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Amazon UK begins replacing 'stolen' launch day PS5s
Amazon UK broke a lot of gamers’ hearts in November when people who thought they managed to buy a PlayStation 5 received its box without the actual console. Now, PushSquare managing director Anthony Dickens — who received, of all things, a Nerf gun instead of a PS5 — has shared an email from Amazon telling him that the retailer was able to “secure” a replacement console for the one that he didn’t get. As you can see, Amazon is asking Dickens for permission to charge his card again after refunding what he paid for the console.
AmazonSmile comes to the UK, donates some of your spend to charity
Just over four years ago, Amazon introduced Smile, a new way to donate to charitable organisations. Instead of visiting the normal Amazon.com website, customers load up the special AmazonSmile address and shop as they would normally. The company then gives 0.5% of the total net spend to the charity of their choice. With $62 million raised for 230,000 charities, the company has decided to bring it this side of the Atlantic. It's now giving Brits the opportunity to generate a little extra money for Cancer Research UK, The British Red Cross, Royal British Legion and other charitable organisations.
Amazon UK now has over 100 instant-order Dash buttons
In order to be the biggest, sometimes you need to be the fastest. It's a philosophy that Amazon has strictly adhered to, thanks to 1-Click ordering and its one-click Dash buttons. It's been just over a year since Amazon introduced its instant order buttons, and in that time, the company has continued to add big-name brands like Heineken and Tassimo. Today, Amazon UK has announced that as part of another product refresh, it's made another 39 items available via Dash buttons, taking the total to over 100.
Amazon UK adds Dash buttons for beer and batteries
It's already pretty easy to find and purchase products on Amazon, thanks to a wide array of apps and additional hardware like the Echo and grocery scanner. However, Dash buttons make things even simpler. Fix one to the fridge and every time you run out of your favourite home product, hit the button and it'll instantly re-order what you're after. In the US, the program is already two years old and spans over 250 different products, but in the UK, where the program isn't yet a year old, things are a little more sparse. That changes somewhat today with the addition of 20 new products that range from batteries and beer, to coffee and vitamins.
Amazon UK's new video options will require a TV licence
Live TV viewers in the UK are supposed to pay a fee that supports services and content from the BBC. Lately, despite changes that closed the "iPlayer loophole," that still doesn't apply to people who only watch streaming video on-demand, so some cord-cutters can avoid the charge. However, the TV Licensing agency is reminding people that as Amazon UK rolls out its new Channel add-ons with live TV, it means that viewers are again responsible for paying the fee. Amazon's packages include channels like Eurosport, ITV Hub+ and Discovery, so as TV Licensing spokesperson Jason Hill explains "If you watch or record live TV, either through your TV or live online through a website, then you need to be covered by a TV Licence...Around 94 per cent of people are correctly licensed so are already covered to watch live TV online." Currently, an annual colour TV Licence costs £147.
Amazon UK is reportedly developing its own clothing lines
Amazon may have become the defacto place to buy electronics, books and associated forms of media, but a number of other product categories are quietly booming. Clothing sales, for instance, have grown so much in the last year that investment bank UBS put the company second to only Marks & Spencer. With more and more people choosing to buy garments online, Amazon has begun looking to bypass brands and is reported to be close to launching its own-label fashion range in the UK.
Amazon UK will take £10 off orders over £50 today
Sometimes, it's nice to be appreciated. In Amazon's case, that means ranking number one in the UK Customer Satisfaction Index. While the company sits back and basks in the knowledge that it's scoring highly for professionalism, quality and efficiency, problem solving and complaint handling -- for the second year running -- it's extending an offer to all of its UK customers. For today only, if you place an order over £50, Amazon will take £10 off the total. To get involved, you'll need to enter the discount code "BIGTHANKS" at the checkout and ensure that the products in your basket are all sold directly by Amazon. Like last year, digital items, gift cards or anything listed by a third-party seller won't count. If you've been putting off that New Year purchase, now might be the time treat yourself.
Amazon Prime discounted to £59 for 'The Grand Tour' launch
Good news: The Grand Tour, Amazon's answer to Top Gear, is now only three days away from release. The bad news is that you'll need a Prime subscription to watch it. Amazon knows this, so it's sweetening the deal by slashing £20 off the price of its annual subscription for anyone who has yet to sign up.
Amazon Music Unlimited now available in the UK from £8 a month
After months of rumours and teasing, Amazon finally launched its own unlimited music streaming service in October. Access was initially reserved access for US customers, but today the retailer is expanding to the UK. Music Unlimited -- Amazon's answer to Spotify and Apple Music -- offers over 40 million tracks and starts at £7.99 per month or £79 per year if you're a Prime member (£9.99 for everyone else) and comes with an discounted "For Echo" plan that costs £3.99 each month.
OnePlus starts selling phones via Amazon UK
If you've been eyeing up a OnePlus phone, there's now another place you can order one in the UK. The company is selling the OnePlus 2 on Amazon UK for £249 -- the same, recently reduced price found on its own website. A spokesperson for OnePlus has also confirmed to Engadget that both the OnePlus 2 and smaller OnePlus X will, eventually, be sold through Amazon US too. The move should improve the sales of both handsets, due to the added exposure and consumer trust associated with Amazon. It could also be a useful way to sell off old stock ahead of the OnePlus 3 launch.
Nintendo Wii U now available to pre-order in the UK from Amazon
People here in the US of A have been able to pre-order Nintendo's latest gaming console since shortly after the Japanese company wrapped up its NYC event yesterday, and now it's time for UK folks to do the same -- at least through Amazon. The online retail giant's now offering both the Basic and Premium units on its site for £249 and £299, respectively, or there is also a top-of-the-line bundle which includes ZombieU that's priced at £329. Regardless of the Wii U route you choose to take, be sure to mark November 30th on your calendar as the date to expect that trademark brown box to show up at your doorstep.
Hold the presses! Amazon UK selling more e-books than printed ones
It's becoming a habit of Amazon's to report on the rise of the e-book at the expense of physical texts, and their latest announcement is no different. Sales figures show that in the UK, 114 Kindle purchases have been made for every 100 printed copies so far in 2012. A similar statistic was achieved in the US last year, but whether these are true indications of e-book supremacy is up for discussion. Free downloads were excluded from the tally, but those released via Kindle Direct Publishing without a paper twin were counted. The Guardian also notes that these are unaudited figures, so there may be a digit awry here or there. And with a few physical stores still around, there's no need to panic-buy that Kindle just yet.
Amazon UK opens its doors for the Christmas sales, adds hundreds of Kindle books from 99p
Got some Kindle hardware burning a hole in your pile of festive gifts? Well, British bookworms have been given some extra yuletide joy courtesy of Amazon UK which has also started a 12-day sale, focusing on its e-book wares. The site vows to add more digital reads each day and it looks like all the additions will stick with their shrunken price tags for the extent of the sale. Head to the source below for some one-click literary gratification.
Samsung makes Galaxy Nexus release date official, available in the UK on November 17th
October's dizzying spate of high-end smartphone announcements gave us plenty of pizzazz, but not much in the way of release date meat. Well, that's about to change for those of you craving an Ice Cream Sandwich delight across the pond. Leaked out via an Amazon product page and officially confirmed by Samsung today, the Galaxy Nexus is slated to arrive on UK retailers' shelves this coming November 17th. If you've had your eye on this Android 4.0 flagship, you can always sign-up for a subsidized handset on Vodafone, O2 and 3UK -- its intended HSPA+ carrier homes. Or, if you like your Google experiences pure and contract free, hit up the source below to pre-order it with no strings attached. [Thanks, Pedro and Nathan]
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 priced at £1,293 by Amazon, shipping May 20th
The leaks should've already told you most of everything you need to know about the Lenovo ThinkPad X1, but here's some affirmation of perhaps the most relevant bit of info, the release date. Amazon has listed the ultraslim 13.3-inch laptop for pre-order, giving it the extremely specific price of £1,292.52 ($2,120) and a shipping date of May 20th. That's a heftier price tag than you'll find on Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air, however Lenovo will provide you with the latest generation of Intel processor -- in the shape of the 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M -- 4GB of RAM, 320GB of HDD storage, a backlit keyboard, and a promised eight hours of battery life. You don't need us to tell you that there hasn't yet been a laptop that's combined the thinness, processing power and battery endurance on offer from the X1. We'll be keen to check these mighty specs out for ourselves when it launches, but if you're already convinced, hit up the source link to get your pre-order in. [Thanks, Raj]
Acer's 3G-equipped Iconia Tab A100 up for pre-order on Amazon UK for £400
When we first caught wind of the pending release of Acer's Iconia Tab A100 WiFi version, we were amazed by its Amazonian pre-order promise of Android 3.0 for a mere £300. Now, a second version of the seven-inch slate has hit the same site with a May 14 release date, a sprinkling of 3G, and the cut-rate cost of its cousin has been replaced with a £400 ($660) price tag. Unfortunately, the extra hundred pounds takes the A500's 3G baby brother out of the bargain basement, but you didn't think you'd get all those G's for free, did you?
Acer's 7-inch Iconia Tab A100 priced at £300 in UK, launching April 20th
Boy oh boy, these Taiwanese companies are seriously gunning to take the bottom out of the Honeycomb tablet market. After we saw ASUS stride forward with very competitive pricing on its 10-inch Eee Pad Transformer, we're now being treated to Acer's riposte, an eminently reasonable £300 ($483) price tag attached to its 7-inch Iconia Tab. Nothing is really skimped on here, you get the dual-core Tegra 2 and Android 3.0 one-two punch of hardware and software that's become so popular lately, and of course the RAM is 512MB, not KB as indicated on Amazon's listing. Perhaps the 8GB of storage will be a little on the light side, but given the price, we consider that a most forgivable shortcoming. Amazon notes the release date as April 20th in the UK and we doubt the rest of the world will have to wait much longer either.
Samsung Galaxy Player up for pre-order at Amazon UK, £150 buys 8GB worth of Android Market apps
We Americans may not see it until summer, but Samsung's 3.2-inch Galaxy Player is about to call Europe home, as following French presales the PMP has now appeared at Amazon UK. There, it's sporting a tentative January 7th release date and a pair of capacities and prices, with a modest £150 (about $234) nabbing you 8GB of storage and £180 (roughly $280) fully doubling that capacity to 16GB. Apple's iPod touch is the obvious comparison here, and it's shaping up to be a valid one -- while there's no Retina Display to be had here, it's hard to sneeze at the real Android Market and some decent codec (OGG / FLAC / XviD / DivX) support. Unless you've got a cold or something. [Thanks, Paul]
Amazon's Kindle Store opens digital doors in UK
Amazon has just announced the launch of its UK Kindle Store, furnishing UK netizens with a localized storefront from which to browse and purchase their ebooks. It starts life with an imposing 400,000 book collection, and is claimed by Amazon to offer the lowest prices "of any e-bookstore in the UK." Guess that gives price comparison sites a new avenue to branch out into. More than 170 magazines and newspapers are also available, for one-off purchases or on a subscription basis, while the new lighter, better, cheaper Kindle is up for pre-order and set to ship at the end of the month. Good to see that Amazon isn't neglecting its extra-American markets.
Black Nintendo Wii bundle listed on Amazon UK for £164.99
That black Nintendo Wii bundle Nintendo is gifting to Europe on November 6th has found itself home amongst the Amazon UK listings. Recommended price is £179.99 but the online retailer is knocking off eight percent to make it an event £164.99 -- that's about $269 to the US gamers who still don't have a shot at getting this. What makes it interesting is that the identical bundle in white doesn't have that £15 discount, but Amazon is sweetening the pot with the choice of two free titles, including FIFA10. Of course there's still the £142.99 white, non-bundled Wii for a lot less. Our money's still on the black bundle -- or it would be, at least, if Nintendo would give the US writers on staff, and the country at large, a stab at the new console color. [Thanks, Ian] Read - Black Wii bundle with Wii Sports Resort Read - White Wii bundle with Wii Sports Resort and two free games
