Amazon announces new Kindles, Fire tablet
After months and months of minor leaks and rumors, Amazon’s Android tablet has finally been unveiled – and with it a whole new range of tradition Kindles. The Kindle Fire is a 7-inch Android tablet with a dual core CPU, glass capacitive touch screen, and a 600 x 1024 pixel resolution (calculated from 169 PPI pixel density). It has only 8GB of internal storage, but will be directly tied in to everything Amazon, like the Kindle store, Amazon MP3, Amazon Appstore etc. That of course also means that this device will be a lot less useful in most countries as Amazon haven’t quite grasped the concept of “international availability” yet. With a price of $199 it’s sure to be a hit in the US though, when it launches on November the 15th.
As for the rest of the Kindle line, there’s the Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G and the Kindle. The Kindle Touch will have a IR-based touch screen, and the Kindle Touch 3G will add 3G access to the package. The Kindle (basic one, damn your naming Amazon) will be without a touchscreen and retail for $79, $20 less than the Kindle Touch and $70 less than the Touch 3G.
People are going quite nuts about these prices, but I’m not convinced. An iriver Story HD should pop up in my mailbox soon, purchased for the sale price of $99 and packed with a few features that I would call essential; it has an SD card slot, and it has a 768 x 1024 resolution. The Kindle has the store going for it, but I simply fail to be impressed by the specs or price. The same goes for the Fire – compared to e.g. the Samsung Galaxy 7.7 it’s not very attractive, though the price will most certainly help it sell tons.
[Kindle | Touch | Fire via Gizmodo]
