new Kindle hardware announced 6 Sep 2012

[haven]

Amazon.com announced five new Kindle tablets today. Two are pure e-book readers, and three are multifunction tablets. All are available for pre-order now.

[Update: It appears the prices below include the display of 'special offers' from Amazon on the home screen when the screensaver kicks in. Prices for the Kindle versions without forced display of ads is not known.]

[Update 2: All Fire HD models ship with the 'special offers' ads turned on. After you purchase, you can pay $15 to turn the ads off. ]

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Kindle Fire HD 8.9
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major update to Kindle Fire
up to 44% faster, much higher resolution color screen

$299 with 16 GB storage, WiFi
$399 with 32 GB, WiFi
$499 with 32 GB, WiFi+ LTE
… Apple iPad w 32 GB, LTE costs $729

All 3 will ship 20 Nov 2012

The iPad with LTE requires a $180 a year data contract that provides 250 MB of data transfers a month
Amazon's LTE package: $50 a year buys 250 MB data service per month from ATT, 20 GB cloud storage, and $10 Appstore credit
Accessing the cloud storage doesn't count against the 250 MB allowance



TI OMAP 4470 processor (1.5 GHz ARM Cortex A9, dual core)
1 GB RAM
16 or 32 GB storage
8.9 inch, 1920x1200 pixel color touchscreen
254 pixels per inch (iPad has 264 ppi)
improved glare resistance
supports up to 10 point multi-touch
front facing camera
supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi, MIMO multi-channel
bigger battery

9.45 x 6.5 x 0.35 inches
weight 20 oz


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Kindle Fire HD 7.0
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smaller 7 inch 1280x800 screen
improved glare resistance
1.2 GHz OMAP 4460 processor
other specs similar to Fire HD 8.9
$199 with 16 GB storage, WiFi
$249 with 32 GB
shipping 14 Sep 2012

7.6 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches, 13.9 oz


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Kindle Fire 2012
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performance increase of 44% compared to original Kindle Fire
price reduced to $159
shipping 14 Sep 2012

1 GB RAM, 8 GB storage memory
new processor 1.2 GHz OMAP 4430
7 inch color display, 1024x600 pixel resolution (169 ppi)
supports 2 point multi-touch
single band, single antenna WiFi (no MIMO)

7.5 x 4.7 x 0.45 inches, 14.1 oz


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Kindle Paperwhite
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$119 for WiFi, $179 for WiFi + 3G
shipping 1 Oct 2012,

The Paperwhite is a Kindle Reader with new 6 inch screen, possibly a faster processor
front-lit display so you can read in the dark, range of brightness settings
212 PPI, for 62% higher resolution than earlier small Kindles
capacitive touchscreen = touch control, no buttons
page turns 15% faster


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Kindle Reader
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formerly $79, new price $69
Ships 14 Sep 2012
new screen permits sharper text
new processor? software? means 15% faster page turns


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New Services
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Kindle Serials
new way to purchase content
buy at one price, receive all future episodes for that title
like chapters in a book
new episodes

Whispersync for voice, games
Whispersync is a feature that allows you to mark your place in a book, then pick up where you stopped the next time -- regardless of what device you use to connect to your Amazon account. In the past, Whispersync worked only with printed material. Now you can mark your place in an audio book. Whispersync works for games, too.

 

[haven]

The Kindle Fire HD 7.0 will be compared with the Google Nexus 7.

The Nexus 7 has a faster quad core processor, but costs $50 more for the 16 GB model. The Nexus 7 also has a GPS chip, making it the better choice if you plan to use the tablet for navigation. It's possible that the new Kindle Fire HD might be able to connect to an external GPS by Bluetooth.

[Update: The Kindle Fire HD with 4G ($499) does have built-in assisted GPS. The WiFi-only Fire HD models do not.]

The choice probably comes down to the high degree of integration in the Amazon ecosystem of services vs the rough and ready group of apps that run on Android. At this point, it's not clear how the new Kindle models will accommodate apps designed to run with Android 4.x.

 

[haven]

The odd man out is the revised version of the original Kindle Fire. The 2012 Fire costs $40 less than the 7 inch Fire HD, but has 8 rather than 16 GB storage, a lower resolution screen with only 2 point multi-touch, and the slower single band, single antenna WiFi. Looks to me that it's definitely worth it to spend the extra money for the HD model.

 

[haven]

The ban has been lifted, and most every tech review site has posted its impressions of the Kindle Fire HD in 7 inch form. Walt Mossberg of All Things D summarizes the group's impressions. "The Kindle Fire HD is better, but it isn't the best color tablet." Read Walt's review here
http://allthingsd.com/20120911/kindle-fire-hd-is-better-but-it-isnt-the-best-color-tablet/

Most reviewers had trouble finding any significant advantage to the new Kindle's dual WiFi antenna.