Kindle Fire HD - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

May

Amazon Coins Virtual Currency Available Now, $5 Credit For Kindle Fire Owners Makes It Slightly Less Awful

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Amazon, Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, News

Earlier this year, Amazon announced that it was preparing a proprietary virtual currency specifically for its Appstore. Then the incorrigible Eric Ravenscraft spent a few thousand words explaining exactly why Amazon Coins, and any system that substitutes real money for meaningless points, is just a pretense for sucking money out of people's wallets. If you can't wait to pay Amazon's tax on those without common sense, you can now hand over your real dollars for fake ones to spend on apps and in-app purchases.

If you're a United States Amazon customer and you own any model of Kindle Fire, congratulations, you've just been credited with 500 Amazon Coins, or $5 in non-fake money.

Apr

Amazon Appstore Prepares For A Global Push: Availability Coming To 195 Countries Including In-App Purchases [Update: Full List]

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Amazon, Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, News

At the moment, the Amazon Appstore is available in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan. But that's hardly enough for Amazon's global ambitions. In a press release, the company announced plans to widen the Appstore to "nearly 200 countries" across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. A specific timeframe was also absent, but prospective developers can manage their international distribution on the Mobile App Distribution Portal.

Important markets like India, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and South Korea were highlighted. With 195 countries in its marketplace, Amazon should be handily beating Google Play (currently sitting at 134 countries which can buy apps on the Play Store) even if it takes them the rest of the year to fully realize their goal.

Apr

AT&T To Begin Carrying The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" LTE Beginning April 5th For $399

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in AT&T, Kindle Fire HD, News

The Kindle Fire HD is, at the moment, the best Android tablet that's not really an Android tablet but is still kind of an Android tablet. The LTE model, while pricier than the others, is handy for those that still need to download on the go. Now, AT&T is going to start selling the connected model for $399.

As a temporary introductory offer, AT&T has a "deal" that allows customers to sign a 2-year contract in exchange for $150 off. Unless you know for absolutely certain that you'll need to use mobile data on that Kindle Fire HD every single month for the next two years, though, you might be better off just paying for your device.

Mar

Amazon Pushes Software Updates For The Kindle Fire (2nd Gen), Kindle Fire HD 7", And Kindle Fire HD 8.9"

Posted by John Thompson in Amazon, Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD

Amazon has been busy working on software updates for its line of Kindle Fire devices, and the latest versions of the software for each device are now available to download.

For each device, the update provides enhancements for viewing textbooks, with the 2nd generation Fire and the Fire HD 7" getting "X-Ray for Textbooks". This feature allows users to access the most important terms and concepts, with glossary definitions and links to relevant pages within books.

The update also provides enhancements for print replica textbooks across each device. Thumbnails of each page are now available at the bottom of the screen, and you can make notes and highlights in your books, as well as jump from one chapter to another.

Mar

Amazon Slashes Prices On Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Across The Board ($30 Off Wi-Fi, $100 Off LTE), Now On Sale In Europe And Japan

Posted by David Ruddock in Kindle Fire HD, News

Whether to combat flagging sales or reflect lower component prices, Amazon dropped the price of its Wi-Fi 8.9" Kindle Fire HD today by roughly 10% - down to $270 for the 16GB model. The price of the 32GB model dropped by $30 as well, to $300. The LTE model received a much more substantial 20% cut, and now costs $400 - $100 less than the price it debuted for.

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 isn't exactly old news - it began shipping only 5 months ago in the US, and $300 for the entry-level model was scarcely believable even at that time.

Feb

[New App] Market Helper Lets You Download Incompatible Apps Without Changing The Build.prop (Root Only)

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, Galaxy S III, Kindle Fire HD, News, Nexus 7

One of the more annoying things about the Android app ecosystem is that there are loads of apps and games that are needlessly restricted to one device or another. If you care to get down and dirty, you can edit the build.prop file on rooted devices to make your device appear to be something other than what it is. Market Helper gets you the same results, but it doesn't touch the build-prop and it's easy to revert to your original profile. For obvious reasons, this app is not in Google Play. It is, however, just a sideload away.

Market Helper is a very new app, and it only has a handful of profiles.

Dec

[Deal Alert] Get $50 Off Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Wi-Fi Or LTE With Amazon's Gold Box Deal Of The Day Coupon

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Amazon, Deals, Kindle Fire HD, News

Amazon's Gold Box deals are some of my favorite discounts to check out every morning. In fact, outside of the Gold Box, the only other deal destinations I regularly visit are Amazon-owned MyHabit and TouchOfModern, a site full of inspiration and ultramodernism.

But back to the deal. If you've been eying Amazon's latest Kindle Fire HD 8.9" tablet (remember all those holidays that are coming at us fast?), today's Gold Box deal of the day should most definitely make it easier to pull the trigger.

The company is discounting all Fire HD 8.9" variants by a cool $50 - all you have to do is use coupon FIREHD89 at checkout:

Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Wi-Fi 16GB: $299 -> $249
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Wi-Fi 32GB: $369 -> $319
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Wi-Fi+LTE 32GB: $499 -> $449
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Wi-Fi+LTE 64GB: $599 -> $549

Note: Add $15 if you're getting the version without special offers.

Dec

Amazon Introduces 'Kindle FreeTime Unlimited', Offers Slews Of Restriction-Free Children's Content For A Low Monthly Fee

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, News

It's no secret that Amazon is trying to turn the Kindle Fire/HD into the device that the entire family shares for content consumption, but now they've built a service that makes it even more relevant as such. Dubbed FreeTime Unlimited, the all-you-can-eat plan is serving up hot bowls of children's content, ready to be consumed day or night.

Among the unlimited content, you'll find books, games, educational software, movies, and TV shows - all just for kids. FreeTime Unlimited lets children dig through everything that's available to them, picking and choosing what to do next. The cool thing here, though, is that they've also disabled all in-app payments, ads, and all social media links/references within the FreeTime content - so parents can rest assured that their kiddos are safe inside of the virtualized world.

Nov

Amazon Releases Open Source Files For The 8.9" Kindle Fire HD

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Amazon, Android OS, Development, Kindle Fire HD, News

Amazon, "in accordance with certain free and open source software licenses," released today the open source code files for their 8.9" Kindle Fire HD, one of the latest tablets to join their wildly successful e-reader lineup.

The source code release comes about five days before the HD 8.9 was scheduled for official launch (though it actually began shipping today), giving those who want to tinker, develop with, or simply ogle the fresh batch of source a fair lead time.