Amazon has unveiled five new, or significantly updated Kindle devices – three new tablets and two new readers:
- Fire HD 6
- Fire HD Kids Edition
- Fire HDX 8.9″
- Kindle
- Kindle Voyage
Fire HD 6
The Fire HD6 incorporates a new quad core processor which doubles speed in comparison to the old Fire HD. Graphics performance is three times better according to Amazon.
It now has both front and rear facing cameras and comes in five different color choices – black (of course), Magenta, White, Citron and Cobalt.
The 6″ display is has 1280 x 800 resolution – which is 252 pixels-per-inch (ppi).
It’s available with either 8GB or 16GB memory and with and without “special offers”. Getting rid of the special offers will add $15 to the price.
It’s a lot of tablet for less than $100.
Fire HD Kids Edition
A “real” tablet for kids – not a toy – but in a “kid proof” case.
You can choose a Blue, Green or Pink case. You can also choose between a 6″ and 7″ display.
And here’s the deal clincher – “If they break it, we’ll replace it for free. No questions asked”. That is one sweet offer for parents everywhere!
It’s either a stroke of genius or an act of lunacy. Surely someone who works at Amazon has children of their own?
As if that wasn’t a tempting enough deal for parents, the Fire HD Kids Edition comes with a year’s worth of Amazon Freetime Unlimited. Kids will have unlimited access to 5,000 educational apps, books, TV shows, movies and games – all at no additional cost.
Amazon’s parental controls also allow parents to create different profiles for each of their kids. Screen time limits, educational goals and access to content can be tailored to each individual child.
Fire HDX 8.9″
The new Fire HDX is Amazon’s most powerful tablet ever – and it’s fairly obvious that Amazon is setting it out as a competitor to the iPad Air.
In its technical description, Amazon draws a direct (and, at the risk of stating the obvious, favorable) comparison with the iPad Air no fewer than three times.
For example, the Amazon exclusive HDX display has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels – for a total 0f over 4 million pixels. And Amazon is delighted to point out that that is 30% more than the iPad Retina Air.
In a similar vein, it’s not enough to point out that, at a mere 13.2 ounces, the HDX is incredibly light. Amazon, understandably perhaps, wants us to know that the HDX is 20% lighter than the iPad Air.
Not that Amazon want to labor the point of course, but it also mentions that the HDX is “twice as loud” as the iPad Air – and the audio spec is certainly impressive. The HDX is the first tablet with Dolby Atmos – which will knock your socks off when you’re using headphones.
Hopefully you’ve got the message by now. Amazon is pitching the HDX directly against the iPad Air and seems very confident that the spec is superior.
And the spec is certainly impressive. Apart from the iPad bashing details mentioned thus far, there are several other noteworthy technical features.
The HDX has a 2.5GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM and an Adreno GPU for faster graphics processing and a smoother, slicker, gaming experience.
It has an 8MP rear facing camera and a 720P front facing camera – for video calls, selfies etc.
It comes with Amazon’s proprietary FireFly and Mayday systems and also includes a month’s free trial of “Kindle Unlimited” which lets users access over 700,000 title, audiobooks etc.
Existing Amazon Prime members will be able to stream Prime Instant Videos and listen to Prime Music songs as part of their package.
It connects to your Fire tablet using Bluetooth and even has its own trackpad so that you don’t need to poke and prod the screen (unless you want to of course).
Battery life is 2 months between charges and the keyboard will add an extra 7 ounces to your carry weight.
Kindle
Amazon’s entry level reader, known simply as “the Kindle”, gets a major make over.
The big deal is probably the fact that it now has touch screen controls (and no physical page turn buttons).
Processor power is boosted by 20% for faster page turns (they were pretty fast anyway) and memory is boosted to 4GB – which should be enough for over 3,000 books.
The entry level Kindle is available with or without Special Offers – priced at $79 with ads and $99 without. It comes with Wi-Fi connectivity only, there is no 3G option.
Kindle Voyage
Amazon has clearly decided that there is room for a premium e-reader in their range – and it’s going to be the New Kindle Voyage. The Voyage is an addition to the range rather than a replacement for the Paperwhite which will, until further notice at least, remain a part of the Kindle reader family.
There are a lot of new features on the Voyage – fast page turns, even higher resolution display, adaptive light and “haptic” page turn buttons being the main ones.
The Voyage’s e-ink display is 300 ppi, which makes it more like reading text printed on paper than ever before. Like the Paperwhite, the Voyage has its own light source which shines onto the text (rather than being back-lit).
However, the Voyage has an adaptive light which adjusts automatically to the ambient conditions. A light sensor detects the level of lighting and adjusts the brightness of the light accordingly – you can personalize this to suit your own preferences of course. What’s more, if you’re reading in a dark room, the Voyage will take account of the fact that your eye will adapt to the light level – and the light will dim a little over thirty minutes or so.
One of the best innovations, in my opinion at least, is Amazon’s “reimagined” page turns. There are page turn buttons on the bezel (which is flush with the display). A light tap on these will let you turn the page without having to tap or swipe the display.
It also features “haptic feedback” – in the form of a gentle vibration which you will feel through your thumb – when you turn the page. The level of this is variable and can be adjusted according to your personal preference.
Personally speaking, as much as I like the Paperwhite, I do occasionally wind up changing the font size instead of turning the page. My own fault I’m sure – but that will be a thing of the past with the Voyage.
Physically the Voyage is Amazon’s thinnest Kindle yet. It’s just 0.3″ thick – and it weighs just 6.3 ounces (Wi-Fi) and 6.6 ounces (Wi-Fi + 3G).
The bezel is flush with the reading surface and the display has micro grooves in the surface. This helps to reduce glare even further apparently – and some people say that it even makes the display feel more like paper (if that’s important to you).
Memory capacity is 4GB, which should be enough for several thousand e-books.
Based on an average of half an hour’s reading a day, you should get around 6 weeks between charges.
In addition, it has the other features now expected from the Kindle range – X-ray for books, adjustable text size, dictionary, one free month’s trial of Kindle Unlimited, real page numbers etc.
All things considered, it’s a very definite upgrade on the Paperwhite – and one which heavy readers will probably be happy to pay a little extra for.
The New Kindles In Summary
Whether or not the HDX 8.9″ will mount a serious challenge to the iPad Air remains to be seen. Apple will unveil their new iPads in October – but this sector of the market is as much about fashion as it is about technical features and price point. Amazon will have a hard job on its hands to make up ground on Apple.
However, the Kindle Fire Kids edition is going to be massive for Amazon. The included content, the “kid proof” (is there really such a thing?) case and the “break and replace” guarantee are going to be hugely appealing to parents. This tablet is going to sell in huge numbers in the run up to Christmas – and beyond.
The Voyage looks like it will appeal to serious readers. Kobo’s recent experience with the Aura HD seems to confirm that there is definitely a (fairly large) niche in the market for high end dedicated e-readers, and Amazon look set to get their share of that with the Voyage.
