fire7
Latest
Amazon sunsets its live video tech support for Fire tablets
In our Fire phone review from 2014, we called Mayday one of Amazon's most brilliant features. People can use it to summon tech support advisers on their Amazon devices within seconds, after all, and those reps can help people fix whatever issue they're having through live video at the push of a button. While Amazon launched the feature with great fanfare, it's now quietly sending it to its grave: Mayday will cease working sometime this month. GeekWire has noticed a memo on Mayday's support page that says "The Mayday video calling service will be discontinued in June 2018."
Alexa hands-free mode is available on Fire 7 and 8 HD tablets
If you own an Amazon Fire 7 or Fire 8 HD (2017) tablet, then you're in luck because your device just gained a new feature. If your device is connected to power and/or the screen is in use, you can use the device for smart home voice control thanks to Alexa. The software update that will enable the hands-free Alexa feature is currently rolling out to devices.
Amazon's Fire tablets get a little thinner and a little faster
If you grabbed a person in the street and asked them when Amazon releases new tablets, you'd expect them to shout "September-ish!" before calling the calls. After all, the company has released a new Fire HD slate in late September or early October for pretty much the last five years. So it's a little surprising to see Amazon pulling the dust sheets off its updated lineup of tablets in May.
