Can Amazon stand above the fray and make sense of the Android / tablet mess? (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Sounds good to me:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/amazon-couples-print-digital-books-with-new-program/?_r=0

 

[Sam Posten]

New paperwhites on the way September 30th!

http://gizmodo.com/amazon-accidentally-leaks-new-kindle-paperwhite-and-sep-1244752478?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

I love love love my paperwhite and I'll upgrade to this new one and pass last year's on to a family member.

 

[Sam Posten]

Paperwhite refresh is official. Ordered mine!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWH595M/ref=amb_link_382772722_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=gateway-center-column&pf_rd_r=1DT749DBAGYM9GPNE0PB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1611619942&pf_rd_i=507846

 

[Sam Posten]

Engadget gives the new paperwhite an early thumbs up:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/05/kindle-paperwhite-hands-on/

 

[Sam Posten]

Looks good, if true:http://bgr.com/2013/09/11/amazon-kindle-fire-hd-2-pictures-exclusive/

 

[Sam Posten]

Rumors were all 100% true. Refreshed this AM, shipping in October, 8.9 inch refresh later. I ordered a 7" HDX, 16GB, Wifi with oragami cover but was sorely tempted to add 4G to it. This is my bed tablet tho, I like having the small size there where I like the big iPad as my daily carry around workhorse. As such, this guy won't leave my night stand until it goes to a family member, as my last year's 7" Kindle HD will when this one arrives.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/24/amazon-announces-the-kindle-hdx-7-and-8-9-inch-tablets-with-high-res-screens-2ghz-processors/

http://allthingsd.com/20130924/amazons-jeff-bezos-shows-off-the-latest-kindle-fire-tablets/

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/25/4768794/amazons-kindle-hdx-tv-spots-put-focus-on-personalized-mayday-tech

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/25/4766878/jeff-bezos-interview-amazon-kindle-hdx

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/25/4767538/amazon-kindle-fire-hdx-tablets-preview

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/amazon-announces-7-1980x1200-and-8-9-2560x1600-kindle-fire-hdx-tablets/

http://techland.time.com/2013/09/25/kindle-hdx/

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-25/amazons-jeff-bezos-talks-new-kindles-and-what-hes-doing-next

 

[TonyD]

Sam, how many devices do you currently have?

 

[Sam Posten]

I've got more than I care to think about in various states of evaluation or dedicated purpose. A good deal of it came from scavenging craigslist for bargains but the workhorses all came new. Let's see.

Tablets: Retina iPad, Nexus 7, 7" Kindle HD, Kindle Paperwhite
On order: Kindle Paperwhite 2, 7" Kindle HDX
Phone: iPhone 5
Fridge: Samsung Android touchscreen
Chromebook I won by writing a Chrome Haiku.
Macs: 27" iMac which is my main editing workhorse and 13" MBA for business
PCs: Main gaming rig is an alienware Aurora with an i7 and 680 graphics card, I also have a 17" Gaming laptop with cracked screen and an Alienware Area 51 I use for multiboxing in MMOs.
Xbox 360, PS3 and WiiU, PS Vita & Nintendo 3DS

If it's got pixels I'm all for it. =)

 

[mattCR]

I ordered one of the HDX.

To compare:

Tablets: we have 5 in the house, both wife & I have iPad4s, we have a Nexus 7 (free with Google Fiber , Kindle Paperwhite, Dell XPS RT. 2 paperwhites
On order: Kindle HDX, Paperwhite 2
Phones: I carry a Nokia 1020, Wife now has a Galaxy S4, Son1: her old iphone4, son2: Iphone 4
4 Desktop PCs.
One Centralized Home FlexRAID server (44TB)
One VMWare ESXI Centralized
1 HTPC controlling 12 tuners via cable card
Xbox360, PS3, WiiU, Wii, and both kids have a DS..
Panasonic Toughbook Ruggedized

Some of us are just suckers for technology If it doesn't work out, I can always find it a home later.

Finally upgraded my desktop PC to QHD.. man, I didn't expect 2560x1440 to be this good. But it is.

 

[Sam Posten]

Paperwhite 2 in hand. Fixed the backlight bleed that was distracting, but something fuzzy still going on. Gonna have to mess with the settings. Not sure I've got the font settings right either.

HDX reviews are in. Display getting great marks of course, but the angles on the back and the origami cover getting low marks.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/2/4792658/amazon-kindle-fire-hdx-review-7-inch

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/02/amazon-kindle-fire-hdx-review/

More troubling is that you can no longer sideload Play. Not sure how I feel about that. I didn't use that too often but it means a clean break from the Android underpinnings. Hmmm.

 

[Sam Posten]

Panzer with the big scoop on the upcoming Amazon phone:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/02/amazons-smartphones-detailed-project-smith-3d-flagship-model-and-a-value-handset-with-fireos/

Specs probably aren't going to be the big story here tho, price and plans and carrier support (if any!) will be.

 

[DaveF]

Wild!I have trouble imagining the four-camera eye tracking system getting to market in the next year. But I had no idea apple had 500 ppi fingerprint sensors either.

 

[Sam Posten]

OK, this is freaking awesome:http://gigaom.com/2013/11/14/amazon-now-offers-customized-kindle-covers/

 

[Clinton McClure]

I ordered one of the HDX.

To compare:

Tablets: we have 5 in the house, both wife & I have iPad4s, we have a Nexus 7 (free with Google Fiber , Kindle Paperwhite, Dell XPS RT. 2 paperwhites
On order: Kindle HDX, Paperwhite 2
Phones: I carry a Nokia 1020, Wife now has a Galaxy S4, Son1: her old iphone4, son2: Iphone 4
4 Desktop PCs.
One Centralized Home FlexRAID server (44TB)
One VMWare ESXI Centralized
1 HTPC controlling 12 tuners via cable card
Xbox360, PS3, WiiU, Wii, and both kids have a DS..
Panasonic Toughbook Ruggedized

Some of us are just suckers for technology If it doesn't work out, I can always find it a home later.

Finally upgraded my desktop PC to QHD.. man, I didn't expect 2560x1440 to be this good. But it is.

Holy cow, Matt! I really hope you have a good router.

A little off topic but my router (Linksys WRT-54GS2) is having to deal with two iPhone 4s, two MacBook Pros, two iPhone 3Gs configured as iPods, a Nook Simple Touch, a Dish ViP622 DVR, Xbox 360 and Wii and it has to be reset about once a month. Hopefully, Santa will bring me an Airport Extreme Base Station this Christmas.

 

[Sam Posten]

So strange:http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/24/amazons-next-kindle-paperwhite-to-feature-300ppi-screen-better-typography-arrive-early-next-year/So 6 months from version to version (boo, but also I don't buy it, it seems unlike Amazon, we'll see)Upgraded PPI (Yay but this is not a problem for me, the current paperwhite is sufficiently sharp)New fonts (THIS is the best news, yay!)But no other software features. (Weird)

 

[Sam Posten]

Next step on the way to their TV console, or just a first party for the tablets?
http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/05/amazon-acquires-video-gaming-studio-double-helix-games/

 

[myjupitermx]

“Amazon has acquired Double Helix as part of our ongoing commitment to build innovative games for customers.”

sounds great...

impatiently waiting for new product release

 

[Sam Posten]

TV controller found!http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2014-03/amazon-streamer-feature-bluetooth-gaming-controller/

 

[Hanson]

Ooh, so elegant and stylish. It's like something Apple would have designed.

 

[Sam Posten]

Hahahaha, yeah no.