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The upgraded Kindle Fire may be enticing with a $159 price-point, but power-hungry users may need a bit more. If you are a fan of 7-inch tablets, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7 is your best bet. It has all the great specs that the Kindle Fire HD family members share, and comes with a very attractive $199 price tag.
The tablet features a 1280×800 7-inch display, a 1.2 GHz dual-core OMAP 4460 processor and all the new awesome features Amazon touted during the announcement. We have managed to get some hands-on time with this little guy and can tell you that it performs very well for its price, while it won’t have you flying through apps and websites.
Without further ado, here is our very own Chris giving the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD a go:
Not bad, right? Sadly, Amazon didn’t let us play around with the 8.9-inch versions of the Kindle Fire HD family, but you can expect it to be relatively similar. Save for that stunning 1920x1200p display – boy is that HD!
Either way, if this is the one for you, you can go ahead and pre-order it at Amazon.com and it should ship directly to your doorstep by November 20th.
The FIre HD 7 inch doesn’t have the 4470 in it. Only the 8.9 inch does. The 7 inch only has the 4460.
Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GGCAVM/ref=kindle_dp_comp
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That 8.9″ is very important. I don’t want Android to be known as the bargain bin tablet while all the good stuff goes to iPad.
Funny that they are running 4.0 but their custom skin makes it looks like 2.3 with the dark grey gradients and bright orange highlights.
SLOOOOOOOOOOOOW… The nexus7 is noticeably much faster than this thing. Anyway hey Amazon, cool tablet bro; make another one.
Probably because of Jellybean.
Did you play with one, or are you judging by.. what? Besides, Amazon will update the base OS. Also, you can easily root and move on to JB and beyond. Really a non-debate.
I would agree they should at least be running ICS but I wouldn’t assume that they are by software keys because the first Kindle Fire tablet had software keys.
i can tell you never used the original kindle fire tab before chris :-). the functionality is the same. you just tap the bottom to bring the nav keys up.
So why buy these over the Nexus 7?
Nexus 7 $199 for 8 gigs storage. Amazon Kindle HD (7″) gives you 16 gig for same price.
Nexus 7 $249 gives you 16 gig. Amazon gives you 32 gig for the same price. Nexus doesn’t even offer a 32 gig model. There’s the HDMI out and Dolby stereo and a bunch of other things. So it does appear Amazon is offering more hardware for lower price.
Nexus 7 gives you no forced ads, and the Play Store, however
and a quad core
tegra 3 is a weaker gpu than powervr.
huh? Nexus (and every other android) has lots of ads everywhere. Unless you root but that could solve the other problem for Kindle.
You seem confused. The AA meeting is down the hall.
And stock Android with speedy updates straight from the source! Pretty hard to beat that!
I’m not up on my spec game, but does the Nexus have a SD slot?
Also as far as updates go we know who will win that battle. I have used both the Nexus 7 and the first Kindle Fire. The Nexus just feels and looks light years better. The Kindle Fire def. had that cheap 79$ no-name Android tablet feel.
No, they both don’t have SD
I’d still go for a Nexus 7 since it’s supported by google and will get updates. I would have bought one if it had MHL support, I’m still baffled as to why that wasn’t included.
That’s a big thing I noticed. If you store any amount of content on the device 8 GB is going to go so fast! especially when you consider that you don’t get to use all 8 of those GB for storage (a partition of it gets reserved for the OS). So for $200 a tablet that surfs the web, has fairly robust app offerings, and plays all manner of content plus 16 GB then it starts to look more appealing, especially as a gift for someone who doesn’t power use like I do.
It’s not all about hardware power. Software usability is a big component too. I’d NEVER buy the Nexus 7 for my dad because he’s a complete tech dullard who would not take advantage of the device. The Kindle interface is so dumbed down and made friendly for the masses that it’d be good for someone like him. People like us (power android users) will not be big for a device like this, or we’d probably end up rooting the device and installing whatever OS we want on it. Amazon is aiming for the public that wants a tablet device but wants one with a more “user friendly” interface.
They are also playing off the Kindle name. Kindle is the iPod of the e-book world. As most people will call their mp3 player an iPod. Same for e-readers and Kindle IMHO.
Jelly Bean is very user friendly. I would definitely have to disagree and say the Nexus 7 is MUCH better on the software side of things….
Not even close IMO
Ill be honest, I bought my mom the original Kindle Fire. I had an HTC Evo View (now have the Nexus 7). She did not fully understand full blown Android. Kindle’s dumbed down interface does a great job for those that have a hard time getting it. My mom uses it for the All Recipes app, weather and reading books. My Wife has a Kindle fire and I hate it for myself. I prefer the full blown thing. Now yes, you can root it, but then updates and all that become a pain. So it really depends on the user. If they need something super, super dumbed down, you can always get them an iPad lol.
All I could think at that one point was ” DAMMIT CHAVEZ JUST TAP THE SCREEN!”
Excited for this thing though. I am totally ok with some lock screen ads if it gets me more for my money, and if they stay on the lock screen. Will be very interested to see how this thing plays out with the full reviews.
Hopefully Android will release Key Lime Pie sooner rather than later, & improve the tablet experience like what the Fire is doing. Multi user login is a must aswell.
Chris da man!
Yeah, storage and ports aside, I’d rather buy a Nexus 7 with Tegra 3 and not have to suffer thru’ Amazon’s custom skin and push notification advertisements. I honestly I don’t care how much storage any of these models come with, give us a uSD card slot already …
3/4″ wider and that giant bezel kill it for me. TV out is the only real feature I miss on the N7.
Yea, it’s lack of MHL support is why I won’t buy it. I don’t really need a tablet anyway so maybe next year if they add it I’ll get one.
From everything I have seen about this tablet, I think the kindle fire is more suited towards less techy types that want a tablet to read surf and play games, The nexus seven is still the king when it comes to us power users who want a little more under the hood and that vanilla jelly bean goodness. It will definitely have a market and it will sadly be a portion of buyers that would have purchased a nexus but I am happy it is out there and at least getting people into tablets in a safe easy to use environment. Also the millions they will sell alongside the nexus seven will only push the limits of the next nexus seven. No one here can be mad about that.
I say well done and welcome the innovation this competitor will likely spur!
(sorry no mention of apple, I couldn’t in good faith use the words “innovation” and “apple” in the same rant.
It’s quite sad really. I used to like Apple, or at least was neutral towards them, even though I didn’t like the “walled garden” approach. But since the patent wars I can no longer in good conscience say anything nice about them. I would love nothing more than to see them be served some humble pie to show that they aren’t the only tech business on the block.