problem with Kindle at the time was that after about 2 years... the OS seemed to have problems with some of the current programs and the update of the Kindle was not keeping up.

4. Samsung Tab S was $50 more than Kindle which to me was in the area of acceptance.

So, I bought the Tab S... and after 4 years... it still runs everything I ask it too.... and runs Logos without a flaw as far as I can tell.

Kathleen Marie

I think Kindles are a great option for certain uses and for certain people. I don't think think they are the best option for Logos.

I was hearing some talk of Windows offering android apps from the Kindle Appstore, but I have not heard anything recently. I would think that would create a recommitment of some app creators to providing and maintaining apps for the Kindle. The trend has been for Bible app makers to drop Kindle support, forcing more of us to install alternative app stores to the device.

I think Kindle owners might spend less money on app add-ons than owners of more expensive devices. I don't think app makers make the same profits off the Kindle owners as they do more expensive devices.

David Vela (Logos)

Something else to keep in mind is that the version of our app for Android tablets doesn't support editing sermon documents, just viewing them. The iPad version of the app does support both viewing and editing sermon documents.

Michael

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1192046#Comment_1192046

Something else to keep in mind is that the version of our app for Android tablets doesn't support editing sermon documents, just viewing them. The iPad version of the app does support both viewing and editing sermon documents.

Why is there a disparity between the iPad version and the Android version? Will that be fixed at some point in time?

HJ. van der Wal

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1192047#Comment_1192047

The iPad version of the app does support both viewing and editing sermon documents.

Another feature that is only available on iOS is text-to-speech. Android users have been asking for this for years.

The Hebrew font in the Word Info popups is much nicer on iOS than on Android (see this thread for a screenshot).

And on iOS at least some resources have the ability to show/hide the interlinear lines (see this thread).

On the other hand I have encountered some synchronisation issues in the iPad app (see this thread).

In the Android app I can link the Septuagint and the Hebrew Old Testament and they will always scroll side by side, even in the Psalms where the numbering is different. This does not work on the iPad.

Another thing I like about the Android app is that the Hebrew Bible automatically changes to the Greek New Testament when I go to a New Testament passage in another linked Bible. Probably because I have made a series of the LHB/SBL and the BHS/NA28 on my desktop.

JT (alabama24)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1192056#Comment_1192056

Another feature that is only available on iOS is text-to-speech. Android users have been asking for this for years.

True, but for clarification: This is not a feature of the Logos app. It is a "accessibility" feature of iOS.

Jack M. Brown

Thanks for your help everyone! I managed to get a new 2021 Kindle Fire HD for uber-cheap, and will start with that while I save money for an Ipad. Appreciate all of your input!

Kathleen Marie

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1193254#Comment_1193254

If you decide to try to install the Google Playstore, I have found the safest and best directions to be those from Android Police.

https://www.androidpolice.com/install-play-store-amazon-fire-tablet/

I watch random youtube videos as a supplemental resource, but I only use the Android Police links and directions.

Good luck!