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Amazon Kindle Fire review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Handhelds, Product Reviews,
The Amazon Kindle Fire is the first small tablet that average users can pick up and immediately use, with a simple, clear interface. Then there's the price: Android along with amazing specs for just $199. It's open enough to attract geeks, too. While the user interface occasionally gets sluggish, we're willing to have a bit of patience to get a first-rate tablet for half of what most competitors charge, thus the Kindle Fire is our first Editors' Choice for small tablets.
Design
A solid little brick at 7.5 by 4.7 by .45 inches and 14.6 ounces, the Kindle Fire looks and feels a lot like the BlackBerry PlayBook, but the Fire is smaller in all dimensions. There are no slots or tabs; both the memory and battery are sealed in, and the only interruptions in its smooth, black form are the headphone jack, Power button, MicroUSB jack, and dual stereo speakers. There's no camera, but I've never been sold on the value of tablet cameras anyway. It uses 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi networks to get online; there's no cellular radio or Bluetooth connectivity.
Turn the Fire on and the 7-inch 1024-by-600 IPS LCD screen lights up. This display is very sharp and clear, but it's also rather reflective. Just like on the Apple iPad 2, you may have trouble reading in bright light because of the screen's sometimes mirror-like gloss. While this is par for the course with tablets, I expected more given the Kindle name. This isn't a dedicated e-reader by any means.
Click to continue reading Amazon Kindle Fire review
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Amazon Kindle touch unboxing gallery
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Galleries, Handhelds,
Amazon's new Kindle Fire is getting all the attention as of late, but the company also shipped its first touchscreen e-Ink reader as well, called the Kindle touch, yesterday - a week earlier than originally anticiapted. We're in the middle of putting the Kindle touch through its paces, and we'll be reporting back with a review soon, but for now, take a look at our Kindle touch unboxing gallery for an up-close look at the new device.
You can pick up the Kindle touch for $99.
[Camera: Chris Aarons]
Gallery:
Here’s how to run almost any Android app on the Kindle Fire
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks, Software,
The new Amazon Kindle Fire is a powerful, dual-core Android tablet for only $200. It doesn't have the quarter-million apps from the Android Market, though; by default, you can only load the "thousands" of apps in Amazon's App Store.
But that's OK. If you have an Android phone around, you can use free tools to load almost any Android app onto the Kindle Fire. You don't need to hack, alter, or "root" your phone or tablet to do this, and Amazon doesn't oppose sideloading apps.
The Kindle Fire can install any app in the standard Android APK format, but I strongly suggest only installing apps you've moved over from a phone or downloaded from a major app store. You can find APKs scattered around the Internet on various sites, but don't use those, even for free apps.
Why not? Developers can't track APKs that are just floating around the Net, so they don't know their apps are being used. That discourages developers, especially small developers, from upgrading and making new apps. Peer-to-peer app piracy sites are also sinks of malware, as they have none of the safeguards you'll find on an app store.
So here's how to move any app from an Android phone running Gingerbread (Android 2.3) to a Kindle Fire. It's a lot of steps, but I'm just being very clear; they go quickly.
Click to continue reading Here’s how to run almost any Android app on the Kindle Fire
Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet vs. Nook Color: The Details
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Handhelds,
The low-cost Android tablet space is heating up. And just in time for the holidays.
Barnes & Noble today unveiled the Nook Tablet, a beefed-up follow-up to the popular Nook Color ebook reader/tablet. The Nook Color also remains in the company's arsenal, but with a lower price. The Nook Color is available now, while the Nook Tablet is available for pre-order and ships by November 18.
Amazon, meanwhile, last month took the wraps of its first color touch-screen ereader/tablet, the Kindle Fire, which is currently on pre-order and ships by November 15.
Click to continue reading Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet vs. Nook Color: The Details
Amazon hurrying Kindle Fire production in response to massive demand
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds,
Amazon said Tuesday that Kindle Fire pre-orders exceeded expectations and the company is now ramping up production on the tablets.
"September 28th was the biggest order day ever for Kindle, even bigger than previous holiday peak days," Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, said in a statement. "In the three weeks since launch, orders for electronic ink Kindles are double the previous launch. And based on what we're seeing with Kindle Fire pre-orders, we're increasing capacity and building millions more than we'd already planned."
The $199 Kindle Fire will debut on November 15. Last month, Amazon also debuted a $79 version of its original, e-ink Kindle, and will start selling a touch-based version on November 21. You can pre-order the Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch now.
Click to continue reading Amazon hurrying Kindle Fire production in response to massive demand
Amazon Kindle 3.3 update details
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Software,
While Amazon prepares to ship out the Kindle Fire, it has quietly released a significant software update to the Kindle Keyboard, which expands cloud storage support for personal documents.
The Kindle Keyboard Software Update, Version 3.3, adds four key features:
- The ability to store personal documents to your Kindle, for viewing anytime and on any supported Kindle app or device.
- Whipersync for personal documents. This automatically synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks and annotations for personal documents, not including PDFs.
- Kindle users can now purchase, view, and redeem AmazonLocal deals straight from their Kindles.
- A Voice Guide shortcut: you can now quickly turn on Voice Guide, which reads aloud menu options and content listings, by holding the Shift key and pressing Spacebar.
Click to continue reading Amazon Kindle 3.3 update details
Amazon Kindle Fire sells 95,000 units on day one
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds,
Amazon and retail partners took 95,000 pre-orders for the first Amazon tablet, the Kindle Fire tablet on its first day, according to a digital marketing firm.
That's about a third of the 300,000 first-generation iPads Apple sold on its first day, but still impressive given Amazon is only shipping the Kindle Fire on November 15.
On Wednesday, Amazon launched its first and long-awaited tablet, the Kindle Fire, for $199. Though it won't be released until November, Amazon and select retail partners, like Best Buy, began taking pre-orders and expect to to have the product shipped out in time for the holidays.
Pre-sales of Amazon's three other Kindles launched this week, the $70 original Kindle, $99 Kindle Touch, totaled approximately $25,000 units.
Click to continue reading Amazon Kindle Fire sells 95,000 units on day one
Bleeding Edge TV 396: Amazon Kindle 2011 vs Amazon Kindle 2010
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Features, Handhelds, Podcasts, Product Reviews, Videocasts, Videos,
We bring you a comparison between last year's Kindle 3 (from 2010) and the new entry-level Kindle (2011) in this episode. We show you the size differences, compare the display refresh speeds, and go over more of the changes between the two models of Amazon's e-book reader. The new Kindle is available now for $79 from Amazon, with the Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire shipping this November. Be sure to get details on all the new Kindle hardware!
Also be sure to check out our Amazon Kindle (2011) unboxing video and Kindle (2011) photo gallery.
Big thank you to GoToMeeting and JackThreads for sponsoring the show - be sure to check them out! As for JackThreads, we've got exclusive invite codes that give you $5 to use towards anything you'd like.
Unboxing Live 074: Amazon Kindle (2011)
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Handhelds, Videocasts,
We give you a first-hand look at the newly updated Amazon Kindle. The company just announced a new family of Kindle for the holidays, one of which started shipping immediately. We were able to get our hands on one of the new $79 Kindle ebook readers, and we hit you with an unboxing of the unit in this episode, along with some thoughts on the look and feel of the device.
Big thanks to our sponsor - GoToMeeting makes it easy to collaborate with anyone, anywhere - and they have just released their new HD faces feature that lets you see the webcams of up to 6 users as a time, which means you're collaborating face-to-face. Also, be sure and grab a free $5 credit from JackThreads now!
Amazon Kindle 4 (2011) hands-on gallery
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Handhelds,
We've just got our hands on one of the new entry-level Amazon Kindle units that were part of the big Kindle announcements made by Jeff Bezos a couple of days ago, and we're definitely liking what we're seeing. The new Kindle is very noticably smaller and lighter than the previous generation (now known as the Kindle Keyboard,) and costs just $79 (with special offer screensavers.) We've put together a gallery showing off the device--take a look, and if you're interested, they're on sale now at Amazon.
Gallery:
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