Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have owned the Kindle Fire 8.9" HD for a year, having gotten it last Christmas (2012). I have also been an Amazon Prime customer for some time. So I was pretty excited when I saw the hype for the new HDX. This seemed like it would be a great upgrade. It seemed like it had several things I wanted in the HD, like all my icons on one page, a rear facing camera, and faster Wi-Fi and internet, and a lighter, thinner package. Since I already had the HD, this should be a pretty seamless upgrade. Well that's not how things went for me. First of all taking the HDX out of the box, it felt really cheap and flimsy compared to my HD. Even though both tablets are 8.9", the HDX has a slightly smaller display. It actually seemed like a tablet you might buy your 10 year old. I already was having my doubts, but let's fire it up and give it a try. I started it up and went through all the registration hoops, and then had to go to the cloud to get all of my apps loaded onto the HDX. Well, immediately, I noticed that apps I had purchased were missing. Most notably was Weatherbug, which is my main weather app on the HD. I went to the app store, and it's not there, either. Ditto a calendar, contact list and calculator I have on the HD. Apparently these are not compatible with the HDX. There are some items on the HDX that are not on the HD, as well, but for someone that has already set up all their apps, this is disappointing. Most of the games, candy crush, deer hunter, pipes, etc., that I play came over, but you lose the levels you have achieved playing them on the HD. That was a big disappointment. The other thing missing from the HDX is an HDMI port to connect the tablet to your TV. The HDX uses some kind of sync technology, but it would not work with any of the 4 TVs, two of which are HD flat screen, in my house. So there is no way I can watch videos or movies on my TV. That was the real deal breaker. In addition, Amazon touts a much better display, faster Wi-Fi and faster browsing. I didn't see it. comparing the 2 tablets side by side, I noticed no difference in speed, and couldn't discern a difference in the screen quality. They are both very good. When I turned both tablets on from a cold start, the HD actually booted up and was ready to go slightly faster than the HDX, The browser interface is different and much less intuitive in the HDX than in the HD. If you like to read books, which my wife and I do a lot of, you will also be disappointed in the ability to control font size in the HDX. In the HD I have the font set to 7. There is no comparable setting in the HDX. You get small, bigger, bigger yet, and HUGE. None of those suited me like the settings on the HD, which are easily adjusted. If you already have an HD and are thinking about an upgrade, I would suggest you not waste the money. You are not gaining much with the HDX (the rear camera, mostly), and are giving up a lot. If you haven't purchased a tablet yet and are considering the Kindle Fire, I think I would still buy the HD, the prices have dropped to $229 for the 8.9", which I feel is a great value. If you find you must buy the 8.9" HDX, definitely stay away from the Origami cover. It's expensive and it's a piece of junk. I returned it along with the HDX, and would not recommend it to anyone. UPDATE: I have since returned both the HDX and the Origami case. Seeing how this was a Christmas present to me from my wife, we are both disappointed. I certainly hope Amazon rethinks the HDX and it's marketing. For now, my old 8.9" HD workhorse is still going strong!