Gift Cards Worth $100 Offered by Amazon for Users Purchasing Select Hotspot Devices From Sprint and Verizon

Amazon Wireless is offering users who buy select 4G hotspot-capable devices a $100 gift card upon activating their phones with the hotspot feature enabled on their plans.

Some of the devices they’re offering up are the DROID Bionic and HTC Thunderbolt from Verizon plus the Motorola Photon 4G and Samsung Epic 4G Touch from Sprint. They have many more options so you’ll have to head on over to Amazon and check them out.
No AT&T or T-Mobile phones, unfortunately, but if you’re with one of these CDMA carriers and planning on buying any of these phones with hotspot anyway, this will be a good deal. That $100 could go toward some accessories or pretty much anything on Amazon’s site. [via PocketNow]

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Amazon Shipped 4 Million Kindle Devices This Holiday, Wouldn’t Show How Much the Kindle Fire Accounted For

Amazon has mentioned today that they have shipped four million Kindle devices this holiday season, a great feat for the company. This includes the e-ink readers they sell in different configurations as well as the Kindle Fire.
Unfortunately Amazon didn’t give us a rundown of which devices did what exactly but we expect the Kindle Fire did well enough. We assume a good chunk of that 4 million were cheap e-ink Kindle models as they start at just $79 and were seen as perfect gifts for first time eReader users. We’re crossing our fingers for some exact figures whenever Amazon releases their financial report sometime early next year. [via Electronista]

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Amazon Kindle Fire gets an Ice Cream Sandwich alpha port

More than a few of you are probably running brand new Kindle Fire tablets through the ringer right now, as it’s been one of the most popular electronics gifts of the season. But the default Amazon interface isn’t really anything to write home about – the Gingerbread-based version of Android is primarily designed to access Amazon’s content, with a few apps and web browsing on the side. If you’re handy with a bootloader, you can try out an early version of Ice Cream Sandwich on your shiny new 7-inch tablet, courtesy of “bl1nkk” and company at XDA-Developers.

Before you break out your USB cable, remember that this is a pre-alpha build. That means that performance will be well below what you see in tablets that run Honeycomb at retail, and a lot of features including the horizontal launcher, proper partition mounting and a few others aren’t fully baked. But for the Kindle Fire owner with decent technical skills and no fear, it’s hard to argue with a $199 Android 4.0 tablet. If you want to try out a more stable version, CyanogenMod 7/Gingerbread (as opposed to CyanogenMod 9) is available for the Fire.
In order to apply the ICS ROM you’ll need to use a tool called the Team Win Recovery Project. It’s an alternative recovery like the familiar ClockworkMod, but the more popular one apparently hasn’t made it to the highly customized Amazon tablet just yet. Once you’ve got your recovery ready, just flash the ROM file from XDA, as well as the ICS version of the Google Apps ZIP (Gmail, Android Market, etc) and the root files, if you wish. Remember to always back up, and don’t cry to Uncle Harold if your tinkering messes up your new toy.
[via The Verge]

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After 6.2.1 Update, Amazon’s Kindle Fire Re-Rooted

After the latest update broke the root method established for the Amazon Kindle Fire, it was back to square one. For some this meant having to decide between the officially updated software or the older (but more open) rooted version. If the decision was causing fits for some, they can put their minds at ease. The 6.2.1 update has been cracked and root is once again attainable on the latest version of the Amazon Kindle Fire firmware. Head on over to the source link below to get all the info and an easy one-click method to get the job done.
[via Rootzwiki]

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Amazon No Longer Blocking Kindle Fires From Accessing Web Version Of Android Market

A lesser known fact about the Kindle Fire — when entering “market.android.com” in the device’s web browser, the device would actually forward you Amazon’s own Appstore instead of Google’s world famous web version of the Android Market. Pretty frustrating and somewhat alarming to some users as they were essentially being blocked from accessing a website which in this case, was Google’s app Market.
Well, some good news came out of that “root breaking” update we told you guys about earlier. Apparently, Amazon wised up and is no longer blocking users from accessing the web version of the Android Market in their device’s browser. And although Kindle Fire owners wont be able to install any of the apps from the Android Market (web), they can still browse music to upload to Google Music or movies, books, etc. Yay, freedom!
[Via GigaOM]

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[Deal] Pre-Orders ASUS Transformer Prime Return To Amazon

One of the hottest gadgets of this holiday season, the Transformer Prime, is scheduled to be released the week of December 19th - that would be any day now starting today. In anticipation of the launch, Amazon re-launched pre-orders for all four color/size combinations after they went dark, disappeared completely, and even got cancelled in some cases shortly after the first wave was sold out. Here they are:

• TF201-B1-GR - 32GB Amethyst Gray
• TF201-B1-CG - 32GB Champagne
• TF201-C1-GR - 64GB Amethyst Gray
• TF201-C1-CG - 64GB Champagne

 

Additionally, every Transformer Prime order comes with a free one-day shipping option:

FREE One-Day Shipping: Buy select products sold by Amazon.com, and select one-day shipping when you check out.
The one-day shipping cost for select products will then be deducted from your order total on the final checkout page.
Here's how (restrictions apply)

For those in need of a spec recap, it's coming right up:

• 10.1-inch SuperIPS + display with Gorilla Glass
• 1.3GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 Processor with 12-core GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 32GB or 64GB internal storage with microSD card slot
• microHDMI port
• 8MP F2.4 rear shooter with continuous flash for video recording, 1.2MP front camera (1080p camcorder!)
• 8.33mm thin
• 586g (1.29 lbs.)
• 12 hour battery life playing 720p video, 18 hours with keyboard dock
• Metallic spun finish
• Two available colors: Amethyst Gray and Champagne Gold (show below, respectively)
• Android 3.2.1 - will be updated to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) as soon as possible after release
• $499 for 32GB model, $599 for 64GB, and $149 for the dock

Now all we need is that "Temporary out of stock" blurb to change to "In Stock" in my favorite pleasant green.
Thanks, Zachary Rodriguez and others!
[via: Android Police]

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Rumor: Apple is developing 7.85-inch iPad to compete with Kindle Fire

Apple may begin selling smaller, 7.85-inch iPads next year to compete with newer tablet devices, according to sources within the US firm’s supply chain who are quoted by a DigiTimes report.
The company is rumoured to already be sourcing parts to begin producing the units by mid next year:

In addition to purchasing 7.85-inch panels from LG Display, Apple will also buy panels from AU Optronics (AUO), indicated the sources, adding that makers in the supply chain are likely to begin production of the 7.85-inch models at the end of the second quarter of 2012.

The rumoured size has been selected to allow the iPad to compete with, but differentiate itself from, the 7-inch Kindle fire and a number of large-sized smartphones that manufacturers like Samsung has introduced to the market.
Apple is also thought to be launching the third version of the iPad during the first quarter of next year, in response to the growth of tablet PCs, which are expected to reach 60 million units by the end of this year
Previous iPad rumours have included speculation that a thinner iPad 3 will land in March. Back in October, analysts predicted that production of the iPad 3 would be under way before the end of the year, by which time an initial 1 million devices are thought to be ready.

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Upcoming Kindle Fire update to include performance and UI improvements

Amazon is working on an update for the Kindle Fire and plans on releasing it in roughly two weeks. This new update will come almost 4 weeks after the recently released 6.2 update. The news of the upcoming update was made by Drew Herdener, an Amazon Spokesman, while speaking to the New York Times.
The update will include improvements in performance, multi-touch navigation, Amazon’s Silk browser, and allow users to edit the list of recently used items on the Kindle Fire. Many users have been complaining the lack of privacy on the Kindle Fire. Every last app you open, book you read, music you list to, and website you visit is clearly visible in the list of items that appear on the home screen.
Source: New York Times

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CyanogenMod 7 Makes its Way to the Amazon Kindle Fire

Now that the Amazon Kindle Fire has been rooted it’s time to start booting up some custom ROMs. Standard choice CyanogenMod has made its Amazon debut, as xda member JackpotClavin has the first shots of CM7 running on the new media slate. All is not cherry, though. While many features seem to be working properly (including WiFi), touchscreen input problems are slowing the roll of those working feverishly to get a working build out to the public. As The Verge notes, CM7 will provide a more full-fledged Android experience on the Kindle Fire but it will come at the cost of the total Amazon integration that the tablet flaunts as its biggest selling point.
[xda via The Verge]

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Amazon: Kindle Sales Are Boofed Up But Not Sharing Figures

Amazon this morning pounded itself on the chest once more for selling Kinde devices as if they were hotcakes, particularly during last (Black) Friday. According to the company, it was the “best Black Friday ever” for the Kindle family, with Kindle sales “increasing 4x over last year”. As usual, don’t expect Amazon to share hard sales numbers, because they never do.
We’ll have to do with analyst estimates, which I’m sure will be rolling in during the course of this week (today is Cyber Monday and will likely result in another sales spike for Kindle devices). The number does run in the millions, of course, and Dave Limp, VP for Amazon Kindle, is quoted as follows:

“Even before the busy holiday shopping weekend, we’d already sold millions of the new Kindle family.”

Amazon also reiterated, again, that its tablet computer, the Kindle Fire, is its bestselling product on Amazon.com. In fact, they say this has been the case for the past 8 weeks now, since the device was introduced on September 28.

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ASUS Transformer Prime Pre-Orders Start at Amazon

Perhaps a bit confusing since the product name only mentions “ASUS Transformer” and I’m logged in with my Amazon Prime-enabled account. But don’t be fooled, as clearly indicated in the specs this is indeed the ASUS Transformer Prime, the first Android Tablet with a quad-core processor, courtesy of the NVIDIA Tegra 3 beast powering this bad boy. As you can see there are 32GB and 64GB options that come in Gray and Champagne. It appears the front bevel is black either way- this color option only applies to the back.
So go ahead… make sure Santa and his elves have plenty of time to piece together the prime in time to slide it down your chimney by pre-ordering now.
[Via Amazon]

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Amazon Lists “Samsung Galaxy S II Nexus Prime 4G Android Phone” for Verizon Wireless

Upon ordering an HTC Rezound, one of our readers stumbled across something very interesting – a listing for one “Samsung Galaxy S II Nexus Prime 4G Android Phone” headed for Verizon Wireless. The “Nexus Prime” or “Galaxy Nexus” for short.
Amazon says it usually ships within 1-2 weeks, but that doesn’t mean much without an actual date. They’re only listing it as backordered, understandable considering Verizon has yet to announce an official release date.
Still, it’s good to see Amazon providing a listing period. It tells us Verizon may be finally readying their plans to advertise and launch the device, good news for anyone hoping it launches before a few weeks’ time.
Their naming for the device also mirrors Best Buy’s “Nexus Prime” name in upcoming ads, further evidence that Verizon may be going with the name the international device was rumored to have.
 [Amazon, Thanks Dean!]

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Kindle Fire Source Code Now Available And Ready For Download

Well, that wasn’t too long at all. Complying with the AOSP agreement, Amazon has released the source code to the recently release Kindle Fire. While this may not mean too much for your average Joe or soccer mom, this is how developers and modders are able to create custom ROMs, kernels and generally make some really cool stuff happen for a device. While that’s not totally certain, it is the first steps to making that happen. Now, all we can do is wait to see if the Kindle Fire can be rooted and we may see some custom ROMs cooked up for the device in the very near future.
If you want to take a peak at the source code, head on over to the source link for the download.
[Via BriefMobile]

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Quickoffice Pro is FREE, Usually $14.99 [Amazon Free App]

Amazon has been quite successful with their “Free App of the Day” concept. In fact, it works so well that Google seems prepared to adopt the idea (Free Song of the Day) for the rumored Google Music Store. Today’s Amazon Free App of the Day will save you $15 bucks and give you access to a mobile office of sorts.

Enjoy: Quickoffice Pro for FREE!

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Amazon launches ‘Kindle Daily Deal’ for UK readers

Amazon launched its official Kindle UK Twitter feed in early November, and with not a great deal to report in its first week of tweeting, it hit us with this message on Friday: “Happy Friday! For once, we want the weekend to pass quickly. Exciting things are happening Monday… Stay tuned!”
This was followed up on Saturday with this:

As noted on the Kindle Users Forum, this set tongues wagging into overdrive, with many anticipating that the exciting news could be the Kindle Fire or Kindle Touch launching in the UK. But, alas, that wasn’t the case, as Amazon revealed in a tweet last night: “So what’s the big deal? The Kindle Daily Deal launches tomorrow. Learn more before everyone else: http://amzn.to/to3P4e #deals.”
Kindle Daily Deals have been available in the US since August, and each day Amazon makes one book available at a discounted price. Deals go live at midnight and end at 23:59 the same day.
The first Kindle Daily Deal in the UK is Michael Ridpath’s Where the Shadows Lie, which you can pick up for £0.99 rather than £3.99, for one day only. So, it may not be as exciting as the Kindle Fire or Kindle Touch launching, but a 75% discount is nothing to be sniffed at.

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Amazon to invest $100 million in Indian operations; hire 3,000 people

The Andhra Pradesh (AP) government has revealed that Amazon is planning a ₹ 500 crore ($100 million) investment in the expansion of its Development Center in Hyderabad and looking to hire 3,000 more people, according to a report by AlooTechie.
Amazon’s vice-president John Schoettler and Ponnala Lakshmaiah, minister for information technology in AP, met to discuss the various legal issues involved with the allotment of land for the expansion of Amazon’s offices, which currently employs about 3,300 people in a 200,000 square feet complex.
It’s no secret that the AP government is thrilled to have Amazon running its enterprises team, financial and ordering services and inventory management out of the state’s capital, as it actively encourages multinational technology companies to expand operations there. Facebook, in particular, has benefited from the state’s support and recently completed its first successful year of operations in Hyderabad.
The operations back-end is not the only thing on Amazon’s expansion agenda for India, as the e-commerce company is reportedly planning to get into online retail in India in the first quarter of 2012. The company currently has stores in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Speaking of giant retailers running e-commerce operations out of India, the world’s largest retailer Walmart announced plans to bring its @WalmartLabs initiative to India with the opening of an innovation lab in Bengaluru, its first outside the USA. The hiring has already begun and the company hopes to kick off operations soon with 100 employees onboard.

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Amazon Wireless Offering Droid RAZR For $111.11 In Celebration Of 11/11/11 (That’s Over $180 Off) Deal

The Droid RAZR, despite not being officially released until 11/11/11 at 11:11 am EST, has already been given an insane price cut by Amazon Wireless, available for preorder tonight and sale tomorrow at just $111.11, a discount of more than $180.00 if you sign up for a new two-year agreement. If you want to upgrade your current device, the RAZR is available for $199.99, which is still a great deal.

Wondering why this deal is so awesome? Take a look at some of the RAZR’s impressive specs:
4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display
1.2GHz dual-core processor
1GB RAM
8MP rear shooter, front facing camera
16GB built-in storage, 16GB microSD card
Android 2.3.5
7.1mm thin, 127 grams
1800mAh battery
Made with Kevlar fiber
Gorilla Glass
Motorola Splash Guard
Webtop cabpable
4G LTE
Bluetooth 4.0




If you’ve been waiting for the RAZR’s official release but like to shop around, Amazon Wireless’ offering is a perfect opportunity to get a deep discount on the latest member of the Droid family. Head over to AW’s sale page to take advantage of the deal.

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Amazon Appstore 2.0 brings UI refinements ahead of Kindle Fire launch

With the upcoming November 15th launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire, Amazon wants you to know that it’s got apps. Lots of apps. In addition to announcing major partnerships with Netflix and a myriad of app developers, Amazon has updated the generic Appstore program, giving the user interface some spit and polish before the Fire’s release later this month. You can download the new version now.

The new version of the Appstore brings a muted grey look to the interface, matching most of the screenshots we’ve seen of the Kindle Fire‘s heavily customized software. Unfortunately the new UI didn’t bring Netflix with it – it looks like a few goodies will be reserved for Fire users. Other than a slick look, the app doesn’t seem to have any major functionality upgrades, though it’s scaling a lot better on Gingerbread tablets.
With just a few days left until the Kindle Fire moves from digital desire to real-world e-reader, Amazon is looking to push its impressive app portfolio as much as it possibly can. The Amazon Appstore, combined with a wide library of streaming movies and TV shows, is the Fire’s biggest differentiator to distance itself from the Nook Color and upcoming Nook Tablet. The subsidized Kindle Fire will also function as a hardware storefront for Amazon, which is hoping to recoup its losses with digital and retail sales on the heavily customized Android tablet.
[via Android Central]

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Amazon announces “thousands of apps” for the Kindle Fire

We always assumed that all the apps in the Amazon Appstore would find their way onto the Kindle Fire (albeit with varying degrees of compatibility) but just in case you were wondering, Amazon’s here to set the record straight. The company announced that major titles like Facebook, Netflix, Pandora, and games from developers like EA, Zynga and Rovio would land on the Kindle Fire when it releases next Tuesday. Appstore mainstays like the free paid app of the day will remain, and apps purchased on the Kindle Fire can be downloaded via the Appstore on any Android device.

Other major developers in the announcement include Gameloft, PopCap, Rhapsody, plus popular apps Allrecipes, Bloomberg, Cut the Rope, Doodle Fit, Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja, Jenga, LinkedIn, Zillow, Airport Mania, Battleheart, Pulse, The Cat in the Hat, Quickoffice Pro, Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals, IMDb Movies & TV, Monkey Preschool Lunchbox, Twitter, Comics by comiXology and The Weather Channel. Amazon is quick to point out that its digital library of 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games will all be available on the Kindle Fire.
Amazon didn’t mention Fire-specific versions of these apps, but as adoption grows, don’t be surprised to see specially-made alterations for the Kindle Fire hardware. Currently apps designed for Gingerbread default to a scaled-up smartphone interface even on a 7-inch or larger screen, so it would make sense for developers to tweak their apps accordingly. Between Kindle books, streaming media, the healthiest third-party app market out there and a $199 price tag, the Kindle Fire is well-positioned to take the world by storm. The Kindle Fire goes on sale November 15th.

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Amazon’s UK Galaxy Nexus launch slips to December 2nd

For those waiting on the Galaxy Nexus since its announcement three weeks ago, waiting has become a downright chore. The latest bit of bad news comes out of Amazon’s UK division, where Phandroid spotted that the Galaxy Nexus’ ship date has been pushed back to December 2nd, fifteen days after the official UK launch date of November 17th. Samsung hasn’t changed their official date yet, but the Amazon shift doesn’t look good.

In the event that Amazon’s date change doesn’t extend to the entire country, the shift is a pretty big loss for the online retailer. With the UK and the rest of Europe currently scheduled to get some pure Nexus goodness of the 17th, early adopters aren’t likely to wait around for Amazon to sort out some apparent supply chain issues. Of course, if the official date is soon to change, that would be a major let-down for Android fans across the UK and EU – a six-week gap between announcement and launch isn’t exactly stellar.
If UK customers are frustrated, US Android fans are starting to get downright irate. There still is no official word on a price or date for the Galaxy Nexus from Verizon, which has an exclusive on the Google phone for at least some time after its release. Current leaks point to November 17th, or November 21st, or November 28th, or later – your guess is as good as ours. At least the $299 on-contract price seems pretty stable. Google has historically kept a pretty tight grip on the Nexus line of phones, and it would be a good move for them to start telling their retail and carrier partners to stop messing around, before hungry developers start invading the Google campus in search of Nexii.

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