Amazon Announces Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD in 7", 8.9" and 4G
Kindle Fire HD
The Kindle Fire HD is Amazon's multi-tablet approach to taking on the iPad 3 AND Nexus 7. By unveiling a bunch of different tablets under the same title, Amazon is hoping to sweep up undecided potential tablet shoppers before Apple snags them with the iPad Mini. So they released THREE tablets: A 7" version, an 8.9" version, and a 4G version with double the memory and its own monthly data plan (at $50 per year, its less than one fourth what you'd pay for an LTE iPad over the course of the same amount of time).
Are these tablets great? Well: yes and no. While the HD display looks quite clear, and we like that WiFi will be helped by "double the antennaes," there's not a whole lot to show off here. A 1.4 GHz processor is necessary, but not necessarily groundbreaking. The display is sharp, but not iPad 3 quality. $200 is certainly a competitive (no surprise there) price tag, but the competition will be fierce when Apple unveils their iPad Mini. Here's everything we know so far about the Kindle Fire HD.
Specs:
- HD Front Facing Camera
- 1.4 GHz TI OMAP 4470 processor
- 8.9", 1920x1200p display
- 8.8mm thick 20 ounces
- Dolby surround sound speakers
- 254ppi
- 16GB
Price:
- $200 for 7", $300 for 8.9", $499 for a 4G version with 32GB
Likey:
Faster processor sounds great, the double antennaes are a nice touch .
Dolby Surround Sound
X-Ray allows you to look up info on the fly.
See the progress you've made in all of your games on one screen.
$200 for 7" version is not bad.
No Likey:
Same boring carousel UI as before – not nearly as customizable as Android.
Ugly, not that innovative.
$300 for 8.9" = not worth it.
Kindle Fire
It's the same device! But cheaper! Here's where Amazon goes into super-saving budget mode, making even Google's Nexus 7 look expensive. 160 dollars?? For a freaking 7" tablet!? Yes, the price wars are great for consumers. There's not a lot to see here, but whatevs. That PRICE! My GOD.
Specs (that we know so far):
- $160
- Double the RAM
- 44% faster processor
- Longer battery life
- Basically the same as the last Kindle Fire, but $40 cheaper.
Likey:
- Price.
No Likey:
- Basically still last year's tech.
That's it for now, folks! Let us know what you think of these tablets below!
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Comments
Sorry guys, just found out it's dual-core. Sounds a little better now.. :)
Good points ljhaye, the average consumer doesnt even know what a core is, as long as its fast enough to read their books, watch their movies and play their games thats all they care about. I think the big problem for me though is lack of an SD card slot, I need expandable storage, but the average person probably wont need that since the higher end amazon fires are still pretty cheap.
Average consumer doesn't care about spec's especially when it comes to tablets and iPad. Kindle grabbed 22% of USA market share in 9 months with tablets that were inferior to iPad and Samsung Galaxy line up. They WON on content, so complaining about single vs dual core is irrelevant. The complaint should be about iTunes vs Google Play vs Amazon Kindle ecosystems for content. The market has spoken that in the world of tablets its Apple, then Kindle and lastly Play. Get better content on Nexus 7 (and 3g/4g wireless options) and then the comparisons to Kindle will make sense.
The reality is, this is NOT the phone market where carriers will push a device in order to avoid a monoploly by any one OEM...
A single core processor? Seriously? For the same price you can get a Nexus 7 with stock Android and a quad-core processor.
well the question is for those whose have the first kindle fire can they trade it in for the new one.
Anyone who was thinking about buying a tablet should hold on till Christmas this is going to explode the market with lower prices and better spec. And we still have Apple and Microsoft to go.........yum