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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Adobe releases its final flash version for mobiles

Adobe Corporation has released its final version of the Flash player plug in for smart phones. This release is a result of Adobe’s recent announcement regarding the cancelling of any further development of the Flash player plug in for mobile devices. Adobe however promised to continue releasing patches which would obviously contain critical updates and bug fixes. The latest release was announced by Danny Winokur, an Adobe executive in charge of Interactive Development.
Labelled as 11.1, this new version eliminates a number of known security flaws. Danny Winokur was also quoted as saying that the Adobe Corporation would not release another version of Flash player for mobile phones. He further added that security updates will continue for all of the existing versions. Another Adobe manager Brad Arkin simply repeated the same words of Danny Winokur. He assured mobile users worldwide that updates will continue and this latest version will sustain for a few years at least. Both Winkour and Arkin didn’t specify the date up to which these updates will be provided to the customers.
These comments have invoked heavy responses from top level managers. These managers claim that Adobe’s support policies are primitive and that the lack of a time frame up to which Flash would be supported is highly inconsiderate of the company. Critics view this as an unsuccessful attempt by Adobe to adopt Microsoft’s time oriented support cycle concept. The theory governing the same is the now-famous ‘Five years for consumer products, ten years for enterprise software’.
These managers also assert that Adobe jumps to conclusions too quickly, which is generally the result of changing market conditions, thus creating a direct negative impact on its customers. A live example is the case of Shockwave player which was released in March 2008; Adobe still continues to provide patches for the same.
This new version of Flash contained 12 critical security fixes. The question that everyone seems to be asking is how willing manufacturers will be in providing Flash support in mobile devices considering that Adobe will not be optimizing the software any further. This issue is rather important as many top mobile sites still depend on Flash for providing content. Managers believe that providing a detailed timeline pertaining to the release of updates needs to be provided by Adobe Corporation so as to cause minimum inconvenience to manufacturers and consumers alike.

Related articles

• Adobe pushes last major Flash update to the Android Market (goandroid.co.in)
• Adobe officially halts development on Flash for Android (goandroid.co.in)

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LG Nitro HD Pictured In Wild, Twin Brother Optimus LTE Hits Bell November 22

Canadians may not celebrate Thanksgiving, but they’ll have something to be thankful for next week when the LG Optimus LTE lands on Bell November 22nd. The phone has a solid set of specs including a 1280 x 720 HD Screen, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 8MP camera with 1080p recording, and front-facing camera. It runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread but will likely be upgradeable some time in early 2012.

Above is the leaked image that gave way to the rumors, along with a $149.95 price point. Not bad for a phone with these specs, although Canadian contracts work a bit differently. Meanwhile in America, the Optimus LTE is rumored to be called the LG Nitro HD, coming soon to AT&T. PhoneArena was able to grab a blurry pic of the phone in the flesh.

The AT&T launch date is unknown but we’ll keep you up to date with whatever rumors and leaks come our way.

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Galaxy Nexus Launch Dates: Nov 17th (O2 UK), Early December (Virgin Mobile / Bell)

It often seems our readers want to know one thing: when will the Samsung Galaxy Nexus launch? The sky is falling! Who cares, when does the Galaxy Nexus launch? That guy has a machine gun and is about to kill us! Okay, I’ll start running once you tell me when the Galaxy Nexus launches!
We already knew that O2 in the UK would be launching the Galaxy Nexus on November 17th, but retailers throwing their own dates into the mix sparked confusion. O2 killed that confusion over the weekend by publishing a picture of the Galaxy Nexus on G+ and then answering a launch date question with, well:


Meanwhile, Virgin Mobile (Canada) has announced to it’s customers – and everyone else’s customers craving Ice Cream Sandwich – that they’ll be able to obtain the Holy Grail get the Galaxy Nexus in early December. They’ve even got a signup page on their website:

Here is the quote directly from Virgin Mobile:

"The new Galaxy Nexus™ will be available from Virgin Mobile when it arrives in Canada in early December. Plus, only Virgin Mobile Members can get this smartphone with a no-term contract on the Virgin Mobile SuperTab™. Whether it’s with talk and text plans or the hottest data plans, Galaxy Nexus™ can be hooked up to Virgin Mobile’s full range of plans - just pick the Virgin Mobile SuperTab™ amount and plan that’s perfect for you!
"Samsung’s ongoing collaboration with Google has resulted in a next generation smartphone that has both superior functionality and a stunning user-experience," said Paul Brannen, Vice President, Mobile Communications at Samsung Electronics Canada. "The large, responsive HD SuperAMOLED screen offers users full 720p video playback on the device, and accommodates the new Android 4.0 user interface that is based on soft keys."

UPDATE: Bell didn’t want to miss out on the action and has offered their promise and sign-up page too.

Don’t you wish American carriers were as forthcoming? Looking back on the Nexus One disaster that promised the device would be “Coming Soon” to Verizon but saw it get lost in the wilderness and left to perish, I won’t be satisfied until I hear a date cemented into a press release.
Lastly, a Notion Ink support thread indicates that Android 4.0 Source Code, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, will be published on November 17th. This makes sense since it would coincide with the date of the first ICS device launches.
It’s already November 14th… the Galaxy Nexus is almost here.

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Lenovo set to trot out 10.1-inch ICS tablet

With Android ICS on the horizon, you can bet that we are going to see everyone in the tablet market that has used Android or thinks they might want to hop on the Android 4.0 wagon. One of the tablet makers that will be offering up Android 4.0 tablets will be Lenovo according to a rumor. Engadget claims that a source has told it a new ICS tablet from Lenovo is inbound.

The tablet is said to packing Tegra 3 from NVIDIA and have 2GB of DDR3 RAM. The tablet is also said to have a USB host port with a little flap covering it. Other tidbits from the rumor source include the fact that the camera will have a rear camera and a fingerprint scanner. The camera resolution is unknown but the source says that the fingerprint scanner will also work as an optical joystick.
The is in indication on the weight and size of the tablet, but it appears to be very svelte indeed. There is no indication of when the tablet will land. Other makers are aiming for Q1 so perhaps we will see this Lenovo tablet then as well. We will be watching for more details.
[via SlashGear]

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Acer Iconia Tab A510/A511 tipped in source code

If you are a big fan of Acer tablets and are patiently waiting for a new tablet that packs Tegra 3 from Acer you are in luck. A new tablet has been tipped that is called the Acer A511 via source code. The tablet is pegged to have the Tegra 3 chipset and a few more details are in that code as well. We also know that tablet will have a 1280 x 800 resolution screen with 32-bit color.

The A511 is supposed to be packing in both WiFi and 3G connectivity. There is a model called the A510 tipped as well sharing the same hardware, but having WiFi only. There is no indication of what OS the tablets will use. It would make sense that they will get Android 4.0, but that isn’t noted in the source code.
Another thing we don’t know about the tablets is when they will hit stores. Many of the markers of Android tablets are rushing to get the Android 4.0 offerings on the market early so they are available well ahead of Windows 8 tablets expected in Q3 2012. We may see these tablets for the first time at CES in January.
[via SlashGear]

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Ice Cream Sandwich source release Nov 17 tips manufacturer

Most of us are a familiar with Notion Ink and its line of Android tablets called Adam. The company has been around for a while now and so far, the tablets haven’t proven to be super successful. Notion Ink is working on the next generation of its tablets and back in July, the tip surfaced that the Adam Two would be landing in December of this year.

We aren’t sure yet if that will happen, but Notion Ink has seemingly confirmed the launch of Ice Cream Sandwich. The company posted up a support note for its migration to a new support system. We weren’t interested in that at all, but the tidbit at the bottom of that support note really caught our attention. Notion Ink has tipped when ICS will be released.
According to the sentence November 17 is when Notion Ink is expecting ICS to be out in source form. The company also says that there will be a bunch of TabletROMs floating around at that point. We only have a few more days to wait to find out if this tip is accurate or not, stay tuned.

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HTC tablet packing Tegra 3 rumored for February 2012

We all know that the Tegra 3 quad-core chip for tablets is coming and will be the chipset that most high-end Android tablets use. A new rumor is swirling around that says HTC is getting a tablet ready for launch in February 2012 that uses the Tegra 3 hardware. The rumors also claim that HTC has two new smartphones coming in the same time period.

The launch of the tablet is pegged for MWC 2012. The tip comes from Chinese paper Commercial Times and the paper claims that this will be the only Android tablet we see from HTC in 2012. The goal is said to be getting the new Tegra 3 chipset onto the market ahead of the widely expected Q3 launch of Windows 8 tablets.
HTC will offer up its own Windows tablets said to be using the ARM build of the Win 8 OS. I think that a bunch of smartphone fans out there will be much more interested in the smartphone that is tipped to be coming using the Tegra 3 chipset. The little beast is said to have a 4.7-inch screen with a super high pixel density greater than that of the iPhone 4S.
[via SlashGear]

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New HTC Rezound Video Featuring MGK – Tears Up The Streets With Beats Audio

A new HTC Rezound video was uploaded to HTC’s YouTube account today. The Inception style commercial, featuring music by Machine Gun Kelly, prominently displays Beats Audio and not much else. Surprising, seeing how I would think Verizon/HTC or whoever would want potential customers to know that the HTC Rezound will be the first 1280×720 HD display equipped smartphone to hit the market. But then again, maybe that’s not mainstream enough. Let me know what you thought of the video but first… lace up!

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