 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Amazon will not be releasing a 10-inch Kindle Fire at next weeks launch event, they have stated that their Kindle Fire 2 (or whatever they call it) will be an improved 7-inch version of its original. Amazon will be releasing the next Kindle Fire with the same 7-inch form factor as the original with a possibly thinner form and improved specifications.
While Amazon rumors have pointed towards a 10-inch Fire along with an Amazon smartphone, Amazon has reportedly decided to stick with what has already worked for them in the past and not venture too far from it. Their next 7-inch Kindle Fire will be in direct competition to Google’s Nexus 7 and will be priced accordingly.
According to BGR’s rumored Amazon Kindle Fire 2 specifications the new Kindle Fire will have a faster processor, physical volume controls, an HDMI port and add a camera. These were some of the most critical aspects of the original Amazon Kindle Fire and by adding these things should create a competitor to the Google Nexus 7.
There has been no official price set for the new Amazon Kindle Fire 2 although we can assume with a great deal of confidence that it will follow suit and be around the $199 range to be competitive. This being said the improved specifications could create a price point that Amazon would have to increase in order to keep from losing too much on sales. We see that Google managed to stick with the competitive $199 on their Nexus 7 even though they have the increased specs so heres hoping.
Also known as TWRP, Team Win Recover Project is a utility used to backup and recover your Android device, even when switching between custom ROMs. Version 2.0 worked on a limited selection of devices like Nexus S, Kindle Fire, and TouchPad. With the release of 2.1.2 brings support for Honeycomb tablets and ICS phones like the Galaxy Nexus, and now for the first time supporting the Transformer Prime. Also introduced by Team Win, is an OpenRecoveryScript function that lets apps influence the recovery process by allowing an app to send commands to the recovery for the recovery to perform during startup.
Key Features:
• Touchscreen driven with real buttons and drag-to-scroll
• XML-based GUI that allows full customization of the layout – true theming!
• Settings are saved to the sdcard and persist through reboots
• Ability to choose which partitions to back up and which to restore
• Ability to choose to compress backups – now with pigz (multi-core processor support for faster compression times)
Source: RootzWiki
When Amazon originally started working on their Kindle Fire they mentioned that they were working on two Android tablets. The first tablet released was the Kindle Fire that is popular and widely used today. The Kindle Fire quickly became one of the most owned and largest player in the Android tablet market. Soon after its release there was mention of a 10 inch Amazon Kindle Fire but never came out.
The 10 inch Kindle Fire is said to run Nvidia’s Tegra 3 quad-core processor and was supposed to release in Q1 of this year. With Q1 ending in only a few days we can assume that the date we all hoped for is not correct. Amazon and Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos are very good at keeping secrets as we saw with the release of the current Kindle Fire.
While Amazon hasen’t mentioned anything about the 10 inch Kindle Fire it was reported by Digitimes that Amazon has ordered a chasis for a new Amazon Tablet from Catcher Technology in Taiwan. Catcher Technology is one of the chasis manufacturers Apple uses for their iPad and was used for the original Kindle Fire as well. Digitimes reported:
Catcher will supply the chassis to Amazon from its plants in Taizhou, China with estimated gross margin to be more than 40%, the sources noted.
We aren’t sure what this means exactly when it comes to Amazon ordering although its a pretty good indicator that they will be releasing a new tablet very soon. If all goes well and this order is for their 10 inch version of the Kindle Fire we could see them announced by the end of Q2 of this year.
Amazon released the Kindle Fire and had record sales of the device over the holiday season 2011 and now you can get Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich on the device. One of the more popular ROM’s MIUI has been ported over to the Kindle Fire allowing the upgrade to ICS.
Almost everything works on the port to Ice Cream Sandwich but there is a small list of things that don’t currently work. The current features that aren’t working include tethering via USB, hardware accelerated graphics static wallpaper and themes. This being said everything that a daily user needs works just fine on the Android 4.0.3 MIUI ROM for the Fire.
How to Install Ice Cream Sandwich on the Kindle Fire:
- Install ClockworkMod Recovery via ROM Manager (Free on Market)
- Download MIUI to your Kindle Fire’s SDcard (Download Link)
- Make sure your Kindle Fire is disconnected form PC
- Open ROM Manager and tap “reboot into recovery”
- Select the “factory reset” option and confirm on next screen
- Go back to the main screen of recovery
- Select install zip from SDcard option
- Select the MIUI ROM zip file you downloaded earlier and confirm
- Once complete select “wipe cache” then select “reboot device”
- Be patient as the first boot will take a little time.
- Congrats your Kindle Fire is running Android 4.0.3 ICS!
If you have any issues or need anything explained in more detail please feel free to leave a comment below. We have tested this on the device and love the ROM. We will try to get a video of the installation up soon although did not record the previous process as it was on a users device that we don’t own.
Amazon updated the Kindle Fire to version 6.2.1 in an effort to stop users from rooting the device but root access is back. This update to 6.2.1 took root access away from user along with blocking the ability to re-root the way it was done previously. Root access is again available for the Kindle Fire now on version 6.2.1.
NOTE: This method requires ADB on your PC
How to Root the Amazon Kindle Fire 6.2.1:
- Connect your Kindle Fire to your PC via USB
- Run BurritoRoot on your Kindle Fire (Download Link)
- Click “Root” and set the Kindle Fire Aside
- Download and unzip Superuser (Download Link)
- Open a Command Prompt on your PC
- Navigate to the location of your ADB Installation
- Type “adb root”, press enter
- Type “adb remount”, press enter
- Type “adb push su /system/xbin/su”, press enter
- Type “adb shell chown 0.0 /system/xbin/su”, press enter
- Type “adb shell chmod 06755 /system/xbin/su”, press enter
- Type “adb install com.noshufu.android.su-1.apk”, press enter
- Type “adb reboot”, press enter
Congrats your Kindle Fire is now rooted running version 6.2.1 and below. If you run into any issues drop us a line and there is also more information at Rootzwiki. The people that get the credit for the above method are … Justin Case (case), Vashypooh, Trevor Eckhart, IOMoster , AndroidPolice.com, RootzWiki.com, and ChainsDD.
The Kindle Fire may not see the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for some time but developers have already got it running on the device. To get Ice Cream Sandwich on a $200 tablet is a dream come true although not ready for the public it is coming along nicely. There are problems with the audio and video feedback although everything else looks to be running quite well.
When the ROM comes available to the public we will be sure to post it here at Android Advice but until then lets just keep an eye on the progress.
Amazon has officially rolled out the OTA (over the air) update for the Kindle Fire to version 6.2.1. While the update breaks root access if you rooted it does come with some good fixes and features.
Kindle Fire Update 6.2.1 Features:
- Scrolling is smoother
- Wifi can be locked with Password
- Allows removal of recently used items
- Touchscreen improvements
- Performance improvmeents
Let us know when you update your Kindle Fire to version 6.2.1 and anything you notice outside of the list above. Root being lost we can only assume will not last long.
Those of you with a Kindle Fire know that it is far from a clean, stable easy to use device. The Kindle Fire has been nothing but buggy since its release and will finally be getting the long awaited update to fix many of its issues. In fact to date many people have been returning their Fire tablets and you can now find them in places like Craigslist for nearly 25% off still in the box.
Some of the many issues currently on the device are issues about external voice control and a power button that it always hit unintentionally turning the device off. Another huge concern is the Kindle Fire’s lack of privacy features, where it stores every action on the device for any user to see. Besides these issues customer complaints seem never ending.
Amazon knows that when they sold the device while themselves taking a loss on every one sold that they would rely on cornering the market. This being said they have promised an update in the next week or so to fix many of the issues.
“In less than two weeks, we’re rolling out an over-the-air update to Kindle Fire,” said Drew Herdener, a company spokesperson.
Some of the improvements promised are to its multi-touch navigation and performance in general as well as being able to edit the user usage list for increased privacy. We will let you know when the update actually pushes out.
If you own a Kindle Fire there is already an update for the popular Amazon tablet getting it to version 6.2. This update is being released by Amazon with very little information about it. All we know is that it will “provide improvements to the operation of the Kindle Fire”. Of course if you have rooted the Kindle Fire this update will kill it and you will have to re-root after the update. We have no reason to believe at this point that the current root method will not work again after updating to 6.2.
To Apply the Kindle Fire 6.2 Update:
- Navigate to Quick Settings -> Sync
- The update will download and install
- Yes its that easy…
If for any reason you try to sync to download the update and it says you don’t have updates available then go to “Quick Settings -> More -> Device” and check the system version. If the System version is already 6.2 then you already have the update and don’t need it. If you are on 6.0 or 6.1 you may want to check your WiFi connection.
After you have applied the update please comment here with anything you notice different. Hope all goes well and happy updating.
We have all dropped our phone or tablet at some time of another and many times had them break depending on the device. The Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet are both new highly purchased devices already. So which one of these devices can handle a little abuse?
We have seen a few other drop tests on phones but this time its a much larger device and brought to us by Gizmo Slip. As you can see above they are dropping the devices from various heights on carpet and concrete to see how they hold up. You can clearly see that when dropped face down on concrete which one wins the test.
We already know that while the Amazon Kindle Fire will have access to Android Apps, but that these apps will not come from the Google Android Market. So how do you get access to the Android Market on the Amazon Kindle if its on the Google Market? These are very easy and functional instructions to sideload apps to your Kindle Fire when you just can’t find the app you want on the Amazon App Store.
NOTE: You must have the Android SDK installed on your computer for this to work.
Enable Sideloading on the Kindle Fire (Windows Instructions)
- Go to your command prompt
- Enter “echo 0×1949 >> %USERPROFILE%\.android\adb_usb.ini”
- Press “ENTER” and close the command prompt
- On your Kindle go to “Settings -> Applications” and check “UNKOWN SOURCES”
- You can now sideload apps to your Kindle Fire via PC!
Enable Sideloading on the Kindle Fire (Mac Instructions)
- On your Kindle go to “Settings -> Applications” and check “UNKOWN SOURCES”
- Plug your Kindle Fire into the Mac via USB
- Open ~/.android/adb_usb.ini with Text Edit
- Add “0×1949″ to the end of the file and save it
- Restart the adb server via the command “adb kill-server”
- Run “adb devices” and your Kindle Fire should show up
- You can now sideload apps to your Kindle Fire via Mac!
