Amazon introduced updated Kindles and a beefier Kindle Fire, along with three new Kindle Fire HD tablets at a press event in Santa Monica.
Amazon has big hopes of taking over the
tablet market from the giants like apple and Samsung. According to Amazon, the
Kindle Fire currently owns 22 percent of the tablet market. They are planning
for more. The new 7-inch Kindle Fire HD feels more like a true iPad competitor.
It sheds much of its predecessor’s bulk and delivers a speedier more refined
experience. The screen is crisp, with better contrast than the old Kindle Fire.
However, while Amazon says that it has reduced the glare on the Fire HD’s
display, it’s still a struggle under bright lights.
The external button has been moved from the
bottom to the top on the Fire HD. And it now sits flush with the case of the
tablet, which should reduce instances of users accidentally putting the Fire
into sleep mode while propping it up to read a book — an all-too-common
occurrence with the previous design. There are now physical volume buttons at
the top of the device, too — a welcome improvement over the software-based
volume control.
Amazon’s customized Android skin remains, but
with tweaks that improve navigation. Sliding a finger from the top of the
screen brings up settings, for example, which is much better than trying to tap
that tiny gear. The new Coverflow-esque feature that replaces the bookshelf of
the current Kindle Fire seems more like a lateral move than a step up, but the
Favorites drawer is a welcome addition.
The speakers on the back are hidden within
the distinctive black stripe that, even if not intentionally decorative, sets
the Kindle Fire HD apart from other tablets. Unfortunately, the noisy airplane
hangar where Amazon held its launch event was no good for testing audio
performance, so we can’t say anything about the sound.
All these tests were done on the 7-inch
Kindle Fire HD. Amazon had 8.9-inch tablets out, too, but only in the hands of
Amazon employees who were giving demos. The larger Kindle Fires looked
stunning, but we had zero hands-on time with them.
The Kindle Fire HD is available for pre-order
at $199 for the 16GB model and $249 for the 32GB version. Prices for the
8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD at 16GB and 32GB are $299 and $369, respectively.
There’s also a Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE, which will cost $499 for a 32GB
model and $599 for 64GB of storage.
No comments:
Post a Comment