It’s your friendly KF on KND Editor in Chief April L. Hamilton here, to share a Fire tablet lifehack that just occurred to me recently.
Gah! I Can’t See That Tiny Screen!
I needed to take some pictures over the weekend, but as one who has “middle aged eyes” I found it very frustrating trying to use my smartphone or even my separate, dedicated digital camera. The screens on both are so small that I can’t easily make out the details or even tell if the picture’s in focus without reaching for a magnifying glass. Then it hit me: my Fire HD6 has a high-resolution camera built in, and its screen is 6″ across!
So I put down the phone, picked up the Fire, and I was off to the races. That 6″ screen makes it easy to see exactly what I’m shooting before I tap the shutter release or press the button—now I can easily tell if anything is out of focus—, but that’s just the beginning. I have several photo/image editor apps on my HD6 that make it fun and easy to crop and touch up my pictures right on the tablet, and I can also easily share the edited photos from within those apps: email copies to myself or others, upload to social networks like Facebook and Instagram, etc. Alternatively, I can transfer my pictures to my computer via USB connection or Bluetooth! Here are my favorite photo editor apps:
Pho.to Lab PRO (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $2.99)
BeFunky Photo Editor Pro (4/5 stars, currently priced at $1.99)
From Too Small…To Too Big? Nope!
While you might think it seems impractical to carry a tablet around in place of a camera, remember: the HD6 is only 6″ across and very thin. It slips into a purse, backpack, messenger bag or even a large pocket very easily.
Great For Kids, Too!
A large tablet is easier for small hands to handle than a smartphone or small digital camera would be, and if they get tired of taking pictures they can always play a game, read a Kindle book, listen to music, or watch a video on it!
Also, with Amazon Freetime Camera & Photo (a part of the FREE Freetime Parental Controls that come built into all third-generation Fires), parents can set up parental controls to prevent kids from posting their photos online without parental approval. From Amazon:
“Kids can take pictures of the world around them or with the family. Let kids explore their creative side with fun editing tools like adding stickers and drawings on their pictures. Parents can easily print them to hang, choose to share with friends and family, or auto-save to Cloud Drive with free, unlimited cloud storage for photos taken with Fire HD. As always in FreeTime, kids are blocked from sharing photos to social media.”
What About Storage?
Memory is not an issue on the Fire HD6 either, because Amazon allows FREE cloud storage of all pictures taken using any Amazon-branded device (e.g., Fire tablet line, Fire phone). Even if you get the entry-level, $99 model that only comes with 8GB of storage, that’s plenty for a digital camera.
Take it from me: for a typical consumer, the Fire HD6 makes a fantastic, easy to use, convenient digital camera.
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