Amazon - 5/9 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Sep

Amazon Signs Deal With Epix, Brings Paramount, MGM, And Lionsgate Films To Prime Instant Videos

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Amazon, News

Chances are, most of you only ever hear about Epix in an article discussing streaming rights (like this one). Epix is an online streaming video service a la Netflix that you can only get access to if you have a cable bundle that includes the site. Or, you know, if you have Netflix. For now anyway. The real value of Epix is the stable of movie rights it brings to the table, and now the joint venture is sharing its media library with Amazon Instant Video for all of the online retail giant's Prime customers.

According to Amazon, the deal will "more than double the number of titles available" to its customers who subscribe to the Prime service.

Aug

Amazon Appstore Updates To Version 4.0 With A New UI, Promises To Fix That Horrible Battery Bug

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Amazon, News

It's not just European markets that are getting some Amazon-related goodies today. The Appstore has been updated to version 4.0 (technically, version 4.0.634.0, but who's counting right?) and brings with it an improved UI, the ability to remove items from the My Apps section and, perhaps most importantly to Artem, a fix for a major battery drain bug. All good news!

The new UI doesn't look too much different from the old version, aside from getting rid of a lot of the white, opting instead for the darker theme that's more in line with the Kindle Fire UI.

Aug

Amazon Announces Best-Selling Kindle Fire 'Sold Out' Ahead Of September 6th Press Conference

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Amazon, Kindle Fire, News

Amazon, in a press release posted this morning, announced that its "#1 best-selling product," the Kindle Fire, is now sold out. The release boasts the Fire's millions of sales, noting that it managed to eat up an impressive 22% of tablet sales in the US, and added to the overall success of Amazon's digital product sales.

What makes this announcement interesting is that Amazon has a press conference scheduled for September 6th, meaning we're likely to see the latest member of the Kindle family unveiled very soon. Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon, didn't comment directly on this possibility, but he did note "Kindle Fire is sold out, but we have an exciting roadmap ahead – we will continue to offer our customers the best hardware, the best prices, the best customer service, the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best content ecosystem."

The possibility of seeing a new Kindle device this September isn't so surprising considering this is around the same time we saw the original Kindle Fire announced, but it's always exciting to see a new product – particularly in such a successful line – make its debut.

Aug

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

Posted by David Ruddock 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?

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.

Jul

[Deal Alert] Amazon Is Giving Away $3 In AmazonMP3 Credit Right Now

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Amazon, News

In the world of digital music stores that aren't iTunes, Amazon is a crowd favorite. With DRM-free downloads of widely-compatible MP3s and a cloud storage player that isn't the worst in the world, it's hard to not enjoy the utility of Amazon's music service. If that's not enough, though, how about some free stuff? Amazon is currently offering $3 worth of free music to anyone who asks. As long as you ask before midnight (PST), that is.

Similar to Amazon's recent Kindle Fire deal, the company is offering a voucher that can be used to purchase music between now and July 12th.

Jun

[Rumor] Next Generation Kindle Fire May Be Announced As Soon As July 31st

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Kindle Fire, News

While the world waits for Google's own $200 7" tablet to be announced at Google I/O, CNET is reporting that Amazon may be ready to announce a successor to the wildly popular Kindle Fire this summer. The tech blog reports that Amazon may be preparing for a July 31st launch event to announce the next Kindle-branded tablet.

CNET's sources also point to a built-in camera and physical volume controls among the additions. No word on any other new features, or if Amazon might be upgrading the version of Android that the device is built on. Currently the device runs on a heavily modified version of Gingerbread.

Jun

[Rumor] Amazon May Be Ready To Launch Its Appstore In Europe Very Soon

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Amazon, News

So far, Amazon's Appstore, which competes with Google's own Play Store on Android apps, has been stuck within U.S. borders. A report from All Things D, however, says that may be about to change soon. The online retail company, the site says, is preparing to launch in Europe. No details on when beyond "later this summer" were available.

All Things D speculates that this might herald the arrival of the Kindle Fire, however it also rightly points out that launching a device in a new country is more complicated than launching a software storefront. We're a little skeptical that an international launch of the Appstore will mean the Kindle Fire is heading to our friends across the pond.

May

Update Rolling Out For The Kindle Fire (6.3.1), Brings Additional Parental Controls

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Kindle Fire, News

If you have a Kindle Fire and kindergarteners, Amazon is currently rolling out an update for you. Firmware version 6.3.1 is heading to devices as we speak and brings extra parental controls with it. Now, parents can enable a password on purchases to prevent accidental money drains, block specific content libraries, so your kids don't see your naughty books, and even disable the Silk browser so your children don't discover the internet at large. This alone will save you thousands in psychiatric bills.

It's a small update, but if you have little ones, it's important. Especially since tablets and ereaders are more often shared devices.

May

[Update: It's Back] Great Gold Box Deal: Certified Refurbished Amazon Kindle Fire With Full Warranty And Free Shipping - $139 For One Day Only

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Amazon, Deals, Kindle Fire

Update 5/2/12: The deal, which was extremely popular last time around, is back for another 24 hours. Here's the updated link.

If you've been waiting to pick up a cheap Android tablet, but the $200 price tag on the new Kindle Fire seemed a little steep, you're going to love today's main Amazon Gold Box deal. For one day only (or rather about 21 hours as of this writing), the Kindle Fire can be had for only $139 ($60 off) with free shipping (in fact, it's eligible for Prime).

Sure, it's the certified refurbished version which normally costs $169, but at this price, it seems worth it.

Apr

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

Posted by Aaron Gingrich 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.