Amazon yesterday unveiled its long-rumored tablet, the Kindle Fire. The $199 price for the Android-based device makes it revolutionary and mainstreams the tablet markets. In addition, Amazon released a new Kindle Touch and a brand new ‘light’ Kindle version without buttons democratically priced as well.
Photo: Amazon
Kindle Fire has a 7-inch screen, while most other tablets on the market, including the iPad, Galaxy Tablet, Motorola Xoom and HP Touchpad, have screens that are about 10 inches. Its Android interface resembles a bookshelf, while other Android devices have an app library.
Kindle Fire has no camera, no external microphone and no 3G option. However, it can be synced to your Kindle library and access the Amazon’s movie and TV streaming service. Amazon will store unlimited content for users in its Amazon EC2 cloud too.
Another highlight is the Amazon Silk—a split browser that partially lives on Amazon EC2 and Kindle Fire. The browser is built into its new Kindle Fire tablet, and cloud servers will create a faster browsing experience for the user, says The Next Web.
According to Mashable, Barnes & Noble stock fell 9% immediately after Fire was revealed. Earlier this month, IDC estimated that Apple had almost a 70% share of the tablet market. All Android-based tablets combined had about a 25% share, and RIM had about 5%. Now, it’s interesting how Kindle Fire influence the tablet market.
The new Kindle Touch features an electronic ink display, infrared touch interface, longer battery life, access to millions of books, X-Ray and Wi-Fi or 3G. X-Ray lets users look at the ‘bones’ of a book, it’s like a mini Wikipedia for each book. Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers display on Kindle Touch when you’re not reading.
Photo: Amazon
The basic Kindle Touch is Wi-Fi only, costs $99 with special offers (it displays ads when you’re not reading), but the standard price is $139. The Kindle Touch 3G costs $189 and offer free 3G access in more than 100 countries around the world. It’s available to pre-order now, and it ships November 21, though available to pre-order now.
The new super-cheap Kindle costs $79 with special offers and $109 for a standard version. This device is 18% smaller than the original Kindle but has the same functionality except the key-board and is available now.
