UK
Amazon brings Kindle Fire HD 8.9 to more countries, reduces price in US
Amazon has announced that it is releasing its Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablet in more countries across the globe. The tablet will now be sold in UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. The company also revealed that it is reducing the price of the tablet in the United States. Amazon Kindle Fire HD will now be sold starting $269 in the country.
“As we expand Kindle Fire HD 8.9” to Europe and Japan, we’ve been able to increase our production volumes and decrease our costs. Across our business at Amazon, whenever we are able to create cost efficiencies like this, we want to pass the savings along to our customers,” said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle.
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Google Play gift cards now available in UK (Update: Official)
Update: Google has now officially announced the availability of Google Play gift cards in UK. The gift cards will be sold in all UK branches of Tesco and Morrisons. You can read the full press release in the end of this post.
Earlier: After the United States, Google has now started selling the Google Play gift cards in UK. A Eurodroid reader spotted them selling at a Tesco store. The gift cards are currently available in GBP 50, GBP 25 and GBP 10 denominations.
We first heard about the impending availability of Google Play Gift Cards in UK last week, when they were found listed in Google Play support pages.
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Asus Padfone 2 UK pre-orders begin on March 1
Asus might have already announced Padfone Infinity, the successor to Padfone 2, but it still has to Padfone 2 in many markets including UK. Company has revealed that Asus Padfone 2 will be on pre-order in UK beginning March 1.
Asus has priced Padfone 2 at GBP 599 along with the tablet dock. Contract based pricing is still to be decided. The device will be sold in black and white colour options.
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Nexus 4 stock expected to reach UK, France, Spain & Australia Google Play stores today
Yesterday was a surprisingly great day for Nexus 4 lovers as the new stocks of this elusive smartphone arrived in Google Play for US, Canada and Germany. Well, Google is not planning to leave other countries in Dark (where Nexus 4 is sold via Google Play).
According to a report on Android Police, they have heard from a credible source that Google Play Stores in UK, France, Spain and Australia will be getting new Nexus 4 stock today (tomorrow in the case of Australia).
It is likely that we will also see the bumper in stock, as the same happened in US Google Play, but we would not bet on that.
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Siri could have been pre-installed on every Droid: Report
Yes, the headline is indeed true. If everything would have gone well in 2009, we today might see Siri as an integral part of US telecom operator Verizon’s Android line-up. But, everything did not go well and Apple purchased Siri the same year and the Verizon’s deal with the maker of the voice assistant was scrapped.
According to a report published by Huffington Post, Verizon had apparently signed a contract with Siri to pre-install their personal assistant on the Droid line-up of devices. They had even shot commercials touting the feature.
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Samsung Galaxy S III Mini NFC version to go on sale this month
Samsung has revealed today that it will start selling a NFC variant of Galaxy S III Mini smartphone later this month. Company issued a press release to announce that the NFC capable mini version of S III will be initially available in UK, but did not disclose plans for other countries. S-Beam will be the stand-out feature of this model, which was absent in the original model due to the lack of NFC hardware.
“NFC technology and the digital wallet started to gain significant traction in 2012, particularly in the run up to the Olympics. It’s an exciting time in the mobile market watching the next phase of its evolution take shape, so we’re happy to announce that we are bringing these new experiences to our customers through our growing number of NFC-enabled devices,” Simon Stanford, Vice President, Telecommunications & Networks, Samsung UK and Ireland said.
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Sony Xperia Z goes on pre-order for £440 in UK
Within hours of the official Sony Xperia Z announcement, UK carriers and e-retailers have confirmed the upcoming availability of the smartphone.
Talking about Clove first, it has announced that SIM-free Sony Xperia Z stocks are expected on March 1 and it has already started taking the pre-orders. It is asking for a steep £440 (INR 39,000) (£528 with VAT), however it also notes that official pricing is still to be confirmed and current price is as accurate as it can be right now.
It is selling the smartphone in Black and White colours.
In related news, O2, Vodafone and Three have confirmed that they will be carrying Xperia Z in the UK. Phones4U has also revealed that it will start selling Xperia Z from March 1 in its stores.
Sony Xperia Z key specs:
- 5-inch 1080 x 1920 full HD Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2
- 13 MP fast capture camera with Exmor RS for mobile & HDR video
- HD video recording
- Front facing 2.2 megapixel camera
- Dust and water resistant (IP55 & IP57) with a durable glass display
- Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core 1.5GHz processor
- 16GB internal memory
- 2GB RAM
- Battery STAMINA mode for better battery life
- PlayStation Certified
- MHL
- Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G/LTE (Subject to network & software version)
- MicroSD slot
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 getting Android 4.1.1 update in India, UK
Samsung has started rolling out Android 4.1.1 update to Galaxy Note 10.1 aka Note 800 in the India and UK. Available OTA as well as via Kies app, the update is about 480MB in size and should be downloaded preferably over Wi-Fi.
The update change-log is not available right now, but you can expect the usual Jelly Bean goodness like Google Now, enhanced notifications and Project Butter improvements on your tablet.
As the updates are roll-out in batches, don’t get an anxious if you don’t see the update notification right-away.
Other Jelly Bean features
- Improved browser
- Improved camera and gallery apps
- Improved keyboard with offline voice typing support
If you have already installed the update on your Galaxy Note 10.1, do let us know about the experience in comments.
Thanks Pravin
Samsung rolls out fix for Exynos security exploit, sudden death
Remember the reports of a nasty kernel security exploit that came to light last month and allowed any malicious app to gain the root access to your Exynos 4210 or 4412 running smartphone. Well, after acknowledging the exploit on December 19, Samsung has now released a fix in UK for Galaxy S III users.
The current software update bringing this fix also reportedly patches the recently revealed “sudden death bug” in select Galaxy S III 16GB units.
Rolling out right now over the air as well as via Kies app, the update is expected to reach other countries soon.
Samsung revamps Chromebox design, internals remain same
Samsung has silently released a revamped version of its Chrome OS powered Chromebox. Available now in the United Kingdom, there is no word on the US release of this revamped box.
Surprisingly, despite changing the design of the Chromebox, company has not updated the specifications of the device, which remain at 1.9GHz Celeron B940 processor, 4GB RAM, 16GB of SSD, Wi-Fi, 2W mono speaker, 6 USB 2.0 ports, a DVI port, headset jack, and 2 Display Ports.
The Series 3 Chromebox has been priced at 279 GBP ($453.50).
