10-05-2014, 03:16 AM | #1 |
Bookaholic
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Fire OS4 update coming soon
Well, we all know the OS is coming, at least for 2013 Fire's, but a "letter" from Jeff appeared on my Fire's carousel recently saying it'll be here in the "coming weeks" and touting a number of new features and an all new visual design.
Some highlights... - User Profiles (available in the US, UK & Germany) With Profiles, each family memeber gets their own profile, including individual email, Facebook and Twitter accounts, page in the book, spot in the movie, and game levels. Profiles are available in the U.S., U.K., and Germany. - Office Docs - view, edit & create Office docs using WPS Office (also integrated with Cloud Drive) Now you can view, edit, and create Office documents for free using WPS Office, the most popular Android Office app. WPS Office is compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It also integrated with Cloud Drive, so your Office documents are automatically backed up and available through the Cloud Drive app on other mobile devices and computers. - Longer Battery Life (Smart Suspend) If you leave a tablet unplugged overnight, most devices will typically continue to connect to Wi-Fi and consume power, even in standby mode. To solve this problem, Smart Suspend develops a customized profile for when your device is typically not in use and proactively turns wireless off and on to save power. Smart Suspend will still turn on Wi-Fi periodically to fetch new emails or app notifications, so when you pick up your tablet it's ready to go and up to date. - New Weather and Calculator apps Weather provides a quick snapshot of hourly and daily weather, and also features RealFeel temperature to account for factors such as humidity and wind. Calculator's elegant display makes number crunching fast and easy. - Full-Screen Immersive Mode Apps and games in immersive mode now fill the entire screen for a more engrossing experience, with navigation controls only a swipe away. - Backup & Restore You can automatically back up device settings, email and wireless configurations, notes, bookmarks, and more to Amazon's Cloud for free and without need for configuration or connection to a computer, so it's easy to restore information to a new Fire if your device is lost or damaged. Probably nothing new to some folks, but thought I'd post it in case someone found it useful. |
10-05-2014, 08:43 AM | #2 |
eBook Junkie
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Impressive, interesting that the Family Time will not be in the first update. Though I should not be surprised since this update is probably to catch them up to the 2014 version.
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10-05-2014, 02:23 PM | #3 |
Grand Sorcerer
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This is a big deal: finally Amazon is keeping previous generation Fires 'fresh' by updating the OS, something that's routine on iOS and Android. The new features are kind of secondary for me, though 'smart suspend' should be very helpful.
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10-05-2014, 07:22 PM | #4 |
Wizard
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I got the cover letter but the detail pages we light black on dark black; thus, illegible.
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10-05-2014, 07:45 PM | #5 |
Now what?
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I hope they update the Fire Phone with Smart Suspend - having Wifi on chews up the battery life.
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10-05-2014, 08:40 PM | #6 |
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This is not a new practice, they have always done this for the previous years devices. Not the years before that though.
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10-05-2014, 08:40 PM | #7 |
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10-05-2014, 09:11 PM | #8 |
Treasure Seeker
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I just got my letter. I'm excited! Amazon hasn't in the past updated previous year models on the Fire. I believe this is a first.
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10-05-2014, 10:04 PM | #9 |
monkey on the fringe
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Current Op Sys & Software Versions ----> Fire Support ---- Software Updates
4th Generation - 2014
3rd Generation - 2013
2nd Generation - 2012
1st Generation - 2011
Last edited by tubemonkey; 10-05-2014 at 10:08 PM. |
10-06-2014, 05:48 AM | #10 |
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I disagree because last year did they not update the first generation pw to match the second, the same with the Fires getting the new software??
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10-06-2014, 08:29 AM | #11 | |
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Quote:
In 2013 Amazon introduced Mojito and only the 2013 Fires have it. The 2012 is running on Android 4 hybrid based off I think Ice cream Sandwich. The 2011 version has Android hybrid based off of Gingerbread. The 2014 models will have Fire 04 and now so will the 2013 models. This is the first time they have done this. Last edited by Blossom; 10-06-2014 at 10:33 AM. |
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10-06-2014, 09:30 AM | #12 | |
eBook Junkie
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Quote:
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10-06-2014, 10:02 AM | #13 | |
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Quote:
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10-06-2014, 10:24 AM | #14 |
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Yes but 2013 has a totally different operating system than the 2012 model. This will be the first time Amazon has upgraded a previous year model to another O/S. We are not getting just new features we are getting a whole new operating system. It's like going from JellyBean to KitKat if you own a Nexus 7.
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10-06-2014, 10:32 AM | #15 |
monkey on the fringe
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Kindle Fire Android Versions
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