What To Do With Your New Kindle Fire HD

What To Do With Your New Kindle Fire HD
Lauren Indvik

  Dec 26, 2012

Amazon's line of Kindle Fire HD devices are among the most affordable Android tablets on the market, and many will be gifted among friends and family this season.

There are six Kindle Fire HD devices in all: A 7-inch version with 16GB of storage ($199), a 7-inch version with 32GB of storage ($249), an 8.9-inch version with 16GB of storage ($299), an8.9-inch version with 32GB of storage ($369), an 8.9-inch version with 32GB of storage and 4G LTE ($499), and an 8.9-inch version with 64GB of storage and 4G LTE ($599).

If you've recently purchased or been gifted a Kindle Fire HD -- either the 7" or 8.9" variety -- it's time to unbox your device and get started on all it has to offer. We've put together this step-by-step onboarding guide for you below.

After you've charged your Kindle Fire HD and connected it to your Amazon account (under Settings), you'll want to sync the device with your existing media libraries and services.

Email: The Kindle Fire HD comes with a default email client that will work with multiple Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, AOL, Exchange, IMAP and POP e-mail accounts. To set up your account(s), head to Applications > Email, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account.

Calendar: The Kindle Fire HD's default Calendar app also works with most cloud-based -email service providers, excluding Windows Live. If you've already set up your e-mail account, its associated calendar should already be set up in the Calendar app, which can be found under Apps > Calendar.

Books: If you've already been downloading and reading Kindle books on another device, you can import your library by pulling up the Archives in your pre-loaded Kindle app. If you're a first-time Kindle reader, you can shop for books by selecting the Store button. Make sure to check out the section for free books, most of them classics.

Music & Documents: To get your music on your Kindle Fire, upload your music library toAmazon Cloud Drive, which lets you store up to 5GB (about 1,000 songs) for free to access on any Android device using the Amazon MP3 app. You can also store photos and documents on the cloud drive for access on your Kindle Fire.

There are hundreds of great games, magazines, utility tools and other apps to download in addition to the cross-platform apps we recommended above. Make sure you read the reviews before downloading any app, particularly with magazines, as not all of them have been formatted for Kindle Fire HD devices. Among our favorites:

Games: Angry Birds (free), Cut the Rope ($0.99), Words With Friends (free), Sudoku Deluxe(free), Solitaire (free), Hangman (free) and Monopoly ($4.99).

News: Flipboard (free), Pulse (free), Feedly (free), The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and theNew York Post.

Magazines: Wired, The New Yorker and Sports Illustrated.

Entertainment: Netflix (free), Hulu Plus (free), Pandora (free), TuneIn Radio (free).

Utilitites:
Read It Later (free), Evernote (free), Dropbox (free), Skype (free), Adobe Reader (free) and imo instant messenger (free).

For quick access, pin the apps you plan to use most on the bottom carousel by selecting and holding their icons on the main screen.

If you've never taken advantage of a free, 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, now's the time. Amazon Prime gets you complimentary two-day shipping on all Amazon.com orders, plus access to Amazon's library of hundreds of streaming films and TV shows on your Kindle Fire, laptop and HDTV. You're also allowed to borrow one book from the Kindle Library Lending each month. After your free trial, an Amazon Prime subscription costs $79 per year.

Now that your Kindle Fire is all set up, you might want to outfit it with a few accessories, including a Powerfast wall charger ($19.99) and headphones, neither of which comes with Kindle Fire HD devices. U.S. owners might also want to look into purchasing two-year warranties with accident protection, which start at $54.99.

You can also find dozens of cases for your Kindle Fire HD on Amazon, Etsy and elsewhere. Styluses are also available, but I've personally never found a use for one.

If you have any additional apps, accessories or advice for first-time Kindle Fire HD owners, please share it with us in the comments section below.

SOURCE: mashable.com