First Posted: May 07, 2015 11:08 AM EDT
The Amazon Kindle Fire HDX is more than just a color e-reader, it is a fully functional tablet. With a cheaper price tag than an iPad, the Kindle Fire HDX makes a perfect gift for Mother’s Day, a birthday or other special ocassion.
The Amazon Kindle Fire HDX’s display is vivid and perfect for streaming movies and TV shows. The 2560 x 1600 screen on the 8.9 inch HDX is capable of showing 339 pixels per inch. This is the best pixel density on any Kindle Fire tablet offered, According To Amazon. The display shows over 4 million pixels for great looking images That look even better than HD-quality.
The Kindle Fire HDX will adapt to a user’s surroundings. Whether a user is inside or outside, the Fire HDX will automatically box optimize the color of each pixel based on the amount of light in the environment.
With an improved screen, the Fire HDX also shedded some weight from the tablet. The 8.9-inch model weighs in at 13.2 ounces and the 7 inch model weighs in at just 10.7 ounces. The Fire HDX is still very durable despite becoming lighter in weight.
The design of the Fire HDX was streamlined this include a smaller bezel, cleaner lines and better placement of buttons and ports. The design is meant with a user’s reading experience in mind, the Fire HDX is meant to be comfortable when held.
The Fire HDX tablets are powerful, being equipped with the 2.2 GHz quad-core 800 Snapdragon processor. This processor makes the tablet three times more powerful than the Kindle Fire HD. With 2 GB of RAM, apps will load faster and multi-tasking will be easier.
Sound on the Fire HDX is powered by Dolby Digital Plus. The audio experience is adjusted automatically box based on the user’s activity.
The 12 hour battery life on the Fire HDX is an excellent advantage. This Means more time for video-watching, reading, browsing the web and playing games all on a better-than-HD display.
A great advantage to the Kindle Fire HDX is the Mayday button . This button allows users to connect with an Amazon expert at any time of the day. The expert will help answer questions and troubleshoot anything That a user asks.
The Amazon is selling the 7-inch Fire HDX for $ 199 (originally $ 239). The 8.9-inch Fire HDX is currently selling for $ 379
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BOOKS electronic him … Australians are investing 20 per cent of Their book budget on electronic tomes . Source: Supplied
AUSTRALIA apr be on the cusp of a second e-book revolution.
Electronic books now Represent 20 per cent of all money spent on books in Australia, raking in $ 400 million last year, and an industry expert Predicts That figure will rise is as much as 35 per cent in coming years as readers say goodbye to printed novels.
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This fuel the trend, the world’s two leading electronic book sellers are this month releasing advanced, competing e-book readers in Australia with crisper screens, slimmer bodies, and faster operation.
Fresh look … The Kobo Glo HD e-book reader boasts a better screen resolution than its predecessor. Source: Supplied
But technology analysts warn the devices small enough not offer Versatility is convince readers to invest, and the future of reading could be swallowed up by tablets and smartphones.
The first e-book readers arrived in Australia five years ago, but Kobo Australia content acquisition director Malcolm Neil admits the initial devices were not as good as they should have been.
Early e-readers were large, slow and, he says, the Australian e-book stores was incomplete compared this Those overseas.
“The consumer expected something that was like a tablet or a smartphone and what they got did not meet Their expectations. A lot of people who Entered the market were disappointed, “Neil says.
” But we’re now at the start of the next cycle and people will re-adopt or upgrade Their devices. It’s the upgrade cycle we have seen in overseas markets. “
New generation. .. The Kindle Voyage is the newest model from Amazon. Source: Supplied
The “catalyst” for These upgrades, Neil says, is improved e-reading technology.
Both the Kobo Glo HD ($ 180 ) and Amazon’s Kindle Voyage ($ 299), released in the past fortnight, feature six-inch screens with 300 dots per inch resolution – a 30 per cent boost on the previous models.
Both also deliver subtle illumination for reading in dim lighting, wi-fi connections for quick book downloads, and access a large electronic bookstores.
The local arms of Those stores, Neil says, now offer similar Those libraries are seen overseas, breaking down another barrier for avid readers.
“You have to hunt to find a book that’s not there now as opposed to finding a book That is there,” he says. “The only books not available are older books and books That are not Digitised. Those are the books you can not find in (bricks and mortar) bookstores anyway. “
Bolstered by availability, and the price of e-books at roughly a third of paper versions, Australians now spend 20 per Their cent of budgets on digital book titles.
There is still “room to grow,” Neil says, and he Predicts Australia will catch up to countries like the United States, Canada and United Kingdom where sales are sitting between 35 and 40 per cent.
Reading transition … Australia’s most amazing book sales are digital. Source: Supplied
“We’re five years into what is Potentially a 25-year or maybe longer transition,” he says.
Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi says Australians spent $ 400 million on e-books in 2014 in what is a growing trend.
“People are switching from physical books to electronic books for a number of Reasons: portability, accessibility, and also price,” he says. “E-books are easier, quicker and cheaper is access. There is a strong future for electronic content. “
But Fadaghi says Australians are choosing not Necessarily e-book readers is a dive into Their electronic novels and nonfiction titles.
After a rapid initial adoption, Fadaghi says the market for dedicated e-book devices has “flatlined,” and is now restricted this isnt dedicated e-book readers who appreciate Their black-and-white screens over the backlit screens of tablet computers.
“Just shy of 3 million Australians still use e-book readers,” he says. “This convince Those Who do not have one already to buy one over a tablet is going to be a struggle.
” There are still people who want a stand-alone product but the mass market appeal for Those products has diminished. “
Fadaghi says the resolution and dwindling growing weight of tablet computers makes them a more likely winner in the battle book, though only time will tell how the story ends.
There are plenty of reasons to like Kobo, but the most compelling small be the simple fact That the company is not Amazon.
As chief competitors like Barnes & amp; Noble and Sony have faded or disappeared altogether from the market, the plucky Canadian company (granted, they are currently owned by a giant Japanese retailer) has made it a mission, year in and year out, that offer the best e-reader money can buy .
Along the way, Kobo’s competitive streak has gone a ways toward pushing the whole industry forward, experimenting with screen size, upping the game on front-lit displays, Introducing the concept of a truly high-end devoted e -reader and even going waterproof.
For its part, the Glo HD is not an attempt to push the envelope as much as it is and play to mainstream some of the premium specs Introduced it with pricier models.
Kobo has never been one to shy away from exploiting and Perceived hole in the market. The company has seven models listed as currently available on its site, and as dry, the Glo HD slots somewhere between Amazon’s Voyage and Paperwhite, bringing a high-res display, small footprint, slick design, and are important secret weapon: a $ 130 price tag that undercuts Amazon’s top-tier e-reader to $ 60 (or $ 80, if you factor in the Special Offers ads).
What really set the Voyage apart Paperwhite from its predecessor was Amazon’s keen attention to hardware. Where the company has Often viewed its e-readers as content vessels, the device is appealed readers who wanted a device with a build quality rivaled That Their smartphones and tablets.
Of course, hardly Amazon pioneered the space. In April 2013 Introduced the Aura Kobo HD, a 6.8-inch e-reader with all the fixins and a – at the time – hard to swallow $ 169 price tag.
A few months later, the company Introduced the more mainstream Aura, Which knocked down the screen size and a few other key specs, while shaving $ 20 off the asking price. At $ 130, the Glo HD costs roughly the same as the current generation Paperwhite, which’ll run you $ 120 with Special Offers and $ 140 without.
The Glo HD also splits the difference between Amazon’s offerings from a design perspective. I’ll admit that I’m a bit spoiled by my Kindle Voyage, but the flush screen really does make a world of difference when it comes to design language. The Glo HD utilizes the standard e-reader plastic bezel configuration, though Kobo’s made the best of it with a nice, rounded and thin bezel.
The Glo HD’s high-resolution screen is as sharp as the Kindle Voyage’s.
Image: Brian Heater / Mashable
In fact, Kobo’s managed to fit The Glo HD into a nice, footprint that’s shorter than the quite compact Voyage and only a little thicker (thanks to Those bezels). And despite the fact That the front is not one contiguous piece, The e-reader also has an extremely solid feel . At 6.3 ounces, the Glo HD is roughly the same weight as the Voyage and weighs slightly less than the Paperwhite.
There are no devoted page turn buttons – to be expected after several generations, but again, the Kindle Voyage has spoiled me on That front. Along the bottom bezel is a small, tasteful Kobo logo in black on a black background – no doubt a response to customer complaints That bright white on black provede a bit distracting.
On the bottom, smack dab in the center is a Micro USB port for charging and syncing and a small hole is its right Directly for old school manual resets courtesy of a paperclip. The e-reader’s button salts is a big, bold, silvery affair located on top of the e-reader That handles both power and sleep.
Never underestimate the Importance of the back. After all, if you’re the sort of person who’s going to drop $ 130 on a devoted e-reader, you’re probably also the type who reads a lot, for long stretches. The whole thing feels like a bit of an afterthought on the Voyage, with Amazon more focused on a consistency of design language across Kindles.
The back of the Glo HD, on the other hand, is a nice confluence of elements. The material is a rubberized soft touch material with a nice, comfortable feel and a texturized surface so as to avoid slippage. That surface is paired with slightly beveled sides designed it conform with the user’s fingers for better gripping.
The dirty little secret of the e-reader market Is That, with so few companies actually making devoted reading devices, there are even fewer making components for them. That Means, almost certainly, that for parts developed out of the house they once product picks up a cool feature, the competition is sure to follow soon enough.
The Kobo Glo HD e-reader and Kindle Voyage both with Their lights fired up.
Image: Brian Heater / Mashable
That goes double for displays . E Ink is pretty much the only game in town these days, and sure enough, the Glo HD wore the same Carta display that this year’s e-reader party (how embarrassing) as the Voyage, sporting a stellar 300 pixels per inch (PPI) . Means That, at least on this front, there’s not a lot to distinguish These devices. It also Means, however, that you’re in for a nice, high-res display e-reader whichever you end up choosing. The new screen Means sharper text, better images and the ability to read smaller font-sizes. For most e-readers, the Increased resolution will not have a huge impact on reading.
E Ink is pretty easy on the eyes across the board and Continues to be a better solution for reading plain text on the page, PARTICULARLY in daylight than a tablet’s glass screen. Moving ahead, it’s hard to Imagine That Increased screen resolution will continue to be on the battlefield Which e-reader Future Wars Will Be Fought – after all, we’re pretty darn close to the same resolution as real ink on paper.
Kobo’s also gotten pretty good on the “glo” front, as well. The company’s been producing good, evenly-distributed lighting front. Though, once again, the light does suffer when compared to the Kindle Directly Voyage, with a yellowish hue and some blotchy distribution near the bottom bezel from Which the light originates.
Image: Brian Heater / Mashable
The Glo HD and Voyage share some key similarities inside, as well, namely 4GB of storage and a 1GHz processor. Sadly, there’s no expandable storage this time-out. Cloud storage / syncing has lessened the need for dry things, but it’s always a handy feature both for adding more books to the library and for loading your own digital documents and books manually – it’s also something that’s helped Kobo distinguish itself from the competition.
Strangely, in spite of the standard 1GHz processor, my unit felt a bit sluggish. There was a noticeable lag when performing simple tasks like opening up books. Despite the fact that I’ve been using the Voyage for several months now and have loaded the thing up with books, Amazon’s e-reader consistently opened books faster – sometime by a second or two. It does not sound like a lot, but it’s a nuisance That adds up to.
The Glo HD has the Wi-Fi standard on board – as ever, 3G is strictly the realm of the Kindle, Which isn ‘t likely to be an issue with most users. The battery, meanwhile, is listed as “up to two months, the” standard fare for Kobo.
Not much has changed on the software front since last year’s H20. In fact, Kobo’s UI has been pretty consistent for a few generations now. On the front page, is a series of squares, featuring the most recently read titles and a link to your library.
Like Amazon, the company has also integrated Recommendations Directly onto the home page – after all, selling books is a huge part of how really These companies generate revenue. At the top is a search bar for finding titles specifically among the four million or so in the company’s e-book store, as well as more more additional links to the store at the bottom.
The Kobo Glo HD (left) versus the Kindle Voyage (right).
Image: Brian Heater / Mashable
I personally prefer Amazon’s carousel method of organizing books, as well as its quick link to cloud storage, but that’s little more than personal preference. Both companies have been tweaking the software Their long enough to have perfectly serviceable offerings.
As ever, Kobo distinguishes itself by supporting a number of different file types, Including PUB, EPUB3, PDF and MOBI, Which can be loaded Directly onto the e-reader when connected to a computer via USB. And it’s not quite the X-ray, but the company does offer some detailed stats on your reading habits, as well as Those Xbox-style “Awards,” if you’re looking for a way to motivate yourself toward That New Year’s resolution of reading more this year.
Kobo’s scattershot approach to the market has resulted in a handful of devices have felt fairly That gimmicky. There’s the uber pricey Aura HD, the pint-sized Mini and, of course, last year’s waterproof H20. The Glo HD, however, is a legitimate mainstream e-reader.
It has a nice design and a high-end screen – and best of all, it undercuts the Kindle Voyage by a margin significant_coeff_flag
Beyond the display, there are not a heck of a lot of bells and whistles present, even though expandable storage has been removed. But the Glo HD has just about everything most users want from a current-gen e-reader, and for many users the mere fact That the company is continuing to provide your an alternative to the Amazon stranglehold is reason enough to want it around.
The high-resolution screen • Compact design • Significantly cheaper than the Kindle Voyage
Sluggish performance • No expandable storage
The Kobo Glo HD brings nice design language and a hi-res screen is a quality mid-tier e-reader.
UPDATED : Amazon has Acknowledged the issue. Read its statement at the end of this article. We should see a fix soon.
I use one of my iPads and the iPhone heavily each day, Often for hours at a time. I carry my iPhone 6 Plus everywhere for long days, usually we 5 am to 10 or 11 pm As my primary work system, the iPad Air 2 (or sometimes the iPad Air) is easily used for 8 – 10 hours daily.
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With dry heavy use I have been impressed with the long battery life of each device. The iPhone 6 Plus can last over 1.5 days Regularly, and I can not remember the last time either the iPad had less than 50 percent of the battery left after a very long day. That changed recently, and it Appears Amazon’s Kindle app is to blame.
About two weeks ago I noticed that my iOS devices were using more battery than ever before. A couple of days the iPhone was very low at the end of the day, and the same with the iPad Air 2. Each time it happened I could not think of anything I’d done differently. The iPhone 6 Plus and the iPad Air 2 were hitting the battery harder than before.
Looking at battery usage by app in Settings & gt; General & gt; Usage & gt; Battery Usage and quickly homed in on the culprit. The Kindle app from Amazon is now always the app That is using a greater percentage of my battery, and Often by a wide margin.
I read a lot of Kindle books but rarely for hours at a time; a typical reading session is only 15 minutes or so. Rarely does my Accumulated daily reading time Exceed an hour. The usage of other apps Far Exceeds this, Especially Safari and Evernote. These do not come close to how hard the Kindle app hits the battery.
Lately I started Regularly playing Halo: Spartan Strike on the iPad Air 2, sometimes for over an hour at a time. Games can go through a battery charge pretty fast, but every time I check it after playing, the Kindle app is always showing a greater use of the battery, sometimes significantly so, than the game.
The screen image above of the battery usage on the iPhone 6 Plus was taken around mid-day. Use of the Kindle app was not heavy, in fact it was only a few minutes. It seems the app hits hard the battery even when not Actively reading a book.
Since I noticed this around a couple of weeks ago I checked the version history of the Kindle app to see if it had been updated That time around. Sure enough, a minor update (version 4.8.1) was pushed to the iPads and the iPhone on April 15 (see image above). It indicates it only addresses “performance and stability improvements”. Perhaps the performance was enhanced at the expense of battery.
When it comes to sudden battery issues, I do not believe in coincidences, so I’ll bet this update is the culprit. Online searching has not turned up any indication That this is widespread. Since I am seeing it on three different iOS devices, I doubt my situation is unique. If you’ve noticed a similar shortening of the battery life on your iPhone or iPad, check how much the Kindle app is using the juice. Hopefully Amazon will get another update soon to address this issue.
Amazon support forums are not showing any complaints about this issue yet, but it’s been a common complaint about other updates for two years. Amazon has not yet responded to our request for comment.
UPDATE : Amazon has Acknowledged this issue and has responded to me with this statement:
..checked and see That number of Eligible customers have contacted us regarding to this issue and our technical team is currently working then address this issue. Once we’ve been alerted that a dry Situations, of course we take steps to correct them Immediately; and errors like this are usually we corrected shortly after they have been reported. In this case, I request you to please wait for the next 24-48 hours and I am sure this issue will surely be That rectify time.
Ebook readers are not as popular as tablet PCs, and smartphones, is called. niche, but having his strongest supporters. This is not surprising, because even cheap e-book reader for a little over 250 zł for convenient reading and collecting thousands of electronic editions that can be worn literally in your pocket. Of course, the tests could not miss the latest Amazon Kindle reader Voyage, which premiered at the end of 2014. Ran for Kindle Classic, which is no longer produced. In our test, you will also find readers with waterproof housings and this is not the end of the news.
All readers participating in the trials are equipped with E Ink screens. These types of displays have been created as the digital equivalent of traditional paper. It is customary to even define the digital ink, because the image display are used microcapsules with a diameter of a human hair. They contain suspended in a transparent liquid white and black particles charged with opposite electric charges. The particles subjected to the influence of electromagnetic fields move up or down. Thanks capsule changes from white to black and formed the electronic equivalent of a drop of ink. The E Ink screen image is changed only when displaying a new item and does not turn off when you turn off the current. These types of displays do not bombard our brain or eyes like an ordinary TFT screens, which usually operate at 60 Hz.
Waterproof housing PocketBook Reader and Kobo H2O Aqua prevented from entering the housing Caps also successfully you can use them on the beach, swimming pool.
Display E Ink screens have image is clearly visible in the sun, but at night you will see little on it. Manufacturers solved this problem by installing additional lighting, the reader screens. Until recently, this functionality was the domain of the most expensive models, now has them most devices even in the medium price range. E Ink screens with backlighting is also not easy on the eyes. It’s as if we were reading a book by the light is on.
Another advantage of E Ink screens is minimal demand for electricity. Thanks to reader even with a relatively small battery with a capacity of 1300 mAh can act a few weeks. While the tablet after 2 – 3 days very intensive use must be recharged. In summary if you like to read a lot even cheap reader with E Ink screen will be a good buy.
Kindle Voyage has the ability to adjust the three buttons on the touch response and the strength of “vibration” which instructs the user to touch (four degrees).
Amazon Kindle Voyage and other readers in the test – Control ebook reader
More and more readers allows you to control the device using the touch screens. Cheap models mostly have simple touch positioning system using infrared LEDs (light beam intersection coordinates inform touch). Better quality of readers like. Voyage Kindle or PocketBook Ultra are equipped with screens with capacitive touch system.
In practice, the effect of touch screens installed even in the most expensive reader is not so precise and quick as tablets or smartphones. When you browse the books a little longer “loading” subsequent pages do not mind, but navigating through menus, options using the touch screen is sometimes frustrating. This is due to the way digital paper work that needs as many as 450 ms (E Ink Pearl) to refresh the image. Also processors readers do not belong to the fastest and by the reaction of touch reader system is quite slow. Therefore, a good solution is to readers equipped with at least basic buttons to navigate through the pages of the book.
E Ink screen to arrange the arrangement of molecules in digital ink and reverse ghosting effect requires at any time to refresh the entire page. In the majority of readers you can be set at how many pages to be full refresh of the screen.
Amazon Kindle Voyage and other readers in the tests – the Kindle and the rest
We were hoping according to the latest trends, Amazon will offer at least one reader with a slightly larger diagonal, but the manufacturer has been at the current size and most advanced Voyage and less expensive Kindle Touch (unfortunately we could not get it to tests) are equipped with a 6 inch screens. Amazon I worked for it over the resolution and quality of digital paper and once again it proved its reader in this respect the best. Kindle Voyage has as many as 300 dots per inch, smooth, legible font and great quality digital ink and paper. He received 10/10 points in the assessment of image quality.
However, competition is not sleeping and PocketBook, Onyx Kobo are on offer readers which in many respects can compete with Amazon products, or are they successful alternative .
All readers except the Amazon models have built-in memory card readers and let you browse books stored in different formats, without having to convert. Most of the readers is equipped with a 6 – inch screens, but almost every company has in its offer at least one model with a larger screen. One of the best models with a slightly larger screen is Kobo Aura H2O , which has a 6.8-inch E Ink display HD Carta (1430 x 1080 pixels).
The Kobo Aura H2O like Aqua PocketBook stand out also waterproof housings, also resistant to dust. You can use them in the bath, on the beach, without fear that after dipping stop working. This functionality is not so far none of the reader Kindle.
e-book readers – test
Amazon Kindle and other readers Voyage tests – Cheap reader
We have not neglected either cheaper models, which are often chosen by people looking for low-cost readers: Onyx Boox Classic , PocketBook Basic 2, Kiano Booky Light costing less than 300 zł.
Kiano Booky Light is one of the few readers up to 300 zł, which has a built-in backlight. Onyx Boox Classic in turn tempts more advanced E Ink Pearl display HD (1024 x 758 pixels). PocketBook Basic 2 (800 x 600 pixels, no backlight) seems to be of the three least attractive, but according to us it is the reader, because of the simple and trouble-free operation may be the best choice for people who never before did not use reader .
Readers Kindle and Kobo Voyage Aura H2O provided the store: www.kindle-24.pl