I really enjoy and love my Kindle Fire.  I mean REALLY enjoy and love my Kindle Fire. It is about three times cheaper than the iPad.  To me, it is just as functional and useful as the iPad I have used from friends in the past.  There are  thousands upon thousands of apps you can use with your Kindle
Fire.  One of the apps I find to be among the most useful and one of high quality is the free Accuweather app. 

It is actually better than their paid app, if you can believe that.  It sounds the alarm of bad weather and is very descriptive, more so than any other weather app I have seen.  But, the best and most beneficial to me, personally, are the magicJack app and the Text Now app.  As you probably have surmised, you get free calls with one and free texting with the other.  I'm sure most have heard of magicJack, the $19.95 a year deal whereby you make all local and long distance calls you want.  A little info on each.

The magicJack app on my Kindle Fire is like a home phone without the added expense of a home phone.  Now, you can get the little device you plug into your router and you can make all the calls you want.  But, magicJack Plus has a similar device where you can use any phone—corded, cordless, portable, DECT and simply plug it into your new phone jack in the new 2014 magicJack Plus which can be plugged into the wall.  But, if you have a Kindle Fire (and I will willing to wager it works with the iPad as well) you don't need anything but the app itself.  I was given my own home phone number, my own voice mail, my own 411 to use.  I simply can't imagine why anyone would buy a home phone today if you have a Kindle Fire, iPad or some such tablet.  You can read more about the magicJack app for the Kindle Fire HERE. The best part, again, it is free. 

Most people have unlimited texting with their cell phone carriers today.  I do also with T-Mobile.  But, that wasn't always the case.  Text Now, as is the case with magicJack, you get your own texting number.  You can text straight from your Kindle Fire.  I do use this app with my Kindle Fire, especially if I'm sitting at a restaurant or some other place with WiFi.  But, you can go straight to their web site, create an account and text from the web site from your home computer if you wish.  It is much easier than texting from my cell phone, or even my Kindle Fire.  The Kindle Fire just makes it more convenient if I'm out and about somewhere.  It's very simple to use.  Only thing, if you text someone from your Text Now, account (this goes with the magicJack account also) make sure you identify yourself to the person you are texting or calling.  A lot of people will ignore the out of state call thinking it is a marketing agent or some kind of political survey.  I know I would ignore it if I did not know who it was.

Just a couple of ideas to save you some money with absolutely no cost to you.  I hope you give both apps a try.  ***This is NOT a paid advertisement for magicJack or Text Now.***