Amazon unveils Kindle Fire tablet & Kindle Touch ebook reader
At an event in New York today, Amazon confirmed rumoured plans to release a 7-inch tablet and two new ebook readers, including one with a touchscreen – all to be released before the end of the year.
Amazon Kindle Fire
Amazon’s flagship announcement was its first ever tablet, the Kindle Fire. As revealed by industry insiders, the Kindle Fire features a 7-inch screen and a dual-core processor.
Kindle Fire specs in brief:
Screen: 7-inch display with 1,024 x 600 resolution
Dimensions: 190mm tall, 120mm wide and 11.4mm thick
Weight: 415 grams
Storage: 8GB (80 apps plus 10 films or 800 songs or 6,000 books) + free cloud storage
Battery Life: 8 hours reading, 7.5 hours video
Connections: USB 2.0, 3.5mm headphone
The screen is a colour LCD that uses IPS technology, the same as found in the iPad and iPhone and generally accepted to produce superior picture quality. It features ultra-tough ‘gorilla glass’ to prevent damage to the screen. The Kindle Fire weighs around 415 grams. It has wi-fi built-in, but no 3G version will be sold.
Though based on Android, Amazon has created it own interface that focuses on accessing magazines, newspapers, books, music and video – all of which Amazon will sell directly to users. When users buy a Kindle Fire from Amazon it will come automatically paired to their Amazon account, providing instant access to their digital purchases.
The major selling point, however, is the price. Amazon plans to sell the Kindle Fire in the US for just $199 (£127), undercutting the Apple iPad by a massive $300 (£191). This does mean some compromises, such as a limited 8GB of built-in storage and no cameras or microphone.
Industry sources indicate the Kindle Fire will launch in the UK in January, though no firm date or price has been announced.
Amazon Silk web browser
Another major feature of the Kindle Fire is Amazon’s Silk browser. Amazon believes mobile devices struggle to render complex web pages, so has developed its own browser that takes advantage of Amazon’s own online servers to speed things up.
When you visit a page, some of the loading is performed by an Amazon server, repackaged so it’s smaller and faster to load, and then sent to the device. Amazon calls this a ‘split browser’ since some of the work is done by the device and some by its servers ‘in the cloud’.
Amazon Kindle Touch & Touch 3G
Amazon’s new flagship ebook reader is the Kindle Touch. Like the current Kindle it’ll come in wi-fi only and 3G equipped versions, but it features no buttons and instead relies on the touchscreen for navigating and changing pages.
Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon, said the Kindle Touch has the ’most advanced’ e-ink display yet and that the battery life will even longer than the current Kindle, which can last around a month before needing a charge.
Left: Kindle Touch, Right: New Kindle (not to scale)
Another new feature is what Amazon has dubbed ‘X-Ray’. It’s an enhanced version of dictionary definitions that pulls up information about what’s happening in the book, not just what words mean. For example, if an event in a book were taking place during an historic event, it will pull up information about that event for you to read about. The system works by downloading information from Wikipedia when you purchase any book.
The Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G will cost $99 (£63) and $149 (£95) respectively and go on sale in the US on 21 November. No UK pricing or availability has been announced at present.
New Amazon Kindle
Amazon also unveiled a new version of its entry-level ebook reader (pictured above). It retains buttons for changing pages, and Amazon claims it’s faster than the Kindle 3. Amazon has removed the keyboard, however, making the new Kindle 18% smaller than before and weigh just 170 grams.
Update: The New Amazon Kindle is available to pre-order from Amazon UK for £89. It will go on sale on 12 October.
- Amazon Kindle 3G review – our verdict on the Amazon ebook reader
- Tablet buyers’ guide – everything you need to know about tablets
- Latest tablet news – read about all the latest developments
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HarryMonmouth
I am a little concerned over this new ereader business given that I have just ordered an old kindle that should arrive tomorrow or the day after.
Andy Vandervell
I’d suggest returning it unopened. I think the new Kindle is worth waiting for and it’ll be the same price or cheaper probably.
Stephen Hicks
I wouldn’t be too worried. I am sure Amazon will support the current reader for many years. Personally, having experienced table based readers and the kindle, I much prefer the latter. Lighter, easier on the eye, fantastic battery life.
Andy Vandervell
So now the Kindle Fire has been confirmed, what do you think? My two pence: I think it looks very promising. Amazon has shown some real vision, particularly with the innovative web browser. The price is outstanding, too, and given the hardware is loosely based on the Blackberry Playbook, it should be pretty solid.
I worry we won’t be seeing it in the UK for a while, though. It’s very dependent on services, such as the Cloud Storage and Cloud Player, that aren’t available in the UK yet. It took a long time for Amazon to release the original Kindle in the UK, too.
Ken Rock
It’s a pity we may have to wait quite some time before Amazon are ready to sell it in Europe. I hope the USB connection means it will possible to add a webcam and use Skype – that really would make it a fantastic buy.
Andy Vandervell
I wouldn’t count on it, Ken. Industry sources suggest Amazon will launch an ‘up market’ tablet next year, however, which would probably have a camera.
Christie
When will I be able to hack it so I wouldn’t be tied in to Amazon? (Who do they think they are … Apple?)
jtwoodfield
It is probably premature to make detailed product comparisons at this stage. What is not premature is to look at Amazon’s pricing which appears to be very keen. Apple products are massively over-priced (and hyped) and Amazon is doing us the favour that firms such as Samsung should have done us all: forced Apple to re-think its predatory pricing and exhorbitant profits.
Norman Parry
What or the pros and con of buying a kindle fire now opposed to waiting for UK release
tonyr
I am visiting USA from Sunday Jan 22; is it worth buying a Kindle Fire out there? Our usage would be as a reader and for emails while on the move – no need for other various apps.
Ben Stevens
Hi tonyr, I’d hold off.
The Amazon Fire is all about the service you get through the product, and the UK doesn’t currently support these services. It could be the case that when the Fire launches in the UK it will be largely the same as the US-version, but there may be some differences that could be difficult to get around.
We thought about buying a US-version during our recent trip to report on the CES in Las Vegas, as we want to put the Amazon Fire through its lab paces as soon as possible. However we decided that the product would be severely limited in the UK, and not worth the bother.
I’d suggest waiting, and hoping that the wait isn’t too long. The Kindle was available in the US for two years before it arrived on our shores!