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Amazon Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Fire wrap-up
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Hot Deals, Software,
Today Amazon announced a slew of new Kindle hardware, and we covered it all extensively. We wanted to make sure you knew where to find the details on each new device, as well as how to order (or pre-order, depending on the device you want) the new goods as well. Here's what went down today:
Amazon Kindle Fire
Announcement: Kindle Fire: Amazon's $199 tablet e-reader
Pre-order: $199 at Amazon, ships November 15th
Amazon Kindle Touch
Announcement: Amazon Kindle Touch: Multi-touch, 3G, $99
Pre-order: $99 at Amazon, ships November 21st
Amazon Kindle
Announcement: Amazon launches new $79 Kindle
Order: $79 at Amazon, available now
In addition to all that new hardware, the company also announced its new Amazon Silk web browser.
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How Amazon’s new Silk browser makes browsing faster
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Software,
Alongside all the Kindle news this morning, Amazon also announced their own home-grown browser, Silk. Amazon Silk will be exclusive to the Kindle Fire for the time being, and it aims to speed up web browsing by a significant margin by offloading some of the heavy lifting to the Amazon EC2 cloud servers. Hit the video above to see how it all works, and why we're drooling with anticipation for Silk to hit the desktop.
Kindle Fire: Amazon’s $199 tablet e-reader
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds,
That Amazon tablet we've been waiting on for months has finally arrived, and it's called the Kindle Fire. Amazon's looking to disrupt the tablet landscape with the Fire, and is pricing it aggressively at $199. So, what do you get for your money? Well, the Kindle Fire weighs 14.6 ounces and packs a 7-inch IPS display with Gorilla Glass protection, dual-core processor, 512 MB RAM, and 8 GB of on-board storage. It runs a forked version of Android that Amazon has prettied up in a major way, customizing and optimizing it to take advantage of Amazon's various services. The Fire also has Wi-Fi built-in, but lacks a 3G option, camera, and microphone.
Purchasers of the Kindle Fire also get a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, which'll let you get a nice sampling of what the company's Video on Demand service offers. Other services you can access from the Fire include Amazon's Android Appstore, Kindle books, a host of magazines, Cloud Drive, Cloud Player, and the Amazon MP3 service. One nice feature is that WhisperSync, the technology that let you continue reading Kindle books from where you left off across multiple devices, now works with movies and TV shows. In other words, you can start a show on your Kindle Fire, and continue where you left off on your television. Another big feature is the inclusion of the Amazon Silk web browser, which does all the web processings on Amazon's EC2 servers, greatly speeding up the browsing experience.
You can pre-order a Kindle Fire now, and it'll ship on November 15th - check out the commercial after the break.
Click to continue reading Kindle Fire: Amazon’s $199 tablet e-reader
Amazon Kindle Touch: Multi-touch, 3G, $99, ships November 21st
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds,
In addition to the $79 Kindle, Amazon also announced the Kindle Touch today. The Touch starts at $99 with special offers (or $139 without them) and features a new silver design. It's 8% lighter and 11% smaller than the Kindle Keyboard, and uses an IR touch system, eliminating the need for physical buttons for typing and page turning. Obviously, this also calls for a new UI, and we think it looks great. There's also a 3G model that sells for $149 with free global roaming. You can pre-order both models right now, and they'll start shipping on November 21st.
Amazon launches new $79 Kindle
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds,
Amazon unleashed a bunch of new Kindle hardware this morning, and we're starting with the one that's available right now. The new Kindle costs just $79, and is the first model to be available for under $100, as the last model (now known as Kindle Keyboard) started at $114. It's 30% lighter and 18% smaller than its predecessor (probably due to dropping the keyboard,) but retains the same 6-inch display. This Kindle has special offers built-in, used as screensavers when you aren't reading. If you'd prefer not to have that "feature," then the price jumps up to $109. Again, this new Kindle is available now, so you can head right on over to Amazon to grab one, and you'll have it in your hands as soon as tomorrow.
Amazon Kindle Fire tablet will be revealed in two days
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds,
Looks like Amazon has decided to call their upcoming tablet the "Kindle Fire." That news comes from MG over at TechCrunch, who was given then info by unnamed sources. In addition, our pal Ryan from GDGT has posted information about why the Kindle Fire will so closely resemble the BlackBerry PlayBook. As it turns out, the group that typically handles the Kindle design, Lab 126, wasn't used. Instead, since Amazon wanted to get this thing out for the holidays, it was outsourced to Quanta, the same original design manufacturer that designed the PlayBook. Amazon will be holding a press conference on Wednesday to announce the Kindle Fire, and we'll have all the details right here as it happens.
Barnes & Noble set to launch a new Nook Color
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Rumors,
Is Barnes & Noble preparing to launch another tablet under the Nook name? Rumor has it the company will launch a new, pricier Nook Colors this year.
According to a tip obtained by the Digital Reader, B&N will launch a $349 tablet that could be named Acclaim. The Nook Simple Touch Reader will still be offered at $139 and the Nook Color will stay at $249. The tipster didn't offer any information on the specs of the device, but said the tablet would launch in the next quarter, likely in some time in October.
The Digital Reader also pointed to a tablet it saw on a slide from a Barnes & Noble company presentation with the codename Encore, but speculated that this is an updated version of the current 7-inch Nook Color.
Click to continue reading Barnes & Noble set to launch a new Nook Color
Amazon set to reveal Kindle tablet on Wednesday?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Rumors,
Amazon has been working on a new Kindle tablet for quite a while, and it looks like its set to reveal it to the world in just under a week. The Android-powered device is set to take advantage of all of Amazon's services--not just eBooks, but video on demand, music, the store, and all the rest. We're guessing that in addition to a tablet or two, we'll also see an updated e-ink version of the Kindle as well. Of course, we'll let you know what happens when it all goes down this Wednesday at 10:00 am Eastern!
Amazon Kindle eBooks now available to borrow from over 11,000 libraries
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Internet,
If you've got an Amazon account and use a Kindle (or a Kindle app,) you're gonna wanna go pick up a library card if you don't already have one, and it's now possible to check out Kindle eBooks from over 11,000 library Web sites. All you need is a valid library card, and you are good. eBooks work similar to library books--in other words, they are free to borrow, but they expire after a certain amount of time, and the libraries only have a limited number of each eBook available, so you may have to wait until it's "returned" by another user before you can check out that title. Once you decide what you want to borrow, you download the copies over Wi-Fi or USB.
When you borrow a Kindle public library book, you’ll have access to all the unique features of Kindle books, including real page numbers and Whispersync technology that synchronizes your notes, highlights, and last page read. After a public library book expires, if you check it out again or choose to purchase it from the Kindle store, all of your annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.
Once your expiration date hits, you can just borrow the book again, or purchase it from the Amazon Kindle store, and any notes, highlights, last pages read, etc. will all be saved and synched.
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Amazon’s Kindle Tablet: Details revealed
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Handhelds, Rumors,
MG over at TechCrunch got to spend some time playing with Amazon's upcoming Kindle Tablet, and has reported back with a bunch of impressions that have us excited for what's to come. There are no pictures of the device, as that was a condition of him being able to even experience the new Kindle to begin with, but MG paints a nice picture for us of what we are guessing will be the hottest tablet this holiday season that isn't named "iPad 2." For starters, it's an Android tablet, but Amazon has forked Android and has completely overtaken the UI, so it won't look or feel like the typical Android software. The book reader app is similar to what you'd find on iOS and Android, but this Kindle is more than just books--it brings Amazon's entire ecosystem to your hands. That means you get the books, Amazon Cloud Player for music, Amazon Video on Demand for television and movies, access to the Amazon storefront, etc. It even appears that Amazon will be giving purchasers of the tablet a free subscription to Amazon Prime, which itself costs $79 per year.
Click to continue reading Amazon’s Kindle Tablet: Details revealed
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