Amazon Announces New Kindle Fire HD Family
Amazon.com isn’t conceding the high end media tablet market to Apple’s iPad – the present 9.7-inch models or the widely anticipated iPad mini. With Amazon’s just announced Kindle Fire revisions:
$199 now gets you the 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet, with a custom HD display, fast Wi-Fi, Dolby audio, powerful processor and graphics engine, and 16 GB of storage – all backed by Amazon’s content ecosystem, claiming the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best customer service
$299 now gets you all the same advanced technology on an 8.9-inch large-screen 1920×1200 HD display with 254 ppi and a powerful OMAP4 4470 processor and graphics engine
$499 gets you the same high-end large-screen HD tablet, 32 GB of storage, plus 4G LTE wireless powered by the latest generation 4G chipset, and Amazon’s groundbreaking $49.99 one-year 4G LTE data package, allowing its customers to save hundreds of dollars in the first year compared to other 4G tablets.
Less than one year ago, Amazon introduced its Kindle Fire tablet, which quickly became the most successful product launch in the history of Amazon.com, earning over 10,000 5-star customer reviews, remaining the #1 best-selling product across the millions of items available on Amazon since its introduction, and capturing 22% of U.S. tablet sales in just nine months. Now Amazon is taking on the high-end tablet category with Kindle Fire HD – the next generation of Kindle Fire.
“We’re taking on the most popular price point for a tablet, $499, but doubling the storage and incredibly, adding ultra-fast 4G LTE wireless,” says Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “Kindle Fire HD is not only the most-advanced hardware, its also a service. When combined with our enormous content ecosystem, unmatched cross-platform interoperability and standard-setting customer service, we hope people will agree that Kindle Fire HD is the best high-end tablet anywhere, at any price.”
(Photo: Business Wire)
Kindle Fire HD features:
Custom HD Display
The 8.9-inch display on Kindle Fire HD features 254 pixels per inch with a resolution of 1920×1200, with pixels that are indistinguishable to the human eye. The 7-inch Kindle Fire HD features a HD display with 1280×800 resolution that delivers deep, detailed contrast and rich, natural color. Kindle Fire HD also uses Gorilla Glass to provide superior strength and reliability. Amazon also added custom features that reduce glare and improve color saturation at any viewing angle.
Most tablet displays are made up of two pieces of glass – an LCD on the bottom and a touch sensor on the top, separated by an air gap. This air gap allows light to come through the touch sensor and reflect off the LCD, which causes added glare for the user. Fire HD solves this air gap problem by laminating the touch sensor and the LCD together into a single layer of glass, creating a display that is easy to view even in overhead light, and reducing glare by 25% relative to the latest generation iPad.
Like many tablets, Kindle Fire HD uses in-plane switching (IPS) to improve color reproduction. But displays that only use IPS still appear washed out at various angles, such as laid sideways in bed, flat on a table, or propped up in a case. Fire HD features an Advanced True Wide polarizing filter that is applied directly to the LCD panel. This results in a display that shows the same deep contrast and rich, detailed color from any angle.
High-End Laptop-Quality Wi-Fi 40% Faster Downloads and High-Speed Streaming
HD content has much larger file sizes than standard definition contentfor example, Marvel’s The Avengers in standard definition is 785 MB, but in HD, The Avengers is 2.97 GB. Files of this size require the very latest in Wi-Fi technology to download or stream the HD content quickly and reliablyanything else results in buffering, slow downloads and dropped connections. Many Wi-Fi enabled devices only use the 2.4 GHz wireless frequency. This frequency is crowded since it is used by everything from other tablets to microwave ovens, baby monitors, Bluetooth devices, not to mention the neighbors Wi-Fi networks. Kindle Fire HD circumvents this congestion with state-of-the-art dual-band Wi-Fi. Kindle Fire HD can automatically switch between the 2.4 GHz network and the newer, less crowded 5 GHz network, resulting in better range and less interference. In addition, dual antennas and Multiple In/Multiple Out (MIMO) allow for higher bandwidth and longer range. The new Kindle Fire HD is the first tablet to market with all three of these latest generation Wi-Fi technologiesdual-band support, dual antennas, and MIMO. This is the first time this state-of-the-art Wi-Fi technology has been offered in a tablet, resulting in 40% faster throughput compared to the latest generation iPad.
Latest Generation 4G LTE Wireless
The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with ultra-fast 4G LTE, with download speeds as fast as Wi-Fi. To keep the 4G Kindle Fire HD just 8.8 mm thin, Amazon custom-designed its 4G wireless modem to be just 2.2 mm. Some 4G devices dont support all of the non-4G bands. Kindle Fire HD includes support for 10-bands, so even if a customer doesnt have perfect 4G coverage, the Kindle will fall back to the fastest available 3G speeds.
Amazon’s Breakthrough 4G LTE Data Package
The 4G Kindle Fire HD comes with the most affordable 4G tablet data package. Customers will have access to a 12-month data plan with 250MB per month, 20GB of Amazon Cloud storage, and a $10 credit in the Amazon Appstore for a one-time cost of $49.99. In fact, when you combine the cost of the device and the data plan, customers who purchase the Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE will pay over $400 less than latest generation iPad owners in the first year of ownership. Customers can also choose to upgrade to 3 GB or 5 GB data plans from AT&T directly from the device.
8 GB of Storage is Not Enough for an HD Tablet
Customers want to enjoy HD content if they have an HD tabletand 8 GB of on-device storage isnt enough for the larger HD file sizes. The 7 Kindle Fire HD is available with 16 GB or 32 GB of on-device storage, and the large screen Kindle Fire is available with 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of on-device storage. This large on-device storage capacity is in addition to the free storage Amazon provides for Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud. Amazon digital content is automatically backed up for free in the Amazon Cloud’s Worry-Free Archive where its available anytime.
Powerful World-Class Processor- Snappy and Smooth
An HD display and HD content must be driven by a powerful processor and optimized software. The Kindle Fire HD family features world-class processors and the new Imagination Technologies graphics engine for fast HD graphics and excellent fluidity. The 8.9 Kindle Fire HD is powered by the latest generation OMAP4 4470 processor and Imagination SGX544 graphics engine capable of over 12 billion floating point operations per second50 percent more than Tegra 3, and both Kindle Fire HD 7-inch and 8.9-inch come with higher memory bandwidth than Tegra 3. Combining the latest generation processors with significant customization of the Kindle Fire software by Amazon engineers results in a snappy and smooth experience for the user.
Dual Stereo Speakers and Exclusive Dolby AudioThe New Standard for Tablet Audio
Customers shouldn’t need to wear headphones while watching a movie on a tablet to get excellent sound. Kindle Fire HD solves this by combining dual stereo speakers with the next generation Dolby Digital Plus audio platform – the standard in high performance audioto offer a world-class audio experience. Dolby’s audio suite for Kindle Fire HD includes technology used to adjust volume and deliver easier-to-understand dialogue in movies and TV shows. Kindle Fire HD automatically optimizes the audio profile based on what a customer is doing, such as watching a movie, listening to music, using third party apps like Pandora and Netflix, and also optimizes for headphones versus speakers. All of these pieces combine to create an exceptional audio experience that results in clearer, crisper and balanced sound quality.
11 Hours of Battery Life
The 7 Kindle Fire HD is optimized to deliver high performance without sacrificing battery life, with over 11 hours of battery life claimed.
Thin and Light
Even with a custom display, a powerful processor, extra speakers and dual-band/dual-antenna Wi-Fi, the new Kindle Fire HD is extremely light and thin. In fact, Kindle Fire HD 8.9 weighs only 20 ounces and is just 8.8 mm thick. Kindle Fire HD 7 is small enough to take everywhere and light enough to hold easily and comfortably in one hand.
Connect with Bluetooth and HDMI
Kindle Fire HD supports Bluetooth, enabling customers to connect their wireless Bluetooth headphones or Bluetooth speakers to listen to songs, videos or audiobooks. With Bluetooth connectivity, customers can also easily connect to a wide range of Bluetooth-enabled keyboards. HDMI out makes it easy for customers to connect the Kindle Fire HD to their big-screen TV to enjoy their favorite HD videos and photos.
Front-Facing HD Camera
The new Kindle Fire HD features a front-facing HD camera. Skype created a customized app tailored for Kindle Fire HD that is ready to use out of the box for free HD video calls at home and abroad. Kindle Fire HD makes it easy for the over 500 million customers already using Skype to get in touch with friends and family.
Beautiful Leather Covers
Covers for Kindle Fire HD feature a premium textured leather exterior in a variety of colors and a subtle woven nylon interior to provide the lightest and thinnest form of protection. The integrated magnetic clasp ensures the cover remains securely closed while in a backpack, purse, or briefcase. The cover automatically wakes Kindle Fire HD upon opening and puts it to sleep when closed, making it easy to dive right back into whatever content a customer is enjoying.
New Latest Generation Kindle Fire Now Only $159
Amazon is also introducing an all-new upgraded version of the best-selling standard definition Kindle Fire with a faster processor, twice the memory and longer battery life for an even lower price of $159.
Kindle Fire, the #1 best-selling product on Amazon for the past year, is now even better, with all the content, seamless integration with the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, and a brilliant 7 touchscreen – now with a faster processor for 40% faster performance, twice the memory and longer battery life. The new Kindle Fire also offers all of the new features that are exclusive to the Kindle Fire family – including X-Ray for Movies, X-Ray for Books, Immersion Reading, Whispersync for Voice, Kindle FreeTime and more.
For more information on the new Kindle Fire family visit:
http://www.amazon.com/kindlefirehd