Kindle News: More detailed comparisons of 7" tablets: iPad mini, Nexus, + Kindle Fire HD... Amzn Lockers...Appstore in Japan...CyberMonday sales

I've been trying out wireless bluetooth keyboards on the 7" and 8.9" Kindle Fire HD's and will report on this in a day or two.   Found two that work VERY well and another that is said to, after the latest Kindle Fire HD software update (v7.2.1), and which is the least expensive but has Apple control-keys predominant and I prefer more Android-key functions at the fingertips.

Recent news
Amazon's appstore opens in Japan, it was announced Wednesday, ahead of Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD shipments there.  Here's the appstore for Japan.

  Amazon also announced that sales of its Kindles during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend was twice what it was for that time period last year (no numbers).

A HINT of the popularity can be seen in the most popular customer review at the product page, which so far has 12,653 people findng it helpful, of 12,853 taking time to 'vote.'  In the meantime, there are 424 posts in questions and answers connected with TL's obviously engaging review.
  Eric DiPier thought it 'incredible' that the review received almost 8,000 votes in less than 2 months (by Nov. 2) and Kerri Elders thinks that when you consider how few people take the time to respond rather than just read, it may well indicate the popularity of the device.  It's been felt that those who interact rather than just lurk dicussions are about 1 per 1,000.  It at least reflects a lot of interest.

 Amazon almost never offers numbers when it comes to Kindles; however, a company like Apple, with tablets and other hardware a major portion of its business, numbers are required by the SEC.  Kindles, a year ago were said to be only 5-7% of Amazon's business and so they don't have to report numbers and can keep the competition guessing and a bit off balance.

Amazon is finally offering, InternetRetailer reports, more of its "Lockers" for those who can't safely receive shipments at home because they're not there, etc. (where this is available).   The latest ones are at Staples.  An early report on the lockers here was on September 12, 2011.

WSJ's Greg Bensinger had a good article on the ones available as of August 2012.
  Here are links to several other news articles on how the new lockers will work and where they're available currently.


So, what else might Amazon be up to?  That's right (image at right) - Amazon Wine!


Holidays and Decisions - Tablets everywhere
In the meantime, some are still trying to decide on a tablet for the Holidays and I haven't added more recent reviews from tech sites since the early ones over a month ago, although I was logging them.

  Here are a few points from several during the last month. (Warning: this blog tends often to go into mindnumbing detail but I hope you find something here not found when trying to decide by reading other sources, that is, if you've stayed here after seeing the length of this.)

ZDNet's David Gewirtz - "How to decide: should you buy an iPad mini, a Kindle Fire HD (UK: here), or a Nexus 7?"
  His security concerns aside (which favor Apple's complete control over apps, with Amazon's app-vetting getting an 'honorable mention'), he is sanguine about the iPad mini's lower resolution that comes with a higher price.
  "... the iPad mini comes with a last-generation display that many users aren't happy with.  Our own Stephen Chapman called the...display 'atrocious' and added, 'With almost every single device of Apple's now having a Retina display, the regression for the iPad mini immediately makes it feel like a half-hearted, disingenuous, and greedy effort.'
  Ouch.  On the other hand, ZDNet's Joel Evans likes his iPad mini more than the iPad 3."
  Gewirtz finishes with some good guidelines on "How to decide."

Macworld's Mark Hattersley calls attention to DisplayMate.com's comparison covering lab measurements of display characteristics of the "iPad mini vs Nexus 7 vs Kindle Fire" which Hattersley (as a Mac writer) cautions:
  "The conclusions aren’t always flattering for the iPad mini."

  Hattersley adds that "When it comes to playing games, watching video, and general tasks the iPad mini is as good as its larger brethren, but considerably lighter and more portable."

[I wouldn't say that is true of HD video material, which the iPad Mini cannot show in HD as it is not an HD display, at only 1024x768, as pointed out by Displaymate later.]

The full Displaymate details are at this page, and are pretty interesting for those keen to see how things 'measure up' for each tablet in several categories.  Examples:

  "While screen Resolution gets lots of attention from both consumers and marketers – it’s really only critical for providing visually sharp text – but that applies for most applications running on a Tablet.
  The $199 Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7 both have considerably sharper displays with 216 Pixels Per Inch, and they both delivered considerably sharper text..."

Displaymate further links to an earlier "7 inch Tablet Display Technology Shoot-Out" between the 7" models of the Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus.

  "While the Nexus 7 has a very nice saturated Red that is close to the new iPad Red, its Greens and Yellows are less saturated than even the iPad 2, which is a significant step backward.  On the other hand, the Kindle Fire HD has Greens and Yellows that are slightly more saturated than the new iPad.

  "These were easy to see during the Viewing Tests.  Just as important as the Color Gamut is the Factory Display Calibration, which can ruin a excellent display if done improperly…

  "... the Factory Display Calibration on the Nexus 7 was severely botched, which significantly degrades its picture quality.  In spite of its good Color Gamut, colors and contrast are washed out due to a compressed, convex, and irregular Intensity Scale (sometimes called the Gray Scale).  Bright images look like over exposed photographs...it is a software or firmware problem rather than an inherent hardware display issue.  Depending on the display firmware this may or may not be correctable with a software update."

  [On another display issue] "... We borrowed and tested a second Nexus 7 unit and found identical behavior – so the effect is unlikely to be due to a defective unit. In fact, we discovered it to be another software bug.

  "The Kindle Fire HD has the highest measured Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light of any Tablet that we have tested in our entire Shoot-Out series, and the Nexus 7 is a close second. Both are much better than either the iPad 2 or the new iPad.   The display on the Kindle Fire was the decisive winner of these two leading 7 inch Tablets. It is much better than the iPad 2 and almost as good as the new iPad in overall picture quality and color accuracy...
...
  "Conclusion:...
  ...Like the new iPad, the Kindle Fire HD has better picture quality and color accuracy than most HDTVs, laptops, and monitors, so it could wind up being your most accurate display for viewing photos, videos and web content.

  "Mobile displays are often viewed under reasonably high Ambient Lighting. The Kindle Fire HD has the highest measured Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light of any Tablet that we have tested in our Shoot-Out series, which is impressive."

  [Back to their more recent comparison of the two with the new iPad mini]
  "While the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 had reduced 61-64 percent Color Gamuts, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7 both deliver a much larger 86 percent Color Gamut, and the new iPad 3 and iPhone 5 have full 100 percent standard Color Gamuts.
  "So it was a surprise and a major disappointment for the iPad mini to arrive with an antiquated smaller 62 percent Color Gamut.

  Displaymate testers give an example of their comparison factors, this one showing newest iPad 4 vs more 'dull' or 'faded' iPad 2 and iPhone 4 subject matter.

  Re "reflectance" or glare in high ambient lighting situations, they write:
  "Most displays are now coming with lower Reflectance screens.  The Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7 managed to accomplish this, even at their low price points, but the iPad mini comes with an unusually high Reflectance – it reflects 53 percent more ambient light than the Nexus 7 and 41 percent more than the Kindle Fire HD.  This is another poor choice and another significant competitive shortfall…"

Displaymate ends the comparison with a very detailed "Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table."


PopHerald's Kevin Go writes about the same three tablets in "...The display game."
  He writes that the iPad Mini is the "perfect choice for those who want a full-fledged tablet that runs Apple's ...iOS... without the excessive bulk of the regular 10-inch iPad" but wonders if, at $329, consumers are getting what they really deserve... and then he goes on to quote from the Displaymate article above and doesn't think consumers get the best deal there.

  But really, Apple users will like the real lightness of the iPad mini (this is an important factor to any of us tablet users) plus its access to the 250,000 highly regarded tablet-optimized Apple apps and to another 450,000 phone apps that might look better on a smaller screen.  For Apple apps, there is no other 7-inch tablet choice.  Most won't care about display resolution that much.


Android Authority's Carl Parker compares the ipad mini to the Kindle Fire HD 7-inch tablet.
That (missing) Charger - Parker points out something many miss about the option to get a charger during purchase of a Kindle Fire HD:
"Thanks to the standard Micro USB port, you don’t need to worry if you leave your Kindle Fire HD’s charger at home because you can just use your other Android device’s USB charger cable."

"These two displays provide very different results when viewing the same images.  The iPad mini display gives higher contrast, making whites whiter and blacks blacker, while washing out some colors.  The Kindle Fire HD, on the other hand, provides richer and vibrant colors, which may make media viewing on the Kindle Fire HD more pleasurable.
...
"Amazon tablet...[has a] responsive and smooth user interface, which arguably is smoother and silkier compared to the previous Kindle Fire.  But, I do get some occasional lags especially when reading highly animated comics.  Scrolling Web pages and zooming in or out are quite laggy compared to that on the iPad mini.

"As for benchmarks, while the Kindle Fire HD gave a much better score for overall performance (as reported by Geekbench 2), the iPad mini outran its Amazon competitor in the GPU and browser benchmarks, except in the Google V8 Benchmark Suite, in which the Kindle tablet lorded over the iPad mini."


HeraldNet's AP article by Peter Svensson is titled "Subpar screen hobbles Apple's smallest tablet."
"I ...bet that for a lot of people, it's not going to be the best choice. It's beautiful and light, but Apple made a big compromise in the design, one that means that buyers should look closely at the competition before deciding.
  "By comparison [with the iPad 4], the iPad Mini's screen looks coarse.  It looks dull, too, because it doesn't have the same color-boosting technology that the full-size model has...
 ..."The real issue is that this year, there are other tablets that are cheaper than the iPad Mini, weigh only slightly more and still have better screens."

  I'd not seen the following explanation before.

  "Sharper screens are darker, requiring a more powerful backlight to appear bright.  That, in turn, would have forced an increase in the battery size.  That's the reason the first iPad with a Retina display was thicker and heavier than the iPad 2.   So to keep the iPad Mini thin while matching the 10-hour battery life of the bigger iPads, Apple had to compromise on the display."

  Another reason, of course, was to make sure the new little brother could handle the many iPad 2 tablet apps wthout having to modify them all for a smaller size.

  "By next year, it will likely be even more obvious that Apple is seriously behind in screen quality on its small tablet, and it will have to upgrade to a Retina display somehow. That means this first-generation iPad Mini will look old pretty fast."
  [Other problems] - "One is that when you run iPhone apps on the Mini, it uses the coarsest version of the graphics for that app -- the version designed for iPhones up to the 2009 model, the 3GS. You can blow the app up to fill more of the screen, but it looks pretty ugly."

  "Some apps adapted for the iPad screen don't display that well on the Mini screen, either, because of the smaller size.  Buttons can be too small to hit accurately, bringing to mind Steve Jobs' 2010 comments about smaller tablets...
  "...In some apps, text on the Mini is too small to be comfortably read -- the section fronts in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal apps are examples of this.
  "... In particular, the Mini is a $329 entry ticket to the wonderful world of iPad and iPhone apps.  For quality and quantity, it beats all the other app stores."


CNET's Brooke Crothers comments on Displaymate's report described above and compares its findings with their own earlier statements, pointing out that:
  "... this echoes CNET's take on iPad Mini's display. "If you own a recent iPhone or the last iPad, you'll feel that this screen is blurry.  Text isn't as sharp. The pixels per inch don't even match what's available on a Kindle Fire HD or Nook HD," wrote CNET's Scott Stein."

Well, I hope that helped with some details not given in earlier reviews:


EARLIER posts on Kindle Fire HD
  . Basic Features Comparison Table for iPad mini, Google Nexus 7", Kindle Fire HD 7"
  . Comparison reviews of the Kindle Fire HD 7" and Google Nexus 7" tablets
  . Step-by-step guide for installing a working Adobe Flash player when needed.
  . Google Maps, Street View and other apps on my Kindle Fire, via enabling one device setting
  . Downloading and playing YouTube videos on Kindle Fire HD
  . Using the camera and Video, Panorama mode, Time Lapses
  . App for WiFi file transfers w/o cable.


A note on David Pogue's NY Times NYT article ignoring the Kindle Fire HD in favor of the also-impressive B&N Nook HD.  A friend mentioned this, and I responded with reasons I've given before for not including the Nook in the detailed comparisons, though I'm a B&N paying member and want the physical stores to survive.
  But you may notice few sites include the Nook tablets in their comparisons possibly for similar reasons.

  But if Amazon didn't allow apps from other online app-stores onto the Kindle Fire (which just involves checking just one easily visible option-setting to enable this), I wouldn't buy or keep the Kindle Fire HD either, nor write much about it.

  It's a self-destructive decision to actually restrict customers to only the vendor-store's own apps (unless you're Apple w/ a different operating system entirely), especially when they're so limited as B&N's are.  This was essentially my reply:

'Pogue has to cover a lot so can't be expected to know everything in depth but that doesn't keep him from surface-level judgments that will influence many due to his platform and entertaining style.

Nook:
  Most important:
KFire can easily have non-Amazon store apps installed.  It's just checking one setting that allows it (this is a typical Android option). That's why I have Google Maps and Street View on my Kindle Fires.  No 'hacking' involved at all.
  This isn't possible on an unhacked Nook.

1. Barnes and Noble refuses to allow its Nooks to have any apps installed in it except their own and they have the weakest app store

2. Ecosystem for tablet:  No B&N music or video streaming, and a lack of downloadable content store for those vs Amazon's Prime instant videos and music.
Content can be side-loaded to the tablet.
  Streaming is from paid, 3rd party Netflix or Hulu Plus subscriptions, etc.

3. Gives far less Cloud storage
    Amazon gives all customers 5 gigs for non-Amazon docs and books
    with syncing between devices though books were bought elsewhere.
      It keeps a log of annotations on those, if we want,
    in our personal Amazon server space for personal docs
    and for Kindle owners, it's an additional 5GB of free space.

  B&N gives server space only to B&N products, the last I read on their boards
  when I was using the NookColor daily.

4. Amazon has a 7-day-refund period - done by automated email - for any Kindle book that doesn't measure up -- formatting problems, poor editing, etc.

    B&N, though, has a hardline approach - NO REFUNDS on Nook books.
    They've even refused them when pages were missing.

5. Customer Support - Kindle support is usually superb at Amazon.
    Almost non-existent at B&N post-sales.
    Store clerks can try to be helpful but are not as well trained.

6. No camera for Skype (the only major tablet I know of w/ no way to do
    today's free camera/video communication popular w/ families and friends

7. Higher book prices at B&N. '

I hope that some of that info somewhat compensates for being absent from active blogging for a few days.  When quiet, I'm usually researching for a bit more context.  I was also active in some tech-site forums but also holidaying!

Note that I refrained from talking about additional stereo speaker comparisons although a few reviewers have referred to these as the best tablet ones and 'sublime' - an important factor when watching movies w/o having the head clamped by headphones or ears plugged.  :-)

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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Kindle News: Yesterday's Gone, first season of popular serialized fiction, is free today.

The first season of serialized fiction series "Yesterday's Gone" by Platt & Wright is available for download free from today, Tuesday, November 27 until November 28.

I don't know if that means end of day November 28 or start of day.

Collective Inkwell, the indie publishers, normally price this at $5.99.

The six episodes of Yesterday's Gone Season One, has an average review rating of 4.7 stars out of 5, and there are over 180 5-star reviews on it.  From the PR:

' First launched in July 2011, with an episode released every week, Yesterday's Gone quickly grew a loyal readership who eagerly awaited each new episode.

“What can I say to the reception Yesterday's Gone has had from readers?” Platt said when asked about the success of the series. “One word: Wow! We always knew we had a great idea with Yesterday's Gone, but only in our wildest dreams did it blow up this big."

In a dramatic twist, Platt and Wright, the pioneers of serialized fiction for the Kindle, were recently signed by Amazon's publishing arm, 47North, to write two new serialized novels, Z 2134 and Monstrous.

  "With Amazon Serials now live, serialized fiction is generating a lot of buzz.” Platt said. "It feels great to be right in the middle of it all."
  Featuring a cliffhanger at the end of every episode, the novel is a tense and nerve-wracking read.

"I always loved watching TV shows with a cliffhanger ending as a kid," said David Wright, co-author. "Waiting a whole week to find out what happens to the hero is both painful and exciting - a bittersweet satisfaction. That's one of my favorite feelings"

Wright added: "Serialized fiction is nearly as old as the novel itself, but TV upped the game and added a modern twist. With Yesterday's Gone, we aimed to repackage the punch of TV cliffhangers back into fiction."

In the most recent review, published November 25, Anthony White wrote of Yesterday's Gone Season One: "I loved this story and had the 'could not put it down experience' that I have always heard people talk about."

Three seasons of Yesterday's Gone, totally 18 episodes, have launched so far. Fans of the series are eagerly awaiting the fourth season. Episode 19 will launch summer 2013. '

Seemed interesting enough for a quick blog entry.



  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date      Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button
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Cyber Monday only: Kindle Fire 2 (non-HD) $129 US and £99 UK. Also, Panasonic 3D TVs today, headphones at 70% off, etc.

MONDAY ONLY - Kindle Fire tablet, 2nd Generation (NOT the HD version though), normally $159, is $129 (U.S.), Monday only.
  This is the Standard Definition model.

  [*NOTE: The Kindle Fire Monday deal below
        has ended.*] - Nov. 27, 2012.

The info below is mostly historical now but Amazon is continuing Cyber Monday Deals Week with other ongoing deals, though probably not at the hectic pace we saw Monday.

[Monday's blog entry]
  To get the $30 off this U.S. model, you need to enter promotional code FIREDEAL at checkout, Amazon says, and again, the U.S. deal is only for Monday the 26.

  The UK version of the Kindle Fire 2, normally £129 is £99 for a "Limited time only" and that's the shown pricing today on the UK product page, first seen on Black Friday in the UK.  However, in bold lettering, the UK page says "Final Day" on the Christmas Deals page.

  I normally would not recommend the non-HD version of Kindle Fire when the difference is only $40 or £30.  But when it's a difference of $70 (U.S.) and £60 (UK), that's another story. The Freetime parental control comes with this model.
  RAM was increased from 512 MB to 1 GB.  Has 8 GB storage.

I actually heard about the three offers shown from my local TV News, including even that select Panasonic smart 3D LED HDTVs are shown today at up to 60% off.
  The Amazon deals page says:

' The TC-L42ET5 42-inch TV is available for $599 (list price of $1,099.99), the TC-L47DT50 47-inch TV is available for $799 (list price of $1,899.99), and the TC-L55DT50 55-inch TV is available for $999 (list price of $2,499.99).  All three models feature the VIERA Connect IPTV cloud service so that you can access apps such as Amazon Instant Video, hulu plus, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and more.  TVs also feature an IPS LED panel that delivers an 178° viewing angle for clear, vibrant images from every seat in the room.  Offer valid when shipped and sold by Amazon.com.
. . .
  Offer good through 11:59 p.m. PST on November 26, 2012, while supplies last. Amazon reserves the right to change or terminate this promotion at any time. '

And, as you can see, their other special promo offers include things like (when I last looked a few minutes ago) "$40 Amazon.com promotional credit," one per customer, with the order of a Braun Series 7 shaver plus "an additional $15 off instantly" at checkout when clicking on the item and "clipping the coupon." The credit expires by January 31, 2013.

  This particular promo-credit deal is on purchases before end of day, December 22, 2012, and the product pricing seems to change through the day.

  For instance, the popular Canon S100 normally sold near its list price of $400 was $250 yesterday and is $300 today.  Oddly, the Canon S95 which it replaced, has fewer megapixels and no optical zoom in video mode but has less noise-reduction and therefore a sharper image and is still selling at $400.


The Kindle Fire 2 was a natural 1-day discount to report, but the others might be of interest to some and the three are featured together on their Cyber Monday page today.  If nothing else, interest in the holiday sales is thought to be good for the economy.

  I certainly won't be doing reports on most of these sales -- but the Kindle Fire 2 price today is one that should interest some readers of this blog.  And my local TV news is still at it with the Amazon sales just now again, so it's getting a lot of reporting outside of the Net.

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Cyber Monday Deals Week starts -- a couple of deals that were of interest to me.

Cyber Monday Week is now with us after the hectic antics of Black Friday at offline stores.

Specials in software today that were of interest to me, so I'm passing those on:
Microsoft Office 2010 or 2011 for PC or Mac: 1-user, 3 installs, "Family pack" $90 currently (the prices change unexpectedly).  They have deals in every category, but this was just my own focus today.
  Mac-2011,   PC-2010.

Those are for the downloadable versions. It's the same price for CD ROM versions if preferred (and those are linked from these product pages), but the downloaded version stays available to you on the server for re-download and there's no tax in California on e- or purely-digital-versions.

Adobe Lightroom - In photography groups, there were mentions of Adobe Lightroom 4 downloads or physical packages for $99 (briefly $79 on the latter), instead of the usual $149 today and they seem to be in effect for Cyber Monday as well.

  Adobe offers them for $99 only if you buy the $500-$600 Photoshop package too (except on Black Friday), so this is a good price.

  For those interested or who already HAVE Lightroom 4, here's a great series of FREE online Lightroom 4 video tutorials by Adobe and they have similar free video tutorials for other Adobe packages.  These are really well done.

ALSO of interest for Lightroom users will be two free online video guides by Michael Frye -- the first one explains the changes and how the new processes work and affect an image's appearance.   The second video shows examples of processing both high and low-contrast images and discusses good settings to start with and whether the improved Basic sliders can replace using curves.

  If you prefer a book-type guide to Lightroom 4, the Kindle Version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers is $19.80 tonight, 64% lower than the Print List Price of $55, Amazon says, but it's 55% off the Digital List Price of $44.  I don't know if the $19.80 is a Cyber Monday Week price or not, but I did buy it as it has a good rep.  And that's an unusually low price for an Adobe 'Complete guide.'

---

Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.
NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$249 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $299/$369 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $499/$599 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free but slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button
Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Fire HD 7" and 8.9" screen resolutions...TuneIn Radio app...Kindle's 5th anniversary.

This image from The Book of Spells for Wonderbook (for PlayStation 3) has been showing up on the lock-screen of the Kindle Fire, as I haven't opted out of the "Special Offers" because some of the discount offers have been useful for me (though not this one as I've no interest in PS3's or Harry Potter).

  But, the image display was striking so I thought I'd take a screenshot (how?) of it and look at the resulting file, since the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD has a screen resolution of 1280x800 pixels.

  Here's what the resulting screenshot file is like in the original 1280x800 image resolution size.  Seen on a 7-inch display instead, the result is pretty sharp.

The new 8.9" Kindle Fire HD
  In comparison, the 8.9" Kindle Fire HD just released has a screen resolution of 1920x1200, or 254 pixels per inch (ppi) on an 8.9" display.
  That's vs a screen resolution of 1024x768 (163 ppi) on the 7.9" iPad mini.

Increasingly, comparison reviews of the iPad mini with other 7" - 9" tablets show more discontent with the screen resolution of the iPad mini at $329 (while loving the apps and the lightness of it) and more appreciation of the Kindle Fire HD's special features as well as for the Google Nexus' pure Android-ness.

  I collected a large assortment of these and will quote some specifics from those in the next day.


Some useful and popular apps (most are free)
  In the meantime, note the currently top-rated apps for the Kindle Fire models.

    Recommended Android app today: TuneIn Radio.

    This has 742 customer reviews, with an average rating of 4.6 stars.


Kindle turned 5 yrs old yesterday
Many tech sites noted the 5th anniversary of the Kindle, which began the recent intense interest in e-books and reading, due in large part to the ability to get a book within a minute without needing to connect to a computer.

  The free cellular network access for 3G downloads, which don't require WiFi networks either, remains a feature of the Kindles that offer 3G.  All the new e-readers with that feature (including the 3G Paperwhite) still offer free Wikipedia access also, from almost wherever you are, 24/7.

For nostalgia, here's a photo of the first Kindle e-reader, doing the web (slowly) at a cafe.  It was not the sleekest creature but that strange silver, mercury-like vertical cursor column with scroll wheel was a kick.  We couldn't access the screen directly with a cursor but could indicate the line wanted and had to choose from several words in the row when wanting a word definition or a search... And, hard to believe today, it was $390 and sold out for most of its time, before the Kindle 2 was released in Feb. 2009, for $360. (Yes.)


Interesting Kindle Daily Deal today
The Kindle Daily Deal for today, Tuesday Nov. 20, is William Shirer's Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941.

  Amazon's description: "A radio broadcaster and journalist for Edward R. Murrow at CBS, William Shirer began keeping a diary while in Europe during the 1930s.  His honest and passionate chronicle is considered the first full record of the rise of the Third Reich and the brutality with which Hitler came to power."
  It has 42 customer reviews with an average rating of 4.6 stars. 80% savings today only.

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Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.
NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$249 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $299/$369 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $499/$599 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free but slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle News: Personalized JibJab Video Gift Cards... PRIME monthly pricing paused?...Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch tablet released 5 days early...Adobe Photoshop in Kindle Fire "PS Touch" app version

KINDLE NEWSBITS

Consumer Electronics Daily News posted the Amazon JibJab Gift Card image above and accompanying story on Amazon's Video Gift Cards, announced Jan. 16.

Customers can now "create free, personalized "JibJab Starring You®" videos featuring a photo of their own face or faces of their friends and family," personalized "for over a dozen occasions."

  These can also be shared through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and email, while keeping the gift card details private, they report.

  There are over 50 JibJab videos that can be personalized, and since they're gift cards, you choose how much to gift someone, the upper limit being $2,000 (!) and you can then choose to email it or post it to a friend's Facebook Wall (without details, I presume from the description above).  The recipient can then use the gift card at Amazon at their convenience.
  They're delivered instantly if you want or they can be scheduled for a future date.  These never expire.  I should hope not (unless the friendship falls apart before one is used).   :-).


Amazon's Test of Monthly Prime Program Subscriptions has already ended
That was fast!  Engadget's Jon Fingas reports that Amazon stopped the new Prime price-test program, having "completed" its testing and is no longer taking sign-ups.  Don't know if that's The End of that or a lull before an official offering.  While the yearly rate of $79 (which breaks down to $6.58/mo.) is better than, say, $8/mo (which would make $96 for a year),  many do prefer not to be committed to a year, so it'll be interesting to see whether they do go ahead with an official month-by-month offering as an incentive to try it.

  I'd think the expense of turning that 'on' and 'off,' while applying appropriate shipping costs, might make it not that worthwhile to Amazon, but I've no idea.


Kindle Fire HD 8.9" released finally
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch tablet started shipping a few days ago, before the estimated Nov. 20 date.  I ordered the 8.9" model with 4G/LTE cellular network access and won't see that model until next week sometime.

Gizmodo's Kyle Wagner, 7/16/12, writes some quick impressons:

' The first thing you notice is how much nicer the 8.9-inch tablet is to hold one-handed than a 10-inch tablet... That’s partially because of the largeish bezel, which makes it nice to hold.  But because of that, partially, it’s not small in the way the iPad Mini is.  The Mini feels like a really big small tablet, while this one is more of a small big tablet. Comics, for example, are totally readable without zooming in.

Speaking of the screen: It’s great.  We did a quick, unscientific comparison against the Nexus 10′s monster of a display, and the Fire mostly held its own.  Its blacks are a little blacker, though the Nexus looks a little brighter on a white background (though there’s some disagreement here about that).  Text looks lovely on both, but the whites are different.  At a glance, the Kindle’s contrast seems easier on the eyes while reading...'

Adobe Photoshop Touch ("PSTouch") app for Kindle Fire HDs
Engadget's Joseph Volpe writes, on Nov. 15, 2012,  about Adobe's Photoshop Touch app (v1.4), which was apparently modified from the one for Android (still at v1.3)  to optimize or customize the app for the newer Kindle Fire 7-inch and 8.9-inch tablet sizes.

  Android-type app fonts are quite scalable and will adjust with little loss of sharpness perceived.  The overall layout has been changed somewhat, and there is a new anti-lens-flare feature.
  The PS Touch app for Kindle Fire is not being offered at Google Play market, as of today, 2 days later.
Google Play does not acknowledge the Kindle Fire devices.

  I actually do have the original PS Touch Android app from Google Play, which is optimized for larger-sized Android tablets (and there's a version for iPad 2's and above also -- iPad 1 users were upset it wasn't available for that model because the hardware couldn't handle it), and I use the original Android app on my Samsung 10.1" Galaxy Tab.

  The PS Touch Android apps can run only on v3.x  (Honeycomb) or above, so do not work with the earlier Kindle Fire (Generation 1).  The latest app version  is optimized for Android 4.x, and since the old Kindle Fire is at v2.x ("Gingerbread"), it's not included.  All later Kindle Fires are at v4.03 currently.

Adobe Photoshop app and the regular Photoshop program
  On May 10, 2012, I went to an Adobe Headquarters demonstration of the new app in San Francisco, the demo sponsored by Adobe and a local photography group, which was a good-sized local crowd very interested in being able to edit with the familiar, powerful features of Photoshop, on a tablet.  These demo events are nicely free in San Francisco.  The person just behind me in the line for our name tags got a ticket which won an iPad 3.  I should have been one-person late :-)    Never enough different types of tablets.

  Adobe's PSTouch app  is based on the well-known Photoshop program which costs several hundred dollars, even at discount.
  The Android app, at $9.95, actually includes a lot of popular Photoshop editing features like layers, masks, extractions, compositing, cloning, etc., and comes with a large tutorial group, though I can't say that the tutorials are  that intuitive.  I did bungle my way through the exercises before going to the Adobe Demo, and I wound up able to send some quickly-edited pictures to friends during a vacation.  Here are some photos from that Adobe event -- and the 7th pic in the set is of my 10" Samsung Tablet, which I bought refurbished ("cheap"), displaying the app's tutorials on my lap while I watched the large-screen demos.

  Is this app worth $9.95?
  If you already use or appreciate what the expensive Photoshop program can do, the app will be well worth the $10.
  But it could well be "overkill" for others when capable and simpler editing apps are available at lower cost and even for free for the kinds of things most like to do when sharing pics quickly via email or Facebook.

  As for the Adobe demo event, I also took a photo of one shot they displayed after photographing a member of the audience, adding, almost instantly to her photo, a pirate's hat and eye patch.  What struck me about it was that she looked like "Christina" from Grey's Anatomy :-).
  Am I off-topic enough?

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button
Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Tips: Tubemate and BSPlayer apps - downloading and playing different types of video. Kindle Fire HD 8.9" with 1920x1200 screen resolution starts shipping today.

Images from Pamukkale - I'll explain why in a bit.

I made some neat discoveries yesterday, thanks to Amazon's allowing Kindle Fire HD owners to install Android apps from "unknown sources" -- meaning sources that are not the Amazon store.
 (AFTER getting files from those other sources, I found that Amazon today has the files I wanted, available again, or finally.)

Allowing installation of apps from other sources is a very cool decision for a shopping store like Amazon's.  Barnes and Noble, while having a good device in the Nook Tablet HD, hampered its tablet enormously by not allowing this capability (unless you 'root' the device, which can brick it unless you know what you're doing) and while holding press conferences saying they're more open than Amazon.  Not.

  The Nook's especially hampered, despite the currently best display on a ~7" tablet, since their app store is  lacking, they're rigid about other app sources, and they also neglected to add a camera for Skype'g, so comparison reviews have tended to ignore the tablet, even though the B&N tablet does include a micro SD card slot.

  However, when you cannot add apps that offer quite a bit, it's a real drawback.  I mention this because people often ask why there are fewer reviews of B&N's good HD tablet.  They also don't yet have a very competitive ecosystem for it (no music and a much more limited video collection).

  And, as one reviewer pointed out today (I'll note a few more, recent comparison reviews soon), no other tablet (except the three Kindle Fires) lets you know what actors are in a current scene when you're watching a movie that's been "X-Rayed" with IMDB information.

About the images above.  They're of an unusual place in Pamukkale, Turkey, which I visited back in 2004, and those are terraced calcium pools or travertines near ancient Hierapolis.  "Pamukkale means "cotton castle" and comes from "pamuk" for cotton and "kale" for castle, which refers to the large white cliff of Pamukkale.  For centuries, the thermal waters there have been considered therapeutic.

The beautiful second image above, from the video, is by Gilbert Jottrand.  This blog entry came about because I came across a Youtube video, by Leen Smit, which used a few of my photos (w/ my OK after I heard the flute-like soundtrack used) as well as increasingly better photos which display after mine -- and the last set, by Gilbert Jottrand, is just breathtaking in the way I remember when there, 8 years ago.  The first photos show what the brown-white 'cliffs' were like when seen from a distance while approaching them, as well as the gorgeous colors of the pools up close.  I decided I'd like to have this video on the Kindle Fire HD tablet.

  With this video, which he made in HD, you can use the gear-wheel at bottom right, to choose 1080p  if you have a fast connection and an HD monitor, and choose the largest rectangle for full-screen.  This ran well on my 24" monitor.  Choosing 720p and the 2nd largest rectangle will be good enough for most.

  If interested in more info on these calcium terraces, I have a page about it at PBase.

Viewing Youtube videos
Earlier, Kindle Fire HD owners had problems viewing some Youtube videos because Adobe no longer supports Flash Player for mobile systems, and especially not for systems on the later "Ice Cream Sandwich" Android operating system version, v4.x ... These include the Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus.  Youtube changed something and many files were no longer accessible w/o Adobe Flash Player, for a few days.

    If using Amazon's "Silk" browser with Youtube
With the new tablets and with Amazon's Silk browser: -- Unless you set the browser's "Requested website view" to "Automatic" rather than 'desktop' (although 'desktop' is what most of us prefer to see on a non-phone instead of the ugly, plain mobile website versions that 'automatically mobile' can lead you to), Youtube will often require the Adobe Flash Player which doesn't come with the new tablets due to the Adobe decision.
  So, to be sure Youtube works for you, set the Amazon's Silk browser's WEB menu's setting to "auto" -- then it'll show you an alternate HTML5 page that will run the video.

  (Some of us prefer to use the Dolphin browser along with an older Adobe Flash Player file, to make sure we see flash video on all sites that offer it for Android devices.  The guide to doing that is in this blog article.)

  So, because of the music and the other sets of photos shown, I wanted this on my Kindle Fire HD (KFHD), and found that the Tubemate app (which Amazon had said was UNavailable the last 3 days until TODAY) is at Amazon's app store once again! and does a GREAT job of downloading Youtube videoclips to the KFHD, to play when not connected to the Net.

  If, at the time you look for Tubemate, Amazon's app might not be available (as it was not for the last 3 days), you can try Tubemate's other download-site recommendations page (which is a good list of 3rd party app sites, by the way)  at m.tubemate.net/ -- again, it lists a number of 3rd party sites recommended for downloading apps.  We're really not limited to the Amazon store (though uninformed people on many gadget sites like to say so), though it's become a very good source of tested apps for Amazon's own tablets.  So, I am leaving in, here, this quite confusing info on alternative resources.

  Cautions re 3rd party site files
  I am always careful NOT to download a NEWLY-uploaded app file from any 3rd party site (like 1mobile or Getjar) until I see it hasn't given others problems; I wait for reviews to show up.

  That's to avoid possible viruses or non-compatible apps.  Amazon vets its apps heavily for both reasons, but for that reason they're slow to post and don't have as much.  The Google Market or "Play" has had its share of viruses since they don't go through vetting.  Best to wait and let other people take chances. :-)

  I tend to like www.1mobile.com -- and, as is the usual case, they have a "market" or store of apps you can download to get these apps.  They had too many Tubemate files for some reason, probably because Tubemate makers had a new urgent upload-replacement and were placing the alert everywhere and then various people uploaded it to 1mobile (which eventually clears out duplicates) and so the 1mobile site is not on today's Tubemate's verification list.

  BUT they had the other recommended app I just found and love using during a time when Amazon didn't have it (as mentioned, it's back at Amazon though).  BSPlayer FREE.  When you download it, I think it tells you if it needs an additional 'codec' file for whatever device you might be using, but I didn't need one (from what I remember) for the Kindle Fire HD.

  BSPlayer's own website leads you to Google's Play market, which ignores Kindle Fire users as if we don't exist.  So, during the last few days when Amazon didn't have these files available, I used 1mobile.com for files like  this new v1.5.136 version of BSPlayer, called BSPlayer Free there.

  NOW, it's available at Amazon as well, and that's the one you should use.  It's the same version, v1.5.136 though called "BSPlayer Lite."

Why BSPlayer?
The Kindle Fire's built-in video-player officially plays only mp4 format videos.
  And the Mobo Player which USED to be versatile, cannot handle audio well on many of my camera videos, nor can MXPlayer.  But BSPlayer?  No problem with the many files I've tried.  But I've read that those with "MKV" format files have problems with the audio when using BSPlayer.

   BSPlayer supports:

' avi, divx, flv, mkv, mov, mpg, mts, mp4, m4v, rmvb, wmv, 3gp, mp3, ac3... and streaming content such as RTMP, RTSP, MMS (tcp, http), HTTP Live stream, HTTP.

- Multiple audio streams and subtitles.
- Playlist support and various playback modes.
- Playback media files such as videos and mp3's directly via Wi-Fi from your LAN shared drives/folders (such as external USB drives, Samba (SMB/CIFS) shared drives, PC shared folders, NAS servers (Synology and others)) - no need to convert video files and copy media files to SD card anymore!
- Playback files directly from uncompressed RAR files. '

  It's hardware accelerated and works very well with the Kindle Fire HD (I've not tested it on the original Kindle Fire, but Amazon says that it's compatible).
  CAVEAT:  'Hardware rendering" (the default) works well for KFHD, but you need to change the default to "software" decoding on the original first-generation Kindle Fire, which has a different processor and is not High Definition in screen resolution -- it doesn't handle 720p video resolution well.

  Maybe the flash-player problems with Adobe's dropping support is causing no small frustration to tablet buyers re video in general and is leading Amazon to offer more generally good video player alternatives.

  With BSPlayer you can adjust the brightness with a swipe up or down on the left side and can adjust volume with a swipe up and down on the right side, etc.  It has played everything I've thrown at it, flawlessly,  and gives you a lot of file info too.  No other popular video player I tried could play the files from my varying camera video recorders.  If you have HTC devices, read their support notes though.  It's a good idea no matter what device you have, to read an app's support notes, to save some frustration and time.

  With Tubemate, by the way, you can open the "Downloads" video folder and then run BSPlayer from it, and that gives you a nicer overall file-interface as well.  (With BSPlayer, you're dropped into the file system and would need to find the "Video" folder to see the video files.)  But, as ever, when using ANY app, use the rectangular Menu for it and then look through "Preferences" or "Settings" (or both)  to see what needs to be selected.

With TODAY's duo of apps that have been working really well for me (SO much better than Mobo Player), there's no need to use secondary sites.  They're both at Amazon today, so I won't be giving steps on how to install apps from other sources.  But you should get comfortable with a good file-explorer/manager like ES File Explorer  AND,  if you have trouble finding your install (".apk") files, get the Easy Installer, which automatically hunts those down for you (a must-have app).


Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch Tablet Starts to Ship today.
The $299 model with 16 GB storage and the $369 model with 32 GB storage will start shipping tonight, about 5 days earlier than planned.

The 8.9" tablet has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1200, with 254 pixels per inch, and is "Retina" quality, great for reading and HD video.

Unlike other vendors' tablets this has a direct HDMI-out port to any HDTV;
X-Ray for movies, which shows names of actors in a scene, along with bios,
and dual speakers, one on each side of the device when watching videos, with Dolby Plus feature to increase clarity of speech and very good spatial qualities.  No need for headphones or external speakers to hear the output well.

  Other KFHD 8.9" features:
Front-facing camera for Skype; Text-to-Speech; Dual-band, dual-antenna WiFi reviewed as testing more effective for signal strength

The $499 model with 3G/4G LTE cellular network access will ship sometime NEXT week.
These come with 32GB or 64 GB storage
See NOTES to get more details on these two models.

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Tip: PicShop, for Kindle Fire (all models) and other Android devices. Filters, frames, overlays

In reply to the blog entry about the HD Camera app, commenter David Silva alerted us to another camera app he recommends for Kindle Fire HD owners.

  It's the PicShop Lite Photo Editor, by esDot Development Studio, and it's free.

1.  For this free version, there are currently 104 customer reviews, with an average rating of 4.2 stars.
Almost all the 1-star and 2-star ones are from April-June, and it gets higher ratings after that.

Product Features

Full Editing Suite
Filters and Effects
Frames and Overlays
Sketch Mode w/ 8 different brushes
Meme Maker
Speech Bubbles
Text w/ Adjustable Font
Fun Stickers (Hats, Moustaches, Love etc)
Social Integration (Facebook, Twitter, Email)
Customize app with your own personal theme

The "Editing Suite" includes:
Color / Saturation; Brightness / Contrast; Sharpen / Blur; Tilt Shift
Depth of Field; Blemish Remover; RedEye Remover; Auto-Correction;
Crop; Rotate; Flip


2.   There's a $2.50 regular version as well.
It also has an average 4.2 star rating, with 783 customer reviews, and the sizeable 1-star ones are almost all June 2012 and earlier.

The app maker doesn't mention what the differences are, but one customer said the "full version" was needed to "unlock" something, another customer wishes she "didn't have to buy [the] full version" to get the rest of it, and one person said it seemed to "taunt" you with things available only in the $2.50 version (although if one likes it, $2.50 is not a huge price and it has a sizeable number of people who chose it over the free one eventually).

The Product Description from the product page:

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Photo editing on your Android device

Full-Featured Photo Editor for Android

PicShop - Photo Editor features a beautiful design combined with tons of editing options and dozens of filters. With support for HD images up to 8MP, PicShop is great for serious photographers as well as casual.  Post your perfected photos to Facebook, Twitter or e-mail with a single click.

The UI Layer for PicShop is fully GPU accelerated, which translates into extremely low battery consumption, and a beautifully smooth 60hz interface. This app is a joy to use.

Photo Editing Controls

The Editing Suite includes Color/Saturation, Brightness/Contrast, Sharpen/Blur, Tilt Shift, Depth of Field, Blemish Remover, RedEye Remover, Auto-Correction, Crop, Rotate, and Flip.

This editor can of course be used with photos that you transfer to the Kindle Fire HD, either via a USB connection to a computer or via the WiFi File Explorer "over the air."


Related blog articles:
  . Basic Features Comparison Table for iPad mini, Google Nexus 7", Kindle Fire HD 7"
  . Comparison reviews of the Kindle Fire HD 7" and Google Nexus 7" tablets

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button
Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Deals, one in connection with Veterans Day. Early Black Friday page. Big6 buy-button glitch. Paperwhite compared to Kobo and Nook Glowlight. A Kindle Fire HD Guide Book free Today Only.

Some special Kindle Book deals in connection with Veterans Day

Today's Kindle Daily Deal - Amazon's description of the collection of 9 books offered at $1.99 Sunday only, Nov. 11:

  "From the voyages and raids of the Viking tribes in the 10th century to the healing sought by Vietnam War soldiers decades after the conflict, today's deal presents a collection of stories about war and its aftermath.  All nine of today's thought-provoking books are just $1.99 (up to 89% off)."

The accompanying "Kindle Kids Daily Deal" is Hero Dad which, as a "picture-book," is available only on Kindle Fire, Kindle Cloud Reader (that's free to all customers with access to the web), Kindle for iPad, and Kindle for Android.





Amazon also sent a notice that they have another special:

"30 Kindle Books for $3 Each"
  This one is "valid through December 5, 2012."


TODAY ONLY (Sunday) also - Kindle Fire HD User's Guide Book: Unleash the Power of Your Tablet

Amazon also already has an early Black-Friday deals page.


Newsbits
The Bookseller's Lisa Campbell mentions a "technical issue" that hit Amazon Thursday night, during which the buy button was missing for the Big6 publishers for some reason.  Some time later, Amazon released a statement that "The Kindle Store is experiencing a technical issue. We’re working to correct it."

  That it affected only the Big6 at a time when the Europe powers that be are accepting a Settlement with errant publishers (some of whom didn't accept one in the US but Europe will assign no fees, from what I read earlier, which is one reason they agreed) is somewhat intriguing, no?  The publishers whose books were affected by the glitch were HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, Random House (not involved in the lawsuits), and Macmillan.


  More on Paperwhite reviews
For those more focused on reading than tablet play, the Kindle Paperwhite continues to rack up glowing reviews.

1. TechnoBuffalo's Brandon Russell's headline is "Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Review: This is the Best E-Reader Money Can Buy." and he writes, " It’s the best gadget of its kind, bar none, and something you should experience if you’re an avid reader."

  He mentions that a "major difference" over the Barnes & Noble NOOK Touch (which he's considered "superb" otherwise) is the "high-res display and its impressive capacitive touch capabilities."

  See the full review for much more detail and "What's Bad" as well as the usual "What's Good."

2. Engadget's Brian Heater comopares the Kobo Glo to the Paperwhite and the B&N Nook.  Good pictures are included.

  The Kobo and Nook both include a microSD slot, which the Paperwhite doesn't.

  A few of Russell's comparisons:

' ... When the Kindle Paperwhite launched just a few months later, however, Barnes & Noble's proprietary technology [Nook Glowlight] already seemed dated.

  Amazon's own approach to front lighting, reportedly four years in the making, offered up a much whiter and far more evenly distributed illumination across the screen.  So, how does the [Kobo] Glo fare after the arrival of the other two?  Quite frankly, the company hit front lighting out of the park on its first try.

The Glo has even more in common with the Paperwhite on that front, with great light distribution across the display, devoid of any uneven splotches.  According to Kobo, that's thanks to a "nano-printed fiber-optic film" -- a technology that sounds awfully similar to the one implemented by Amazon...like the Kindle, there's none of the blueish overcast present on the Simple Touch with GlowLight.  If we're picking nits, there is a slightly perceptible yellowish tinge here, which you can see when you hold the reader up against the Paperwhite.

... there's a strong downside to Kobo's implementation -- text contrast suffers noticeably. Reading with the light off, there's not a lot of difference between the Paperwhite and Glo -- turn the light all the way up, however, and it becomes far more pronounced. '

  The Kobo does have a rudimentary web browser (the Nook had a hidden one that didn't work well but they removed that in an update after May 2012). Unlike the Kindle's web browser, there is no pinch-to-zoom, which really is needed on such small devices, and I don't see an equivalent to the Kindle's specially laid-out (with larger print and no ads) "Article View" for single web articles.

  The Kobo is available in parts of the world where the Kindle and Nook aren't, so it's a definite for serious consideration.  There is much more detail on the user interface, etc. at the full article.

---

Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.
NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$249 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $299/$369 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $499/$599 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free but slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Tip: (1) An app to use the Kindle Fire HD front-facing camera + (2) the free way to do it, described earlier

On October 19, I included a tip on how to access and use the Kindle Fire HD's front-facing camera, normally used for video chats with friends and family.

 The above image is for a $1.99 app, HD Camera, which will probably be worth it for those who don't want to deal with working with a computer-style file manager -- but if you do, the access to the camera controls is free.

  Another upside to the app, for novices, is continuing support from the app creator, which I'll say more about below.

What follows next is what I described earlier, for those who missed it buried in a large group of tips that included other features.

  First, a Setting that often must be done before doing any of this
(if the app-install files are not from Amazon, but in this case they are):
  Amazon allows users to choose to install apps from "unknown sources" and you can "enable" that (do this only with files recommended by people you trust) by going to the 'Home' screen and swiping down (lightly pressing and pulling down) from the top of the screen, to see the Quick Settings Menu; then click on "More" at the right, and go down that Settings list to "Device" to Check the box to allow installation of applications from 'unknown sources.'

Q: Why can't I use the front-facing camera for anything but Skype?
A: You can, as some popular apps can use the camera and there is a way to open or activate the camera via the versatile and free file manager app, ES File Explorer


There are many Kindle Fire apps that can use the camera as a secondary function, and Kindle owners have tended to recommend the Evernote or Facebook apps for this.  But that doesn't give you access to the several features and controls that are there.

Here's how to open the camera via ES File Explorer, once you've installed it.

  1.  Press Apps at the top of the Home screen (or find it in your Favorites
       if you made it a fave) and then click on the ES File Explorer to open it.
  2.  In the top row, click on AppMgr.
  3.  In the top row still, click on Category
  4.  Choose System apps button
  5.  Select camera
  6.  Choose Open

  And that's it!

You'll find yourself with a choice of
  1.   PANORAMA mode shooting (Yes! Works nicely too.)
  2.   NORMAL CAMERA shooting, with choice of scenes, exposure compensation,
        and type of white balance
  3.   VIDEO at 480p, 720p (DON'T use the 1080p one, it crashes)
        time lapse intervals; snd type of white balance
        (It can't do actual HD but it's decent.
         You can see his Skype image at the app page.

The camera's better than I had expected.  From what I've seen, it's just something under 1MB pixels but good enough for casual snapshots and videoclips (which are in MP4 format), considering it's a front-facing camera meant mainly for Skype video-chats.

When you're ready to shoot, including making a sweeping panorama, press the round red button.  For videos, it becomes a square red button that you push when ending the video.

After doing a brief videoclip almost in the dark, I tried pressing a button for 'BBC' to see what on earth that was for, and it offered to send my 'report' to the BBC.  Oh, I don't think so.

You can find the resulting photos and videos under ES Explorer's /sdcard/DCIM/Camera folder.

  I personally find it ultra awkward to shoot a scene or subject without being able to view it except to twist myself into a position to see the front of the tablet at the same time or view it while shooting behind me.  :-)  But it's doable if you really want to record the scene.

Front facing cameras are really just made for taking images of yourself for video chatting. But, as mentioned, what you can do is point it over your shoulder and take pictures of things behind you. You'll be able to see the screen as a large viewfinder that way.


IF YOU DO DECIDE TO GET THE APP
If gifting the Kindle Fire HD to someone who doesn't want to go through some of the early steps above, the app may be a relief.  Furthermore, the app maker, DrHenley responds to questions at the HD Camera app page's customer reviews section.

I'm including here the kind of responses he gives to people with questions and problems, and you can decide whether it would be worth getting the app for the ongoing support. (Emphases mine.)

' DrHenley says:
Stephanie, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. The app uses the built-in camera functionality of the Kindle Fire HD, which are not completely stable, especially with the 1080p.
  I would disable the 1080p mode in the app if I could but that is not possible. If you stick with 720p things will go much more smoothly. When you first open the app, go to the settings menu inside the settings menu, and click on "Restore defaults." That should make the video camera start working again.

Also, I don't think the tablet has an ambient light sensor, so when you have it set to automatic white balance, it can get confused. Try using manual white balance settings and manual brightness settings. It's only a 1 MP camera, so don't expect 5MP performance.

Version 2.0 will bring some added functions, and I am working hard every day on ways to improve the app.

===
DrHenley says:
gracieie, the reason I developed this app in the first place was because I was getting a Kindle Fire HD for my mom, and I wanted her to be able to take pictures on it. It started as a very simple little app, but then I decided to put it on the Amazon App Store for others, and I have spent a lot of time trying to make it better.

Be careful with 1080p video. It can cause problems that I can't do anything about because the camera itself is not really a 1080p camera.

===
DrHenley says:
The pictures and videos go to the standard place: DCIM/Camera on the internal SDCard. You can use a file manager app or the built in "Photos" and "Personal Videos" to manage them. "Photos" is on the Home screen. "Personal Videos" is in the apps list.  Version 2 [of the app], which has been submitted to Amazon for review, will give shortcuts to those apps.

I'm sorry that there is only a front camera, but please don't blame me, I really can't do anything about that :-(

===
DrHenley says:
The pictures and videos are saved in the DCIM/Camera folder on the internal SDCard. If you have a file manager you can browse to it and open them. There is a "Photos" on the home screen. If you open that, the camera pictures will have a preview called "Camera."

Under apps (device) there is a program called "Personal Videos" which is where you manage the videos.

Version 2.0 will have a quick way to get to those apps.

===
DrHenley says:
Susan, the Kindle Fire HD apparently doesn't have an ambient light sensor, so you may have to adjust the brightness manually. Click on the settings and then click on the square icon that has a +/-. You can also go into the Scene menu (SCN) and set it to "Night Mode".

===
DrHenley says:
I figured out the upside down video thing. Apparently you have to shoot videos with the camera at the bottom for them to come out right on a computer. I may have to lock the orientation to prevent that. Another thing to add to version 2.1!

Thanks for bringing that to my attention!

===
DrHenley says:
Version 2.0 already been submitted and does not lock the orientation. I am testing version 2.1 that at the moment does lock it. One thing I added to 2.0 was a contact button. When you get the 2.0 update, send me an email and I'll send you a beta of 2.1 so you can try it out.

===
DrHenley says:
This app simply uses the built in capabilities of the Fire HD. Although you can email a picture directly from the camera app, you really need to exit it to manage the images and videos. To manage still photos, go to "Photos, Camera" from the home screen. To manage videos, go to Apps, Personal Videos. To delete a video, long press the thumbnail and select "delete". '

I do think his ongoing Q&A will make it worthwhile for many.



Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

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