Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual

Chapter 8. Email and Address Book

NOWADAYS, EVEN AUNT IDA’S barebones phone can send and receive email. And if you’re like the average, early-adopting Fire owner, you probably pack an Android or iPhone that works fine as a portable messaging machine. Just because Amazon included email on the Fire doesn’t mean you have to use it. Why would you want to? Two reasons:

• Bigger screen. As much as thumb-calloused BlackBerry veterans love their speedy little keypads, even they’d admit their phone’s mini screen makes tasks like attachment reading and message revision tough. The Fire’s jumbo display (at least in comparison) makes plowing through a crowded inbox much more pleasurable. And the nearly adult-sized keyboard is souped up with some helpful typing aids (see Tapping, Touching, Typing for the full scoop).

• Sharing. The Fire may earn its bread as a personal media center, but we live in a social age, right? Everywhere you swipe—in the Gallery app, the Silk web browser, while shopping—you get a chance to send digital dispatches to email pals. Amazon’s built-in email app ensures that, pretty much wherever you are, you can send off a quick note.

And, bless Amazon’s world-conquering heart, they resisted the temptation to saddle you with yet another email account. The built-in app plays nice with big email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and AOL. If you use a service that’s not on the ready-to-use ...