Amazon Preparing for UK / International Kindle Fire Launch

05 April 2012 16:57 (GMT)

Hot of the press is news that Amazon are actively preparing content and distribution rights for an international Kindle Fire release.

Anthony Bay of Amazon told conference goers, "if you're not talking to us, you should be" and then went on to hint at a European and subsequent international launch of the Kindle Fire in the very near future, "The Kindle team would describe it as a content-forward strategy. When you turn on the Kindle, it goes right to the books. And when you turn on the Kindle Fire, it goes right to whatever you’ve been watching or listening to.” 45% of Amazon’s revenue now comes outside of the US".

So, still now official release date, but we now know that they're taking non US customers seriously and are making progress in overcoming the various hurdles associated with licensing content across multiple territories.

3 New Kindle Fire Models?

30 March 2012 11:28 (GMT)

A hot new rumour is circulating claiming that Amazon are set to release not one new Kindle Fire, but three.

The rumour which appears to have originated in Taiwan claims that Amazon have three models in development, two of which are 7" models at two different resolutions, a 1024x600 model (as per the current Kindle Fire) and a 1280x800 model alongside a 8.9" HD model at 1920x1200.

Whilst the 8.9" Model and an upgrade to the 7" model sound feasible, the co-existence of two new 7" models sounds very far fetched.

As well as these rumours, there are also older rumours of a 10" Kindle Fire being released later this year. Which of these, if any, turn out to be true we can only wait to find out.

Installing Apps on a UK Kindle Fire

04 February 2012 15:57 (GMT)

How to sideload apps onto your Kindle Fire without rooting.

If you are using a Kindle Fire in the UK, you may be frustrated that there is currently no way to download applications from Amazon's App Store. There are however alternative methods for loading Apps onto the fire.

This is one of the easiest methods and doesn't require any rooting or hacking of the Fire.

Andoid apps come packaged in a format called .apk and providing you can download these files to your Kindle Fire, many of them will install and run correctly. The main difficulty lies in launching the files to install them as there is no built-in file browser on the Kindle Fire, but thanks to the Fire coming with Quick Office installed, we can work around this in just 3 easy steps.

Step 1.

We need to allow the Kindle Fire to open Apps from sources other than Amazon.

To do this, go to the Kindle Fire home screen and click on the Cog icon top right to open the system settings.



Now, select the More icon.



From the option list, select Device



and then under 'Allow Installation of Applications' change this to ON



Step 2.

First, we download a free application called ES File Explorer. This nice little App give the Kindle Fire a familiar icon/folder view of everything stored in the built in SD card including your documents, downloads and books.

Normally we would recommend downloading ES File Explorer direct from the vendors website, but as this seems to be down at the time of writing, it is attached and downloadable below. (to quickly see this page on your Kindle Fire, enter http://32go.co/kfa in the browser after logging in to your forum account)



(Note: you can also download this file from with your PC/Mac and copy it to your Kindle Fire manually. If you don't have a folder called Download, you can make one)

Once the file starts downloading, you should see a notification on the top bar of the Kindle Fire (see below) be sure not to click more than once as it may start multiple downloads. When the file has finished downloading, it will be stored in a Download folder on the Kindle Fire.



Step 3.

To launch the installer, first open Quick Office from the carousel or from the Apps Menu from the Kindle Fire home screen.

Next, click on the Browse icon from the Quickoffice opening screen.



From the menu that comes up, choose Internal Storage and then the Download folder





Finally, tap once on the file called ES File Explorer.apk (if you can't see this, your download may not have completed)



This will then bring up the Install Application screen. Just click to install the App.



When the installation is complete, you can access ES File Explorer from the Apps menu on the home screen.

With the App installed, you can now download more .apk App files to your Kindle Fire and install them straight from ES File Explorer without having to use the Quick Office trick.

Amazon.co.uk showing placeholder page for Kindle Fire

17 January 2012 12:21 (GMT)

Whilst the Kindle Fire is not yet available in the UK, a new placeholder page has appeared on Amazon.co.uk for the Kindle Fire where it is listed as Currently Unavailable.

Past experience seems to indicate that these placeholder pages are added shortly before an official release, so let's all keep our fingers crossed.

Link to the UK Kindle Fire placeholder: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindle-Color-Mul...0051VVOB2/



UPDATE: This links has now been removed by Amazon - make of it what you will.

UK to get Kindle Fire in January 2012?

06 December 2011 19:10 (GMT)

There are some strong rumours around at the moment that Amazon.co.uk is prepping release of their extremely popular Kindle Fire to a UK audience this coming January.

If the rumours are true, it would be a shame for Amazon to have missed the highly lucrative Christmas period, but with demand so high in the US it's sure to be a winner regardless.

The rumour was initially reported by Know Your Mobile who cite a source 'close to the Amazon launch'.

Whilst the Kindle Fire hasn't quite been the iPad killer many people were claiming it to be, the device has proven itself to be very popular with demand for initial shipments after launch reaching staggering levels. Currently it is possible to use the US Kindle Fire in the UK, but with a lot of the functionality of Amazon's cloud services and media on demand missing. The news of a UK launch will be comforting for those who purchased early and are waiting to be able to take full advantage of the 7" Tablet.



One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is how this would fall into line with other news that a larger, more powerful sibling to the Kindle Fire is also well into its production cycle.

Additionally, no mention is made of the price, but Amazon have had a history of keeping the Kindle UK pricing fair in comparison to the US market, so perhaps a price point of around £135 would not be too much to hope for.

What's inside a Kindle Fire?

16 November 2011 10:36 (GMT)

Sadly there's no actual fire, but iFixit have boldly opened up their new Kindle Fire to take a look at what's going on inside. Until now, the exact hardware powering the Kindle Fire has been somewhat of a mystery, but with the help of some specialist tools and nerves of steel iFixit can now reveal the mystery the lies inside.

The best news is that the Kindle Fire scored 8 out of 10 for repairability compared to a lowly 4 out of 10 for the iPad2.

First up, the 1.8 amp power rating hint at very long USB charge times, so a mains powered USB charger with a suitable rating is highly recommended for improving charge times. The outer casing reveals two ports for headphones and micro USB along with a single power button.



As the report progresses, it is revealed that the Kindle Fire uses the same processor as the Playbook, a Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 along with 8gb of Flash Memory from Samsung and 512mb of Hynix RAM.

You can see the full teardown along with detailed picutres at ifixit.com

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazon-Ki...own/7099/1

Kindle Fire : Reviews starting to emerge

15 November 2011 11:39 (GMT)

Now that the Kindle Fire has shipped reviews are beginning to emerge as customers and tech gurus finally have the chance for some hands-on time with Amazon's new must-have gadget.


Image courtesy of engadget

Initial reports are varied with Wired showing some concerns over the performance of the Kindle Fire particularly the built-in web browser. Browser performance concerns are interesting as with Amazon's new Silk technology expectations were that it would naturally be silky-smooth.

Engadget too have some performance concerns but do see the Kindle Fire as great value for money and applaud the integration of Amazon's services as "perhaps the best, tightest integration of digital content acquisition into a mobile device that we've yet seen".

For people who were expecting a $199 iPad killer, it seems there will be some disappointment, but considering the device was never intended to compete head to head with Apple's tablet it doesn't seem fair to judge on this basis. After all it was the media who dubbed the Kindle Fire the iPad killer - Amazon have never made such claims.

There have also been reports of some software glitches in these first tablets, but as with most gadgets these should be addressed rapidly with software updates.

Leading reviews can be read in full at :

http://www.wired.com/reviews/2011/11/kindle-fire/all/1
http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/amazon-k...z1dgogi8cO
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/techno...shine.html
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/amazo...re-review/

Engadget also have a very good video comparing the browser head-to-head against the iPad2 and Samsung Galaxy.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/amazo...re-review/

If you're wondering how the Kindle Fire gets on in the UK, stay tuned as we will be having a full report from CarryOnVending soon.

Amazon update Appstore in preparation for Kindle Fire

11 November 2011 10:12 (GMT)

Amazon have released a software update which brings a new interface along with some additional features to their Appstore for Android.

With the Kindle Fire release just a few days away, this new Version 2.0 should bring a uniform look and feel which is in keeping with the rest of the Kindle Fire interface with darker colours and a larger font.

The new features include faster downloads, in-app purchasing for subscriptions and one-off purchases as well as parental controls to stop accidental purchases by minors.

Amazon swimming in a sea of patent claims

01 November 2011 12:18 (GMT)

Since the Kindle Fire was announced the patent hounds have wasted no time in filing their claims with an Amazon now facing 18 alleged patent violations. The claims range from the file systems used in their cloud storage to technology used in the Kindle Fire.

Looking at it from a UK perspective, here are some of the most ridiculous claims and patents ...

For rapidly formatting and reformatting tabular displays of records, such as product listings : http://patents.com/us-6216139.html

For Data Display Software with Actions and Links Integrated with Information: http://patents.com/us-6128617.html

For a Handheld Computer System That Attempts To Establish An Alternative Network Link Upon Failing To Establish A Requested Network Link: http://patents.com/us-7506064.html

Method For Controlling A Handheld Computer By Entering Commands Onto A Displayed Feature Of The Handheld Computer: http://patents.com/us-6956562.html

For a Receiver Comprising A Digitally Controlled Capacitor Bank: http://patents.com/us-7299018.html

And best of all: for a Communication Device : http://patents.com/us-7072614.html

In all likelihood this is just the tip of the iceberg and once the Kindle Fire becomes available there are many more patent claims to follow.

Many of you may remember a while back when BT tried to claim patent abuse for every hyperlink found on the internet. If you don't then it's a great read showing just how absurd the whole situation is. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_...814080.stm

Kindle Fire set to be leading Christmas gadget (in the US at least)

24 October 2011 14:45 (GMT)

According to pre-order figures and and Peter Rojas who is one of the founders of leading gadget websites like Gizmodo, Gdgt.com and Engadget the Kindle Fire is set to blaze a trail through the Christmas holiday season overtaking offerings from Apple, Canon and Roku to become the most desired gadget in the US.

This success is attributed largely to the Kindle Fire's $199 price which is deemed low enough to encourage uptake amongst people who already own a similar tablet or iPad.

Amazon are due to ship the first batch of Kindle Fires on the 15th November and are reportedly well on the way to hitting a 5 million target for sales in 2011.