On Vacation with my Kindle Fire

I’m headed off to Disneyland for a 1-week family vacation and of course I want to stay connected to the Internet during my travels. I also want to travel somewhat light, so I’ve decided to limit the number of electronic devices that I’m bring. Of all the items I could bring (Dell Laptop, Kindle Fire, Acer Iconia Tablet, Nexus S 4G cell phone, Apple iPod), I’ve decided only bring my Nexus S cell phone and Kindle Fire.

It was a toss up between my Acer Android Tablet and the Kindle Fire. I like the larger 10″ screen of my Acer Tablet for web page browsing, but the smaller Kindle Fire was much more portable for this trip. As such, I’m going with the Kindle Fire to really see if it’s suitable for my week long trip.

I’ve loaded the following apps on my Kindle Fire (most of which were “side loaded”):

Kindle Fire

1. Email (built-in email client)
2. Web Browser (built-in browser)
3. Angry Birds
4. Dropbox
5. CNet News
6. Disneyland Wait Times
7. Engadget News
8. Evernote
9. Google Maps
10. Mocha VNC Lite
11. Netflix
12. Pandora
13. SpeedTest
14. The Weather Channel
15. Twitter
16. WiFi Analyzer
17. WiFi File Explorer Pro
18. Wunderlist
19. YouTube

I have similar apps loaded on my Nexus S 4G cell phone, such as:

Nexus S 4G

1. Adobe Reader (to read pdf files of my airline itinerary, hotel reservations, etc)
2. Android Lost (in case I misplace my Nexus S)
3. Weatherbug
4. Starbucks
5. FlightTracker
6. Pageonce Travel
7. SpeedTest
8. Twitter
9. TripAdvisor
10. USA Today
11. Yahoo Weather
12. WiFi Analyzer
13. WiFi File Explorer Pro
14. Wunderlist
15. YouTube
16. Disneyland Wait Times

Obviously, I plan to use some of these apps to check on my flight status, weather conditions, kill time in the airport, etc. My Kindle Fire will serve as my main “Internet device” back at the hotel for web page browsing and watching Netflix videos at night. I can also use either my Kindle Fire or Nexus S to connect to my iMac at home if needed (using a VNC Client app). The Disneyland Wait Times app will be invaluable on my Nexus S phone, as it will allow us to determine which rides to go for and when during the day.

Luckily, my Kindle Fire has proven to have pretty good battery life, but I’m not so sure with my Nexus S!

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