As expected, Amazon today announced the Kindle Fire tablet. According to Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO:
“Kindle Fire brings together all of the things we’ve been working on at Amazon for over 15 years into a single, fully-integrated service for customers. With Kindle Fire, you have instant access to all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, the convenience of Amazon Whispersync, our revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser, the speed and power of a state-of-the-art dual-core processor, a vibrant touch display with 16 million colors in high resolution, and a light 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand – all for only $199. We’re offering premium products, and we’re doing it at non-premium prices.”
Kindle Fire specifications:
- Processor: 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP
- Operating system: Customized Google Android 2.1
- Cellular connectivity: None
- Other connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
- Display: 7-inch IPS (1024 x 600 pixels)
- Input: Capacitive multi-touch touchscreen
- Storage: 8GB internal and free cloud storage for all Amazon content
- Rear-facing camera: None
- Front-facing camera: None
- Connectors: micro-USB 2.0, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Dimensions / weight: 190 x 120 x 11.4 millimeters / 413 grams
- Other: Amazon Silk browser, built-in email app, Amazon Whispersync
As expected, the Kindle Fire will have access to the breadth of Amazon content, including more than 100,000 movies and TV shows from Amazon Instant Video, 17 million songs from Amazon MP3, 1 million Kindle books (including 100 exclusive graphic novels such as The Watchmen), hundreds of magazines and newspapers, and popular Android apps and games. It also comes with a new browser called Silk, featuring a “split browser” architecture that complements the power of the mobile device hardware with the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services Cloud.
The Amazon Kindle Fire is now available for pre-order for US$199 (including a free month of Amazon Prime). Shipments are expected to begin on November 15th. There is no word yet on Canadian availability.