Amazon announced today new sharing functionality for its Kindle app that’s exclusive to the Android version until later this year. The new functionality provides the ability to share quotes, highlights, and book recommendations with friends over a host of different messaging services, and instant book previews for those who are on the receiving end of these shares.
Amazon’s Fire brand of tablets and smartphones has mostly been panned as a flop. The company’s intense focus on being cheap and transferring every last penny of saved value onto the customer seemingly doesn’t translate into a culture good at building attractive devices, it seems. Nonetheless, Amazon has an updated version of the Fire OS that powers these things out and available for developers to test their apps on.
Update: It looks like the Amazon Appstore actually began rolling out to devices with the 10.3.1 update, and that BlackBerry was simply re-highlighting the feature it added previously. Perhaps humorously, it looks like not enough people use BlackBerry devices to even know if the addition is new or not. Some users have told us that they’ve had the Appstore by default since 10.3.1, which makes us think this feature is old. Move along.
BlackBerry is rumored to be going with an Android OS for its next hardware release, according to a report from Reuters last week. But while we haven’t heard anything about that handset quite yet, it looks like BlackBerry is already giving in to the inevitable fact that it just can’t keep up with the competition — on the software front, at least. Starting today, owners of some BlackBerry devices will be receiving an update that gives access to Android apps by way of Amazon’s Appstore…
Sony’s mid-range, IP68-certified dust and water resistant smartphone has started showing up on store shelves in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, but those of us in the US have been mostly in the dark – until today, however.
The phone is being sold on Amazon through a reseller, but fulfilled by Amazon, for $349 unlocked in black with 8GB of onboard storage (no microSD card included). The LTE bands this phone can connect to are supported on all the major US carriers, so bringing it to your favorite shouldn’t be a problem.
You might want to get a microSD card to go along with it, however, as the M4 Aqua out of the box only has 1.26GB of free storage. The phone is otherwise packing a solid punch for the price with a 5.0″ 720 x 1280 pixel-resolution screen, a 1GHz octa-core Snapdragon 610 processor, 13MP rear shooter, and 2GB of RAM.
<a href="http://recode.net/2015/05/27/google-confirms-buy-button-is-coming/">Image via Re/code</a>
Speaking at the Code Conference in California, Google’s chief business officer Omid Kordestani confirmed that the company is in fact planning on adding a “buy” button to search results. This feature has been rumored for several months and is a way for Google to compete more seriously with the likes of Amazon and eBay.
As announced would happen earlier today, the Asus ZenFone 2 is now available on Amazon in unlocked and contract-free fashion. The device is available in a 16GB variant for $200 and a 64GB variant for $300.
From 9to5Toys.com:
Amazon is back with another bunch of free Android apps and games. This time the booty is worth more than $110 and includes a few big name titles. All of these downloads will work on any Android device, but you’ll need to install the Amazon App Store for Android first. Once you do that you’ll be ready to start downloading. This promo ends May 16, 2015 at 11:59 PST. Here are our top picks:
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Moto 360 available for $180 (Reg. $250) for a limited time
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IKAWA’s coffee roaster brings the experience home w/ iOS connectivity and custom recipes
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HooToo USB 3.0 Hubs: 3-port w/ Gigabit Ethernet $12 (Reg. $24), 4-port $7 (Reg. $14)Hurry! Get two Philips LED Light Bulbs for $4.97 (backordered, but finally avail for order!) http://t.co/QiNSIcu0Fx pic.twitter.com/vmnEQJlyqB
— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) April 23, 2015
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WD Wireless 2TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive streams 4 HD videos at a time, on sale for $160 (Reg. $200)
Hurry! Get two Philips LED Light Bulbs for $4.97 (backordered, but finally avail for order!) http://t.co/QiNSIcu0Fx pic.twitter.com/vmnEQJlyqB
— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) April 23, 2015
Alcatel originally announced its Idol 3 budget smartphone at Mobile World Congress and now the device is available for pre-order. While the company had originally promised an April 21st pre-order date, it’s now offering an early bird special on Amazon and its own website. For the brief time being, the 5.5-inch Idol 3 is available on Amazon and Alcatel’s website for $200. That’s $80 off the anticipated price.
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Today, thanks to an update to the Amazon Prime Instant Video app, Amazon is finally allowing users to stream video content on Android tablets (via Android Police). Previously, Prime Instant Video only worked with Android phones, and more recently with Fire devices and iOS devices. The functionality of the app hasn’t changed—users still have to launch Prime Instant Videos from their web browser.
Sadly, support for Chromecast is nowhere in sight, and probably won’t be around any time soon considering how long it has taken Amazon to support Android tablets.
Now watch Amazon Instant Video on your Android phones and tablets. Android tablet customers can search and browse for videos on Amazon.com in their web browser and tap Watch Now to have the Prime Instant Video app begin playing the video.
You can download Amazon Instant Video version 2.0.45.1010 for free from the Amazon App Store (and only the Amazon App Store, sadly).
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Amazon has today announced that a bunch of new features are heading to the company’s Fire TV media streaming device. Coming as an over-the-air update in “the coming weeks,” the new software features expandable USB storage, the ability to connect to WiFi connections that require web authentication, private listening on Fire TV, a new hidden PIN entry screen, the ability to search Prime Playlists, new shortcuts, and more.
Some of these features are coming to the company’s more compact Fire TV Stick device in a couple of weeks, too. While expandable USB storage and private listening seem to be only coming to the standard Fire TV due to hardware restraints, the new WiFi features, Prime Playlists, hidden PIN entry screen, and shortcuts seem to be coming to the Chromecast-competitor as well.
Additionally, Amazon has also announced today that the Fire TV Stick is coming to a couple new European countries—UK and Germany— on April 15th.
SEATTLE—March 24, 2015—(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today announced new features are coming to the best-selling Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. These features will be delivered as part of a free, over-the-air software update in the coming weeks. Amazon also announced today that Fire TV Stick is now available in the UK and Germany, joining the #1-selling streaming media box, Amazon Fire TV.
“Customer response to Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick has been overwhelming—we’ve been working hard to build more of both as quickly as possible, and we’re excited to be adding new features we think customers will love,” said Peter Larsen, Vice President, Amazon Devices. “In the UK and Germany, Fire TV is already the best-selling streaming media box on Amazon, and we’re thrilled to be bringing our fastest-selling Amazon device ever—Fire TV Stick—to the UK and Germany. We think millions of customers in the UK and Germany are going to love this product.”
New features coming as part of the free, over-the-air software update include:
- Expandable USB storage on Amazon Fire TV—You can now use a connected USB mass storage device to expand your Fire TV storage for downloaded apps and games—this enables you to have more games downloaded for easy access.
- Connect to your hotel or dorm room Wi-Fi with captive portal support out of the box—Take your favorite movies, TV shows, games, and more with you away from home—Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick are the first streaming media devices to enable you to connect to Wi-Fi that requires web authentication—this includes Wi-Fi at most major hotels, as well as some universities.
- Private listening on Fire TV—Enjoy favorite movies and TV shows after the kids go to sleep, without worrying about waking them up. Support for wireless Bluetooth headphones to Fire TV lets you listen to your movie, TV show, or music without bothering others in your household.
- Browse and search Prime Playlists—Prime members can now take advantage of hand-crafted Prime Music playlists directly from Fire TV and Fire TV Stick—there are hundreds of expertly curated Prime Playlists to choose from based on your mood, activity or even artist or decade of choice.
- Hidden PIN entry—With the new PIN entry screen that hides the numbers selected, you can now make sure your kids (or freeloading friends) can’t see your device PIN as you enter it on-screen to confirm a purchase on Fire TV or Fire TV Stick.
- New shortcuts—Quickly put your Fire TV or Fire TV Stick to sleep or enable display mirroring by pressing and holding the Home button on your remote.
Fire TV and Fire TV Stick are available for purchase at www.amazon.com/firetv and www.amazon.com/firetvstick. Fire TV Stick is available to order starting today in the UK and Germany—it will start shipping on April 15. Learn more at www.amazon.co.uk/firetvstick and www.amazon.de/firetvstick.
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Amazon free app of the day: Drawing Pad (Reg. $2)JayBird BlueBuds X Sport Bluetooth Headphones $119 shipped (Reg. $170)
Best Buy 4 hour sale: $100 off Nexus 9 tablets/accessories deals http://t.co/kvjezCi1RZ pic.twitter.com/yNQuuhxilD
— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) March 23, 2015
Belkin Fusive Portable Bluetooth Speaker $34 Prime shipped (Reg. up to $85)Bosch’s new REAXX table saw uses advanced sensors to protect your hands
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