Kindle Fire

Amazon Unveils Quad-Core Kindle Fire HDX, Improved Kindle Fire HD

By

post-247156-image-052f2cb0d1184ed26468628f21e6144f-jpg

Amazon has today unveiled its new third-generation tablet called the Kindle Fire HDX. Like its predecessors, the device is available in 7-inch and 8.9-inch variants, and both feature speedy quad-core Snapdragon 800 processors, high-resolution displays, 2GB of RAM, and stereo speakers.

The larger model also offers an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, which is a first for the Kindle Fire lineup.

In addition to the new models, Amazon has refreshed the Kindle Fire HD to add improved displays, faster processors, and Amazon’s latest software. The retail giant has also reduced the price of the 7-inch device to $139, while the 8.9-inch model is now just $269.

‘Dots’ Is Coming To Android, And Getting A New Game Mode On iOS Too

By

post-240643-image-e93abeee19a7f5d48e37a6d97459e90e-jpg

Dots is a ridiculously fun, simple game that has taken iPhone and iPad owners by storm (and reduced my fingertips down to bleeding little nubs). In fact, the game has been downloaded more than 5 million times and played almost a billion times in less than four months.

Wouldn’t you like to get that on Android and Kindle Fire? Sure you would. Good news! It’s coming to Google Play today. And a new game mode is coming to all devices, including iPhones.

iPad Sales Slip In Q2 2013 As Android Tablets Increase Their Lead [Report]

By

post-238695-image-9ef3722a11b266b516f2063778838e91-jpg

For a long time after its launch, the iPad was by far the best-selling tablet on the market, and no matter how hard they tried, rival devices didn’t stand a chance of stealing its market share. But that’s all changed, according to the latest figures from IDC.

Android-powered slates saw a staggering 163% increase in the last year, and they’ve now overtaken the iPad and opened up a rather large gap in market share.

iPad Now Accounts For 84.3% Of All Web Traffic From Tablets

By

iPAdusageshare

After refreshing its iPad lineup in the fall last year, rather than summer, Apple set itself up to go through a June quarter without a new iPad launch for the first time since it was introduced in 2010. Analysts are expecting Apple to announce that year-over-year iPad sales last quarter were down, but one thing that’s still up is iPad usage.

According to the latest stats from the Chitika ad network, iPads now account for 84.3% of all web traffic from tablets in June. That’s just a slight bump up from the 82.4% Apple hit in May, but it’s the iPad’s highest share of tablet web use this year.

iPad Tops J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Survey For Second Year Running

By

iPad-jd-power-award

The iPad has earned first place in the J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey for the second year in a row, just a month after Apple’s iPhone secured the award for the ninth time. The popular slate scored 836 out of a possible 1,000 points having been rated on performance, ease of operation, styling and design, features, and cost.

Amazon Says There’s No Way They Could Make A $99 Tablet

By

iPad-mini-vs-Kindle-Fire-HD-vs-Nexus-71

Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets have been some of the best competition to the iPad, mostly because they’re cheap but come with good software. It seems like Amazon would sell the Kindle for as cheap as possible if it meant taking a slice of Apple’s pie.

Earlier this morning, a rumor was floated by TechCrunch that Amazon is making a $99 tablet to compete with the iPad mini. It sounded crazy at the time because the Kindle Fire is already $130 cheaper than the iPad mini. Turns out that the rumor was too good to be true and Amazon’s already shot it down.

Amazon To Release $99 Kindle Fire To Steal Sales From iPad Mini

By

best-kindle-fire-apps

Amazon hasn’t been able to beat the iPad in terms of features, apps or build quality, but the ace up the online retail giant’s sleeve was always the price: at just $199 for the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD, getting Amazon’s tablet is at least $130 cheaper than Apple’s cheapest iPad mini.

Undercutting Apple on price, then, is the major way Amazon is competing ith Apple in the tablet space, and a new report suggests they are about to take that even further with the release of a $99 Kindle Fire.

iPad Among Most Difficult Tablets To Fix In New iFixit Repairability Guide

By

post-217996-image-a85021e983ed7d6befb684d0db417949-jpg

Teardown specialists iFixit have published a new tablet repairability guide that quickly tells you how difficult it’s going to be to mend your broken Android, iOS, or Windows 8 slate. The guide features 18 popular tablets, which have been given a repairability score between one and ten. The higher the score, the easier they are to repair.

Unsurprisingly, Apple’s iPads are some of the hardest tablets to fix, second only to the Microsoft Surface Pro — the only tablet with a score of one. Amazon’s Kindle Fire’s, on the other hand, are relatively easy to repair, as are Dell’s devices.

The iPad Accounts For 81% Of U.S. Tablet Web Traffic, Kindle Fire Grabs 7.7% [Chart]

By

ipadtabletwebtrafficstats

 

Even though Android has been dominating the smartphone marketshare, the tablet wars are a completely different story as the iPad is clearly the most popular device while all Android tablets are struggling to gain significant usage.

In a new report from the Chitika Ad Network, Apple’s iPad now accounts for 81% of U.S. tablet web traffic. The iPad is so far ahead of the Android tablets, that even if you combined the top 3 performing Android tablets marketshare, they still would look insignificant next to the iPad’s numbers.

Why The iPad Mini Doesn’t Sell For $199

By

Premium parts don't come cheap.
Premium parts don't come cheap.

The iPad mini is Apple’s answer to smaller Android tablets from the likes of Amazon and Google. But there’s a good reason why it doesn’t come with the same $200 price tag. A teardown has revealed that the new iOS device costs at least $188 to build, and that price rises when you add bigger storage options and 4G connectivity.

Why Apple’s $329 iPad Mini Will Do Just Fine Against $200 Android Tablets

By

iPad mini
It'll sell just fine at $329.

As is often the case with Apple products, feelings towards the new iPad mini were mixed following the Cupertino company’s special event in San Jose on Tuesday. Many were wowed by its good looks and tiny form factor, which still manages to run regular iPad apps just fine. While others were confused over its $329 price tag.

We had expected Apple to price the iPad mini along the same lines as cheap Android tablets, such as the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire, which sell for $200. We didn’t quite expect Apple to go quite that low, but we felt around $250 would be just about right.

Instead, Apple chose to ignore what its competitors were doing. You might say that this is a big mistake, and that the iPad mini doesn’t stand a chance against its 7-inch rivals. But many analysts feel the iPad mini will do just fine at $329.

The iPad Mini Apple Event May Focus More On iBooks [Rumor]

By

This isn't the real thing, but it's likely to be identical.
I still want to call this the iPad Air.

As you know, the upcoming media event for Apple’s smaller, thinner, and less expensive tablet, the as-yet-named iPad Air iPad mini, is being widely reported as happening on October 23,2012.

While the invites haven’t gone out yet, we’re seeing a rumor that the event will focus on iBooks, which makes a ton of sense considering that a smaller iPad is in the same market category as a device like the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is kind of like a souped-up eReader, with media consumption its main purpose, at least from Amazon’s perspective.

While this seems like a plausible rumor, I’m not ready to fully embrace it yet.

WSJ: Apple Orders 10 Million iPad Minis For This Fall’s Launch [Report]

By

Apple expects the iPad mini to be a big hit this holiday season.
Apple expects the iPad mini to be a big hit this holiday season.

Apple has reportedly placed an order for 10 million iPad mini units ahead of its much-anticipated launch this fall, according to component suppliers in Asia speaking to The Wall Street Journal. The figure indicates that Apple expects the device to be a big seller this holiday season, despite strong competition from the likes of Amazon and Google.

WSJ: iPad Mini Has Now Entered Mass Production

By

The iPad mini is on its way.
The iPad mini is on its way.

The Wall Street journal reports that Apple’s upcoming iPad mini has now entered mass production with component suppliers in Asia. According to two people familiar with the matter, the device will have a 7.85-inch LCD display — as previous rumors have suggested — and it will be priced to compete with cheaper tablets like the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

Study Finds Android Tablets Could Be About To Topple The iPad

By

post-193910-image-4d137024005f369cb6bccb58d7d01224-jpeg
Cheap Android tablets are stealing the iPad's market share.

A study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found a massive boom in tablets over the last 12 months, with 25% of American adults now owning a tablet of their own. As you might expect, the iPad is the most popular device out there at the moment, claiming more than 52% of the market. But that may not be the case for too long.

Android tablets are rapidly catching up, and in the not-so-distant future, there’s a good chance they will be king.