Why You Can Trust CNET Get an Amazon Fire TV and Kindle HDX for $249
That's $79 less than you'd pay for these two items separately. Oh, yeah, and it comes with a $15 Instant Video credit, too.
Calling all last-minute Fathers' Day shoppers! Amazon has so got you covered.
For a limited time, Amazon is offering the Fire TV streaming media player and Kindle Fire HDX 7-inch tablet for $249, shipped. (Plan on spending extra if you want it shipped overnight.) That's $79 less than what you'd pay for these two goodies separately.
The Kindle Fire HDX is my single favorite 7-inch tablet to date. This is the 16GB model with Special Offers, and although it would be nice if it had more storage, there are a few Wi-Fi media drives (such as Kingston's Wi-Drive) that are Fire-compatible. Plus, with Amazon's heavy reliance on cloud integration, local storage is, I think, less of an issue.
As for the Fire TV, it didn't exactly set the world on...well, you know, but as media streamers go, it's pretty sweet. And updates coming later this year will add expanded voice-search results, and better still, HBO Go.
Of course, if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber (and you should be, especially with the just-announced addition of Prime Music), you can already stream tons of older HBO content.
The Fire TV also comes with a $15 Amazon Instant Video credit, so you can splurge on a couple of movie rentals or the like. (Note: This isn't explicitly mentioned on the bundle page, but it is on the Fire TV page -- and I see no reason why it wouldn't apply here. I've looked through the terms and conditions; there's nothing to suggest a bundled Fire TV doesn't come with that credit.)
For what it's worth, if you're interested in only one device or the other, you could probably "flip" the unwanted one for close to full price. Sell the Fire TV for, say, $90, and your net cost on the Fire HDX is $159 -- an outright steal. Thoughts?
Bonus deal: How about some portable power to go with that Kindle (or your smartphone or any other mobile device)? Also at Amazon, you can score a RAVPower 5,600mAh mobile charger for $16.49, shipped, when you apply coupon code 3JDJS6HW at checkout. This compact battery pack has an auto-off feature and a built-in flashlight.