Tucked alongside the Fire and its power cord is a playing card–sized “getting to know your Kindle” guide. It’s enough to usher you onto the home screen, where you’ll find a bare-bones User’s Guide—the kind that covers a headline–only list of features, without telling you much about which ones are most worth your time. This Missing Manual, then, is the book that should have come in the box. In the pages ahead, you’ll learn about all the Fire’s nooks and crannies. But what’s more valuable, you’ll find out which apps and options work best and which items are still works in progress. You’ll also get real-world counsel on how to beef up the Fire’s still-developing talents with third-party apps.

Enter a bright new world of entertainment with Amazon’s red hot tablet. This guide lights the way with lots of illustrations and step-by-step instructions for browsing the Web, emailing, playing games, and viewing books, movies, and magazines in blazing color. Learn how to manage your media library on the Fire and in the cloud—and where to find the coolest apps. Everything you need is right here.

The important stuff you need to know:

• Read all about it. Find, load, and read a variety of ebooks, magazines, and newspapers.
• Go online. Browse the Web and manage email with a secure Wi-Fi connection.
• Put on a show. Watch movies and TV series, and showcase your photos and videos.
• Fill up your jukebox. Listen to your favorite music from Amazon and iTunes.
• Load up on apps. Get popular games, guides, references, and more with Amazon’s Apps for Android.
• Take your briefcase. Read PDFs, Word files, Excel spreadsheets, and other docs.