iPad Challengers: The Kindle Fire HDX and Nexus 9 – Barron’s

February 14, 2015

Apple AAPL 0.4902736043017555% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD127.08 0.62 0.4902736043017555% /Date(1423864800167-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 51441967 AFTER HOURS ^USD127.23 0.15 0.11803588290840415% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2830252 P/E Ratio 17.012048192771083 Market Cap 740208992462.307 Dividend Yield 1.4793830657853322% Rev. per Employee 2153110 More quote details and news » AAPL in Your Value Your Change Short position 's iPad rules the roost in tablets, with a 28% market share, and in our opinion, it's still the best such machine by a wide marg in.

But iPads are not for everyone, and two worthy alternatives to consider are the Nexus 9 tablet, from Google GOOGL 0.9432061683851944% Google Inc. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD551.16 5.15 0.9432061683851944% /Date(1423864800000-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2248840 AFTER HOURS ^USD551.2 0.04 0.007257420712678714% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 120275 P/E Ratio 27.19709455525181 Market Cap 374399664123.714 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 1228170 More quote details and news » GOOGL in Your Value Your Change Short position (ticker: GOOGL) and phone maker HTC, an d the Kindle Fire HDX seven-inch from Amazon.com AMZN 1.2355171408118355% Amazon.com Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD381.83 4.66 1.2355171408118355% /Date(1423864800288-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 3426783 AFTER HOURS ^USD382.7 0.87 0.22785009035434617% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 48286 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap 177315737509.797 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 577469 More quote details and news » AMZN in Your Value Your Change Short position (AMZN). Both run Google's Android operating system.

Kindle Fire HDX, left, and the Nexus 9

Kindle Fire HDX

Price: $ 214
Features: Wi-Fi, 32 gigs of storage memory, seven-inch screen, no ads
Website: Amazon.com

Nexus 9

Price: $ 479
Features: Wi-Fi, 32 gigs of storage, 8.9-inch screen, access to Google's application store
Website: Google.com

Many tablets run Microsoft MSFT 1.8101647714086795% Microsoft Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD43.87 0.78 1.8101647714086795% /Date(1423864800294-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 39062944 AFTER HOURS ^USD43.87 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1201943 P/E Ratio 17.548 Market Cap 359900046042.1 Dividend Yield 2.8265329382265785% Rev. per Employee 728656 More quote details and news » MSFT in Your Value Your Change Short position (MSFT) Windows, but their design is a bad marriage between clunky tablet and underpowered laptop, so they aren't worth considering.

One of the Android tablets' chief appeals is price. The Kindle Fire with 32 gigabytes of storage costs $ 199, plus an extra $ 15 if you want to remove ads. The Nexus 9 with 32 gigs and an 8.9-inch screen is $ 479. In contrast, an iPad mini 3 with just 16 gigs of storage is $ 399, and a like-equipped iPad Air 2 starts at $ 499.

Thirty-two gigs is the absolute minimum you need, so these should be considered base prices for the tablets; there are plenty of models for as low as $ 99, but their electronics are poor.

Both the Kindle Fire and Nexus 9 did very well at playing videos and videogames, browsing the Web, and reading books and PDF files. The Kindle Fire has a decent Qualcomm QCOM 0.6961216081829805% Qualcomm Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD70.88 0.49 0.6961216081829805% /Date(1423864800467-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 7742851 AFTER HOURS ^USD70.85 -0.03 -0.04232505643340858% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 307328 P/E Ratio 14.735966735966736 Market Cap 116920812422.473 Dividend Yield 2.37020316027088% Rev. per Employee 861470 More quote details and news » QCOM in Your Value Your Change Short position< /span> (QCOM) processor; the Nexus 9, a top-of-the-line Nvidia NVDA 0.04484304932735426% NVIDIA Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq ^USD22.31 0.01 0.04484304932735426% /Date(1423864801949-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 7516931 AFTER HOURS ^USD22.22 -0.09 -0.4034065441506051% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 235218 P/E Ratio 19.57017543859649 Market Cap 12126309896.4875 Dividend Yield 1.523980277902286% Rev. per Employee 531506 More quote details and news » NVDA in Your Value Your Change Short position (NVDA) Tegra chip. And both have at least two gigabytes of RAM, and so they smoothly switch between applications.

The Kindle Fire doesn't use Google's application store, so its apps universe is smaller than the Nexus'. Both machines' biggest drawback, however, is a bland and not very ergonomic industrial design. They simply don't fit the hand nearly as well as an iPad.

For the moment, Apple (AAPL) has a solid lead in quality. But tablets like these will keep proliferating because they're "good enough" for many users.

E-mail: editors@barrons.com

How can I access Kindle e-books on different devices? – Telegraph.co.uk

We were pleasantly surprised to find that books purchased for our two Kindles automatically appear on our Samsung tablet as well. Now we have a second Kindle Fire. Books ordered on this also go to the Samsung tablet, but not to our old Kindle. How can we get books from our Kindles 1 and 2 to one another? We are not bothered about the Samsung tablet getting them.

You can access your Kindle library on up to 6 devices, and these can be actual Kindles or PCs, tablets or smartphones running the Kindle app. The easiest way to take control of your library and decide which books go where is to log onto your Amazon account in a web browser and under Digital Content select Manage your Content and Devices. On the Content tab select the books that you want to be available on another device on the Content tab and click the Actions button, select Deliver and then the device from the drop-down menu. Books and other content can also be moved using a PC and USB connection and there is some easy to follow instructions in an Amazon Support article at: http://goo.gl/ks2O.

Kindle Unlimited, A Monthly Book Subscription, Launches In Canada – Huffington Post Canada

Attention readers: Amazon.ca just launched a Netflix for books | Marko Beric via Getty Images

Forget about binge watching — from here on out, 2015 is the year of binge reading.

Amazon.ca announced it would be offering Kindle Unlimited to Canadians on Thursday. The service, which launched in the U.S. last summer, give subscribers access to 750,000 Kindle books for $ 9.99 a month. The only catch? Just the obvious one — all books are electronic.

Alright, there’s one more. While the Kindle Unlimited offerings are pretty exciting, including the full Harry Potter series, Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, among others, don’t expect too many modern bestsellers.

Newer books aren’t yet on offer, but representatives for Amazon.ca are confident more titles will be added as the service goes forward. So, much like Netflix for Canada, this Netflix for books will start off a little, well, lacking, but hopefully ramp up its offerings soon.

As it stands, we’re just going to take this opportunity to dive into books we might not otherwise read, like the KDP (read: self-published) options, and thousands of other tomes, all conveniently slotted into categories.

Kindle Unlimited will be available on the Kindle reading apps for iOS and Android, as well as Kindles (obviously). Currently, they’re holding a free 30-day trial, if you want to check it out — trust us, we’re going to.

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Amazon launches its ebook subscription service ‘Kindle Unlimited’ in Canada … – VentureBeat

Amazon has launched its Kindle Unlimited subscription ebook service in Canada and Mexico, its eighth and ninth market respectively.

Today's news comes more than six months after the service first launched in the U.S., and a little over four months after it landed in the U.K.

For CDN$ 9.99 ($ 8 USD) or 129 pesos ($ 8.60 USD), subscribers can access 750,000 ebooks. It's worth noting that you won't be able to access all the latest bestsellers — many of them are self-published titles created through Kindle Direct Publishing. That said, there are still many well-known titles on there, including Harry Potter and the Hunger Games.

The gradual global rollout is no doubt food for thought for a number of competing companies in the space — Oyster offers north of one million books for $ 9.95/month, though it remains a U.S.-only affair for now. Then there's Scribd, which serves up around the same number of titles (including audiobooks) for $ 8.99 a month — and it's available globally.

Kindle Unlimited is available on Kindles and via their associated apps on phones, tablets, and PCs. Though interestingly, there's no mention of audiobooks being included in the new markets — subscribers in the U.K. and U.S., for example, also get a selection of audiobooks via Amazon subsidiary Audible.

 

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Kindle Unlimited Now Available in Canada for CDN$9.99 a Month – Android Headlines – Android News

Amazon is showing a little love to our Canadian brethren by expanding their Kindle Unlimited subscription books service to include those north of the US border – all for about the same price of $ 9.99 a month.  The service was already available to the US and the UK and makes available, on any Kindle reading device, as well as their free Kindle reading app for iOS and Android, over 750,000 books.  Russ Grandinetti, Senior Vice President, Kindle said, "We are thrilled to introduce Kindle Unlimited to Canadian customers and give book lovers unlimited access to hundreds of thousands of titles.  With Kindle Unlimited, our customers are spending more time reading and have the freedom to explore new authors, series and genres."

For someone that buys books all of the time, $ 9.99 a month is a great price to have unlimited access to a 'library' of books this large, especially if you have acclimated yourself to read electronically.  Some people like the physical feel of the actual book in their hands – not a tablet, e-reader or smartphone, but if you are okay with reading from a display rather than a page, then you may want to sign up.  There is a 30-day free trial offer – unless you live in Quebec, although there are 15,000 French-language titles from which to choose – to see if the service is something that would appeal to you before you pluck down your $ 9.99.  Even if you are a library user, there are the benefits of escaping any 'due dates' or 'late fees' – keep the book as long as you want and take as much time as you need to read the entire book.

According to Kindle's press release, the Kindle Unlimited features include: Unlimited reading with access to over 750,000 books, including the best sellers for both adults and children – Access to hundreds of thousands of 'Kindle exclusive' titles found only on Kindle – Explore over 15,000 French language titles – Select from thousands of 'Short Reads' for a quick escape of 100 pages or less – Enjoy 'Popular Kindle Features' such as Whispersync, Word Wise, Vocabulary Builder, Popular Highlights, X-Ray and customer reviews – And you can ready everywhere…free reading apps for smartphones, tablets, Windows Phone, PC, Mac and Windows 8, so you can take your library with you wherever you go.

Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know if you will be using the new Amazon Kindle Unlimited…as always, we would love to her from you.

Amazon brings Kindle Unlimited to Canada, all-you-can-read ebooks for $9.99 a … – The Next Web

Amazon launched Kindle Unlimited, its all-you-can-read subscription service, in the US last summer. Now it's headed north to Canada.

From today, Canadian Amazon customers can access 750,000 titles for $ 9.99 a month.

You can test the service with a 30-day free trial. It's available via Kindle e-readers, as well as Amazon's apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, PC, Mac and Windows 8.

Kindle Unlimited's Canadian rollout also includes 15,000 French language titles. It's worth being slightly wary though, as the service was found to include a lot of self-published titles when it launched elsewhere.

➤ Kindle Unlimited [Amazon Canada]