For all you Kindle lovers out there, Amazon yesterday announced the launch of a tablet (the Kindle Fire), alongside 3 new e-ink readers – the Kindle, the Kindle Touch, and the Kindle Touch 3G. From what we understand, the Kindle is an upgrade on the original Kindle (better screen etc…), whereas the Kindle Touch (& 3G) introduce the use of a touch screen. The difference between these latter two models is, as the name suggests, whether or not it comes with 3G. The Kindle is also available at a much better price (from $79 in the US), if you choose to go with an ad-supported model. As if that wasn’t good enough, in what appears to be an assault on Apple, Amazon also announced the launch of the Amazon Fire – a full on tablet. Is this the iPad killer we’ve all been waiting for? These models are currently available for pre-order, but only in the US (no word on a UK release date yet).
See below for an outline of the specs of each model, and what people are saying about them on Twitter.
Kindle
The Kindle boasts of the following:
- 30% lighter, less than 6 ounces
- 18% smaller body, same 6″ screen size – Fits in your pocket
- Most advanced E Ink display, reads like paper
- Built in Wi-Fi – Get books in 60 seconds
- Massive book selection, over 800,000 titles are $9.99 or less
- New – Borrow Kindle books from your public library
Read more here.
Kindle Touch
The Kindle Touch boasts of the following:
- Most-advanced E Ink display, now with multi-touch
- New sleek design – 8% lighter, 11% smaller, holds 3,000 books
- Text-to-speech, plus audio books and mp3s
- Built in Wi-Fi – Get books in 60 seconds
- Massive book selection, over 800,000 titles are $9.99 or less
- New – Borrow Kindle books from your public library
Read more here.
Kindle Fire
The Kindle Fire boasts of the following:
- 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books
- Amazon Appstore – thousands of popular apps and games
- Ultra-fast web browsing – Amazon Silk
- Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content
- Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle
- Fast, powerful dual-core processor
- Amazon Prime members enjoy unlimited, instant streaming of over 10,000 popular movies and TV shows
Read more here.
Amazon Silk
Amazon Fire uses a revolutionary new web browser called Amazon Silk. For those interested, here’s the science:
Word From The Street
So that’s the official news. But what are the tech-savvy geeks on the street (i.e. those on Twitter) saying? Here’s what:
So what do you reckon? Do you think you’ll be buying one? Can they triumph over the awesomeness of the iPad? Let us know by leaving us a comment below.
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