Fire Tablet - Google APK

[bradlelf]

I bought one of the $39 amazon fire tablets (5th gen) and am trying to download google play APK files to side-load apps onto the fire since they block google play store.

I tried this method: http://thefiretablet.com/posts/install-free-google-play-store-app-on-kindle-fire-without-rooting/

But cannot actually download the APK files from the google play store ... it just times out. I tried getting it from APK mirror sites but still no luck.

Anyone have experience sideloading apps onto a fire tablet without rooting?

 

[snickerd3]

we also bought the $39 fire kindle deal, but I don't think we have tried that.  We tend to use amazon all the time so the need hasn't arisen.

 

[knight1fox3]

Why don't you want to root it?

 

[bradlelf]

Fear of bricking ... oh wait it was only $39. I dont know; i actually like the UI of the tablet. Will rooting remove all of that?

 

[knight1fox3]

It's VERY difficult to actually brick a device these days.  You'd have a better chance at that if you were actually going to to modify the ROM (i.e. the Android OS) itself.  Rooting an Android-based device is essentially giving yourself admin rights.  The GUI doesn't change at all.  Ultimately you are changing a permissive register from a 0 to a 1.  Not much can go wrong during that.  That being said, some hardware vendors (i.e. mostly cell providers) indicate in their T&C's that rooting a device voids your warranty.  Which really irritates me because if one owns the device, they should be allowed to do whatever they like with it.  Though, at $39, I wouldn't be concerned with a warranty.  And generally speaking, it's usually not too difficult to "un-root" a device if their were warranty concerns.

 

[bradlelf]

Okay ... this worked without the root.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-glxYTY8O8&feature=youtu.be

Now I have the play store and still the amazon UI.

Sweet