Have you updated your Amazon Fire TV to version 1.5?

Many of you should have received a nice upgrade to Fire OS 1.5 for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick by now, but we’re curious — have you upgraded yet? If not, you might want to.

It comes with a ton of cool new features that you shouldn’t miss out on, especially the ability to expand storage using USB on the Fire TV, as well as Amazon X-Ray —  the company’s second screen experience that gives you more information about the characters, stories and settings in the show — directly on the TV interface. Here’s the full list of everything that’s changed:

• Expandable USB storage—Use a connected USB flash drive to expand your Amazon Fire TV storage for downloaded apps and games—this enables you to have more games downloaded for easy access.
  See compatible USB storage devices


• Connect to your hotel or dorm room Wi-Fi with captive portal support—Take your favorite movies, TV shows, games, and more with you when you’re away from home. Amazon Fire TV enables you to connect to Wi-Fi that requires web authentication—this includes Wi-Fi at most major hotels, as well as some universities.


• New X-Ray on Amazon Fire TV—You can now use X-Ray on Amazon Fire TV to explore your favorite movies and TV shows on Amazon Instant Video directly on your TV screen. Powered by IMDb, identify actors and songs in the current scene, explore actor bios, and more by simply clicking the “Up” button on your Amazon Fire TV remote.


• Private listening on Amazon Fire TV—Support for wireless Bluetooth headphones lets you listen to your favorite movie, TV show, or music without bothering others in your household.


• Browse and search Prime Playlists—Prime members can now take advantage of Prime Music playlists directly from Amazon Fire TV—there are hundreds of expertly curated Prime Playlists to choose from based on your mood, activity, artist, or decade of choice.
  Browse Prime Music Playlists


• Hidden PIN entry—With the new PIN entry screen that hides the numbers selected, you can now make sure your kids can’t see your device PIN as you enter it on-screen to confirm a purchase.


• New shortcuts—Quickly put your Amazon Fire TV to sleep or enable display mirroring by pressing and holding the Home button on your remote.

So, have you received it yet? Be sure to let us know down below, or over at AndroidForums.com to discuss the latest upgrade in more detail (or get some help with it if it’s not treating you well).

Deal: Amazon has the Kindle Fire HD 7 for $79 today only

Quick heads-up on an Amazon deal that might delight those in the market for a tablet. The company is putting their own Kindle Fire HD 7 on sale for .

That’s down from its usual price of 9, and it’ll get you a 7-inch 1280 x 800 tablet with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 8GB of internal storage, front and rear cameras with 1080p video recording, and quick and easy access to Amazon’s ecosystem of movies, books, music, apps, games and more.

It won’t run circles around many tablets, but for it should prove capable enough for whatever you need it to do. Go ahead and order one from Amazon right here if you’re interested.

Amazon Fire TV is getting support for Bluetooth headsets, expandable USB storage and more

Amazon’s announced a great new update for their TV products, which include the Amazon Fire TV and Amazon Fire TV Stick. The two biggest features users will care about is support for expandable storage via the device’s USB port, as well as the ability to listen to your content using Bluetooth wireless headphones.

There’s also a neat feature that’ll easily allow you to bypass web authentication processes when you connect the Fire TV and TV Stick to certain public WiFi hotspots (such as those found in hotels, universities and coffee shops). Here’s the full list of what’s coming:

• Expandable USB storage on Amazon Fire TV—You can now use a connected USB mass storage device to expand your Fire TV storage for downloaded apps and games—this enables you to have more games downloaded for easy access.


• Connect to your hotel or dorm room Wi-Fi with captive portal support out of the box—Take your favorite movies, TV shows, games, and more with you away from home—Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick are the first streaming media devices to enable you to connect to Wi-Fi that requires web authentication—this includes Wi-Fi at most major hotels, as well as some universities.


• Private listening on Fire TV—Enjoy favorite movies and TV shows after the kids go to sleep, without worrying about waking them up. Support for wireless Bluetooth headphones to Fire TV lets you listen to your movie, TV show, or music without bothering others in your household.


• Browse and search Prime Playlists—Prime members can now take advantage of hand-crafted Prime Music playlists directly from Fire TV and Fire TV Stick—there are hundreds of expertly curated Prime Playlists to choose from based on your mood, activity or even artist or decade of choice.


• Hidden PIN entry—With the new PIN entry screen that hides the numbers selected, you can now make sure your kids (or freeloading friends) can’t see your device PIN as you enter it on-screen to confirm a purchase on Fire TV or Fire TV Stick.


• New shortcuts—Quickly put your Fire TV or Fire TV Stick to sleep or enable display mirroring by pressing and holding the Home button on your remote.

There’s no exact date for the update’s release just yet, though Amazon promises it’ll be along within the coming weeks. Oh, and folks in the UK and Germany who prefer the stick-shaped variant will be happy to know that you can now order one, but it won’t be shipping until April 15th.

[via Amazon]

 

Amazon Fire Phone update brings Android 4.4 KitKat and over 10 new features

Amazon Fire Phone owners might not be a plentiful bunch, but those who are rocking the phone as proud as can be will be happy to know a new upgrade is headed your way. The upgrade brings Fire OS’s base platform version up to Android 4.4 KitKat.

It sounds a bit silly to get excited about KitKat when Lollipop is out, but you have to remember that Fire OS is a completely independent platform that Amazon customizes to the bone. Having KitKat vs Lollipop wouldn’t stand to make much of a difference if Amazon is going to customize them to have exactly the same base functionality.

Along with the more recent version of Android, there are over 10 new features on tap. Here’s what to expect:

• Support for Bluetooth Low Energy: Fire phone now supports Bluetooth Low Energy technology. To learn more, go to Connect to Bluetooth.


• Change the wallpaper on the Home screen: You can now change the Home screen wallpaper to a different color or use your own image. To learn more, go to Change the Home Screen Wallpaper.


• Lock screen notification improvements: View previews of new notifications on the lock screen and manage which apps can show previews on the lock screen. To learn more, go to View & Manage Notifications.


• Additional keyboard options: Amazon’s keyboard now includes color emoji. Choose from hundreds of emoji characters to make your e-mail and multimedia messages fun and personal. You can also change the default keyboard on your Fire phone with another compatible keyboard downloaded from the Amazon Appstore. To learn more, go to Customize Your Language & Keyboard.


• Convert video clips into lenticular images and set HDR to auto: Record video clips and automatically convert them into a lenticular image to share with others or use on the lock screen. With HDR turned to auto, your phone’s camera also determines whether a scene needs HDR and captures it to create a rich, detailed image. To learn more, go to Take Photos & Personal Videos.


• Smarter calling options: Manage up to five people on a conference call, delete all previous calls in your history, and more. To learn more, go to Make & Receive Phone Calls.


• Messaging improvements: Delete or forward multiple messages in a conversation, swipe to delete conversations in your Inbox, and modify your messaging settings with new options, such as the ability to change the text size of your messages. To learn more, go to Send, Read & Manage Messages.


• Choose different colors for calendar events: If you have multiple e-mail accounts synced with your phone, you can assign a color for each account. When you select a new color for an account, your calendar events appear in that color. To learn more, go to General Settings for Email, Contacts, and Calendar.


• Print from your Fire phone: You can now print personal documents, e-mails, contact details, and calendar events from your Fire phone to your compatible HP, Epson, or Canon printers. To learn more, go to Print From Your Fire Phone.


• Enhanced enterprise features: With support for secure work Wi-Fi networks, single sign-on for corporate networks, and AES-256 bit hardware encryption, your Fire phone is ready for more work. To learn more, go to Protect Your Fire Phone with Encryption and Set Up a VPN.


• Accessibility improvements: Easily manage your closed caption settings across the device and enjoy new Screen Reader features—such as independent volume controls and faster reading speed options—when you use the accessibility options on your Fire phone. To learn more, go to Accessibility Features.


• Bug fixes and user interface improvements: Dozens of other bug fixes and user interface improvements.’

You can find instructions on how to get your phone updated to the latest version — which is Fire OS 4.6.1 — right here. And if you’re somehow in the market for one don’t forget you can always buy them pretty cheap from Amazon’s online storefront.

[via Amazon]

Amazon Fire TV will be the first device to get GameFly’s new game streaming service

GameFly has a new game streaming service, and it’s coming to Android… sort of. Amazon has snagged the exclusive launch of the service, which we imagine will be similar to the on-demand gaming goodness OnLive provided before they went under. You’ll be able to download the app on the Amazon Fire TV once available.

GameFly’s setup will be a little different from OnLive’s. Instead of renting individual games or going with an all-you-can-eat plan, you can get access to specific “bundles” that’ll net you access to a pre-determined list of games for .99 per month.

For instance, you could buy a “Lego Pack” that lets you play all the Lego games available for as long as you’re paying for that pack. You can also get access to a more fruitful “Gamer Pack” (comes with 16 games) for .99. Here’s a full list of the packs that will be available at launch:

• Action Pack (7 titles) – .99/month includes F.E.A.R. 3, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Red Faction: Armageddon, Red Faction: Guerilla, Mafia II, Sleeping Dogs and Hitman


• Adventure Pack (7 titles) – .99/month includes Dark Void, Overlord II, Darksiders, Darksiders II, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins


• Gamer Pack (16 titles) – .99/month includes F.E.A.R. 3, Red Faction: Armageddon, Red Faction: Guerilla, Sleeping Dogs, Hitman, Darksiders, Darksiders II, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins, Shank, Shank 2, Dark Void, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Mafia II, Overlord II


• Speed Pack (7 titles) – .99/month includes Ace Combat, Dirt 3, GRID, GRID 2, MotoGP13, Ridge Racer Unbounded, WRC 4


• Fun Pack (7 titles) – .99/month includes Flock!, PAC-MAN Championship Edition, PAC-MAN and the Ghostly Adventures, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Rise of the Owlverlord, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger


• LEGO Pack (7 titles) – .99/month includes LEGO Batman, LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, LEGO Lord of the Rings, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, LEGO Marvel: Super Heroes, LEGO The Hobbit

There will be just 40 games to start, which is a bit on the low side if we’re being critical. We won’t worry too much, though, because GameFly has expressed plans to build the library out over time. Let’s just hope it reaches a wider range of devices before too long.

[via Amazon, GameFly]