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CyanogenMod has seen better days as an organization, but the team behind the open-source Android custom ROM doesn't seem to be slowing down its prodigious output. In the last week new nightly builds have been added for no less than ten new phones and tablets, including notable models from Motorola, Samsung, OnePlus, and Amazon. All of them now have CM 14.1 (based on Android 7.1.1 AOSP code) builds available.
CyanogenMod 13 is the latest version of the popular open source custom ROM. It delivers Android Marshmallow to hundreds of devices, many with no hope of ever receiving an official update. On other hardware, CyanogenMod offers a chance to remove heavy skins and enjoy a mostly stock Android experience. The latest wave of devices receiving version 13 represents both types.
You might have heard that Amazon disabled the option for software encryption in the latest version of its Android-based Fire OS for the Kindle Fire series of tablets. (This isn't new - Fire OS 5 has been rolling out to various tablets since last year.) And if you read news that isn't Android Police, you probably also know that it's not the biggest story involving encryption right now. After consumer backlash following the Apple-FBI encryption case, Engadget reports that Amazon says it will return software encryption in the next major update.
Amazon is slashing the price on its top-of-the-line Kindle Fire tablet right before Christmas, coincidentally on the last day you can order one with two-day shipping before the big day. All of the various Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 models are 30% off today. There are technically twelve different buying options for the HDX: 32GB or 64GB, Wi-Fi or GSM LTE or Verizon LTE, and with or without advertising on the screensaver. The cheapest model, 32GB Wi-Fi with Special Offers, is $299 ($130 off).
Picture yourself on a couch. Now, across the room is a television. It's just a 48" 720p flatscreen, hooked up to a digital cable box Time Warner sent you like 8 years ago that is slow as molasses and has no remaining DVR space, and beside that is the old Xbox 360 you haven't touched in many a fortnight and is presumably home to a small but happy civilization of dust-eating molds and fungi who are probably as old as the component video cable you have attached to it. Oh, and there's a DVD player.Your cousin/nephew/niece/sibling/whatever got you one of those Chromecast things, but honestly, you don't even want to try how to learn to use it, so it's still in the box. You read eBooks on your old Kindle DX, and you use your laptop as your TV a lot these days because it has Netflix and Hulu and stuff, but that laptop is definitely getting to be a bit of a laggard. You also order a lot of things on Amazon, because it's a name you trust and you like product reviews and good prices.You want a tablet. Which one do you get? It's probably a Kindle Fire, be it the 6, 7, HDX 7, or HDX 8.9. They're all basically the same in your mind - it's just a difference of screen size, storage, performance, and price. It's not that you don't care about technology, it's more that you're kind of set in a way of doing things and the prospect of an Android tablet makes you a little apprehensive because there are just so damn many of the things.Then you see that big, happy banner advertising the Kindle Fires. They all get at least 4 stars - that's encouraging, and there are thousands of reviews. The 7" HDX starts at $179, but you know what, you want something fully-featured. This will be your only tablet, and your laptop is on its last legs. You want a piece of hardware that's going to take over at least some of that workload, even if that just means browsing Buzzfeed and YouTube. So, the 8.9 makes sense - it's powerful, newly-released, gets the best battery life, has two cameras (front and rear!), and it reviews perfectly decently.
The premium Kindle Fire HDX tablets don't usually seem like a great value to me, but maybe they're worth picking up this holiday season with today's sizeable $125 discount. This deal is only valid today (December 15th) and it covers several flavors of the previous-generation Fire HDX.
[Deal Alert] Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 7" 4G LTE Tablets Are 50% Off, $139 For 16GB And $159 For 64GB
Want to stuff a couple of stockings for the holidays? Here's a cool suggestion from Amazon: the Kindle Fire HDX 7" 4G LTE. This is last year's Kindle Fire generation but still the newest HDX 7" available — Amazon didn't update the HDX 7" line when it released the new HD 6, 7, and HDX 8.9" this past September. The 4G LTE models are being discounted 50% today only through Amazon Gold Box, while the regular Wi-Fi only models have kept their regular price.
Spec-wise, the HDX 7" line-up is known for its high-resolution 1920 x 1200 display and quad-core 2.2GHz processor. These two factors differentiate it from the regular HD 7 (1280 x 800 display and 1.5GHz quad-core processor). Normally, the HDX 7" is priced way higher than the HD 7, but thanks to this discount, they're in the same range. Add 4G LTE, Amazon's Mayday button, and you have a very sweet deal that's tough to beat. For example, the 16GB HDX 7" 4G LTE is down from $279 to $139 ($147 if you don't want to see Amazon's "Special Offers"), which is just a few bucks more than the 16GB Wi-Fi HD 7 at $134.Only the 16GB and 64GB versions of the HDX 7" are in the Gold Box now. At most, you're looking at $159 for the 64GB HDX 7" 4G LTE with Special Offers — the one without them was $174 but was sold out as I writing this post. This deal is valid only today or until stocks are gone, which is probably going to be very, very, very soon. Hurry up!Amazon Gold Box Kindle Fire HDX 7"
Until now, Amazon's Kindle and Fire devices have lacked one important feature that sets them far behind their Android counterparts: porn. Wait, that's not true, there's tons of porn on Amazon, you can hardly look on the bookstore without seeing self-published Harlequin-style short stories. But if you want to browse a bunch of sites on the less savory side of the Internet on your Kindle Fire without leaving a trail, you're out of luck.
As today's Deal of the Day, Amazon is offering the 16GB version of last year's Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 for only 9. The 32GB model goes for a slightly more expensive 4, and the 64GB model comes in at 9.With the first two models, we're talking about a savings of $140. The 64GB sees a discount of $160. Either way, this amounts to a pretty big chunk of change, and it just goes to show that it can pay to wait until hardware is no longer brand spanking new before making a purchase.This is also the newest version of the tablet you can get that still has the Kindle branding in its name. The 2014 model is simply named Fire HDX 8.9".
Today Amazon popped its yearly Kindle Fire update unannounced, showing off no less than four new models of its customized Android tablet family. The Kindle Fire HD Kids is being covered in this post, but the main event is the refreshed versions of the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, Fire HD7, and the "all-new" Fire HD 6. These will make up Amazon's new line, scheduled to go on sale in October.
Amazon is currently offering the Wi-Fi version of its 32GB Kindle Fire 8.9 for $299.99, a discount of $130. For an extra 15 bucks, you can get the variant without ads (excuse me, special offers) instead. The discount applies to both, and it's valid for only today.
You can wait on the new Shield Tablet later this month, sure, but Amazon is looking to tempt you with a killer deal on a 7-inch Kindle HDX with LTE. If you can make do with Amazon's unique take on Android, you can get $100 off the normal price at all tiers.
We've been talking about Handy Apps' newest app, Expense IQ, and how it can help users be more aware of their finances, budgeting, save money, etc. But we haven't yet looked at one of EIQ's best features: Cloud Sync. This is an extremely important feature, as it not only makes moving data to a new device easy, but it also keeps a backup safe in the cloud (in your Dropbox account) and makes all info available across multiple devices.
The last we'd heard of Telltale Games' celebrated adaptation of The Walking Dead, it was slated for an OUYA exclusive Android release. It looks like someone got tired of waiting, because The Walking Dead is now available for download on Amazon's branded Appstore. But don't open a new tab just yet, zombie fans - it looks like this game is restricted to downloads on the Kindle Fire HDX (and probably the larger HDX 8.9) at the moment.
[Update: Winners] Win A 2013 Nexus 7 Or A Kindle Fire HDX From Handy Apps And Android Police
[Update: Winners] Win A 2013 Nexus 7 Or A Kindle Fire HDX From Handy Apps And Android Police
Handy Apps and Android Police are at it again - we've teamed up to give away some awesome devices with the folks over at HA, and this time we're offering up two great tablets.
Listen up, super-late Christmas shoppers: Best Buy has a pretty good deal going on seven-inch Kindle Fire HDXs today. You can score up to $82 off of various HDX models, and while they definitely won't arrive before Christmas (because, you know, that's today), they all have free shipping. Here's a full list of the options:
A week after Amazon took $50 off the price of the Kindle Fire HDX 7 for Cyber Monday, the company is back with another deal that will save customers nearly just as much money. For one day only, the 7-inch version of this year's Kindle tablet is available for 20% off, a savings of $45.80 on the version with ads and $48.80 on the one without.
Imagine your perfect full-sized tablet. It's light, thin, has a gorgeous high-resolution display, multiple-day battery life, powerful speakers, and a cutting-edge processor. The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is all these things and more. From a hardware and engineering standpoint, it is truly a marvel. And, for a certain class of buyer, it may very well be that "perfect" full-sized tablet.When I reviewed the Fire HD (7") last year, I came to a similar conclusion - I was wowed by the hardware (perhaps excepting the processor, which was a laggardly dual-core TI OMAP), but the software made it difficult to recommend for enthusiasts like you and me. Unfortunately, the story is largely the same this year, except Amazon's Fire OS feels all the more limited, I think, because the Fire HDX 8.9 really is such a great device.Multitasking is archaic even by iOS standards. Amazon's home-brewed browser, Silk, is still painfully bad. User customization options remain stripped down to the bare essentials - you can't even change the wallpaper in Fire OS. Much of this is by design. Amazon wants a tablet that's easy for almost anyone to pick up and use, regardless of age or technical experience. It does not want users to get lost in a seemingly endless array of menus and settings, rather, Fire OS is all about putting content front and center, and guiding you into Amazon's various content-distributing properties.That's not to say Fire OS is a complete failure in the functional sense, though. Quite the contrary - Fire OS is easy to navigate, runs very smoothly on that Snapdragon 800 processor, and I personally find the layout to be a welcome departure from Android, iOS, or Windows. It's not the most beautiful interface ever designed, but it feels bespoke to the Fire in a way that even the heavier UI layers from the likes of Samsung and LG can't approach. Once you get used to the way things are done in Amazon's world, some of it even starts to make a lot of sense.
Amazon isn't letting Google run away with the bargain-priced tablet market just yet. It's offering $50 discounts on the Kindle Fire HD and Fire HDX 7 for Cyber Monday. That means you've got to jump on it soon to secure the deal.
Amazon is now distributing an OTA update for the Fire OS that powers the Kindle Fire HD and HDX tablets. Version 3.1 brings deeper Goodreads integration, so users can more easily share favorite quotes with others, view what their friends are reading, and leave reviews. Readers can also import their Amazon library directly into the social network. This may not be the most exciting new feature, but it makes perfect sense for a tablet that is descendent from a line of e-readers.