By Amazon’s just made another bombshell announcement. They look to be bringing an 8.9 inch Kindle Fire tablet called the Kindle Fire HD. This beast will sport a 1920×1200 resolution for starters, and there are a whole lot more things to like. It sports a dual-core TI OMAP 4470 processor to boot, has two antennas, weights 20 ounces and is just 8.8mm thin.
Other talking points include the inclusion of MIMO technology, which in conjunction with the dual antennas will supposedly bring us 41% faster performance than the iPad 3. This marks the first tablet to ever launch with MIMO technology, which uses dual channels to keep wireless signals “untangled.”
On the software side, Amazon has announced some new changes to Whispersync. It will allow you to listen to a book as an audiobook while you’re driving, then seamlessly continue where you left off in reading mode once you leave the car. Whispersync is also available to developers for saving progress in your game to the cloud.
For movies, the Kindle Fire HD will allow you to tap the screen and bring up actor/actress information of whoever you pressed. The information is fed to you through the world’s largest film database – IMDB.com.
A new Kindle FreeTime mode will allow you to set timers for your children to use certain content. You can limit the gaming time to one hour and let them read books all they want, for instance. And with multiple profiles you can set it up differently for each child you have.
All of this is headed our way starting November 20th, with the 7 inch 16GB variant starting at $199.99 and the 8.9 inch 16GB variant starting at $300. Oh, but wait — there’s more.
Amazon is also introducing the Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE. It’ll come with 32GB of storage and will done the 8.9 inch screen size. The 4G logo they used looked like AT&T’s so we imagine they will likely get it, though that’s not confirmation that no other 4G carriers would be getting it at some point down the line. It’s coming to Amazon’s site starting November 20th for $500.
Not a fan of the kindle fire since it lacks Google Market but i will admit this sounds pretty enticing!
If it can be rooted and stock Android installed I’m sold.
I’m sure the community will rape this thing
Same here ;)
Awesome avatar pic :)
price price price?
Read read read.. derp.
Derp derp derp. Article had no price when this comment was added.
hmmmm I wonder if I should sell my N7???
Not at all
Nope. It’s a real Android tablet, not an Android-based Amazon consumption device.
Amazon didn’t even mention what version of Android they’re using, so I’d guess it’s still 2.3. Lame.
They don’t need do. Only whiners like you care about what version. The majority of the users/buyers won’t mind. Besides, it can be easily remedied.
Exactly. And I would be willing to bet that the dev community would be pretty significant. So who cares if its running 2.3 when I can just root it and install CM10 and have an android tablet with a super high resolution
Relax and take a chill pill holmes.
People who care about version numbers probably know how to root and find roms
from the hardware point of view, it is nothing special. from the software point of view, yes there are great features, but if you are planning to root you will lose these things. so I can’t see this things very interesting
except for the price
And it’s amazon. For the masses, this is perfect.
I think that they got it right!
Wow, sounds like an Ipad killer, finally. Suck it crapple
^ lol
This is great. There are so many reasonably priced options out there over the iPad 3 and upcoming iPad mini. N10 next.
It’s still a walled amazon only garden
how so? Easily remedied, moreso that that whining.
$300? I was a little excited till I saw that. 7in is too small so 8.9in is more me. I think I’ll watch for a ussd/refurbed tablet
Now the wait for Google to announce the next nexus tablet. Hopefully in the 9/10″ range with a great screen.
Google, you listening? My money is ready and waiting.
They also need LTE. ha we’re still waiting for a Nexus 7 with 3G
A $200 tablet price point is never going to be anything but WIFI ready only.
Well, at least it can offer more than 8 gigs
I wonder if this will have android 4.1?
All the Gizmodo live bloggers could talk about during the demo was how buttery smooth it was. So it makes me wonder if the core OS is Jelly Bean…
To compete (with Amazon as well as Apple), Google needs to market Play a little better – they need to emphasize the content. And they need a well-integrated cloud service for photos and videos – like enhance Picasa and rebrand it. I really feel like the only big advantage Google has anymore is Gmail. If Apple or Amazon came up with a killer email system, Google would be in trouble.
Well, before this we all thought nexus 7 had it in the bag and Amazon would just vanish, right?
They also need to deploy full Play Store outside USA. In many countries only the apps are available.
True, there is that pesky international element. ;)
Amazon says
The new Kindle Fire family features world-class Microsoft Exchange
integration, with fine-tuned performance on many of the most critical
e-mail functions. For example, typical Exchange accounts sync with the
oldest emails first, ending with the most recent emails—Kindle Fire
instead syncs with newer emails first, then with older emails, getting
customers faster access to the most recent emails they are looking
for. Kindle Fire also features a new calendar app, making it easy for
customers to stay connected and keep track of their schedules. The new
e-mail client offers support for the world’s most popular email
providers—including Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Hotmail and more.
People actually wanting this tablet is a joke to me. This can’t compete with the Nexus 7 at all. If you buy this over a Nexus 7, you obviously haven’t used one, or you’re crazy.
1920×1200 8.9″ vs 1280×800 7”? I think Amazon has an opening here.
This isn’t meant for the phandroids… It’s meant for average consumer who just wants to consume media and play the hot tablet game of the moment. And for that, this is a very nice tablet.
I’ll wait for Google to release an 8.9 or 10.1 Nexus tablet.
From http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2012/09/live-coverage-amazon-kindle-event/1#.UEj-_JapLQg
2:26 p.m. The new Kindle Fire HD also has “glorious sound.”
The
standard today in tablets is one speaker, mono sound. So the new Fire
HD tablet has dual stereo speakers. And it has Doby Digital Plus, first
tablet to ever have it. It’s the same sound Dolby puts in high end home
theater, Bezos says. “It’s worth it.”
Now Bezos is discussing
Wi-Fi, which he says other tablet makers are not giving the attention it
deserves. The 2.4 GHz wireless band used in today’s Wi-Fi is too
congested he says. 5GHz is newer and cleaner and that’s what Amazon is
using. They also added two antennas, to help with signal fading. It also
helps if your hand covers one of the antennas–the other can kick in.
More technology built in: MIMO. Radio would be much simpler if there
were no walls, signal, fridges, cars, etc. which all reflect radio waves
causing echos that confuse the receiver. MIMO technology is meant to
combat this. What MIMO does–with enough computational power– is turn
echoes into “opportunities.”
Bezos says this was figured out in
principle a couple of decades ago, but required ridiculous amounts of
computional power. Kindle Fire HD is the first tablet ever to
incorporate MIMO. It has dual band, 2.4 AND 5GHz and MIMO.
The iPad 3 had dual band but only one antenna, for example.
He says it’s faster than iPad and Nexus 7.
I’m here, live at the event and just got done playing with them. Real life speed — these don’t hold a candle to the Nexus 7 or iPad 3. OMAP isn’t handling the load very well (uploading hands-on video now)
What about gpu? I think it’s the same powervr in ipad3 that the tegra3 has to keep up with
Maybe it’s just me, but the Kindle Fire 8.9 HD seems pretty lackluster for 300$. The 4G model and terrible 250mb/month plan for 50$ a year seems even worse. For a company that touts the cloud as much as they do, that plan is abysmal. The only thing good to come out of this event is the lowered 7in kindle fire price. Well that and the Kindle with a backlight. That will be perfect for my grandmother who recently complained she cant read at night!
Are you kidding? Compared to the $250 version n7, and for only $50 more, you’re getting a 8.9″ screen vs 7″, and you’re getting 1920×1200 resolution vs 1280×800. Not having direct google support and the google play market is a deal breaker for me, but for anyone who chooses the amazon ecosystem vs the play market ecosystem, this is a killer deal.
I guess I should have been more specific. The resolution is great, but like you said, without google play I dont see it being that great. The thing about the resolution that you have to consider is that people (other than those of us on a tech site) usually base things on price alone.
So root and get google play! sheesh! Even ios users know how to install cydia.
Fail.
Dual core 1GB RAM and heavily skinned OS? Welcome to last year…
Even if rooted and aosp installed, the hardware specs are no way the best for this price.
And the 500 dollar version??!?
Nexus 7 all the way!!
Nexus 7 has tegra 3 and also only 1 gig ram. New kindle has the same powerVR gpu as in the ipad3, which is much more powerful than the tegra3. And also Dolby audio.
Nexus 7 only offers 8 or 16 gig storage. The Kindle 7 has 16 or 32 and the Kindle 9 has 32 or 64 gig models.
Looks nice, but I’m not cutting myself off from all the content I’ve already purchased on the google play market. Also, I prefer the quick updates to my nexus 7. Yeah I understand you can root and flash roms, but I’d rather not void my warranty and have to deal with backing up everything so I don’t loose game saves and whatnot. I’ll wait until a 9″ nexus device is released and then sell my n7 on craigslist or something.
I rather spend those money to build a new pc.
Pass. I bought a Kindle Fire last year, only because it was $199, and I could easily root it to run stock Android. The Nexus 7 completely made the Fire obsolete (for my needs).
Now Amazon is entering into $300 and $500 price points? Pass. Much better options for that much money.
$200 extra for LTE is too much. Also, Paperwhite?? could have chosen a better name.
Paperwhite is a good name. It’s appealing to book-lovers, remember. To people who love books, “paper” is a very sexy word.
It resembles “paperweight” too closely. It is also in danger of becoming one.
Only if you are illiterate.
Well excuse me Mr. English teacher….