Amazon

• Android
• smartphones
• Amazon
• blu pure xl

BLU Pure XL is now available to pre-order on Amazon for $349

Not long ago, BLU announced its brand new flagship Android phone which — by its own standards — is highly specced and priced. The BLU Pure XL is a 6-inch monster with a QHD screen, costs $349 and has finally landed on Amazon.

By any standards, the specs are pretty solid. The 6-inch display on the front has a resolution of 2560 x 1440, giving it a pixel density of 490ppi. Powering the phone is the Helio X10 octa-core 2GHz processor, paired with 3GB RAM and a PowerVR GPU. What’s more, its sapphire crystal-coated primary camera boasts 24 megapixels, dual-tone flash and optical image stabilization. If all that wasn’t enough, it supports 24-bit/192kHz audio, quick charging and has a fingerprint sensor which can detect and verify your fingerprint in less than 10ms. It also has an 8MP wide angle front camera and 64GB internal storage which can be expanded up to a further 64GB.

Back in September when it was announced, the phone seemed like a no-brainer purchase for just 64GB. It’s not often you get an all-metal phone with these specs for anywhere near that price. Last year’s Nexus 6, however, has recently seen a huge drop in price thanks to the arrival of the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X. On eBay you can pick up a Nexus 6 for just $300, while Amazon is still selling them for $349.

• Google
• Amazon
• Data center
• Conference
• AWS

Amazon Web Services VP accidentally showed a picture of Google’s data centers at re:Invent

This is kind of humorous. At Amazon’s AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas last week, Amazon Web Services Vice President of Infrastructure Jerry Hunter accidentally showed a generic picture of one of Google’s data centers. This is the kind of minor mishap that usually goes completely unnoticed, but not this time. Google’s Urs Hölzle came out on Google+ late yesterday to point out the mistake, taking the opportunity to brag about Google Cloud Platform as “the world’s best infrastructure”…
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• Android
• Google
• Nexus 6
• Deals
• smartphones

Nexus 6 price drops further to $299, but not for long

With Google having recently announced the brand new LG and Huawei-made Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, it could be the perfect time to pick up last year’s “Pure Android” flagship. The Motorola Nexus 6 recently got dropped to just $349 on Amazon, but a third-party reseller on eBay has just undercut that price by a cool $50. You can buy last year’s stock Android flagship for just $299.

As far as specs go, the Nexus 6 still holds up really well. In fact, it’s still my daily driver. That’s mostly to do with how smoothly it runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow which I’ve been running since Dev Preview 2. It has a huge 5.9-inch QuadHD display, stereo front-facing speakers, 3220mAh battery with QuickCharge and Qi charging support along with Snapdragon’s powerful quad-core 805-series processor.

The eBay listing notes that quantities are limited, so if you’re wanting to snag the N6 as cheaply as possible, you should do so before inventory vanishes.

• Android
• 9to5Toys
• Wear OS
• Deals
• Tech Industry

9to5Toys Lunch Break: Amazon Prime $67, 64 GB Nexus 6 $370, Lytro 16GB Digital Camera $80, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Today only! Amazon slashes Prime memberships down to just $67

Motorola Nexus 6 Unlocked 64 GB: $370 shipped (Orig. $650) | Expansys

First Generation Lytro 16GB Digital Camera $80 (Orig. $199)

Daily Deals: Logitech Harmony Smart Control + Remote (Refurb) $65, Pebble Steel Smartwatch $100, more

Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone 32GB (unlocked): $430 shipped (Reg. $800) | eBay

GoPro HERO4 Session + $40 Amazon Gift Card: $299 ($440 value)

LAST CHANCE! Giveaway: This is Ground’s Mod Laptop 2 is a road warrior’s dream bag, up to $499 value

More new gear from today:

Samsung 850 EVO 2TB 2.5-inch Internal Solid-State Drive: $675 shipped (Reg. $745+)

• Games/Apps: Xbox One Halo 5 Wireless Controller pre-order $60, Star Wars Battlefront pre-order w/ $25 GC, more
• City Sports extra 20% off: Nike Pro Dri-Fit Hoodie $36 (Orig. $90), Under Armour & Adidas Jackets, more

More deals still alive:

LG G4 brand new smartphone 32GB (unlocked): $400 shipped (Reg. $800) | eBay

Brand new Google Nexus Player by ASUS: $50 shipped (Reg. $100) | Best Buy

• Seagate Backup Plus 8TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive $200 shipped (Reg. $250)
• Freebies: Krispy Kreme coffee & doughnut + Outdoor Life magazine + Natural Green Cleaning eBook + More!
• Double your iPhone 6/s battery capacity w/ this 3,100mAh MFi Apple-Certified Case for $20 Prime shipped (Reg. $37)
• The best USB car charger (Aukey 4 port/48W) is just $7 Prime shipped, Lumsing 6000mAh Power bank: $10
• Shine on! Free MP3 Downloads: Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (Reg. $8), much more
• Jawbone’s new high fashion UP2 Activity Tracker gets its first discount: $80 shipped (Reg. $100)
• Canon AirPrint Color InkJet Printers: MG7520 $80 (Reg. $100), MG6620 $50 (Reg. $65+)
• QNAP NAS w/ AirPlay: TS-131 1-Bay $135 (Orig. $215), HS-210 2-Bay Fanless $145 (Orig. $289)
• KeySmart 2.0 Titanium Key Organizer: $30 Shipped (Orig. $44, CA Tax Only)
• Lyrix Axis Levitating Wireless-Charging Speaker: $140 Shipped (Orig. $200, CA Tax Only)
• Apple iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi up to $150 off (all colors): 16GB $349, 64GB $449, 128GB $549 (Reg. up to $699)
• Runtastic’s Push Ups PRO for iOS goes free (Reg. $2)
• Bluetooth speakers: I-Venstar waterproof $26 (Reg. $35), Altec Lansing $44 (Reg. $54), more
• Grand Theft Auto iOS titles $3 ea: Chinatown Wars, Vice City and GTA III (Reg. $5 ea.)
• Jump into the Rainbow Six Siege closed beta on Xbox One, PS4, and PC for free
• Freebies: Cinnabon MiniBons + 8BitBoy on Steam + Zipcar $25 credit + More!
• Freebies: Best of albums from Elvis, Nas, 311, more + Nikola Tesla eBook + more!
• VIZIO 49-inch M49-C1 120Hz Smart 4K UHDTV $590 shipped (Reg. $720)
• Headphones: Symphonized Wooden In-ear $16 (Reg. $25), Sennheiser Over-ear + DAC $500, more
• GoPro HERO4 Black $389 + shipping (Reg. $500), HERO+ LCD $249 (Reg. $300)
• MacUpdate Bundle: 10 apps including Toast 14, DevonThink, ExpanDrive, Boom, and more for $50
• Rolo Travel Bag: $45 Shipped (Orig. $60, CA Tax Only)
• Private Internet Access VPN offers browsing protection, 2-year subscription now $60 (Orig. $80)
• proXPN VPN: Premium Lifetime Subscription $39 ($375 value)
• Pandora One: 6-Month Subscription $24 (Reg. $30)

New products & more:

Kwikset drops the extras on its new internet-connected deadbolt lock to hit a lower price point

Apple’s new Beats Active Collection brings sporty colors to familiar headphones

• Minecraft is set to hit the Oculus Rift VR headset this spring
• Skreens combines your DVR, Xbox One, Roku and more onto one screen
• Polk’s new flagship Omni S6 speaker goes after the multi-room audio crown
• Fallout 4 LE Loot Crate features over $150 worth of rare gear, pre-order now
• Sony reveals the first 1TB PlayStation 4 for North America w/ new COD: Black Ops III bundle
• Samsung goes old school on its new Serif TV set with help from fonts
• Infento’s Constructible Rides are a K’NEX-like bicycle system that grows with your kid
• The Makerarm 3D prints, laser engraves, and even assembles your electronics
• Square Enix is bringing the new Final Fantasy Type-0 Online to iOS, Android and P
• Review: Tile’s 2nd-gen Bluetooth tracker makes finding lost keys, dog, or iPhone easier than ever

• Android
• Wear OS
• Huawei Watch
• Google Store
• Amazon

Huawei Watch is now available for shipping within 1-2 days from Google Store, Amazon

If you pre-ordered the Huawei Watch, you might be interested in knowing that your order has most likely shipped. If you haven’t ordered a Huawei Watch yet, though, and you plan to, I have especially good news: The device is now available for shipping within 1-2 business days from the Google Store, Amazon, and other outlets.

The Huawei Watch starts at $350, with model availability varying between outlets. The Google Store, for instance, only offers the “Silver” Huawei Watch with a Milanese-like bracelet. Amazon, however, offers three different variants, black w/ link bracelet, silver w/ leather band, and stainless w/ stainless link bracelet, at $350, $400, and $450, respectively.

The Huawei Watch packs a 1.4-inch screen in a 42mm body and a 400 x 400 resolution screen at 286 pixels per inch. It sports 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of on-board storage, a gyroscope & accelerometer, PPG (photoplethysmogram), and a barometer. There’s also a built-in mic, with all of this powered by a 300 mAh battery.

We have lots of Huawei Watch content on the way, so keep and eye out for our full review and more.

• Android
• Amazon
• rumors
• Leaks
• Kindle Fire

Upcoming 10-inch Amazon Kindle Fire tablet press render leaked

A press render of Amazon’s upcoming 10-inch Kindle Fire tablet has been leaked ahead of its alleged launch. Although we’re light on specs, the renders show the (rather uninspiring) design of the next Kindle Fire. The image comes from well-known and usually reliable leaker, Evan Blass on Twitter.

From the renders, it appears the next Kindle Fire will have a completely flat front and back, with a slightly more angled, metallic frame around the edges. We can just about make out the power/sleep key on the top edge as well as the front and rear camera. Amazon’s branding is expectedly prominent, although the software is a completely different story. If the render is accurate, it looks like Amazon’s new software will be much more in line with standard Android. Or, at the very list, Amazon software disguised as standard Android. Whatever the software is, it’s a far cry from Amazon’s previous efforts.

Previous Kindle Fire tablets have featured a cover flow-like user interface, pushing Amazon apps and content to the forefront, similar to the UI found on the Amazon Fire TV and Stick. If Evan’s leak is anything close to the finished product (which it normally is), it’ll certainly make a refreshing change from a user experience perspective.It almost certainly has something to do with having fewer staff to work on skins after the job cuts recently. Perhaps it’s a lesson learned by Amazon after the catastrophic failure that was the Fire Phone. A shift to a more familiar UI will surely make the product less confusing to regular consumers.

We don’t yet have a release date, price or specs for the 10-inch tablet, but there have been rumors of a $50 6-inch model which is expected to hit the market in time for the holiday season. Both tablets will likely be announced and released at the same time to take advantage of the busy Q4 shipping period.

• Apps and Updates
• Amazon
• Android apps
• Amazon Underground
• App of the Day

Amazon’s new Underground app for Android delivers over $10,000 worth of free apps and games

From 9to5Toys.com:

Amazon has launched a new service for Android users that will deliver “over $10,000 in paid apps, games and in-app items” for free. Amazon Underground is replacing the popular Free App of the Day promotion. The promotion page teases Frozen Free Fall, Star Wars Rebels: Missions, and Goat Simulator amongst others that will be available as a part of this promotion.

Here is how you claim your free apps:

First, visit this page and enter your phone number or email address to have the Amazon Underground for Android app sent to your device. After you have received the app invitation, go to your phone settings, tap security or applications, check the Unknown Service Box and hit ‘OK’. Then open your downloads by going to My Files or Files and tap on the Amazon App file. Tap ‘install’ when prompted. Finally, tap ‘Open’ on the Amazon Undergound App and use the menu on the left to navigate to Apps & Games.

Amazon currently lists over 470 games that are apart of this promotion on the Underground page. You’ll find top apps from Disney, ZeptoLab, Zynga and more.

• Apps & Updates
• Android
• Apps and Updates
• update
• Amazon
• app

Amazon Shopping v5.7 for Android brings ability to sign up with a phone number

As more and more Internet usage shifts towards mobile, particularly to smartphones, app developers are recognizing the phone number as an ideal identifier for new users. Snapchat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger are just three examples of hugely popular apps which support signing up using your phone number in lieu of an email address, and which can also use the contact list to build up a network of connections within their apps. Now Amazon is jumping into the fold.

In the newest version of Amazon Shopping for Android, the company’s main mobile experience through which customers can purchase items and track orders, the onboarding flow for new customers has been updated to support signing up using just a name, phone number, and password. New customers who’d prefer to use an email address can click “Use your email instead.” The update hasn’t fully propagated in the Play Store just yet, but can be downloaded right now through APKMirror (click here). For that to work you need to visit Settings > Security on your device and toggle on “Unknown sources.”

This shift to phone number-based identification for apps makes total sense. Phone numbers are a native feature on smartphones – I like to call them an “atomic unit.” SMS and phone calls work right out of the box, whereas with email you have to launch an email app and then sign up and/or authenticate with a third-party provider, just to begin receiving messages. At the very least, by allowing onboarding with phone numbers, app developers make the onboarding process much faster, tremendously reducing the friction and bounce rate (users who download an app but leave before signing up). That’s what Amazon has done here.

• Android
• Smartphone
• Amazon
• release
• India

YU announces the Yureka Plus w/ full HD 5.5-inch display, Snapdragon 615 for $157

Almost all phone manufacturers seem to be launching “Plus” handset variants this year, and Micromax subsidiary YU isn’t an exception. The company first launched its YU Yureka handset late last year, and now, you can buy a “Plus” version of the device that packs a higher-resolution screen and some very minor spec improvements across the board…
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• Android
• IPhone
• Microsoft
• Amazon
• iPad

Microsoft’s $99 Universal Foldable Keyboard for Android & other devices now available

Microsoft’s new Universal Foldable Keyboard, first unveiled earlier this year, is now available to purchase online and through Microsoft stores. The super portable Bluetooth keyboard folds in half when not in use and allows users to connect to two mobile devices at once including Android, iPhones, iPads, and Windows devices.

Microsoft notes that the keyboard has full-size keys, a spill-resistant, water-repellent keyboard and outer material, and a built-in rechargeable battery that will get you around three months of use on a charge. There’s also an “OS” button for switching between connected devices. Here’s a closer look at the keyboard:

The Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard is available for $100 on Amazon, and it’s also available through Microsoft retail stores and online.

Microsoft made a new video for today’s launch to show off some of the keyboard’s features and its compact, 5mm thin design:

[youtube=https://youtu.be/zNrop5Mwv0g]