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Kindle Fire and Real Estate - Using Google Apps with the Kindle Fire

Reblogger
Real Estate Agent with Re/Max Preferred Associates, Toledo, OH 353315

The Kindle Fire might be a really good if you can use it for "Mobile Real Estate".  Those of you who have them will really like it if this application works.

I have a droid and I got the app from Realtor.com and love using it every time I am out with clients who want to know instantly what the price of a home is as we are traveling around.  It sure saves time going to to the office, looking it up, and then finding out it is too expensive for their needs.

Check out my web site:  http://homesforsalelucascounty.com and you will be able to find homes for sale in your area, tips on selling your home, community info, school info, compare communities and schools, etc. etc.  You can mark the homes you like so that when you are ready to look you have a list ready for your Realtor.

Original content by Todd Bogert

The Kindle FireSo were you one of the millions of people who got a Kindle Fire for Christmas? Want to use it as more than just an ebook reader? Cinda Rose, The West Valley Home Team and MacWin Consulting are going to spend the next month or so testing the Fire out and specifically using it for "Mobile Real Estate". I am not suggesting that the Kindle Fire is an iPad replacement or "iPad killer" but at $199 for the Kindle Fire vs. $499 for the iPad2 I think we need to give it a shot! (Just a side note, I am an Apple guy, both The West Valley Home Team and MacWin Consulting are both run completely on Mac's and "Once you go Mac you never go back!")

The West Valley Home Team uses Google Apps for their email and calendaring (we are not using Google Docs as our sole document platform yet) and unfortunately even though the Kindle Fire is an Android OS device, strangely enough it does not support Google Sync out of the box. The Fire's email app supports Google Apps Gmail accounts via IMAP/POP but if you're looking for push notifications and Calendar/Contacts sync, you'll need something more. There is a work around though! The  Amazon Appstore allows you to install a third-party app called Touchdown for sync. The apps free for 30 days in demo mode, but then costs $9.99 which is still acceptable to me.Google Apps

Once Touchdown is installed it's easy enough to setup sync. Just Tap Next to bypass the "Try Autodiscover" screen, enter your Google Apps email address as the User ID, your password, and then specify m.google.com as the server. On the next screen choose yes to SSL and leave everything else at the defaults. Now your Gmail, Calendar and Contacts will sync. One big problem I have with Touchdown is it only syncs your main Personal Google Calendar (or whatever you have renamed your main Google Calendar to). We have multiple Shared Calendars at The West Valley Home Team and not being able to see each other's is a big drawback. I also seperate my Personal events from my West Valley Home Team events and my MacWin Consulting events by using different calendars for each. I have contacted NitroDesk and searched through their Google Group to see if there are any fixes for this or maybe a future feature but haven't found anything. 

If you want Google Talk, (which I don't see us needing, this device will be more for showing and researching MLS listings in Litchfield Park, Goodyear and Avondale on the go, collecting email and signing documents) search the AppStore for IM+ or IMO for two good choices. Like the iPad, there's no native Google Docs client for the Fire but you can login to docs.google.com with the Silk web browser for basic viewing and editing.

The next challenge and my next post is going to be finding an app that allows the Kindle Fire to accept signature on PDF files. More to come...

Local Mobile SearchThe West Valley Home Team

Posted by
LINDA SABO, REALTOR
RE/MAX PREFERRED ASSOC.
Office:  (419) 867-8022
Mobil:  (419) 481-3117  
http://HomesForSaleLucasCounty.com
sabo@HomesForSaleLucasCounty.com
 
 

Comments (1)

Kay Van Kampen
RE/MAX Broker, RE/MAX - Springfield, MO
Realtor®, Springfield Mo Real Estate

Linda, I have a Droid as well and I'm going to look into Kindle Fire.  If it does everything that the Ipad does, why waste the money.  Let me know how you like it.

Jan 01, 2012 11:56 AM