06
Sep
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Amazon's New Kindle Fire Coming Mid-September With 'Faster Processor, Double The Ram', And $160 Price Tag

Posted by in Amazon, Kindle Fire, News

Amazon's just announced not one, but two a few new Kindle Fires: the Fire and Fire HD 7/8.9. The former is a slight bump in spec and drop in price from its predecessor:

  • Faster 1.2GHz OMAP4430 dual-core processor
  • 7" 1024x600 IPS LCD display, 169ppi
  • 2-point multi-touch
  • 1GB RAM
  • 8GB storage
  • Android 4.0 underpinning
  • Stereo speakers
  • 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (single-band), though no support for ad-hoc networks
  • Longer battery life (8.5 hours of continuous use)
  • MicroUSB
  • No camera or microphone
  • 14.1oz (400 grams)
  • Free month of Amazon Prime
  • X-Ray for Movies and Books, Immersion Reading, Whispersync for Voice, and more

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Other than that, Amazon was very scant on details.

06
Sep
kindlefirehd

Kindle Fire HD Tablets Officially Announced: 7" Or 8.9" HD Display, 16GB Or 32GB Of Storage, Starting At $199

Posted by in Amazon, Kindle Fire HD, News

Amazon is currently unveiling a slew of new products at its press conference today. One of the headlining set of slates is the Kindle Fire HD. They will come in two sizes, 7" and 8.9". The HD tablets will be tied deeply to Amazon's content ecosystem. The 8.9" model will have an astounding 1920x1200 display, and it's bound to be one of the nicest looking displays we've seen in a primarily-content-driven device. Unfortunately, we haven't heard yet what the resolution will be for the 7" device. Update: It's going to be 1280x800 for the 7" display.

2012-09-06_15h07_25

http://youtu.be/jrgO8Zseh6E

Here are the specs:

Amazon is clearly gunning for the Nexus 7 with this device.

23
Aug
Kindle-Fire-(home-1)2

Amazon Is Having A Press Conference On September 6th, Probably New Kindles

Posted by in Amazon, News

We just received an invite from Amazon to a press conference in Los Angeles 2 weeks from now, and it's sounding like it could finally be time for the company to unveil some new iterations of its Kindle line. No details were provided as to the content of the event, but really, what else would it be?

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We've heard rumblings for some time that the new Kindle Fire is on its way, and this seems like as good a time as any to announce it. It'll also mark roughly a year since the launch of the original Kindle Fire last September, so even the timeline makes sense.

18
Apr
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[Book Giveaway] Win One Of Ten Copies Of Introduction To Android App Development For The Kindle Fire

Posted by in Development, Kindle Fire

By all accounts, the Amazon Kindle Fire is the best-selling Android tablet of all time.Between Amazon's quality-not-quantity approach to their App Store and one-tablet-to-rule-them-all line-up, and you've got a recipe for quality control more akin to Apple than Google. But that also means developing for the Fire and the App Store is a slightly different experience from start to finish - so if you're planning an app specifically for the Fire... well, you're in luck.

Introduction to Android App Development for the Kindle Fire

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Written by Lauren Darcey and Shane Conder, the mini-eBook spans 104 pages and costs $15.99.

Get Started Fast with Android App Development for Amazon’s Best-Selling Kindle Fire!

22
Mar
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Amazon's Kindle App For Android Gets Updated To Support Kindle Format 8, Cloud Backup Of Email-To-Kindle Files

Posted by in Applications, News

Amazon updated their Kindle app for Android today, bringing about two changes that add a significant amount of functionality to the app. Perhaps the most notable change is the addition of support for Kindle Format 8, Amazon's "next generation" file format which supports HTML5, CSS3, drop caps, fixed layouts, and scalable vector graphics. The format also features Panel Views and Kindle Text Popup, enabling "great fixed layout books including graphic novels, comics, and children's books."

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The other change brought by today's Kindle update is a change to the functionality of users' send-to-Kindle email addresses. With today's update, files and documents can be sent to Kindle for Android using your Send-to-Kindle email address, and will of course be synced to Amazon's Cloud for re-downloading on any supported device.

17
Jan
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[Download] BurritoRoot 2 Gives Root Access Back To Kindle Fire Users After 6.2.2 Update

Posted by in Android OS, Development, Kindle Fire, News
Last Updated: January 19th, 2012

Justin Case has done it again, bringing root access back to users of Amazon's Kindle Fire who accepted the recent firmware update to version 6.2.2. BurritoRoot 2 is an easy-to-use exploit that only requires adb (Android debug bridge) and a few moments of your time. Users looking to root their device after Amazon's latest firmware update can grab BurritoRoot 2 using the download mirrors below.

To use the exploit, just download the file and run the following commands from adb:

adb push BurritoRoot2.bin /data/local/

adb shell chmod 777 /data/local/BurritoRoot2.bin

adb shell /data/local/BurritoRoot2.bin

adb root

adb shell id

<if uid = 0 continue, if not start over>

adb remount

adb push su /system/xbin/su

adb shell chown 0.0 /system/xbin/su

adb shell chmod 06755 /system/xbin/su

adb remount

adb install Superuser.apk (skip this step if its already installed)

For more information, check out Justin's original thread over at XDA.

17
Jan
amazon-kindle-fire-tablet

Amazon Kindle Fire's Firmware Update (To 6.2.2) Breaks Root, Adds Full-Screen Browsing

Posted by in Android OS, Development, Kindle Fire, News
Last Updated: January 19th, 2012

In a familiar turn of events, Amazon has pushed out another root-breaking firmware update, bringing the Kindle Fire's firmware up to version 6.2.2.

Shortly after Amazon's last Kindle Fire update, our very own Justin Case made quick work of gaining root access for the Kindle Fire once again, releasing BurritoRoot, a tool that made rooting the Fire quick and (relatively) easy. Unfortunately, Amazon's latest update keeps BurritoRoot from doing its job, but it appears to bring about at least one useful change.

The only visible improvement is a full screen toggle button added to Amazon's Silk browser. Amazon's support documentation doesn't include information regarding 6.2.2 just yet, but when it does we'll be here to update with a full list of changes.

07
Dec
Kindle

Kindle For Android v3.3 Now Supports PDF Documents And ICS Devices

Posted by in Amazon, Applications, News

Amazon's recent update to its Kindle for Android app brings an important change by allowing native support for reading PDF documents.

Unfortunately, PDF support, as it currently stands, is fairly barebones. Aside from being able to view PDF documents, zoom, and turn pages, the app does not have any other features. Indeed, unlike ordinary ebooks, the PDF portion of the app does not support bookmarks, highlights or the ability to make notes.

The 3.3 update ties in nicely with yesterday's announcement from PDF software maker Foxit that Amazon had made an investment in the company. Although Kindle devices natively supported PDF documents since 2009, reading them has always been a little cumbersome.

16
Nov
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Is Amazon Deliberately Hiding Non-Kindle eReader Apps From Kindle Fire Owners?

Posted by in Amazon, Kindle Fire, News

It sure seems that way, according to Android Guys. They claim competing eBook apps such as Kobo and Aldiko don't appear in search results when using the Amazon Appstore on a Kindle Fire tablet. Additionally, eBook reader developer BlueFire claims that while his app is listed as Kindle Fire-compatible on the Amazon Appstore, it too fails to show up in search results on the device.

We've not heard of many apps mysteriously not showing up in the Fire's app list (presumably Amazon had lots of time to work on ensuring most apps on its store would be compatible) for a lack of compatibility, so if this does turn out to be true, we can probably assume that Amazon made a conscious decision to keep competitors' apps out of the hands of users.

16
Nov
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Amazon Posts Kindle Fire's Open Source Code

Posted by in Amazon, Development, Kindle Fire, News

Unlike some vendors which shall remain unnamed (*cough*, HTC, *cough*), Amazon didn't make us wait for the mandatory open source bits of the Android Fire's kernel and released them over at their Source Code page the same day the tablets themselves started arriving in consumers' hands. The download, which comes as a compressed tar.gz, weighs in at a whopping 809MB.

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The source code should allow for custom ROMs and tweaks to the OS, which we can hopefully expect soon, considering the Fire has already been rooted. There is still no word on whether its bootloader can be easily unlocked, however, so theoretically there could be a few potential bumps on the road to the first custom ROMs.

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