Ever since the original Kindle Fire was released last year there has been some controversy about whether or not to consider Amazon’s tablets to be Android tablets. While Amazon has always admitted that the products run a forked version of Android and Android apps, the Android community was quick to distance themselves from the product despite its record sales. While Amazon likes to talk about Fire apps and doesn’t talk about the version of Android running underneath the Fire interface in any of their official documentation, I believe the Kindle Fire should be considered an Android tablet.

For a “limited time,” AmazonWireless is hosting a special deal on the Samsung Galaxy SIII through Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T. The deal is for new customers only that sign a new two year contract, but for $99, that’s one heck of a deal. Customers looking to hop onto AT&T will instead be paying $129, which is still better than the original $139.

If you’ve been thinking about making an upgrade to a smartphone or a different smartphone, the GS3 isn’t a bad choice, but keep in mind there is a whole slew of devices coming out and it’s always best to keep your options open.

Via: Amazon

By this point, you know the Samsung Galaxy Nexus whether you own one or not. While it might not have launched with the best specs in the world, being a Nexus certainly helps with the ease of unlocking and rooting. If you are looking for a rock-bottom deal on a decent Android device, Amazon’s new price on the G-Nex is going to be hard to pass up.

For new customers, the phone will cost a measly $0.01 and upgrading customers can have it for $29.99. These are pretty good prices considering this device has Android 4.1 Jelly Bean before most phones and will most likely get Android 4.2 before many other phones as well. If you’re thinking of upgrading, hit the link below.

Buy.

Cheers Nick!

Back in January of this year I reviewed the state of Android manufacturers up to that point. In January Samsung was the only major Android OEM that was making any money on Android phones. HTC had posted its first quarterly profit decline in two years while Motorola continued its financial decline amidst regulatory approval of Google’s then-proposed, now-approved purchase of the manufacturer. How is the ecosystem doing nine months into the year?

Over the weekend, word got out through testers and developers that the new Kindle Fire HD lineup was going to be locked up tight by Amazon. According to kinfauns, who is a contributor over at XDA, the Kindle Fire’s bootloaders are signed and designed for HS (high security) devices. Oh, gee, well that just sounds lovely. So much for those who were hoping to remove Amazon’s custom Android skin in favor of stock Jelly Bean. Of course, it’s well known developers love a good challenge. You can expect work to start as soon as shipments start arriving at doorsteps.

We’ll keep you posted on any progress made.

Via: XDA

If you happen to still have the Amazon Appstore installed on your device, then you may want to hurry and go pick up today’s free app of the day. For those who feel the need to become extremely frustrated at blocks, it’s Tetris! Need I say anymore? It’s a game that everyone has played and no matter how awesome you think you are at it, you still can’t beat this guy. 

Since today is release day for the brand new Kindle Fire HD 7″, we have partnered with xScope browser to give one away to a DL community member!

For those new to the game, you may not have heard of xScope. But trust me when I say that when Android was first getting its start, this was our go-to 3rd party browser. It had some incredibly innovative features like single finger pinch-to-zoom, but was also light and fast enough that few could compete with it. Over the last month or so, Gary (the developer) released a new version with Holo styling, more gestures (including the single finger zoom), and one of the more robust browsing experiences around. Definitely check it out. 

If Verizon’s $99 starting price point for the DROID RAZR M still didn’t seem like a good enough deal, you may want to check out Amazon Wireless. If you are a new customer or you feel like adding a new line, you can pick up our favorite Motorola device in years (our review), for $50 on contract. If you are already a Big Red customer and have an upgrade available, you can grab this edge-to-edge wonder for $70.

Update:  Well s**t, it looks like they are flagged as “backordered.”

Amazon Links:  RAZR M (white) | RAZR M (black)