Amazon today announced a refreshed Kindle Fire lineup that replaces the original Kindle Fire tablet with an upgraded model and introduces the Kindle Fire HD family of tablets. At the high end is the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD 4G with 4G LTE connectivity and 32GB of onboard storage. Below are the 16GB 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD without LTE connectivity, and a 7-inch Kindle Fire HD. At the entry-level point will be the upgraded standard definition 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,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “Kindle Fire HD is not only the most-advanced hardware, it’s 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.”
The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD models will feature a WUXGA (1920×1200) IPS screen with 254ppi and a TI OMAP4 4470 processor with Imagination SGX544 GPU. The 7-inch model will offer a WXGA (1280×800) resolution. All will use Gorilla Glass and a touch sensor laminated onto the the LCD to reduce glare. They will also come with dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus and a front-facing HD camera.
The Kindle HD models will also sport dual-band (2.4GHz/5GHz) Wi-Fi, dual antennas, and support for Multiple In/Multiple Out (MIMO). According to Amazon, together these should offer 40% faster throughput than the latest generation iPad.
The 4G Kindle Fire HD will be paired with a 4G data plan. For a cost of US$49.99, customers will get a 12-month plan with 250MB per month, 20GB of Amazon Cloud storage, and a US$10 credit in the Amazon Appstore.
The original Kindle Fire has been replaced with an upgrade model still called the Kindle Fire. It will come with a faster processor promising 40% faster performance and twice the memory.
The new Kindle Fire HD 7″ and Kindle Fire will sell for US$199 and US$159 respectively. They will begin shipping on September 14th. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9” 4G and Kindle Fire HD 8.9′ will start to ship on November 20th and will cost US$499 and US$299 respectively.
Read more: Amazon