Not a week passes without a couple of new rumors and purported leaks of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S flagship smartphone. Though Samsung hasn’t confirmed its name yet, we’ll assume for now that it will be called the Galaxy S III, following the naming convention of its predecessors.
So here’s a summary of this week’s rumors in an easy to digest form.
Amazon has been testing a redesigned website for a while now and judging by the fact that it’s now randomly appearing more and more regularly over the old website, we would incline to say that a launch could be imminent.
The new website offers cleaner design and bigger navigational objects. The iconic blue and orange bar has disappeared and in its place you get a simple white and grey design.
Everything from the search box, to the Cart and Wish List buttons have become bigger. It’s apparent that the new design is touch and tablet-optimized. Obviously tablets are quickly becoming the future’s shop windows and Amazon is no stranger to the trend with the Kindle Fire.
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Amazon has jumped the gun on the yet unannounced Fujifilm X-Pro1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC). We saw details of the X-Pro1 camera leaked two days ago together with its three lenses.
Now each of the lenses has acquired an Amazon product page and a price. Although all lenses were rumored to be priced $600 each at launch, both the 18mm (27mm equivalent) f/2.0 and 35mm (53mm equivalent) f/1.4 lens have been priced at $500, while the macro 60mm (90mm equivalent) f/2 lens is priced at $600.
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It had to happen. Someone was bound to get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich running on Amazon’s budget conscious 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet. Thanks to the Android developer community a pre-alpha version of Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) can now be seen running on the Fire and if you are feeling extremely adventurous you can go ahead and download the test ROM to start tinkering.
The pre-alpha ROM is based on the public Android Open Source Project (AOSP) release of ICS, and judging from the video, things are going well on the development front. Main issues are with audio and video not always working properly. The video and download link are after the break.
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One of the limitations of Amazon’s new 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet, is that you are restricted to the apps available on Amazon’s Appstore for Android rather than the full Android Market. So what happens when you want to use an app that’s available in the Android Market but hasn’t yet reached Amazon’s store.
There is actually a not-too-complicated way around that limitation. Although, if you wanted to sideload applications on the B&N Nook Color you had to actually root it first, Amazon hasn’t really locked-down the Kindle Fire. It all falls down to enabling a simple option in settings.
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Barnes & Noble is preparing its own 7-inch budget and book/magazine-centric Nook Tablet to rival the Amazon Kindle Fire. Where the Nook Color was lacking, the Nook Tablet has more than made up for it. On one hand, the Nook Tablet, has a faster processor than the Kindle fire, it’s lighter, has double the RAM and on-board storage and can take microSD cards. On the other hand Amazon has a huge cloud presence and a bigger library in terms of content — books, music, movies. The Amazon Appstore also has a bigger selection of apps. Confused? Well, we’ve got all the details for both devices for you in a handy comparison chart, which you’ll find after the break. You might also want to check our initial Kindle Fire vs. Nook Color comparison.
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If you own the Amazon Kindle 3, which has now been renamed to Kindle Keyboard, you might want to take note. Amazon has just released a software update for the E-Ink e-Reader, version 3.3. The update brings to the Kindle Keyboard some of the new features found in the latest generation of Kindle readers/tablets such as Whispersync, to synchronize your annotations, bookmarks and last page read with all your devices, and cloud storage for all your documents so you can access them wirelessly anytime.
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It’s no secret that the upcoming Amazon Kindle Fire tablet has B&N’s Nook Color (NC) in its sights. The two have a lot in common, both have books and magazines deeply embedded in their DNA and both run a very customized Android experience, they are also two of the cheapest 7-inch Android tablet offerings out there. It might not be completely fair to compare the two though, as the Nook Color is a year older, but until B&N comes out with a Nook Color 2, it remains the Kindle Fire’s main competitor.
The Fire wins in terms of processing power and initial reports state that the experience is very smooth, the NC can get a bit slow at times, showing its age. Amazon has a huge cloud presence and its putting it to work with the Fire, which lacks on storage options, Amazon envisions your music and videos stored in its cloud. The Fire also utilizes Amazon’s cloud with its Silk browser which will offer an accelerated browsing experience.
Neither tablet has access to the official Android Market, but the Fire wins in this regard, because the Amazon app store simply has more apps than the Nook. On the other hand the Nook Color is one of the most ‘hackable’ devices out there, so if you get bored with B&N’s customized experience you can quite easily run standard Android with the full Android Market. The Nook Color also wins on looks; the Fire is a standard all-black rounded affair.
For the full spec lowdown between the Fire and the NC head after the break. Be sure to also read our very extensive review of the Nook Color and how much we like its magazine app.
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So, it´s here; Amazon has officially entered the tablet wars with a bang. Jeff Bezos announced today Amazon’s 7-inch tablet, which will be priced even lower than what was initially expected. The Kindle Fire, can be pre-ordered now for $199, $50 less than the Nook Color and less than half the price of most other Android tablets and the iPad 2.
Despite the price however, the Kindle Fire, is a solid device, if not a bit barebones. A 7-inch IPS display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, dominates the front, featuring Gorilla Glass protection. The Fire runs a TI OMAP4 dual-core processor (but no specifics on speed), it also has 8GB of built-in storage and the battery is advertised to last for eight hours of reading or 7.5 hours of video playback. As rumored, the device is very similar in design to the BlackBerry Playbook, measuring 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.45 inches (190 x 120 x 11.5mm) and weighing 14.6 ounces (413g).
There is no camera, no microphone, no GPS, no Bluetooth and no card reader. The Kindle Fire only has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a charge port and a pair of stereo speakers. The back is rubberized, like the Nook Color and the Playbook.
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We first reported on an upcoming Android tablet from Amazon a few weeks ago, to be announced and released this fall. Well, Amazon has been sending out invites for a media event this Wednesday, 28th; definitely a ripe time to announce their rumored 7-inch tablet (see our mockup above).
Obviously, a new Android tablet is not big news nowadays. The big news, would come in terms of pricing, with the Kindle Tablet — or Kindle Fire as reported by TechCrunch — selling for around $250 in order to undercut the competition; while putting it in direct line of fire to the B&N Nook Color.
There has been a lot of noise around the internet, over the past few weeks, about an upcoming Amazon tablet which will be competitively priced and supposed to finally give the iPad some much-needed competition. TechCrunch’s Siegler blogged yesterday that he has seen and handled the device, which will be a 7-inch tablet simply named Amazon Kindle, but unlike Amazon’s other Kindle devices this one will feature a normal, rather than E-Ink, color touch-screen.
It will run a very customized version of Android with a user interface similar to what we are used to from Amazon, dark, blue with bunches of orange. Content, such as books, movies and apps is presented in a carousel format, à la iTunes Cover Flow.
The device is said to have a form factor similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook but no cameras whatsoever and no physical buttons on the front. The back has a rubber feel and the speakers are on the top of the Kindle tablet, if you are holding it in landscape mode, and the power button at the bottom. Based on the information provided, we’ve made a quick mock-up (see above) of what the Amazon Kindle tablet could look like.
The 7-inch tablet is said to retail for $250 and Amazon is targeting November for launch, while it’s ironing out the software side.
So here is what we know:
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We just though you should know that Sony’s new mid-specced NEX-5N digital camera is already in stock at Amazon US, selling at around $750 (above the $700 Amazon pre-order price), for those who can’t wait to get it in their hands. Having a peak over at Amazon UK, the camera is set to be released on September 5th, so that could be an indication that the official US launch date is not far off either.
As a refresher, the NEX-5N has a new 16.1-megapixel APS-C sensor and can shoot up to an ISO 25,600. Autofocus has been improved and shutter lag has come down to 20ms. The NEX-5N has slimmed by 15mm from its predecessor and can manage full 1080p HD video with ease. We think the NEX-5N is a great choice for its ease of use — it now features a touch screen panel — low ISO performance and really good video.
We’re sure your are going to appreciate this video.
Amazon’s Appstore for Android is now live and open for business. Angry Birds Rio is joining Amazon for the launch and it’s free to download for the rest of today (normally $0.99). It will not be the only free paid app on offer, Amazon will be featuring a different paid app each day for free which we are sure will be a good incentive for people to download and use the appstore.
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Amazon has long announced that it will be launching its own Android app store and it has just struck an exclusive debut of the next installment in the Angry Birds saga.
Angry Birds Rio will follow the very successful Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons which have more than 30 million downloads on Android. This latest installment ties with the release of the animated movie with the same title, Angry Birds Rio, on April 15.
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Fujifilm X100S camera announced with fast AF and new 16.3MP X-Trans II sensor (hands-on video)January 6, 2013
Supposed Sony Nexus X images leakOctober 15, 2012
Asus 4.7-inch Padfone 2 demoed in video with new slimmer tablet dockOctober 14, 2012
Upcoming Google Nexus 4 smartphone by LG poses for camera in leaked picsOctober 11, 2012
Skype for Android with video chat official for some, unofficially for Galaxy S II, HTC Evo 3D, Thunderbolt, Sensation and othersJuly 1, 2011
Stuff-Review giveaway: win a B&N Nook Color, leather case and 4GB microSD cardOctober 12, 2011
Stuff-Review giveaway: win a PowerSkin silicon case with built-in batteryAugust 21, 2011
Connecting the Galaxy Nexus to your computer via MTP and the lack of USB Mass StorageDecember 10, 2011
