Free Texting on Kindle

If you own a Kindle, have you installed one of the texting programs that allow you to text for free?  I'm thinking of getting my sister a Kindle for Christmas, but one of the reasons I want to is that she is always using up all of her minutes on texting (she doesn't have unlimited, and it's not a lot she gets), so if I could get one that she could text for free, she could save some of the minutes for when she needs to make a call.

Also, do you subscribe to Amazon Prime?  Is it worth it?  Seems kind of expensive, especially if you can only borrow a book a month.  That comes out to something like $7 a book.  Might as well buy it.

Can you use it without loading a credit card?  I've heard you have to have a credit card even for downloading the free apps.

Anything else you think I should consider?

I need to decide by Thursday if it seems worth it, because Staples has them for Black Friday where you can get a $20 gift card, plus I have some reward dollars to spend there.

I have a regular kindle and a kindle fire.  I haven't seen the apps that allow you to text. But I use my fire constantly.  For reading, apps, and some web browsing.  I do not have Amazon Prime.  To me that was only worth continuing if I was going to order other things regularly.  You do need a credit card on your amazon account or you can load your account with gift cards too.  I'm not sure how that relates to the free apps but I've been a kindle owner (and DH also has one) for a few years buying books so its not an issue for me.  She will need wifi to get your texts; so keep that in mind.  Also you will need to purchase the wall plug separately.  It's about $20 but I think at first it was cheaper with the purchase of the kindle.  I just missed the fact that I'd need to buy it separate when I ordered mine.  It does charge it faster than other plugs.  All in all I love it.  My Mother wants one for Christmas now too.  Even my DD enjoys playing games on it and she is only 2.  It's been well worth the money for me.

You have to buy the charger separately?? It doesn't come with a charger??  Good grief!

Oh, and she does have wifi so that's not an issue. 

Can you sign up more than one on an account like you can on the Nook?

The charger is a regular mini-USB, so you don't have to buy one from Amazon. I normally use the one for my smartphone, though I have the Kindle one. Amazon used to include the charger, but people from other countries were buying Kindles and couldn't use the chargers because their outlets were different, so they stopped (and the price of Kindles went down). You can put several devices (I think it's up to five) on one account.

Just another way to rip you off for more money I guess.  A charger came with my Nook, I didn't need to purchase one separately.  Maybe I'll just skip the idea of a Kindle for now, because that aggravates me.

I have a kindle on order for a gift. You are telling me now I have to order a charger?

AbbysMom said:

I have a kindle on order for a gift. You are telling me now I have to order a charger?

Click to expand...

I just looked at the Kindle Paperwhite, and it says a USB 2.0 charging cable is included. The Kindle used to include the cable and a plug for a wall outlet.

My regular kindle that I've had a couple years came with the plug.  The Fire did not.  Pretty messed up.  Sorry I forgot to mention that Karen!

Well, I went ahead and did it, bought a Kindle for my sister ... and one for me and DH as well.   I was planning on getting up early on Black Friday and getting one for sis at Staples, because they had a $20 rebate offer.  However, got an email coupon from them for $25 off today only.  So, shoot, that's $5 more off and I don't have to get up at 4:00 AM?  Works for me.  Was only going to get one for sis because the coupon was one per customer.  However, while I was buying it, I found out that I could print out a second coupon for DH to go buy one.  We discussed it and decided it would be a good Christmas present to each other.  It's out there charging and I'm feeling very guilty for spending that much money.

Aw; you will enjoy it.  I was able to use birthday money for both of mine; but believe me I get sooo much use out of both of them.

You can connect the USB to another wall plug, like the one from a cell phone, but it does charge faster with the one I got from Amazon.  So worth it I guess; I just wish they would have been more clear about that when I ordered it to begin with.

I like my Kindle.  More than I thought I would.  I had money for my birthday, had been looking at an e-reader for a while.  An iPad was just too expensive IMHO.  And with 2 desktops, 2 laptops (plus dd's laptop) and 4 smartphones I thought an iPad was overkill. 

I've read more books this year than I ever thought I would.  And I've bought none of them.  I have this app that gives me the titles of free Kindle books.  Yeah- most of them are independant authors but I've found many indies that I really enjoy. I use overdrive from the public library.  They don't have everything, I've still had to check out physical books of some of my real favorites.  Like Janet Evanovich, etc.  It is kind of frustrating since many times the authors only give you the first book in a series, and a couple of them I've really liked (and wanted to buy the rest).  I resisted though.  I did ask for an Amazon gift card for Christmas, and I know what I'm spending it on   I know, I'm cheap.

I didn't download any of the texting apps for the Kindle.  I have those on the phone.  My youngest is still living at home with us (sophomore in HS) and many times when she's texted to be picked up somewhere I've been out.  The kids put the text apps on their phones, and since both have iPods, they have whatever app it is that Apple uses on their devices. 

Dh mentioned something about a Kindle.  He's got professional books that could probably go onto the Kindle (and take up less space in our already space-challenged home)   I don't know.  The new Kindle fire sounds kind of neat.  But with no job at the moment, I really don't want to spend $200 more for something I've already got (and dh said he really doesn't need one right now).  Not with the holidays, having to pay for dd's trip to Chicago in May, and of course that lovely thing called Spring 2013 tuition.........

Cheryl

Strange. My Kindle Fire is only a few months old and it came with a plug charger, not the USB one. I got mine as a gift from some very good friends. I absolutely love it!

We took the Kindle we bought for ourselves back. We just couldn't justify it expense wise, and since I already have a Nook simple touch, I don't need it to read books.  So, it would have been fun no doubt, but I felt a lot better after we took it back.