I received my Amazon Fire 7 a few days ago. I bought it to put in my car as a mobile Spotify/TuneIn/Podcast device. I haven't installed it in the car yet and have only just set it up and installed a few apps.

The only comparison I have for a tablet device is a large phone or to my iPad Pro - which isn't a fair comparison at all. The iPad Pro is an $800 device and the Fire 7 cost me $19. With that in mind, here are my initial thoughts:

1. Very slow. Hopefully it won't be too slow if I'm just using Spotify, TuneIn Radio, and a podcast app. The regular UI is pretty good though. Swiping is nice and smooth.
2. No Google Maps? Ugh - I don't know what Amazon was thinking in keeping Google Maps away from the Fire. Bad choice, Amazon. I think I'll just use Google Maps on my phone instead of the Fire's "Amazon Maps" app.
3. The screen seems surprisingly good. It should look sharp below the dashboard down by the shifter as it is usually dark down there.
4. The onscreen keyboard stinks. But I may just feel that way because I haven't used a 7 inch tablet and I'm not used to an Android keyboard. I hate it, actually.
5. I really like how the screen turns on when it is plugged into power. That works well in the car since it will be powered on every time the car is started.
6. If I can get it working well in the car, I may pay the $15 to remove the ad that appears every time I turn it on.
7. I wish there was a car mode with a big screen and big buttons. There probably is an app for that in the Google Play store, but I only have access to the Amazon play store.
8. I need to figure out whether I need to password protect this device. I'm not sure if someone can mess with my Amazon account if they steal the device. They probably can.
9. Is it possible to root this latest version of the Fire 7? I need to research that. That would get me Google Maps and maybe a big button car interface.
10. 7 inches is very small for a tablet device, but it's the right size for a mounted screen in my little car.
11. It looks great. All black and shiny with no buttons showing. It's the perfect style to blend into a dashboard.

My biggest disappointment is the lack of Google Maps on the Fire. Other than that, I'm still hopeful that this will be a good music streamer. The screen is better than expected and the UI/touchscreen is pretty good.