hello everyone,
back in december 2013 i gave my daughter a kindle fire hd for christmas. shes is now 9 and still uses it everyday. below is a review i left on amazon. i wanted to share my review with everyone here. you can set up a kindle fire hd with a prepaid visa vanilla gift card and your child can only buy content up to value of the card, and when it runs out you buy a new one. below are all the details :
I have had my eye on a kindle fire for my 7 y.o. daughter for over a year now. my daughter has used my sisters 1st generation kindle fire and loved it, so i figured this holiday season (2013) I would purchase her one for christmas.
I just received the kindle fire hd (16gb version) today. comes in a sleek, frusteration free package.
openened it up, great sound and setup was super easy. i came online several months ago and read up on this particular model. the amazon.com help forums are great. if your like me any parent DOESN'T wanna let their child run free with the tablet only to check your account and notice that Johnny or sarah has ordered 5 ipads and 3 macbook pros.
there is a way to set this up without it being tied to your amazon.com account or credit card on file. read below for important instructions.
1. purchase a kindle fire and select "this will be a gift" option when you check out on amazon.com (this sends the kindle to you deregistered) this is very important!
2. go and create your child their own amazon.com account using a free email service, (yahoo, gmail etc). make sure you write down the passwords or remember them! when the kindle arrives you will register it to your child with their amazon.com account. (not yours).
3. go to gas station or other retailer and buy a VISA VANILLA gift card. these cards have expiration dates, just like a credit card. go to [...] and register the card with YOUR zip code. (very important).
4. add the card to your child's account. don't do any thing else with the 1 click settings, etc. add your childs name as the card holder, and type in your address. again, don't click anything with the 1 click settings!
5. when you recieve the kindle, register it using your childs email address and password.
6. go to app store and start downloading apps. free and paid. up to the value of the card.
7. card never loses value, (vanilla visa) so you can keep it on there pretty much till it expires, (in my case that is 3/2022).
(ive read that even if the card has no money on it it can still stay on your account to use to download free apps. i can't confirm this, but will update as time goes on).
8. be aware if your wifi at home is slow, it will take considerable time to download the software update from amazon. i have cheap verizon internet dsl service here, (768k) service and it took a little over a hour to download the update. not a deal breaker, just something to be aware of.
be aware that if you purchase your kindle "with special offers" that the LOCK screen will show ads.
however, if you prefer, you can pay a little more for the device up front and amazon will remove the ads.
not a deal breaker, but the ads CAN be annoying. just something to be aware of.
on inital setup, you will have to download software updates to your kindle, if you have a fast wifi connection this will be trouble free.
as far as performance, this tablet performs very well for one that is below 200.00. great sound and picture, and switching between apps is very good, seems pretty responsive to mutlitasking.
if you prefer, go under parental controls and set a password, you can restrict the app store, wifi, social networking and other features, by default amazon will ask you to set up email and facebook, just skip over these steps, unless you want your child to have access to their facebook and or email. this is useful so you can have piece of mind when your child uses the kindle.
that's about it folks. i know there are other parents out there that would love for their child to have one, but are hesitant because by default its registered with your card, however, if you follow these simple steps, everything will be fine. they WILL Be unable to purchase anything greater than the value of the card.
also, you can turn on parental controls and they can't even access wi-fi if you have it blocked, also, you can require a password for purchases, another safeguard to keep your child from overspending.
appparently, amazon.com requires you to have a card associated with the account in order to DOWNLOAD any app, not the paid apps BUT FREE ONES TOO! also, you can buy amazon.com kindle gift cards too to be used in the app store.
also, invest in one of these, OtterBox Defender Standing Case for the All New Kindle Fire HD, Pink (will not fit older generation HD Kindles)
i bought a pink one for my daughter, this thing is worth its weight in GOLD. this thing will really protect the kindle and has built in screen protector, i know 69.99 is alot for some people but, its needed. electronics are too fragile to give to kids without one.
i'll update this as time goes on. i've downloaded several apps free and paid for my daughters kindle. seems to work great. off to box it up for the christmas holiday.
back in december 2013 i gave my daughter a kindle fire hd for christmas. shes is now 9 and still uses it everyday. below is a review i left on amazon. i wanted to share my review with everyone here. you can set up a kindle fire hd with a prepaid visa vanilla gift card and your child can only buy content up to value of the card, and when it runs out you buy a new one. below are all the details :
I have had my eye on a kindle fire for my 7 y.o. daughter for over a year now. my daughter has used my sisters 1st generation kindle fire and loved it, so i figured this holiday season (2013) I would purchase her one for christmas.
I just received the kindle fire hd (16gb version) today. comes in a sleek, frusteration free package.
openened it up, great sound and setup was super easy. i came online several months ago and read up on this particular model. the amazon.com help forums are great. if your like me any parent DOESN'T wanna let their child run free with the tablet only to check your account and notice that Johnny or sarah has ordered 5 ipads and 3 macbook pros.
there is a way to set this up without it being tied to your amazon.com account or credit card on file. read below for important instructions.
1. purchase a kindle fire and select "this will be a gift" option when you check out on amazon.com (this sends the kindle to you deregistered) this is very important!
2. go and create your child their own amazon.com account using a free email service, (yahoo, gmail etc). make sure you write down the passwords or remember them! when the kindle arrives you will register it to your child with their amazon.com account. (not yours).
3. go to gas station or other retailer and buy a VISA VANILLA gift card. these cards have expiration dates, just like a credit card. go to [...] and register the card with YOUR zip code. (very important).
4. add the card to your child's account. don't do any thing else with the 1 click settings, etc. add your childs name as the card holder, and type in your address. again, don't click anything with the 1 click settings!
5. when you recieve the kindle, register it using your childs email address and password.
6. go to app store and start downloading apps. free and paid. up to the value of the card.
7. card never loses value, (vanilla visa) so you can keep it on there pretty much till it expires, (in my case that is 3/2022).
(ive read that even if the card has no money on it it can still stay on your account to use to download free apps. i can't confirm this, but will update as time goes on).
8. be aware if your wifi at home is slow, it will take considerable time to download the software update from amazon. i have cheap verizon internet dsl service here, (768k) service and it took a little over a hour to download the update. not a deal breaker, just something to be aware of.
be aware that if you purchase your kindle "with special offers" that the LOCK screen will show ads.
however, if you prefer, you can pay a little more for the device up front and amazon will remove the ads.
not a deal breaker, but the ads CAN be annoying. just something to be aware of.
on inital setup, you will have to download software updates to your kindle, if you have a fast wifi connection this will be trouble free.
as far as performance, this tablet performs very well for one that is below 200.00. great sound and picture, and switching between apps is very good, seems pretty responsive to mutlitasking.
if you prefer, go under parental controls and set a password, you can restrict the app store, wifi, social networking and other features, by default amazon will ask you to set up email and facebook, just skip over these steps, unless you want your child to have access to their facebook and or email. this is useful so you can have piece of mind when your child uses the kindle.
that's about it folks. i know there are other parents out there that would love for their child to have one, but are hesitant because by default its registered with your card, however, if you follow these simple steps, everything will be fine. they WILL Be unable to purchase anything greater than the value of the card.
also, you can turn on parental controls and they can't even access wi-fi if you have it blocked, also, you can require a password for purchases, another safeguard to keep your child from overspending.
appparently, amazon.com requires you to have a card associated with the account in order to DOWNLOAD any app, not the paid apps BUT FREE ONES TOO! also, you can buy amazon.com kindle gift cards too to be used in the app store.
also, invest in one of these, OtterBox Defender Standing Case for the All New Kindle Fire HD, Pink (will not fit older generation HD Kindles)
i bought a pink one for my daughter, this thing is worth its weight in GOLD. this thing will really protect the kindle and has built in screen protector, i know 69.99 is alot for some people but, its needed. electronics are too fragile to give to kids without one.
i'll update this as time goes on. i've downloaded several apps free and paid for my daughters kindle. seems to work great. off to box it up for the christmas holiday.
