Specifications

YOUR UNOFFICIAL KINDLE FIRE MANUAL

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8. Kindle Fire Settings & Connectivity

As you become more familiar with your Amazon Kindle Fire tablet you may decide that you want to make some

changes to the way the device behaves.

Although quite “locked-down” when compared to other Android tablets, the Kindle Fire has plenty of options for the

average user, accessed via the hidden settings menu. These options enable you to manage aspects such as screen

rotation and adjusting the way the device connects to wireless networks and even its battery use.

8.1 The Kindle Fire Menu Bar

Throughout the Kindle Fire’s user interface there are two key menus. We’ve looked at one of these in various guises

throughout the guide so far; each app and book on the device has a menu across the bottom edge of the screen, used

for navigating within the app and within the device itself. This menu – sometimes referred to as the toolbar – is virtually

ubiquitous on the tablet.

In addition, however, is a settings menu largely hidden from accidental access. Displaying it is easy however – just

tap the Settings cog in the top-right of the Kindle Fire display (next to the battery and Wi-Fi symbols) and you will be

presented with the following options:

• Locked – determines whether the screen rotate is locked or not.

• Volume – a nger-controlled slider can adjust this up and down.

• Brightness – a brighter screen can be achieved by dragging the slider from left to right. Note

that a brighter screen means faster battery drain.

• Wi-Fi – here you can setup and congure connectivity options.

• Sync – synchronizes your Kindle Fire with your Amazon account. Note that this occurs every 10

minutes by default.

8.2 Battery Management

Like many portable devices, the Amazon Kindle Fire relies on a built-in rechargeable battery for power. When left, a

full charge can last over a day, but intensive activity – using the tablet for streaming Amazon Instant Video, for in-

stance – the charge can be severely curtailed.

So how can you make the most out of your Kindle Fire’s battery life?

First of all, charging your e-reader/tablet correctly is important. While it is quite safe to charge with a USB cable con-

nected to a PC, for optimum charging use the charger supplied with the device. You should aim to use this at least

once a week. A full recharge will take four hours with the correct charger.

There are various reasons why the charge might appear to be drained quicker than expected. Intensive use and high

brightness and volume settings can contribute to this, as can problems with wireless networking. If the signal your

device is attempting to connect to is weak, you should disable Wi-Fi – battery power can be depleted if the tablet is

repeatedly trying to connect to a router. Similarly, downloading or syncing large les can drain the battery.

In general, battery life should last around 8 hours for continuous reading and 7.5 hours for video playback, although

this is with Wi-Fi disabled (see below).

8.3 Conguring Wireless Networking on the Kindle Fire

Available in the Settings menu, wireless networking should be pretty painless to use for most users.

After switching Wi-Fi On, your device should do a quick scan for local wireless networks. To join an open network

(identied by a Wi-Fi symbol with no padlock) simply tap and wait for your Kindle Fire to connect.

Connecting to a secure network, meanwhile, is slightly more detailed. In this situation, you will need a password,

which can only be acquired from the network administrator or the side of the wireless router. Once again, tap the net-