We are just days from Christmas and if you rely on online businesses and shipping, there might be a big chance that you won't get your gifts unless you order pretty soon. With that in mind Amazon has just slashed €30 of the Kindle Fire HDX 7 tablet, at least on its German website.

The new Kindle Fire HDX with a Snapdragon 800 processor, great screen and 16GB of storage features just one downside, a locked down operating system, but then again it is selling for just €199. The 32GB version now sells for €239, while the 64GB version is €279, much less than an iPad mini with Retina with comparable storage.

Amazon wants 14 euro more if you want the Kindle HDX without adverts on it and LTE versions starts at €309 for 16GB, $349 for 32GB and €389 for the 64GB version.

The same deal works for UK customers who can now buy a Kindle Fire HDX for £169.00 for 16GB, £199.00 for 32GB and £229.00 for 64GB, or £30.00 less than yesterday. Amazon was not so kind to French and Spanish customers as they are not getting this rather sizable discount, at least not yet.

You can grab one in Germany here and in Britain you can take advantage of the discount here.

Kindle

A recent survey revealed that people who own Amazon Kindle devices — the Fire tablet, original Kindle, Paperwhite $119.00 at Amazon series — are more inclined to purchase other items online.

The online retail giant eats about $18 for every Kindle Fire sold at full retail price, due to manufacturing costs and other factors. But the company has said repeatedly that it aims to make up for it through sales of Amazon ebooks, apps, and other products via those gadgets.

Without specifying exactly what people are buying on the site — be it ebooks, Kindle accessories, lawn furniture, or luggage — CIRP reported that 40 percent of all Amazon shoppers are Kindle device owners.

In fact, those who own an Amazon-branded tablet typically buy items from an average of 6.4 different Amazon departments; 50 percent go as far as to shop in seven or more categories. Comparatively, non-Kindle device owners stick to an average 5.5 departments.

CIRP estimates that Amazon Kindle device owners spend about $1,233 per year, compared to $790 annually for other customers, according to co-founder Josh Lowitz. "They do so because Kindle device owners buy over 50 percent more frequently than other customers," he said.

Almost 30 percent of Amazon.com customers own a Kindle Fire $229.00 at Amazon tablet, while another 21 percent own a Kindle e-reader. Meanwhile, 9 percent of customers own both, "suggesting how well Amazon has done to drive sales of what amounts to a portal to Amazon.com," Lowitz said.

CIRP co-founder Mike Levin agreed, saying that the Kindle Fire tablet provides easy online access to everything Amazon sells, while Kindle e-readers have "become the way that Amazon customers buy books, Amazon's original product line," he said.

Amazon doesn’t want to just be known as your entertainment portal—it wants to be your everything portal. The company hopes to continue to instill that vibe with the latestsoftware update for its Android-based tablet line. Fire OS 3.1 begins rolling out Monday to Kindle Fire HD and Fire HDX devices, bringing with it a few new features, like enterprise support and wireless printing to turn your existing Kindle into more than just a destination for ebooks and video. The update also beefs up the last-generation Kindle Fire HD with some of the HDX’s marquee features.

BYOD, finally

For Amazon to make its tablets a be-all, end-all device for consumers, it needed to cater to the business crowd, too. The device now includes better enterprise support with features like the ability to connect to secure Wi-Fi networks and log on to a corporate network via VPN. Fire OS 3.1 also supports Kerberos authentication for more secure browsing of your company’s internal Intranet through the Silk browser, as well as a Kindle-specific device management API to make life easier on your IT department.

See what your friends are reading

Amazon aims to be more friendly with the integrated Goodreads social network for book lovers. The service lets you connect with friends to share things like your favorite quotes, what you’re currently reading, and what you thought of the books you’ve read. You can also import every book you’ve ever bought or read through Amazon into your Goodreads account and sign up for a daily or weekly newsletter that offers suggestions on what’s new to read in your favorite genres.

Share your screen with your TV

As if the Amazon Video app on almost every set-top box out there wasn’t enough, the bundled Second Screen feature is now supported for the older Kindle Fire HD. Second Screen lets you “fling” movies from your Kindle to your television set through supported third-party devices. Amazon writes that the feature is meant to free up your device so that you can use it for apps like X-Ray or browsing the Web—a definite ploy to get you to always use the device when you’re thinking of entertainment in your living room. The feature is currently limited to the PlayStation 3 and compatible Samsung TVs, though Amazon writes that it will be available later this year for the just-released PlayStation 4.

Other miscellaneous features in Fire OS 3.1 include things like wireless printing and voice dictation to convert your speech into text. Voice dictation is available in all languages when you’re connected to a network, though only English is available offline.

Source : TechHive

On the heels of Apple's new, lighter iPad, Amazon has come out with a full-size tablet that weighs even less yet sports a sharper display and a lower price tag. Although Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 hasn't received as much attention as the iPad Air, it is emerging as the strongest challenger yet to Apple's device.

The new Kindle shares many of the features found in a smaller version that came out Oct. 18.
A row of tabs at the top of the screen gives you quick access to Amazon services such as e-books, music, video and shopping. Recently used apps and content appear in the middle so you can return to them quickly. The bottom row has icons for frequently used apps such as email and the camera.
Need help? Just hit the "Mayday" button. You'll be connected within seconds to a live customer-service representative, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You see the representatives in a video box, but they can only hear you and see what's on your screen. They can also help guide you by placing orange markers on your screen or taking control of your device completely.
I found all the reps to be patient as they walked me through attempts to locate a missing book, play a podcast and download items from the Dropbox storage service. In one case, the representative called my cellphone as promised an hour later to follow up. We never found a solution on Dropbox, though — but more on that later.
The best part of the new Kindle is its price. Amazon.com Inc. begins shipping it Thursday, starting at $379. That's cheaper than the new $399 iPad Mini, which has a display that measures 7.9 inches diagonally. The full-size Kindle Fire HDX has an 8.9-inch screen, just short of the iPad Air's 9.7 inches. Even cheaper is the 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX, which costs $229.
If you can afford a $499 tablet and aren't a heavy user of Amazon services, you might still consider the iPad Air.
Yes, the Kindle is lighter, at about 0.83 pound, or 17 percent less than the Air. But I couldn't really tell the difference holding the two side by side.

Although Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 hasn't received as much attention as the iPad Air, it is emerging as the strongest challenger yet to Apple's device, says one reviewer.
Source : MSN News