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AppGameKit Classic Chat / Amazon kindle fire announced

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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 4th Oct 2011 04:46
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Looks like amazon have come out swinging, with a device so low in price you can buy two and a half of them for the price of a single iPad.

Specs wise it doesn't stand up to the iPad 2, both have dual cores at 1ghz, and 512mb internal ram. But the fire only has 8gb storage, while the basic iPad 2 has double at 16gb plus higher capacity versions for a higher price. iPad also has a camera and 3g. But theres a lot of people who don't like the iPad price tag, and to be fair had I not had the option to get an iPad from orange on a data plan I wouldn't own one myself. The fire is also a 7" device.

But I have to ask, is all this a bad thing?

According to sources, amazon are making a loss of about $10 per unit make the idea being that their profits will be made by centralising the device around amazon services. In aid of this they have modified the android 2.3 os with their own custom browser and front end so you'll never know that you are using an android device. This means if you want to get your app on it in the future you will need to add to the amazon app store. But this isn't a bad thing at all for agk developers, right now there's just 3800 apps on their service. iOS has more the. 400,000 according to apple that's quite a Market to compete on!

While the device might be low in space, it is also supported by the amazon cloud, so unlike the iPad you won't need to keep your movies on the device instead you can stream them to your device. Now that same 8gb just became a lot more. My iPad has about 4.2gb of apps on it the rest of the space is taken up by media content, move that off the device and 8gb becomes a lot more space.

It's smaller form factor also means it will be easier to carry around outside,

Another reason the iPad does so well is that iTunes offers so much media content, until now android has badly lagged I the area of films. Trying to get movies onto android devices often ment converting them something beyond many users.

Also there's the highly successful kindle bookstore and the pre existing newspaper and magazine system. Something apple has not quite caught up with yet.

So with many of the services that makes owning an iPad great, existing on amazon already, and at a fraction of the iPads price. With the addition of a less populated store. I'll be turning my attention towards it in the future.

Of course the advantage of agk is that anything I write for apple now can still be used on android when support arrives, so this community is well positioned to take advantage of both markets.

Happy coding!
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bjadams
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Posted: 4th Oct 2011 22:24
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so to make an app for the fire you still have to use the android sdk or did amazon develop their own sdk?
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 5th Oct 2011 12:06 Edited at: 5th Oct 2011 12:08
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Amazon only provide the front end, not the os itself. So I see no reason for the usual android apps not to be developed in the usual way.
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nja
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Posted: 5th Jan 2012 19:56
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Just FYI for everyone out there...I compiled my agk game and put it on a kindle and it worked perfectly fine...just the graphics and the particle effects I was using were a little off colored...they are just test graphics for now, anyways
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BatVink
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Posted: 5th Jan 2012 22:18
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Quote: "This means if you want to get your app on it in the future you will need to add to the amazon app store"


...which is where you'll already find Mr Dork from TGC, running nicely on Kindle!

Quote: "the advantage of agk is that anything I write for apple now can still be used on android when support arrives"


It's already supported, the details are in the help files

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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 6th Jan 2012 13:48
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And they want $99 a year, currently the first year is free.

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MoneyWisher
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Posted: 12th Jan 2012 21:35
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"right now there's just 3800 apps on their service."
It's interesting to know, why only 4k ? since any android developer who placed his application on android market can publish it and on amazon or are there some reasons ?
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Talairina
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Posted: 13th Jan 2012 00:37
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The Kindle Fire uses a different market place. Known as the Amazon App Store, it run's without the Google API so as such most Google Apps along side the standard Android Market won't work. However there are workarounds such as the following; Installing Android Marketplace on a Kindle Fire. It use's it's own forked version of Android which they've then built on and adapted for their own platform. It currently run's a modified 2.3 Gingerbread (For those that up to date on Android's development, that is the Smartphone OS and not the Android Tablet OS, 3.0 Honeycomb).

I will be buying a Fire if and when the standard Android Market is supported however I will not be supporting Amazon's pricing model for developing and releasing via their Market. I simply don't agree with their idea on pricing. It's a shame as I think it's a great system. Here's the Amazon App Store link for App Developers. Amazon App Developers They are currently waiving the $99 developer program fee for your first year
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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 13th Jan 2012 09:39
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And for those who are not keeping up with what's new with Android: 4.0.X is the latest version of the OS. It works on both smartphones and tablets. Currently only Samsung Galaxy Nexus runs it. Nexus models are made to run the vanilla version of Android and thus get their updates much faster. Galaxy Nexus was made for Android 4.0 and is the first smartphone to not use the hardware buttons, as they are no longer needed with 4.0.

There are still new phones coming out with 2.3.X and hardware buttons. This is because they started working on these devices a long time ago, I think I've seen one without from CES so far. But 4.0 works with hardware buttons as well. Many of the biggest companies have announced updates to 4.0 for their 2011 phones.

For those looking for a cheap tablet Asus have recently announced a 7" tablet running Tegra 3 (quad core cpu etc.) for only $249. And it will of course run 4.0.

OK, not really the best thread to post this in

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BatVink
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Posted: 13th Jan 2012 14:41
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Quote: "There are still new phones coming out with 2.3.X and hardware buttons"


I've made my own decision to only look at Gingerbread (Android 3) devices upwards. I can see 2.3 losing support and access to new apps very quickly, as V3 is a big leap forwards. I bought my son an Archos G9 at christmas, it was virtually the only reasonably priced tablet with Android 3 on it. It's a nice piece of kit

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The Zoq2
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Posted: 13th Jan 2012 15:24
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By hard ware buttons, do you mean the back and menu buttons on the galaxy phones? I hope not since it's actually one of my favourite features of my android..
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JimB
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Posted: 13th Jan 2012 17:57 Edited at: 13th Jan 2012 18:02
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Quote: "I've made my own decision to only look at Gingerbread (Android 3) devices upwards. I can see 2.3 losing support and access to new apps very quickly, as V3 is a big leap forwards."

Gingerbread is android 2.3, I think you meant Honeycomb.
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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 13th Jan 2012 18:54
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Yeah 2.3 is Gingerbread. 3.0 (Honeycomb) is only for tablets and will soon disappear completely.

In 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich, or ICS) the menu, home and back buttons will be handled in software, like in 3.0. This means the buttons can rotate as the phone rotates or even be moved to different sides.

Personally I hope this means that in the future I can use my phone upside down. I don't like it that my S2 have the headphone jack on top. However, I like that I can use my physical home button to snooze the alarm. Otherwise I would have to actually open my eyes.

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BatVink
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Posted: 13th Jan 2012 18:57
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Yes, I meant Honeycomb
It is tablet only, but compared to 2.3 it's so much better on the large format. It's been well laid out.

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JimB
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Posted: 13th Jan 2012 19:49 Edited at: 13th Jan 2012 19:50
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I bought one of these from Maplins no big name but it does the job just fine.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/8.4in-android-2.3-multi-touch-tablet-590687
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MoneyWisher
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Posted: 13th Jan 2012 23:38
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It seems that I won't be able to sale games on Kindle Fire since won't be able use it with amazon store and test

"Kindle Games & Active Content are currently only available to U.S. customers
We are looking forward to offering Kindle Games & Active Content to customers in your country or region in the future."
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Digital Awakening
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Posted: 14th Jan 2012 08:40
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BatVink:
I see what you mean now Yeah, 2.3 for tablets probably isn't a good idea. I have not tried a tablet more then just a little in a store so I have to take your word for it. I do wonder how big a deal it is on a 7" tablet though. The format is between a phone and a full 10" tablet.

Right now I would personally not buy a tablet unless it came with 4.0 out of the box. And it's generally a bad time with lots of new tablets with better hardware coming soon. But with phones 2.3 is still a good choice, not many 4.0 phones available yet. But they are coming this year. And possible quad core phones, but so far I've not heard of any.

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