Redirect Notice
The previous page is sending you to class = “readability-styled”>.
If you do not want to visit that page, you can return to the previous page.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Review: Kobo and Kindle combine the best of tablets and eReaders - Calgary Herald
Redirect Notice
The previous page is sending you to class = “readability-styled”>.
If you do not want to visit that page, you can return to the previous page.
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 review - V3.co.uk
Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is the successor to last year’s Kindle Fire HD 8.9, which sees Amazon stepping up its hardware game. However, there’s a price to pay for the tablet’s higher end specifications, as the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 costs £ 100 more than its predecessor.
This pits Amazon up against the big products in the tablet market, including Apple’s iPad Air and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1. However, with Amazon’s Fire operating system (OS) featuring a somewhat lacklustre app selection, we’re not sure that it’s ready for prime time.
Design
The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is not the best looking tablet on the market right now, but it’s a definite improvement over last year’s model.
The rear of the tablet is constructed from two plastic materials. Most of the back is covered in a rubberised, soft-touch plastic material similar to that on the Google Nexus 7, which makes the device comfortable to hold. Those who like to keep their tablet free of fingerprints might not be impressed by the material, however, as we have found that the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 takes the title of grubbiest tablet, with the backing and display prone to picking up grease and grime.
An angled glossy black plastic bar covers the top of the tablet, which adds a bit of interest to its appearance. The tablet’s physical buttons make things a bit more interesting too, with Amazon taking a leaf out of LG’s book by placing the Power and Volume keys on the back of the tablet. Although these took a while to get used to, we soon found our fingers moving naturally to the buttons.
In terms of size, the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 gives the iPad Air a run for its money. Although it’s not quite as skinny as the iPad Air, Amazon’s tablet measures a mere 7.8mm thick and tips the scales at 374g, lighter than Apple’s latest flagship iPad. This means that the device doesn’t get uncomfortable to use over long periods, and we found that we barely noticed it when we chucked it in our bag.
Display
On paper, the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 packs an 8.9in 2560×1600 IPS LCD touchscreen display with a pixel density of 339ppi.
This display performs just as well as, if not better than Amazon’s top-end rivals. HD movies look great, the screen is especially bright, and we found viewing angles were on a par with those found on the iPad Air.
As previously mentioned, however, during our time with the tablet the screen has proven a nightmare for picking up fingerprints, and it’s likely that it will need a daily clean.
Next: Performance, operating system.
GET UPDATES FROM Kathryn Ma - Huffington Post
I’m pissed. Nobody gave me a Kindle for Christmas. Okay, like most writers, I’ve been bad-mouthing Amazon for years. Indie bookstores I love have been disappeared in the middle of the night, hooded and dragged to the stadium, never to be heard from again. With no bargaining power in an industry taking a ride that makes any Six Flags roller coaster look like a punt glide on the Thames, no authors I know make enough money from writing to pay for more than website design and the refill on kombucha that gets them a second hour at the local café, otherwise known as the office. Whom can we blame for that? Amazon, of course.
From the moment it appeared in the marketplace, I disdained the Kindle. Its cold plastic box was freeze-dried fare next to the groaning board of my books. The schadenfreude I felt every time I read about how consumers hated that they couldn’t tell when the book was about to end, or flip back for a character’s patronymic, or make notes in the margin, gave me Asian wine glow. I didn’t need acetaldehyde to bring an attractive flush to my cheeks: Amazon did it for me, by pushing a paltry product. My brother got one, and flourished it during a visit. “Get that thing out of my house!” I demanded. He had stopped in San Francisco on his way to a meeting with some Seattle bigwig; I think the guy’s name was Bezos. My brother called me from SEA-TAC, frantic. Had he left his Kindle on my coffee table? He had. I chortled to myself as I stuffed it in a FedEx envelope for rush return, the bubble wrap bulging like a wet diaper. Books didn’t need to be swaddled.
The first sign that the line of defense was crumbling came from within our own ranks. I’m part of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, a community of writers and filmmakers. A veteran journalist and author at the Grotto whose work, and work ethic, I admire gushed one day at lunch about how much she loved her Kindle. “To the barricades!” I should have shouted, but I didn’t recognize the danger. The Kindle crowd, it turned out, wasn’t terrorist cell, but the masses. Within weeks, I realized that mine was the losing battle. Everywhere I traveled, I saw people reading on the Kindle, the way you see the exact same model and color of the car you just bought, like a private message from the universe: you are not alone in this world.
My sister-in-law got one. My preteen niece. A member of the True to the Mood Book Club, to which I’d belonged for twenty-five years. She’s literature-crazy, my book club cohort; she can parley from Flannery O’Connor all the way to le Carré. Yet even she was showing up for our gabfests toting her famous red velvet cupcakes and that piece of gray plastic. The exact color, by the way, of the humane traps my husband sets out in the furnace room to catch the Mice Who Come In From the Cold.
I began to play with my niece’s Kindle every time she came over. I snuck peeks over strangers’ shoulders on the subway and the bus. The best practices of the San Francisco Muni – twenty minutes late, if the bus is coming at all – gave me plenty of time to study the rapt expressions of readers face-down to their Kindles. The text looked good; the portability handy. A horrible thought washed over me: I wanted one myself.
The device got better and better. The price plummeted. For what it delivered, the thing was absurdly affordable. The trouble was, I didn’t want to give Amazon my money. I had spent a good deal of breath telling everyone how books were better than bytes. The platitudes came rushing: I had sworn to vote with my wallet, swim against the tide, preserve a way of life. To buy a Kindle for myself would demagnetize my moral compass.
I compromised, installing the Kindle app on my iPad. Only because I’m traveling, I told myself over a whiskey. On the road, I downloaded books, some free, some from the Amazon store. But the iPad wasn’t as easy to read as the Kindle, and I couldn’t slip it into my purse or pocket.
“Can I borrow your Kindle for my trip to Spain?” I asked around. The answer, resoundingly, was “no.” The Hunger Games were afoot, and couldn’t be interrupted. Like the president on Obamacare, I rethought my policy, and shifted my bottom line: wouldn’t it be acceptable if someone else bought me the Kindle?
“I wonder how this would read on a Kindle?” I asked within earshot of my husband. I talked about shoulder pain, the overstuffed bag I carried. I mentioned to my children how a Kindle would be kinda convenient. I got very specific, naming the Paperwhite. The Kindles of all my loved ones I fondled with unabashed ardor. My hopes rose when my sister entertained me with a roll-of-the-eyeballs story about how my niece had redeemed their pocket change in a Coinstar kiosk not for cash or food but an Amazon gift card. It was a bucketload of change, enough to buy me a Kindle.
Hanukkah came and went. I didn’t get the Kindle. No worries, I told myself. We’re a multicultural family, and Christmas would soon be here. Everyone by then had surely gotten the memo. A last ampoule of guilt dripped into my traitorous veins. Making my moral bargain, I went to all my favorite bookstores to purchase real books by the bagful. This was more than a tepid gesture. I spread my custom wide: four counties, six bookstores, a dozen gleaming volumes. Hardbacks, full retail. I was atoning for the future, making prospective amends. I wrapped each book myself, and set my presents under the tree, offerings to the indie gods, a plea for forgiveness.
Santa is a big deal in our house. He brings good booty. Paper piled up; bows and ribbons festooned the floor. The last promising package was set before me. I tore off its wrapper. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, all 835 pages, weighing in at 2 lbs., 8.5 ozs. My husband beamed.
I suppose I should thank him. My purity’s been preserved. I’ve circled a date in red on his calendar. Valentine’s Day. I think he’ll take the hint.
Kathryn Ma’s debut novel, The Year She Left Us , will be published in May 2014 by HarperCollins.
Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8GB specs revisited in 2014 - Product Reviews
Although the main 2013 Holiday season is now over, it is still a really good time to pick up a deal on the tablet that you intended to buy last year. One of these tablets is the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8GB model, as we’ve spotted that the popular tablet is now selling for an incredibly low price.
The tablet is already considered to be one of the best choices for value with great features that you still get out of the box. It seems that Amazon and Google are head and shoulders above everyone else for offering both performance and value in a complete package, with the trend likely to continue in 2014 as well.
If you are hunting for the 8GB Kindle Fire, you’ll want to do your shopping at Best Buy. This is because you can now pick one up for just $ 119.99, a crazy price when you consider the wonders that await you with a Kindle Fire device.
It may not be the newer Kindle Fire HDX which comes with a quad-core based setup, but performance is still more than fine on the HD model. For example, the device will feature a 1.5Ghz dual-core Cortex A9 processor, 1Gb of RAM and a PowerVR-based GPU.
The 8GB Kindle Fire is still also fully supported by Amazon, so you’ll be getting the latest version of Fire OS 3.0, which is based off Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean – so in other words, it’s definitely not a discontinued version which is great.
Considering that we saw many cheap tablets under $ 100 during the November sales, this is a lovely offer here on the 8GB Kindle Fire 7-inch model. Let us know if you are interested, or if you’ll be saving your money for something else in 2014.
You can add us to your circle on Google+, follow us on Twitter, join the photo community on Pinterest, or like our Facebook page to keep updated on all the latest news.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Mayday Problems Addressed Within 9 Seconds - Guardian Express
Amazon came to the rescue on Christmas, answering the Mayday calls of new Kindle Fire HDX owners who were having emergency meltdown situations, in an average of just 9 seconds. Amazon employees gave up their holiday so that the new owners of the Kindle Fire HDX would have a happier and less stress-filled Christmas.
There is a Mayday button on Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX devices that contacts the support center when it is pressed. Then, the face of an Amazon technician appears on the screen to guide whoever has pressed the button through his or her problem. The tech support person can take over the screen, and draw upon it. The tech support person can let users of the tablet know the steps needed to resolve the problem and let you go from there; or, take over the tablet, and fix the problem for you.
Amazon had a goal of responding within 15 seconds whenever anyone pushed the built-in Mayday button. The Mayday tech support service debuted when the Kindle HDX Fire did, in September.
The tech support beat that goal on Christmas, responding to problems consumers had in an average of just 9 seconds. The Mayday tech support team will be available around the clock, 24/7, every day of the year, to help anyone who might encounter a problem while using the Kindle Fire HDX, and at no cost to the consumer.
On at least one occasion on Christmas, the Mayday button was not pressed because a new owner was having a problem with his / her purchase. The button was, instead, pushed by carolers who appreciate the job that Amazon’s tech support was doing, and wanted to wish them a Merry Christmas.
Consumers can even press the Mayday button if they have questions about the Kindle Fire HDX, such as how it works, if it has any hidden features, or if they even would like suggestions about a great game to play on their new 7 “or 8.9″ tablets.
According to Amazon Kindle Vice President, David Limp, the company is glad and excited “that millions of customers opened a Kindle Fire tablet this holiday season,” and Amazon is also glad that “so many customers tried out the Mayday button. “
Amazon had what was possibly their best Christmas season yet. In the third week of December, alone, Amazon gained over a million new Prime members. On Cyber ??Monday, consumers ordered a whopping 36.8 million items from the company.
With the Mayday button on their Kindle Fire HDX tablets, Amazon has taken customer support to the next level. Being able to help their customers within 9 seconds after the Mayday button is pressed will likely earn Amazon lots satisfied customers and repeat business as they launch new products in the future.
If only someone who works at Amazon, or elsewhere, could come up with a Mayday button to solve some of life’s other problems, like umbrellas that turn inside-out in storms, or what to do about snack machines that take your last quarter but don’t cough up your snack in return.
Written by: Douglas Cobb
TomsHardware.com
PCMag.com
Pingzine.com
Amazon Press Release
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Mayday Problems Addressed Within 9 Seconds - Guardian Express
Amazon came to the rescue on Christmas, answering the Mayday calls of new Kindle Fire HDX owners who were having emergency meltdown situations, in an average of just 9 seconds. Amazon employees gave up their holiday so that the new owners of the Kindle Fire HDX would have a happier and less stress-filled Christmas.
There is a Mayday button on Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX devices that contacts the support center when it is pressed. Then, the face of an Amazon technician appears on the screen to guide whoever has pressed the button through his or her problem. The tech support person can take over the screen, and draw upon it. The tech support person can let users of the tablet know the steps needed to resolve the problem and let you go from there; or, take over the tablet, and fix the problem for you.
Amazon had a goal of responding within 15 seconds whenever anyone pushed the built-in Mayday button. The Mayday tech support service debuted when the Kindle HDX Fire did, in September.
The tech support beat that goal on Christmas, responding to problems consumers had in an average of just 9 seconds. The Mayday tech support team will be available around the clock, 24/7, every day of the year, to help anyone who might encounter a problem while using the Kindle Fire HDX, and at no cost to the consumer.
On at least one occasion on Christmas, the Mayday button was not pressed because a new owner was having a problem with his / her purchase. The button was, instead, pushed by carolers who appreciate the job that Amazon’s tech support was doing, and wanted to wish them a Merry Christmas.
Consumers can even press the Mayday button if they have questions about the Kindle Fire HDX, such as how it works, if it has any hidden features, or if they even would like suggestions about a great game to play on their new 7 “or 8.9″ tablets.
According to Amazon Kindle Vice President, David Limp, the company is glad and excited “that millions of customers opened a Kindle Fire tablet this holiday season,” and Amazon is also glad that “so many customers tried out the Mayday button. “
Amazon had what was possibly their best Christmas season yet. In the third week of December, alone, Amazon gained over a million new Prime members. On Cyber ??Monday, consumers ordered a whopping 36.8 million items from the company.
With the Mayday button on their Kindle Fire HDX tablets, Amazon has taken customer support to the next level. Being able to help their customers within 9 seconds after the Mayday button is pressed will likely earn Amazon lots satisfied customers and repeat business as they launch new products in the future.
If only someone who works at Amazon, or elsewhere, could come up with a Mayday button to solve some of life’s other problems, like umbrellas that turn inside-out in storms, or what to do about snack machines that take your last quarter but don’t cough up your snack in return.
Written by: Douglas Cobb
TomsHardware.com
PCMag.com
Pingzine.com
Amazon Press Release
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)