Following the Fire Phone debacle in 2014, Amazon turned to subsidizing phones that were otherwise Android save for pre-installed apps and customizations. A new rumor suggests that Amazon is developing another branded smartphone, but with access to the Play Store.
Amazon has announced its latest addition to the Echo family, the $229 Amazon Echo Show. Adding to its popular range of home virtual assistant devices, the Show combines the usual Amazon Alexa voice commands with a 7-inch touchscreen, displaying information like weather reports and music lyrics in response to your voice queries.
It also features a camera to enable video calls between friends and family. The Echo Show is up for pre-order now, available in white or black models, and is shipping to customers from June 28.
Amazon’s “Android” tablets have never really gained a lot of traction, but it’s not because Amazon didn’t load them up with plenty of useful features. One feature on the company’s tablets that grabbed the attention of parents was FreeTime, and today, Amazon is bringing that to any Android device.
The high-performance far-field microphones found in Amazon Echo products may soon find their way to other hardware companies as Amazon has announced that the technology will be available to those who want to integrate into the Alexa Experience.
If you’re looking to save a bit of cash on a Moto G5 Plus and don’t mind ads on your lockscreen, Amazon has you covered. The mid-range handset is being added to the company’s Prime Exclusive Phones line-up, starting at $184.99 for the 2GB RAM/32GB storage model and rising to $239.99 for 4GB/64GB.
The Moto G5 Plus features a 5.2” Full HD display, fingerprint reader, octa-core processor, 4G LTE speed and compatibility with all major U.S. carriers […] Incredible pricing is supported by personalized offers and ads, including deals and product recommendations, displayed on the phone’s lock screen.
Announced at MWC last month, you get an unlocked phone with a decent spec in a metal design, saving around $45 on the retail price. Alternatively, if you’re just after a budget phone, the company has an option for just $59.99 …
This morning Amazon took the wraps off of a brand new type of convenience store that doesn’t require cashiers. Thanks to machine learning, Amazon plans to open physical stores that allow you to walk in, grab whatever you need, and head on out without ever taking out your wallet…
According to a report today from Bloomberg, Amazon is planning a premium “Echo-like” speaker powered by the company’s voice assistant Alexa. While the company building on its Echo success with a new speaker wouldn’t be surprising by itself, this one has a twist: it’s said to sport a large display…
Navigation by smartphone is easy and convenient, and the Google-owned Waze app is the top pick for many. Now, Amazon is teaming up with Waze to promote its new show, “The Grand Tour” by adding navigation directions voiced by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May.
Huawei today started selling the MediaPad M3 that it announced back at IFA on Amazon for $299. That’s great, if for some reason the Nexus 6P-lookalike caught your eye earlier this year. What’s also great (and by “great” I mean “terrible”) is that Huawei is also launching a pair of budget tablets today running Android 4.4 KitKat…
Last month we told you that the unlocked variant of the Moto Z went up for pre-order on Amazon in the UK, and now almost a month later, the same is true of the US Amazon store. You can pre-order the “Lunar Grey” model of the 64GB unlocked Moto Z for $699.99, and it’ll be available October 2nd.
Amazon has announced today that its Fire TV and Fire TV Stick media streaming devices will be receiving an over-the-air update that will enable a universal search that can find content on 75 different applications and channels. This means less time searching for a show and more time watching it.
If you’re an Amazon Prime member in the market for a low-cost unlocked Android phone, the company is offering $50 off the full retail price of two models. The budget BLU R1 HD, normally $99.99, is available for $49.99, while the 4th-gen version of the popular Moto G is down from $199.99 to $149.99.
Each phone is offered unlocked, with no commitment to a contract, giving Prime members the flexibility to switch between wireless carriers and service options to best fit their needs. The BLU R1 HD and Moto G feature Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Google Mobile Services, including Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Play …
Reuters reports that Amazon is preparing to take on Google, Apple, Spotify and the other music streaming services with a similar, full-fledged competitive subscription music service. That would be a step up from the limited catalog of music it currently offers to subscribers of its Prime shipping service that bundles perks for various Amazon services for a monthly or yearly fee.
If you search Amazon for streaming media players, you’ll find plenty of them. The one thing you won’t find is any Chromecast devices, and company CEO Jeff Bezos told the Re/code conference why not. Chromecast doesn’t currently offer access to Amazon’s own Prime Video platform, and Bezos says that isn’t because Google refuses to include it, but because it wants too much money for doing so.
[W]hen we sell those devices, we want our player — our Prime Video player — to be on the device, and we want it to be on the device with acceptable business terms. You can always get the player on the device. The question is, can you get it on there with acceptable business terms?
While he doesn’t say so outright, the meaning of the vague phrase is pretty clear …
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Nextbit has announced via a short blog post that it’s kicking off a limited time sale to celebrate its phone, the Robin, landing on Amazon. Between today and May 10th, you can order the Nextbit Robin for $299 SIM-free and unlocked in either Mint (green/white) or Midnight (navy). That’s $100 (25%) cheaper than it would normally cost to order from Nextbit direct. For $300, this phone is no slouch.
From 9to5Toys.com:
Amazon is once again offering a promotion for first time users of its Underground App Store that yields a $5 credit when select free apps are downloaded. The promotional credit can only be used to “purchase physical goods” at Amazon and expires 10 days after it is distributed. Full Terms and Conditions below. This is a great chance to load up your new $40 Fire Tablet with some top-rated games.
To redeem your $5 promotional credit, simply follow these directions:
Amazon first launched the Underground app store last August with over $10,000 worth of free titles for Android users. Learn more in our coverage here.
After the big splash made by smartphones and then, albeit with less of an impact, tablets, various forms of smartwatches have tried to sneak in into everyone’s digital life. As companies like Google and Apple try to extend their reach with increasingly bigger ecosystems that attempt to lock users in, the smartwatch race may prove to be an important area, despite the generally lukewarm reception consumers seem to have so far given.
Indeed, much like with chatbots, companies like Microsoft and Amazon may be interested in having a part of their services used right on your wrist, and while not directly coming from the Seattle company, it looks like Alexa may be your next wearable’s digital assistant. iMCO and Chronologics, the two companies behind the project, seem to be on track to deliver the “CoWatch” smartwatch, and have started an Indiegogo campaign that already raised over $10,000 in the first day of debut…
Following the launch of the Type-C equipped Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and Pixel C devices, Google engineer Benson Leung set out to save us from all the dodgy non-compliant cables and adapters available on Amazon. Without the correct technical compliance, a Type-C adapter could charge a device too slowly, or at worst, ruin the product. Following Leung’s extensive testing, Amazon has now prohibited the sale of non-compliant accessories.
Before former Android head Andy Rubin left Google, he headed up Google’s robotics efforts. In 2013, Google acquired numerous companies and added 300 robotics engineers. The crown jewel was Boston Dynamics, already known for their animal- and human-like robots. However, Bloomberg is now reporting that Alphabet is selling Boston Dynamics.
According to CRN and other sources, iCloud will soon be partially powered by the Google Cloud Platform by way of a deal that could also be used as leverage to cut its cloud costs with Amazon and Microsoft. Such a move is a big win for Google’s burgeoning cloud enterprise business.
Google might just be admitting a notable defeat in its battle with Amazon, with the latter company today saying that Nest thermostats will soon work with Alexa-powered devices. According to a report from Re/code, people familiar with the matter have said that Alphabet’s Nest unit explored the idea of building an Echo-like device at some point, but eventually came to the conclusion that customers wouldn’t be able to trust such a device that was built by the search engine behemoth…
We heard a couple of months ago that Amazon was working on a smaller, more portable version of its Echo voice assistant speaker, and now it’s here. Actually, Amazon has announced today two new Alexa-enabled devices, the Echo Dot (which is the aforementioned smaller version of the larger Echo), and the Amazon Tap, which is essentially an Alexa-enabled portable speaker…
When Alcatel OneTouch (now just Alcatel) launched the 5.5-inch Idol 3 last year, I think it’s fair to say many of us tech reviewers were pleasantly surprised. For a device costing under $300 it had an array of high end features, including a crisp, colorful big screen, great stereo sound and fantastic battery life. Of course, it also helped that the software was clean and almost stock Android.
