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Amazon to begin drone delivery service in UK – plus all the latest Amazon news

Amazon Prime Air

You'll soon be able to get your packages sent to you by air, with Amazon and the UK government joining forces

Amazon has announced that their long-awaited drone delivery service may soon be coming to the UK, joining the likes of the US, Austria and Israel. Speaking on 25th JulyPaul Misener, Amazon’s Vice President of Global Innovation Policy and Communications talked about how they plan on making drone delivery a reality in the UK and eventually, across the world. A government team, supported by the Civil Aviation Authority, will start looking into how deliveries can be managed beyond line of sight, how to avoid any obstacles and flights where only one person manages multiple drones at once.

After these issues are addressed, there’s every possibility that we’ll see the futuristic air mail in some shape or another. A series of Amazon Prime Air tests will focus on drone deliveries on items 5 pounds or less, so you might have to wait a little bit longer to get that 60in TV delivered from the air.

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Following the announcement, Paul Misener said: ““This announcement strengthens our partnership with the UK and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world.”

While it’s still proof of concept and we might be a long way off from a proper drone delivery service, it’s welcoming to see Amazon making the first step. It’s pretty much a given that you’ll need some form of an Amazon Prime subscription to use the service, so make sure you’re all signed up when it eventually launches.

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Recent Amazon news

07/07/2016 – The Grand Tour prize draw announced

We’ve finally been given a little bit more information on when we can expect to see Clarkson, Hammond and May on Amazon’s Prime Video service later this year, and you can be in with a chance of watching them film it. In a competition launched on 7th July, Amazon will be giving away tickets to watch the studio filming of their new car show, following their break-up with Top Gear last year.

The auto enthusiasts are set to film all across the globe as part of their ‘The Grand Tour’ Amazon-exclusive show, filming in locations such as Germany, South Africa and in the UK too. From 7th July, Amazon customers can enter a prize draw for a chance to win tickets to attend a studio recording later this autumn. Lucky winners will have their travel and accommodation paid for, along with £200 spending money and of course, you’ll also get meet Hammond Clarkson and May too.

The Grand Tour

VP of Amazon Video Europe, Jay Marine said: “Fans have been asking us where The Grand Tour will be filming and how they can attend. We’re delighted to announce today new studio locations in the UK, U.S. and Germany as we continue our plans to bring this anticipated Amazon Prime show to fans around the world.

“The Grand Tour Prime Day Prize Draw opens today giving a chance for lucky customers to be the first to win tickets to join Jeremy, Richard and James in the studio. Good luck to all the fans!”

Exact location details will supposedly be announced later this summer, with the competition closing on midnight of Prime Day (12th July). For more information about what we can expect for this year’s deals event, visit our Amazon Prime Day 2016 guide.

30/06/2016 – Amazon Prime Day 2016 announced

Great news for shoppers hoping to catch a bargain as Amazon has announced that the second annual global discount event, Amazon Prime Day, will be held on July 12. Only limited to shoppers who have signed up for the Amazon Prime subscription service, Amazon will showcase plenty of flash deals throughout the day, starting at midnight (BST).

Last year’s Prime Day, which was held in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the online marketplace, was a huge success for the company, with plenty of new Prime subscriptions sold and incredibly high sales for the wide variety of products on offer.

Doug Gurr, Amazon UK managing director said: “The response to Prime Day in 2015 surpassed all our expectations here in the UK, so we’re delighted to be bringing this major summer deals day back for our UK Prime members in 2016 with even more great deals available.”

Exclusive only to those who are members of the £79 a year service, 12th July 2016 will see Lightning Deals for as many products as you can shake a stick at, along with Spotlight Deals and Prime member promotions too. If you aren’t yet an Amazon Prime member, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial now in order to access the deals in a couple of weeks time. 

Don’t want to miss out on a deal during the day? There’s a handy way to make sure you don’t miss out so long as you install the mobile Amazon App. Download the app from the Google Play Store or on the App Store, tap notifications and turn on Watched and Waitlisted deals. You can now find an upcoming deal and add it to your Watchlist, where you’ll be notified as soon as the deal goes live. For more details on Amazon Prime day head over to our dedicated Amazon Prime Day deals page 2016.

28/06/2016 – Page Flip comes to Kindle

Good news, Kindle users. From today, Amazon will be rolling out a brand-new software update called Page Flip, which will make it easier to explore your book library without losing your place. For instance, you’ll now be able to flip back and forth between different pages if you want to reference something (or check just who that particular Game of Thrones character is) without worrying about messing up your current reading place.

With Page Flip, your current spot will be pinned to the side of the screen for easy navigation, leaving you free to zoom out and get a quick overview of the whole book so you can find what you’re looking for. Each page appears as a small thumbnail onscreen, allowing you to scroll through the entire book at a glance. Pictures, charts and your own individual highlights will be easier to pick out with Page Flip as well thanks to this bird’s eye view layout. 

The Page Flip update is completely free and is available via an over-the-air update from today for all Kindle eReaders, Fire tablets and the iOS and Android Kindle apps. It’s just one of the many new features that Amazon’s rolled out over the last few months, which includes Amazon’s Audible narration feature, an enhanced typesetting, improved recommendation features and Kindle instant previews. 

If you’re not sure which Kindle is for you, check out our full individual reviews of the KindleKindle PaperwhiteKindle Oasis, or check out our Kindle vs Paperwhite vs Oasis head to head to see how they all shape up at a glance. 

01/06/16 – Amazon launches online supermarket in the UK

Amazon has announced the launch of their new full online supermarket, AmazonFresh, for eligible Amazon Prime members in Central and East London. From June 9th, you can order your full weekly grocery shop, direct from the online retailer, as long as you live in the 69 listed postcodes and are prepared to add a bit more to the price of your Amazon Prime subscription.

AmazonFresh includes over 130,000 products as part of the service, from brands including Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s and Walkers, with one-hour delivery slots available from 7am to 11pm, all week, with same-day delivery available from 5pm for orders placed by 1pm. Prime members are offered a free 30-day trial for AmazonFresh too, which can be found on the Amazon website, with a monthly fee of £6.99 for an unlimited number of deliveries for orders of £40 or over.

Should you spend less that £40, though, you’ll have to cough up an extra £3.99 for delivery from the depot in Bow, East London. Don’t live in the AmazonFresh catchment area? Amazon has said that if the service is successful, they’ll be rolling it out to other cities such as Birmingham and Manchester soon after.

11/05/16 – Amazon justifies not selling Google Chromecast or Apple TV

You might have noticed a distinct lack of Google Chromecast or Apple TVs being sold through the Amazon website. That’s because as of October 2015, Amazon pulled both products from its online store. Initially, everyone assumed this was a move on Amazon’s part to push customers towards its own range of Amazon Fire TV streaming devices. However, according to The Verge, Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, said the decision was down to ‘acceptable business terms’. 

Roku Amazon Video

Amazon originally justified the move to pull Chromecasts and Apple TVs as not to confuse customers with products that did not support Amazon Prime Video but it seems based on Bezos’ recent comments, there are deeper business reasons for Amazon not supporting either streaming device. This can likely be read as neither Google nor Apple being willing to give Amazon a cut of revenue generated through an Amazon Prime Video app. Amazon cited that it does indeed sell competing streaming devices, such as Roku devices, that do support Amazon Prime Video.

11/05/16 – Jeremy Clarkson’s Amazon exclusive Top Gear follow-up given a name

With the new Chris Evans-fronted series of Top Gear about to hit the UK, the big question was, what is Jeremy Clarkson’s Amazon Prime show going to be called? Well, the wait is finally over, as it has been revealed that the show will be called The Grand Tour (not Gear Knobs) and it will hit the streaming video service in Autumn. So, why that name? According to the show’s site, “Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have decided that, because they are taking their new Amazon Prime Show around the world, it will be called The Grand Tour.” As well as the presenters travelling around the world filming, the studio audience will also have to travel, with the live parts of the show filmed inside a giant tent. Tickets will be made available through a prize draw this summer. 

The much-hyped show marks a big push for Amazon, with the company reputedly spending £160m on the entire series, which is an absolutely huge budget per episode, even if you take off the salaries that the three presenters are likely getting. As with everything on the Amazon video platform, The Grand Tour will be available as part of an Amazon Prime Subscription. You can find out how to share that subscription with other people in our complete guide.

Those that want to try out the show can sign up for a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial account. Although, you’ll want to leave that until a bit closer to the time, in order to be able to watch the show.

The Grand Tour

10/05/16 – Amazon courting content producers with Amazon Video Direct

Amazon is looking to bolster its streaming content catalogue by courting ‘creators and storytellers’ and enticing them to host their videos on Amazon Video. Content producers will be paid royalties based on hours streamed and will have the option to provide their content either to rent or own, available for free for Prime members, viewed for free with ads for non-Prime members or packaged together and offered as an add-on subscription for US customers.

Amazon is describing Video Direct as a ‘self-service programme’ and will be available in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Japan. Content makers can decide which specific locations will have access to their content. Amazon also has a pot of $1m a month that it is doling out as part of its AVD Stars programme, which is rewarding creators based on customer engagement with their content.  The top 100 AVD titles in Prime Video will receive the bonus on top of standard royalties. At launch, Amazon has already partnered with The Guardian, Conde Nast Entertainment, How Stuff Works, Mattel among other content creators.

It’s an interesting move from Amazon as it looks to compete and differentiate from Netflix. It could also potentially give Amazon Video a way to target some of the more prolific and popular YouTube stars. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, royalty rates compare favourably with YouTube, too. You can sign up for Amazon Video Direct here.

26/04/16 – Certain items becomes exclusive to Amazon Prime members

In a bizarre move, Amazon has started reserving access to some games and films for its Prime members only. Non-Prime members are locked out of buying a range of media sold and fulfilled by Amazon directly, including the 2015 Oscar winner, Birdman on Blu-ray, plus the Xbox One and PS4 versions of Far Cry Primal, Battlefield Hardline and FIFA 16.

With this Amazon seems to be stepping up their game when it comes to encouraging take up of the Prime subscription, which currently sits at £79 a year. The walled-off products, which include media titles such as Blu-rays and video games, is affecting US and UK customers, with cheaper DVD titles seemingly unaffected by the move.

Third-party retailers using Amazon to sell their goods are unaffected by this exclusivity, so all is not lost if you don’t have a Prime subscription and want a copy of Birdman on Blu-ray. Of course, you could go elsewhere as well, with all the products being available on competing websites. However, if you’re wedded to Amazon for your online shopping, but haven’t taken out Prime membership, then we guess this could be the push that gets you signed up.

In response to the change, an Amazon spokesperson said: “one of the many benefits of Amazon Prime is access to exclusive selection on a number of great products. Customers who are not Prime members can sign-up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, or they can purchase those items from a Marketplace seller.”

The £79 a year service gives customers free next day delivery, with same-day delivery in some cities, free online photo storage, free ebooks, Amazon Prime Instant Video and Prime Music. As the Prime exclusivity move is now restricting access to products on the site, the retail giant looks to be creating a big push for its customers to sign up for the pricey subscription.

05/04/16 – New Kindle incoming

Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, took to Twitter to tease a brand new 8th generation Kindle, tweeting ‘Heads up readers – all-new, top of the line Kindle almost ready. 8th generation. Details next week.’

Considering its description as being the ‘top of the line’ Kindle, it’s expected to be a replacement for the current Kindle Voyage, which currently retails for £170. It has a bezel-less display, a high resolution screen and automatic brightness adjustment, so we can probably expect these on the new model when it’s announced next week.

The Voyage is due an update, having originally been released in 2014 and also considering some of its features trickled down to the cheaper Kindle Paperwhite, which matches the Voyage where it comes to resolution. The current Voyage is the thinnest Kindle available and has the option of either touchscreen control or using the PagePress physical buttons. Having the option of using either will hopefully make the transition to the new model.

There has been speculation that Alexa and Audible integration could be on the cards, both of which would bring the Kindle in line with the rest of Amazon’s business and current direction. Having said that, Amazon’s Echo, which uses Alexa as its assistant, has yet to make it outside the United States.

If you’re in need of an Amazon Kindle, right this very moment, you can read about the differences between the current Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Voyage models in this guide.

22/03/16 – Important Kindle update

If you’re using a Kindle eReader that’s more than four years old, you’ll probably want to install Amazon’s latest ‘critical’ software update today, as failing to install it will mean you’ll be permanently disconnected from the internet. Amazon has been emailing Kindle users about the update since the beginning of the month, warning that if users failed to download and install the update, they would lose the ability to download new books and use the latest Kindle services.

The affected Kindle devices include the fifth generation Kindle Paperwhite (2012), the fourth generation Kindle Touch (2011), the fifth generation Kindle (2012), the fourth generation Kindle (2011), the third generation Kindle Keyboard (2010), the second generation Kindle DX (2009) and the second generation Kindle (2009).  

If you fail to install the update today (22nd March), you’ll presented with the following error message the next time you try and access the internet from your device: “Your Kindle is unable to connect at this time. Please make sure you are within wireless range and try again. If the problem persists, please restart your Kindle from the Menu in Settings and try again.”

Luckily, there is a way to restore your internet connection if you forget to perform the update. First, you’ll need to determine what software version your Kindle device is currently running on Amazon’s support page. Then, you’ll need to connect your Kindle to your PC via USB and download the latest applicable software update direct from Amazon. 

Then, transfer the software update file to your Kindle by dragging and dropping it into your Kindle drive (but NOT one of the folders within the Kindle drive). Once this has been completed, disconnect your Kindle from your PC. From your Kindle’s Home screen, press the Menu button and then select Settings. Press Menu and then Update Your Kindle and select OK to perform the update. Your Kindle should then restart twice during the update process, and once it’s been completed successfully, internet access should be restored. For a full set of instructions, visit Amazon’s help page.

09/03 – ITV Hub and All 4 now available across all Fire TV devices

Following on from updates to the Amazon Fire TV last year, Channel 4’s All 4 and ITV’s ITV Hub catch-up services have now been rolled out to Amazon’s full roster of media streamers. That now means owners of the Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD, Amazon Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote and Amazon Fire TV Stick can now have access to all of the UK’s terrestrial catch-up services. This is great news, as the Fire TV Stick, Amazon’s fastest-selling device ever, had previously been left waiting for All 4 and ITV Hub.

“With BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and My5, every single UK customer with a Fire TV or Fire TV Stick now has access to all of the UK’s most popular catch-up services,” said Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President, Amazon Devices EU. “Add these to Amazon Video, Prime Video, Netflix, UKTV Play, YouTube.com, Vevo, Curzon Home Cinema and many more, and it’s clear that Fire TV customers can enjoy access to a vast and growing range of content. Whether its bingeing on the latest series, watching a film, playing games or catching up with a favourite show, Fire TV customers can do it all—and we’re adding more channels, apps and games every day.” 

10/11 – Amazon Video now available on Roku devices in the UK and Ireland

We’ve long been fans of Roku’s streaming boxes and sticks, such as the top-end Roku 3, here at Expert Reviews. They perform well and have great compatibility where it came to catch-up and on-demand services. That is, save for one. Amazon Video was notably absent from Roku’s UK devices, meaning they were just short of a full stable. That changes today with Roku announcing that Amazon Video, including access to Amazon Instant Video, is now available on its Roku devices. The previous absence was annoying, as Amazon Video was available to US Roku users. Now that it’s available here, Roku can boast availability of BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, All 4, Demand 5, Netflix, Sky Now TV and now Amazon Video, meaning you’re pretty much covered on all bases.

Roku Amazon Video

“UK customers will be delighted to hear that the Amazon Video channel is now available on all Roku streaming players,” said Jay Marine, VP of Amazon Video EU. “Our aim is to make Amazon Video available on all popular connected devices so our customers can access the blockbuster TV shows and movies only available as part of Prime – the UK’s largest streaming service.”

04/11 – Amazon opens its first physical store

Amazon has opened its very first bricks-and-mortar bookshop, and what makes it immediately different, is that every single book is displayed ‘face-out’. Based in Amazon’s home state of Seattle, ‘Amazon Books’ is unusual, being a physical extension of internet giant’s retail empire. 

The design allows customers the opportunity to read reviews and see the ratings that the site normally display online, with each book having its own information below. The prices of the books are no different to those displayed on the website, encouraging customers to purchase in-store.

The books are not necessarily well-known or big sellers, but are chosen based on positive reviews and Amazon sales data. The curated selection of books means it holds fewer books than a conventional bookshop, purely because of the ‘face-out’ layout. With only 5,000 books in the 5,500-sq-ft (510-sq-m), a figure around a tenth of that in a regular bookshop. Though if you want a huge range the website is always available to you, the shop is more about getting customers engaged and excited about books.

Hardbacks and paperbacks are making something of a comeback, with its sales figures looking strong. Waterstones has recently stopped stocking the kindle in most of its 280 stores, ‘due to virtually no sales’, according to James Daunt, the book chain’s managing director. While that blend of paper and electronic books wasn’t successful, Amazon’s effort should succeed, if only as a PR stunt.

Jennifer Cast, the vice president of Amazon Books, says, “We’ve applied 20 years of online bookselling experience to build a store that integrates the benefits of offline and online book shopping”. The fact that customers are getting the benefits from the online world, such as customer reviews and online prices, and the real world, actually holding and seeing the imagery of the covers, does give it something that neither online or bookshops alone can usually provide.

The bookshop is expected to be open all year round, with the exception of thanksgiving and Christmas day, and will give customers a chance to also test drive Amazon products, such as the Kindle eReader and Fire TV.

30/10 – Jeremy Clarkson stars in Fire TV Stick commercial

Amazon acquiring the talents of a certain Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond for a presently untitled new television series was an impressive coup. Especially when the streaming video wars rage on.

The company is making the most of its exclusivity to help push sales of its Amazon Fire TV Stick, which the company describes as the most powerful streaming media stick available and its fastest selling product ever. Expect to see the advert make its television debut during the World Cup Final on Saturday 31st October, 2015 but it’s also available to watch on YouTube, which we’ve embedded below.

The advert uses Steppenwolf’s famous ‘Born to be Wild’ track, which happens to also be a track available on Amazon’s Prime Music service, which provides a selection of free streaming tracks for Amazon Prime members. Jeremy Clarkson’s never been one to avoid controversy and he again makes fun of his sacking from the BBC in a clever little reference to catch-up services available on the service. 

02/10 – Amazon stops selling Google Chromecast and Apple TV

Amazon is to stop selling streaming video devices from Google and Apple. Devices such as Apple TV and Chromecast will be removed from the site by the 29th of October. The reason is that these devices do not support Amazon’s Prime Instant Video or Instant Video service, and the company feels that selling them is causing “customer confusion”.

It’s understandable that Amazon wants its customers to be aware that not all the hardware sold on its site supports its service. However, it does seem that this ban is sailing dangerously close to an anti-competitive move, as the company could simply mark up products on the site that don’t support Amazon services instead.

^ This is just the latest move in the streaming video wars

The move is also keenly timed. Google has just launched a new version of its Chromecast streaming video device, Apple has a brand new Apple TV out, and Amazon itself just launched new Fire TV and Fire TV Stick hardware too. With all three companies battling for your attention, the ban appears to be more of a surgical strike than a customer service move. Amazon will continue to sell other company’s devices that support its services. This includes Android and iOS phones and tablets, consoles such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and a wide range of smart TVs.

The ban may be on hardware but its the monthly subscription deals for films and TV that bring in the cash Amazon’s main rival in this space is actually Netflix, not Google or Apple, who’s monthly subscription service is currently leading the pack. Amazon is using its service as part of a package of offers to try and build its Prime subscriber base, as once users sign up they tend to do far more of their shopping via Amazon. See below for all the benefits of Prime membership.

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24/09 – Amazon announces 6 new pilot shows, all in 4K

Amazon has announced the latest six shows in its pilots scheme, all of which have been shot in 4K. There are three new 30 min pilots and three new one-hours pilots to be shown during autumn through Amazon Prime Instant Video. Credits include Shane Black (Iron Man 3), Sacha Baron Cohen and Christina Ricci.

The hour-long pilots include the Shane-black headed Edge: The Loner about a post-civil war vigilante; Good Girls Revolt, about women fighting for equality in a sixties TV newsroom (Anchorman meets Mad Men anyone?) and Patriot, a Clancy-esque political thriller about Iran going nuclear.

The three half-hour programmes are Highston, which is described only as ‘family comedy about invisible celebrity friendships’; One Mississippi, which is about a woman returning to her childhood home in the south after her mother’s death – apparently that’s a comedy too, so not as grim as it sounds. And it’s back to the south again for Z, a biopic of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, set amid the wild nights of the 1920s jazz-era. 

Traditionally pilot shows are made by US studios to see if a concept wins the approval of test audiences, however, Amazon is using its entire Prime Instant Video audience as a testbed. Based on audience feedback, some of the shows should be made into full-fledged TV series.

All the new pilot shows will be shot in 4K, increasing the amount of high-detail content for Amazon’s new 4K-capable Fire TV device, more details below.

21/09 £50 tablet and 4K TV device announced by Amazon

Amazon Fire HD 8 colours

New Amazon devices announced this week included three new tablets and two Fire TV devices. The headline is certainly the new Fire HD a 7in tablet that costs just £50. It’s an incredibly low price and though the hardware specification is basic it’s still incredible value.

The new tablet comes with Amazon’s latest version of Fire OS, which gets rid of the much-hated carousel for something more in keeping with the typical Android home screen. The device is locked to using Amazon’s app store, rather than Google’s, but with a decent range of apps that’s no longer a huge problem for most – and yes you can get Netflix and iPlayer.

Also announced were some keenly priced mid-range tablets in the form of the Amazon Fire HD 8 and 10. Which again come with the new Fire OS 5 but have more powerful hardware than the basic model, and claim to be twice as tough as the iPad Air 2.

Then there’s the new Amazon Fire TV which supports 4K video, with Amazon Prime Instant Video, Netflix and YouTube all providing 4K content – though of course you’ll need a 4K TV. And a new Amazon Fire TV Stick, so you can get streaming content onto your TV with a small device that plugs straight into the HDMI socket.

Everything you need to know about Amazon

Amazon is now a huge company with a finger in many UK pies. Books and eBooks, video streaming, own-brand hardware tablet devices and of course selling pretty much anything you can deliver to a person’s door. Its success means that most of us in the UK now use Amazon for something or other, with millions of UK account holders, of which many are signed up to its subscription Prime services.

Here we’ll be rounding up everything you need to know as either an occasional Amazon UK customer, a long-term, die-hard Prime member, and everything in between. We’ll bring you all the latest Amazon news, detail what you get from Amazon Prime, what’s on Prime Instant Video, the latest deals & codes online and a quick rundown of Amazon’s Kindle and Fire devices.

In short, we’ll provide everything you need to know about Amazon in the UK.

Amazon Prime – what do you get for your money?

Amazon Prime costs £79 a year in the UK. The service started by simply providing free next-day delivery for all your Amazon purchases. As Amazon has expanded its services though, it’s added lots of extra features and content to the service, so what are you getting for your money.

One-day delivery still forms the core of the Prime offering. The one-day delivery only covers items sold, or fulfilled (i.e. Items that Amazon is paid to stock in its warehouses by other retailers) by Amazon, and not many Amazon Marketplace items. One-day delivery costs vary but are usually around £7.99, which means you’d need to make ten orders to break even over the year. You can get free delivery (3-5 days) on orders over £20, or £10 for books, if you’re a bit more patient. But if you order a lot of smaller things from Amazon and don’t like to wait, then it’s a good service.

In addition to delivery you also get Amazon Prime Instant Video, the company’s Netflix competitor with a wide range of films and TV shows including unique content, more on the below. Then there’s Prime Music, which provides a Spotify-like music streaming service, though it doesn’t have that service’s near-encyclopaedic range. Plus unlimited photo storage with Prime Photos (which is available for free via Google Photos if you like the idea) and the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, which has lots of books you can borrow, but is short on big, new titles in our experience.

Amazon Prime Instant Video

Amazon’s Netflix competitor is certainly the second-best movie and TV streaming service around, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Amazon has been producing some excellent-quality exclusive content, such as Transparent. It also has an enviable range of movies, arguably the one area where it outshines Netflix, thanks to content deals with some important smaller Hollywood studios, such as Hunger Games producer Lionsgate. We often find there’s simply more interesting films to watch on Prime than Netflix, though the latter has better TV programmes.

Recent additions (as of the 24th of September) include Toy Story 2, Beetlejuice, Ghost Ship and The Office (UK) season one.

You can also rent the latest blockbuster releases through Amazon Instant Video, read our full review.

Latest deals, promo & voucher codes and Lightning Deals

There’s not much going on offer-wise on Amazon right now, probably saving itself for the upcoming Black Friday frenzy on November 27th. There is a bonus five-year warranty deal on the very promising-looking Olympus OM-D E-M10 Compact System Camera, full review soon. But nothing else caught our eye right now.

Amazon Fire and Amazon Kindle devices

For a full breakdown of all the current Kindle eBook readers, see our Kindle vs Kindle Paperwhite vs Kindle Voyage – Best for you? Article. There we break down the key differences between all three current eReaders, so you can work out which one best suits your needs.

As mentioned above, Amazon’s range of tablets and TV device is about to be refreshed, but you can still buy the current Amazon Fire TV, the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Amazon HDX tablet. We’ll expand this article once we’ve tested the new devices.