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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 brings Alexa calls and messaging to tablets
You no longer need to hang around an Echo speaker to make free calls and messages with Alexa. As of now, you can use Alexa to place calls (including video calls) and send messages from Android tablets, iPads and of course Amazon's own Fire models. How easy it is depends on the device. It's easiest on the Fire HD 10, where you only have to ask Alexa to get in touch; other Alexa-ready Fire tablets require that you tap the home button first. And for everyone else, you'll have to open the Alexa app.
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Hands-on with Amazon's new Fire HD tablets: cheap, yet refined
One thing's for sure, Amazon's thinner new Fire HD tablets aren't iPad killers. Instead, they're being positioned as the ideal budget tablets for consuming video, e-books and music. To that end, Amazon didn't even upgrade their hardware much -- both the Fire HD 8 (starting at $150 with 8GB of storage) and Fire HD 10 ($230 with 16GB) sport quad-core 1.5 GHz processors like last year, 1GB of RAM as well as paltry 1280 x 800 resolution displays. The big change this year? Amazon has crafted new enclosures for the tablets, which measure at just 7.7 millimeters thick. Basically, they're affordable, but more polished than Amazon's cheapo $50 Fire tablet (which it's actually offering in six-packs).
'Doctor Who' coding game for kids arrives on tablets
You no longer have to fire up your computer just to give your children some programming lessons from Doctor Who. The BBC's educational coding game, The Doctor and the Dalek, is now available on iPads and Android tablets (both through Amazon and soon Google Play). You'll get largely the same instruction-based Boolean logic puzzles as before, but with a few new levels and new abilities for your one-of-a-kind Dalek companion. The catch? While the game is still free, it's only available in the UK for now -- here's hoping that the BBC makes it available worldwide so that more kids can help their favorite Gallifreyan.
Amazon's Kindle comes to China: Paperwhite for $138, Fire HD for $244 (16GB) or $293 (32GB)
Amazon launched its Kindle e-book platform into China last Christmas, but locals looking to get their mitts on the company's hardware had to look, ahem, elsewhere. Fortunately for everyone but grey market importers, Amazon has released the non-cellular Paperwhite and the two 7-inch Kindle Fire HD tablets to the nation. Our colleagues over at Engadget Chinese have added that as well as being able to buy the devices from Amazon's local site, users will be able to pick up the units at Suning and Shi Tesco stores across the mainland. The Paperwhite is marked up at 849 yuan ($138), with the Kindle Fire priced at 1499 yuan ($244) for the 16GB edition and 1799 yuan ($293) for 32GB.
Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablets are likely to be hack-resistant
If you were counting on getting all imaginative with the firmware on a new Fire or 7-inch Fire HD, you might want to check out a recent forum post over at XDA. Written by user kinfauns with input from another XDA regular called pokey9000, it concerns evidence that -- unlike the original Kindle Fire -- both of these devices come with more sophisticated protection, including locked bootloaders and the use of "high security" features offered by Texas Instruments' OMAP processors. Such discoveries probably won't inspire the same degree of outrage as certain other locked devices, considering how Amazon is understandably focused on its own ecosystem and advertising, but they might still count as a disadvantage against the pure Android Nexus 7. The XDA thread ends with only the merest hint of hope -- the potential for a workaround similar to what's been used on the Nook Tablet -- but it's hope nonetheless.
Amazon's Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD arriving in the UK October 25th, starting at £129
In case you haven't heard, Amazon happily took the wraps off of its new Kindle Fire lineup during today's earlier event in Santa Monica, California. And, for those living in the UK, you, too, can have the online retail giant take your money for one of these slates pretty soon -- well, at least for a couple of the fresh models. As far as pricing goes, the entry-level Kindle Fire will cost a mere £129 (around $205), while the 7-inch Fire HD takes on the slightly heftier price of £159 and £199 for the 16 and 32GB, respectively. Obviously, this leaves out that 8.9-incher Fire HD, though it looks like Amazon's only bringing the smaller Fires to the United Kingdom, as there's no mention of the company's larger tablet anywhere on the site. Still, folks looking to pre-order can do so now at the source link below, but better hurry, since Amazon does note they're all being fulfilled on a "first come, first served" basis.
