Amazon discounts the Fire Phone (32GB) to $130, 1 year of Prime still included
When Amazon announced its Fire Phone a little over a year ago, it garnered a great deal of attention, for any number of reasons: It confirmed rumors that had been circulating since 2010, it had a unique “3D” type viewing experience, it allowed users to take a picture of any product and immediately find it at Amazon, it was exclusive to AT&T, and it was expensive. Very expensive. So expensive was it that many predicted it would flop upon release. And it did.
Amazon has now lowered the price of the 32GB Fire Phone even further, to a very impressive $130, unlocked. Not only does this make it cheaper than alternatives such as the Moto G, but it also comes with a free year of Amazon Prime. This in-and-of-itself is practically a steal, as Prime costs $99. In a sense, the proposition here is getting a phone for $31 depending how you look at things.
For those in need of a refresher, Amazon details the following specs for the device:
- 2.2GHz quad-core processor and 2GB RAM for ultra-fast app launch times and smooth multi-tasking
- Bright 4.7″ HD display
- 13 MP camera with optical image stabilization, HDR, and LED flash with unlimited free cloud storage for photos
- Amazon-exclusive features: Firefly, Mayday, Dynamic Perspective
- Over 33 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, apps, and more
- Mayday – free, live on-device video support, 24×7, 365 days a year
- Limited-time offer: includes a full year of Amazon Prime
- U.S. compatibility: All GSM networks including AT&T, T-Mobile, and more. Not compatible with CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint
Note that the 64GB variant is no longer listed as in-stock and thus only the 32GB option can be purchased.
Despite the fact that the tech press has panned the device almost universally, Customer Review scores on Amazon, of which there are almost 10,000, are mostly quite positive. In fact, 50% have given the device 5 out of 5 stars. While clearly not for everyone, there is no denying that those who did purchase the Fire Phone and reviewed it are basically quite happy.
While it remains to be seen if Amazon will ever release a follow-up – Jeff Bezos himself had suggested it at one point- now is as good a time as any to purchase the device given the price tag. Potentially it could make for a good back-up phone, or as a main unit for a younger member of the family, or older.
Does this new price point make the Fire Phone more enticing to any of you out there? If you would buy it, for whom would you give it to? Does Amazon need to cut the price to $99? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Amazon Underground is giving away $10,000 worth of free apps
Amazon is now offering $10,000 worth of apps, games, and in-app add-ons all for free with Amazon Underground. Amazon says they will do this by letting users download an app for free, and based on how long you use it, will then compensate developers.
The way it works is per-minute payments are given to the developers from Amazon as long as they wave any upfront fees. That makes the software totally free for consumers. The apps that can be downloaded must be from the Amazon store and not Google’s Play Store, however. When you do go to download apps be sure to look for “Actually Free” to be sure the app is included in Underground and is free. Also, Amazon’s famous “Free App of the Day” promotion will disappear, and will be replaced by Underground.
Source: Amazon
Come comment on this article: Amazon Underground is giving away $10,000 worth of free apps
Amazon Underground gives you really, truly free apps
Free apps sometimes try to rope you into in-app purchases to make a profit. Not so with Amazon’s new approach to free software, though, as the online retailer is offering over $10,000 in apps, games and even those in-app add-ons at no cost. Yes, it sounds too good to be true on the surface, but Bezos & Co. will compensate developers based on how long you use their apps. Amazon will shell out per-minute payments in exchange for developers nixing any fees, which means for the software is free to download and use. GdgtSpot reports that the company’s “Free App of the Day” promotion is no more, so it looks like Underground will replace it. Since Google Play’s rules don’t allow for apps that serve up other apps or games, you’ll have to download the Underground app directly from Amazon. And when you do, look for the “Actually Free” designation for items that are included in the new initiative.
Filed under:
Software, Mobile, Amazon
Source:
Amazon
Tags: amazon, amazonunderground, app, apps, mobilepostcross, software, underground
Get over $10,000 worth of free apps from Amazon Underground
Everybody loves free apps. Unfortunately, there aren’t THAT many opportunities to catch app giveaways via the Play Store. But we have always had the Amazon App Store to thank for picking up the slack. With their free giveaways and random bundles of free apps, we were always able to get some of the best apps and games without paying a dime.
Today, Amazon introduced Amazon Underground. Instead of the traditional Amazon App Store, this one features apps that “are actually free.” When Amazon says these apps are “actually free” they mean that not only is the up-front cost of the app free, but also that there are no in-app purchases that you need to worry about.
In order to get your hands on over $10,000 worth of apps, you need to download the new/updated version of the Amazon App Store. Since you can’t download the app via the Play Store, you’ll have to download it from Amazon directly. Before you do that, you need to ensure that the Security Settings on your device are set correctly.
- Open up your Settings app
- Navigate to Security or Applications
- Check Unknown Sources
Once this is done, head over to the Amazon Underground page, and enter your phone number or email address and you will be provided with a link. Once downloaded, you will be asked to sign into your Amazon account, and you’re on your way to all the apps you could want, and more.
As we stated above, there are over $10,000 worth of apps available via Amazon Underground, for free. From Goat Simulator and Fruit Ninja, to productivity apps, such as OfficeSuite Professional and mSecure Password Manager, there are loads of apps to grab.
Source: 9to5Google
The post Get over $10,000 worth of free apps from Amazon Underground appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Amazon offers up “actually free” apps and games with its new Underground app
Amazon has been trying to boost its Appstore installs for some time now. The company has consistently given away tons of paid apps and games for free through various promotions and the popular Free App of the Day program. But now the company is putting the kibosh on giving away one free app every day, and is instead offering users much more than that. Amazon has just launched a new Underground application for Android that claims to offer users “$10,000 in apps, games and in-app items that are actually free”.
We first heard about a similar program back in March, but back then it was known as Amazon Unlocked. Whether this is the same program or not, we’re not entirely sure. But here’s how it works: Amazon is offering users hundreds of paid apps and games for free, and they’re even covering the cost of in-app purchases found in these titles. The company is doing this by using a new business model with app and game developers. Amazon explains:
…we’re paying [app developers] a certain amount on a per-minute played basis in exchange for them waiving their normal in-app fees. To be clear, we’re the ones picking up those per minute charges so for you it’s simply free. Just look for apps and games marked with an “Actually Free” banner.
We’re not entirely sure if this move would benefit developers in the long run, but we do know Amazon hasn’t gained an extremely popular track record when it comes to paying devs what the deserve.
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To install this new app, you’ll need to take the same steps as you would if you were installing the standard Amazon Appstore application. You first need to make sure the Unknown Sources box is checked in your settings menu, then navigate to amazon.com/underground to get the download link. Once your .apk file has downloaded, press the install button, and you’re all set. All of the Underground applications and games can be found in the Apps & Games section of your new app (accessed through the slide-out menu on the left).
If you’d like to browse through some of the “actually free” apps and games before jumping through all of these installation hoops, you can find a list of featured apps here.
Amazon UK will waive delivery fees if you pick your order up
In order to be eligible for “free” Amazon deliveries, you either need to spend £20 for Super Saver Delivery or jump aboard the £79 Prime train. From today, though, Amazon has another shipment option it’d like to run by you. The company has decided to waive delivery fees for orders sent to one of its Pickup Locations, saving you money while letting you collect your packages at a more convenient time.
The idea isn’t new, but getting it for free is. Plus it’s now available to all customers. If you’re at work or continually miss the post, choosing to have an order delivered to Pickup Location like a rail, tube or petrol station, newsagent or Post Office would normally incur an additional delivery charge based on weight (Prime members get it free). Now, you either have to spend £10 on book or £20 on anything else from Amazon’s store to be eligible for a free pickup.
Amazon says: “For many people, collecting from an Amazon Pickup Location is the delivery option of choice. Our customers were telling us that free delivery to a Pickup Location would be a great value service and we agree.” Makes sense for people who can’t stay home to collect their deliveries, but it also puts less pressure on its Logistics team to make door-to-door dropoffs. With over 13,000 Pickup Locations available, free deliveries might change the way some Amazon customers shop online.
Filed under:
Household, Internet, Amazon
Source:
Amazon UK
Tags: amazon, delivery, pickup location, post office, prime
Amazon’s one-hour delivery service arrives in Seattle
You’d think that Amazon would have been quick to offer its super-fast Prime Now delivery service in its home territory of Seattle, but nope — it’s just getting around to correcting that seeming oversight. The company has confirmed part of a recent scoop by launching Prime Now in both Seattle as well as nearby locales like Bellevue, Kirkland and Redmond (hi, Microsoft!). As before, how much you spend depends on just how urgently you need your order. It’s free (outside of your Prime subscription, of course) if you can afford to wait up to two hours, while one-hour shipping will cost you $8. The expansion still leaves much of the US without Prime Now, but this is still a big step toward covering America’s larger urban hubs.
Source:
Amazon
Tags: amazon, amazonprimenow, delivery, e-commerce, internet, primenow, seattle, shipping, shopping
Amazon brings HDR video streaming to the UK
Sure, Amazon is focusing on Ultra HD (4K) broadcasts for its upcoming streaming content, but that isn’t all that the company has on the agenda. Two months after it began supporting high dynamic range (HDR) in the US, Prime members in the UK now have the chance to watch some Amazon Instant Video shows in more vivid detail.
HDR, if you’re unfamiliar with the term, basically increases the “range” of colours and brightness in your TV picture. It doesn’t rely on extra pixels, but instead highlights darker parts of the screen while simultaneously boosting the brighter areas. Fundamentally, it means you’ll see greater detail in low-light areas and colours will feel a lot more realistic. Samsung already sells a number of HDR-supporting sets, which you’ll need to have in order to watch Amazon’s updated streams.
Talking of streams, the company has only made the complete first season of Mozart in the Jungle and the pilot of its upcoming Red Oaks show available in the superior picture quality, but more will come to Prime in the near future. In that time, we can expect Netflix to also get in on the act, giving subscribers more choice over how they watch their favourite shows.
Filed under:
Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Amazon
Source:
Advanced Television
Tags: amazon, hdpostcross, hdr, highdynamicrange, mozartinthejungle, prime, primeinstantvideo
Life with the Dash button: good design for Amazon, bad for everyone else
On a sunny Saturday morning, seven Amazon Dash buttons arrived to my apartment. Dash is a decidedly Jetsonian future come to life. A Wi-Fi connected button for my every need! Push one in my toddler’s bedroom, and Huggies diapers would appear at my doorstep. Push another by my bathroom sink, and Gillette razors arrive to shave my beard away. With this $35 shipment, I’d be able to stick a Dash button in every room; I could order products like Glad trash bags right from my kitchen, or Kraft Easy Mac right at the dining room table.
courtesy of the author
But after actually living with Amazon’s Dash buttons, I realized that they are just the latest symptom of Amazon’s slowly spreading disease. The company is no longer designing their products and services with a customer experience that will woo us to be loyal, but for profit maximization now that we’re here. The Dash button is an unabashed attempt to disconnect customers from the amount of money we’re spending. And frankly, even that would be fine, if only Dash buttons provided the instant product gratification they promise.
The Core UI Doesn’t Actually Make Sense
Buttons are satisfying to press because they make things happen. Just watch two kids under the age of 12 fight for the privilege of pushing the elevator. Things light up! Doors swing open! Dings sometimes happen!
Dash buttons are just the latest symptom of Amazon’s slowly spreading disease.
Yet as I laid suffering from a deathly cold on my bed, looking on at the Gatorade Dash button I’d placed within arm’s reach on my nightstand—originally placed there as a joke, as if a marathon bout of lovemaking could leave me in such dire need of electrolytes that I’d slam the button for emergency hydration—I began to internalize the cognitive dissonance at the core of the Dash button’s design. I could press this button when I desperately wanted some sugary fluid to fight my cold, and I’d conveniently receive it . . . 48 hours from now. Would I want Gatorade in 48 hours? Would I still be sick, or still be alive to drink it in two days time?
Amazon has same day shipping on many products, and maybe if the Gatorade applied, I’d have actually pressed the button on that mucusy day. But the core gesture of pressing a button to receive gratification days later fundamentally feels less like convenience than illusion.
The Products Are Limited, And Generally Expensive
Of course, we’re not always ordering products on our potential deathbeds. The Dash button advertises products like razors, laundry pods, and diapers. These are things you might see that you’re running low on with a bit of notice. And when that happens, the button is waiting there at the bathroom sink or by the changing table to let you order more in perfect domestic context.
But Amazon severely limits what you can actually order. Not only are Dash buttons currently limited to a few brands—you can, for instance, acquire a button to buy Huggies but not Pampers, or Glad trash bags but not Hefty—when you actually set up each button for the first time, you learn that the sub-selections are further limited to a preselected list.
The Dash button makes you pay for its supposed convenience by removing potential discounts.
Take razors. I buy Mach3 razors. (Now you know.) Gillette’s button wants to sell me Fusions, or, at the very least, Mach3 Turbo razors. If I buy my Mach3s through Amazon’s actual website, not only can I spend less money on more razors, I can choose from seven pages worth of other Gillette razor options, full of different sized packs, disposables, bundles, clippable coupons, and more. Plus, on other items, the website allows me to see price per oz or per sheet. Amazon’s Dash button interface leaves these money-saving details behind along with Add-on Items and Subscribe & Save.
The Dash button narrows your options to what, at best, will be the stock Amazon price on what you wanted, and at worst, lack applicable discounts, optimally priced configurations, or even the option to buy the product that you loyally purchase through Amazon already. Why doesn’t Dash just offer the option to program a button with any product you want, or at least any product you want under a certain brand? The Dash button makes you pay for its supposed convenience by removing potential discounts. It’s not enough that you’re hanging advertisements in the nooks and crannies of your home. You need to cough up extra cash to use the Dash, too.
Amazon No Longer Designs For Us
Unfortunately, this extra bit of penny pinching defines many of Amazon’s worst designs. Consider that their Fire Phone had a dedicated button to scan and buy more Amazon goods. We’re talking about a tiny piece of industrial design where every sub-millimeter matters—one skinned with the Amazon brand so you never forget who sold it to you—and they had to take just a bit more of the hardware for themselves.
Or consider the frustrations of shopping for goods on Amazon today. The Prime options are disappearing for bulk “Pantry” boxes with large minimum orders and “Add-on Items” that require other purchases. Through their entire item taxonomy, Amazon’s store UX is no longer designed for your convenient shopping, it’s designed for their profitable selling.
This extra bit of penny pinching defines many of Amazon’s worst designs.
When Amazon puts the customer first, they’ve designed some of the best experiences of the modern era—and on a Walmart rather than Apple budget. The Kindle, through wireless, DRM-streamlined book buying and an e-ink screen that sips on battery power, brought e-reading the the masses in an era when smartphones were still nascent. Their Prime stick, a tiny dongle which sells for as little as $20, brings a decent streaming media UI to any TV. Even Prime memberships: For a flat, understandable rate, customers could buy expedited shipping on unlimited orders a year. Each of these moves wasn’t just good for shoppers; they benefited Amazon by adding another tether of customer loyalty in an era when we could all google ourselves a better deal. How deep do these loyalties go? Just consider that Apple released their iPad, the way most iPad users bought and read books wasn’t through iBooks, but through Amazon’s Kindle app.
But the Dash button isn’t a great product because it’s not made for you or me. It’s designed by balance sheet and wishful corporate thinking to make some middle managers very happy. Life with a home full of Dash buttons only served to remind me how unhappy I was with the modern Amazon.
[All Photos (unless otherwise noted): via Amazon]
Tags: amazon, amazondash, dash, dashbutton, fastcompany, partner, syndicated
Amazon’s Echo now works with SmartThings hardware
Quite rapidly, Amazon has been expanding the products and services that work with its Echo digital assistant. SmartThings, the home automation platform purchased by Samsung last year, is now supported by the Echo. The only requirement is that the SmartThings hardware is setup and connected through the company’s apps before asking the Echo to detect devices on the same network. Controls for different appliances are then accessible by the Echo and you can use your voice to control them.
SmartThings’ new hub and sensors will be available starting next month, so now could be the perfect time to pair your Echo with a home automation platform. Your other option is to invest in Wink’s products.
Source: Amazon
Come comment on this article: Amazon’s Echo now works with SmartThings hardware
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