A quick heads up to anyone in the UK that might have toyed with picking up an Amazon Kindle Fire -- there's some savings to be had from the Carphone Warehouse. Previously, the RRP on the Kindle Fire has been £129 with the Kindle Fire HD beginning at £159 for the 16GB version. 

At Carphone Warehouse the price on the entry-level Kindle Fire has been slashed to just £89, and the 16GB Kindle Fire HD has been reduced down to £139. Despite not offering a traditional Android tablet experience, the Kindle Fire is still a great casual tablet and media consumption device. And, at these prices, there's even more to be said for giving them a look. 

Source: Carphone Warehouse

Google is expanding Play Store availability of its devices today by bringing the Nexus 7 to Korea directly. Sure the Nexus 7 has been out for some time now, but that doesn't mean its not still one of the best options when it comes to the 7-inch form factor. And any time that you can buy Google's products directly from them rather than a third party retailer is a bonus. Korea will have access to both 16 and 32GB versions, but there's no indication (although we're not great at reading Korean) that there's a mobile data version right at this moment.

Let's hope that Google continues this trend of bringing the Play Store -- and Nexus devices as a whole -- to more countries.

Source: @GoogleNexus (Twitter)

If you're in the market for a 10-inch Android tablet, Sony's Xperia Tablet Z is one of the more compelling non-Nexus offerings out there, as we discovered during our time with the device at Mobile World Congress. There's no fixed Western release date for the tablet just yet, but as ever Japan's getting first dibs on this new Sony device, with carrier NTT Docomo announcing Japanese availability of its 4G LTE version from Mar. 22. Pre-orders are scheduled to begin from this Saturday, Mar. 9.

Like the Wifi-only version we saw in Barcelona, the LTE-equipped Tablet Z is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU at 1.5GHz, with 2GB of RAM, a 1080p display and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean backing up Sony's Xperia UI. It's also sporting an incredibly thin chassis design, and at 6.9mm thick, Sony says its tablet is the world's thinnest.

The Sony Xperia Tablet Z with LTE will set Japanese buyers back a hefty ¥85,470 ($913) at launch. For more on the Xperia Tablet Z, check out our hands-on feature from MWC.

Source: NTT Docomo; via: XperiaBlog

News Corp. will be announcing a 10-inch Android tablet designed for K12 schools Wednesday at the SXSWedu conference in Austin, Texas according to the New York Times. Led by former chancellor of New York City schools Joel Klein, News Corp.'s Amplify division is aiming to make headway with Android into the school system, and their first offering is an ASUS built tablet, an entire curriculum, and the infrastructure to support it all.

The tablet uses what Amplify is calling a “blended learning” model that combines new technology with current teaching methods. When a student starts to drift away from the prepared lesson, they will be warned with a pop-up advising them to put their "eyes on teacher". In addition, students will be able to take their tablet home each night, and use it to play educational games.

A tablet running the special software, training, and customer care options starts at $299, with a two-year subscription for an additional $99 yearly. For students without Internet access at their homes, a premium model will be available with a 4G data plan at $349.

The pricing is reasonable, and it appears that News Corp. is serious about providing support. It's nice to see Android move into a space once dominated by Apple and Microsoft, and we wish everyone involved the best of luck.

Source: NYT

If you're looking to get your hands on the elusive official dock for the Nexus 7, it's now finally listed in Google Play for $29.99. Google has thus far set a limit of two per person.

The dock, which charges the tablet via the pogo pins as well as serves as an audio output via a 3.5mm jack, runs $29.99. You can read our complete review of it here.

Google's currently listing it with a 1- to 2-week shipping time, which generally means there's a better than average chance you'll actually get it sooner than that. (We're currently seeing an anticipated shipping date of March 17, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, being a Sunday and all.)

Thanks, Bill!

Just a quick heads up that the Verizon LTE version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 that we first told you would be landing on March 7 ... is now officially landing on March 7. It'll be available in stores and online for $599.99.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 showcases Samsung's S Pen, with a number of apps and features designed specifically for it. Samsung showed it off for Big Red back at CES in January.

See our complete Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 review from August 2012.

ASUS has announced that they will begin pushing the Android 4.2 over-the-air update to the Transformer Pad TF300 for folks in the US today. Other regions will follow during the month of March. This makes ASUS, and the TF300, the first non-Nexus tablets to see the 4.2 update, which includes the long awaited multiple user support. In addition to the version bump to 4.2, ASUS says the update will also bring enhanced performance and stability. To go along with the OTA, ASUS will also offer updates for their App Locker, Virtual Keyboard, Lock Screen and Setup Wizard applications. 

Also mentioned in the press release are the Transformer Pad Infinity, The MeMo Pad Smart 10-inch, and the MeMo pad, which are slated to receive the 4.2 update during the second quarter of 2013. Notably absent is any mention of 4.2 for the Transformer Prime.

The TF300 was a popular -- and very capable -- tablet for ASUS last year. With the new features in Android 4.2 it should offer a great experience for owners throughout 2013. Jump past the break to see the full press release.

Discuss in the TF300 forums

When we first saw the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 in Barcelona, it came in one color. Marble White. While white is very much Samsung's thing these days -- all recent big name devices have launched in white -- it doesn't necessarily mean it's for everyone. So then, how about this? This press image sent to the team over at PhoneArena shows a sleek black colored Note 8.0, reportedly termed as Charcoal Black. 

The usual caveats apply here though, folks. Until it's official, it's not official, so park this one in the rumor basket for the time being. But, it's not all that unreasonable to expect there to be other color variants of the Note 8.0 when it goes on sale. Nor is that unreasonable to expect black to be one of those colors. How about you guys though? Jump into the comments below and let us know which you prefer. 

More: Hands on with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

Source: PhoneArena

Nothing's ever official until after it happens, but we just got wind that the Verizon Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE will be available on March 7 from Verizon stores. We've already seen the accessories in Verizon stores, so we know it's soon. The 10.1-inch tablet from Samsung includes the popular Wacom digitizer screen and S Pen support, which makes it stand out in the sea of full sized tablets. Paired with an LTE modem, this just might be the tablet you're looking for if you're in the graphical arts field, needing to take quick notes, or have a business that requires signatures. 

If you've been waiting for this one, be ready this coming Thursday!

Thanks, Anon!

A friend just dropped some pictures of Verizon's Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE screen protector kits in our inbox, along with a note that the "products" will soon follow. This matches right up with what we heard last month at CES, so we're expecting to seem them on the shelves in very short order. Screen protectors don't usually get people excited, but we know plenty of folks have been waiting for this. There's a couple pictures after the break. 

Thanks, Anon!