Tablets, eReaders, Media Players - 2016

[booklover6]

Started setting mine up this morning....the Fire HD 8 is a monster! I like how thin and light it is, though.

[booklover6]

Devices on sale at US Amazon today

Limited Time: Save $30 on Fire HD 6 $99.99 $69.99

Interesting observation: the HD6 appears to be available in black only, both sizes, from Amazon.

Limited-Time Offers:
$20 off Kindle $79.99 $59.99,
Kindle for Kids Bundle $99.99 $79.99 and
Kindle Paperwhite $119.99 $99.99

[booklover6]

The Kobo Glo HD is on sale. Read about it here.

[Manabi]

Staples has their store brand flash drives on sale:

• 16GB $4.99
• 32GB $7.99
• 64GB $14.99

You can also sign up for a Staples Rewards card and use it to get free shipping. Signup is free. Just be sure to apply your member number during checkout.

[cvkemp]

http://www.amazon.com/Certified-Refu...&tag=ter000-20

[Difflugia]

If anyone's been looking for a cheap Windows phone to play with, AT&T's "GoPhone" no contract version of the Lumia 640 with windows 8.1 is on sale at Best Buy for $29.99. I noticed the Best Buy sale after buying one at Walgreens on clearance for the same price, so I assume that this phone is being replaced by something with Windows 10 and they're clearing out old stock. The documentation says that I should be able to upgrade to Windows 10 at some point, but no updates are available right now.

Here are my impressions after about a day of playing around with it:

The hardware is much nicer than any Android phones at that price point. Both the screen and camera are beautiful.

Using it without cell activation is easy. I don't think it asked me once to activate during setup and mine is currently just using WiFi.

Microsoft's included map software is wonderful. It allows downloading of maps for offline use and can even generate turn-by-turn directions while completely offline. It's worth $30 as a GPS alone.

The big downside to this phone is the lack of apps. I've started looking for ereader software that I like, but there doesn't seem to be a big selection to choose from. As far as store-specific apps go, Kindle and Kobo apps are available, but the NOOK app was apparently pulled during the big falling out between Microsoft and B&N.

I can manage ebooks in main memory using Calibre's MTP device driver, but it seems to have trouble with folders on the SD Card. On some other devices, I remove the SD Card and use Calibre's ability to "connect" to a folder, but removing the SD Card from this phone requires opening the back and removing the battery.

As a weird aside, you can't easily store offline maps on the SD Card. Since the phone only has about 3.5 GB free of its on-board 8 GB, maps can quickly eat that up (Michigan is about 200 MB and the whole US is ~4.5GB). This is apparently a design decision by Microsoft, because literally every other app can store its data on the SD Card. Not only that, but a tweak to the registry used to allow external storage of the maps, but Microsoft specifically disabled changing that registry entry in a subsequent software update. I managed to get the registry entry changed, but it involved installing Microsoft's development tools and registering as a developer in order to install a hacked registry editor.

[Manabi]

Amazon is having a sale for Prime members on Kindle e-readers. Prime members can get the following deals:

• $30 off Kindle (Starting at $49.99, regularly $79.99)
• $30 off Kindle for Kids Bundle ($69.99, regularly $99.99)
• $30 off Kindle Paperwhite (Starting at $89.99, regularly $119.99)
• $50 off Kindle Voyage (Starting at $149.99, regularly $199.99)

If you're interested in the Kindle Voyage, keep in mind that Amazon is planning to announce a new 8th generation replacement for it next week.

[tubemonkey]

The $49 Fire 7 is now available in a 16GB version for an additional $20.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The $49 Fire 7 is now available in a 16GB version for an additional $20.

Well, that's annoying. I'd have gotten that one for my daughter, if it had been available. Far too late, now.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Well, that's annoying. I'd have gotten that one for my daughter, if it had been available. Far too late, now.

Yeah, I wish Amazon would retire 8GB for their tablets and make 16GB the entry level. Personally, I'd prefer 32GB as the minimum.

[tubemonkey]

Roku announces new quad-core Streaming Stick

Roku has announced the 3rd generation of the Roku Streaming Stick. The device’s biggest new feature is its new quad-core processor, making it the new most powerful streaming stick on the market, which is a title the Fire TV Stick currently claims. Roku isn’t giving any specifics about the CPU or RAM, but they say it’s eight times as powerful as the previous model, which had single-core 600 MHz CPU and 512 MB of memory. For comparison, Amazon says the Fire TV Stick is six times as powerful as the previous generation Roku Streaming Stick.

>>> snip <<<

The new Roku Streaming Stick is available for pre-order now for $49.99 and is expected to ship near the end of the month. It’s a necessary update to keep it relevant against the more popular Fire TV Stick and Chromecast competition. Despite being revamped slightly with a new voice remote bundle a few months ago, the Fire TV Stick hardware is now nearly a year and a half old, so I’d expect we’ll be seeing a new Fire TV Stick released before the end of the year to possibly reclaim the title of most powerful streaming stick.

[tubemonkey]

Fire TV Sale

• $84.99 -- Fire TV --> $15 off
• $94.99 -- Fire TV Antenna Bundle --> $36.48 off
• $124.99 -- Fire TV Gaming Edition --> $15 off

[jj2me]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

As a weird aside, you can't easily store offline maps on the SD Card. Since the phone only has about 3.5 GB free of its on-board 8 GB, maps can quickly eat that up (Michigan is about 200 MB and the whole US is ~4.5GB). This is apparently a design decision by Microsoft, because literally every other app can store its data on the SD Card. Not only that, but a tweak to the registry used to allow external storage of the maps, but Microsoft specifically disabled changing that registry entry in a subsequent software update. I managed to get the registry entry changed, but it involved installing Microsoft's development tools and registering as a developer in order to install a hacked registry editor.

About halfway down this page is a long post, where the poster found Microsoft's reasoning for disallowing maps-to-SD in Win Phone 8.1:

"HERE is an integral part of the Windows Phone operating system. This means that offline maps aren't just used by our apps, but system-wide. Apps like Instagram, Foursquare, Facebook, Uber etc. all use our offline maps on Windows Phone. This is a clear benefit for you all, BUT IT ALSO MEANS THAT SD CARD SUPPORT FOR MAPS HAS TO COME FROM THE OPERATING SYSTEM ITSELF.""

Yet for Windows Phone 10, it appears that maps-to-SD is once again supported, according to this post on another site:

"In Windows 10 Mobile, go to All Settings -> System -> Offline maps. From there, you can choose your storage location for the maps, whether internal phone storage or SD Card. It's that easy."

[murg]

Originally Posted by jj2me

About halfway down this page is a long post, where the poster found Microsoft's reasoning for disallowing maps-to-SD in Win Phone 8.1:


"HERE is an integral part of the Windows Phone operating system. This means that offline maps aren't just used by our apps, but system-wide. Apps like Instagram, Foursquare, Facebook, Uber etc. all use our offline maps on Windows Phone. This is a clear benefit for you all, BUT IT ALSO MEANS THAT SD CARD SUPPORT FOR MAPS HAS TO COME FROM THE OPERATING SYSTEM ITSELF.""


Yet for Windows Phone 10, it appears that maps-to-SD is once again supported, according to this post on another site:


"In Windows 10 Mobile, go to All Settings -> System -> Offline maps. From there, you can choose your storage location for the maps, whether internal phone storage or SD Card. It's that easy."

What you're seeing is the transition from the idiotic decisions of the Balmer era to a more rational way a thinking under the current guy.

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by jj2me

About halfway down this page is a long post, where the poster found Microsoft's reasoning for disallowing maps-to-SD in Win Phone 8.1:

"HERE is an integral part of the Windows Phone operating system. This means that offline maps aren't just used by our apps, but system-wide. Apps like Instagram, Foursquare, Facebook, Uber etc. all use our offline maps on Windows Phone. This is a clear benefit for you all, BUT IT ALSO MEANS THAT SD CARD SUPPORT FOR MAPS HAS TO COME FROM THE OPERATING SYSTEM ITSELF.""

Yet for Windows Phone 10, it appears that maps-to-SD is once again supported, according to this post on another site:

"In Windows 10 Mobile, go to All Settings -> System -> Offline maps. From there, you can choose your storage location for the maps, whether internal phone storage or SD Card. It's that easy."

Thanks.

I'll have to see about putting Windows 10 on the phone. I've read that Microsoft has an app that allows it to be installed if your phone is supported. The unlocked, non-AT&T version of the Lumina 640 is eligible, so I'm hoping mine will be as well.