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Amazon Announces New Kindles, All up for Pre-Order

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Fire Tablet Family

The day started with leaked information about two new Kindles, and now that Amazon has made an official announcement, there are several more new Kindles to add to the list.

There are two new E Ink Kindles, the Kindle Voyage and a new entry-level reader simply called Kindle.

And there are new tablets too, but maybe we shouldn’t be calling them Kindles anymore. Interestingly, Amazon has dropped the Kindle name from them—instead of Kindle Fire, they are all referred to as Fire now.

There’s a new 6-inch $99 Fire HD, a new 7-inch Fire HD, Kids Edition Fire HD’s in both 6″ and 7″ options, and a new 8.9″ Fire HDX.

And of course there are the two new E Ink Kindles to go along with the Kindle Paperwhite…

Kindle Family

Kindle Voyage

The Kindle Voyage starts at $199 for the WiFi model with Special Offers. The 3G models starts at $269. Each costs $20 more without advertisements.

  • 6" E Ink Carta display.
  • 1440 x 1080 pixel resolution (300 ppi).
  • Adaptive frontlight that adjusts automatically.
  • Capacitive touchscreen, flush with the bezel.
  • 1 GHz processor, 512MB RAM.
  • 4GB internal memory.
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n.
  • Optional 3G.
  • Supported formats: Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), AZW, TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.
  • Battery Life: up to 6 weeks.
  • Weight: 6.3 oz – 180 grams.
  • Dimensions: 6.4″ x 4.5″ x 0.30″ (162 mm x 115 mm x 7.6 mm).

Kindle

The new entry-level Kindle is $79 for the Special Offers model, $20 more without ads. It has a touchscreen and is basically kind of like a Kindle Touch 2, minus the audio support. It doesn’t have a frontlight or high resolution screen.

  • 6" E Ink Pearl display.
  • 800 x 600 pixel resolution (167 ppi).
  • Infrared touchscreen.
  • 1 GHz processor, 256MB RAM.
  • 4GB internal memory.
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n.
  • Supported formats: Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), AZW, TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.
  • Battery Life: up to 4 weeks.
  • Weight: 6.7 ounces (191 grams).
  • Dimensions: 6.7″ x 4.7″ x 0.40″ (169 mm x 119 mm x 10.2 mm).

Fire HD 6

The new $99 Fire HD 6 packs a lot of features for the price. It has a smaller screen than older Kindle Fires, but there’s a lot under the hood. It starts at $99 for the 8GB Special Offers model; the 16GB model is $20 more, and it cost $15 extra to get rid of the ads.

  • 6" LCD display.
  • 1280 x 800 pixel resolution (252 ppi) .
  • Processor: Quad-Core 2 @ 1.5 Ghz + 2 @ 1.2 GHz.
  • 1 GB of RAM
  • 8GB/16GB internal storage (5GB/12.2GB usable).
  • Front-facing VGA camera + 2 MP rear-facing camera
  • Single band Wi-Fi.
  • Bluetooth
  • SlimPort enabled USB 2.0 (can connect to HDTV or VGA monitor with adapter).
  • 3.5 mm stereo jack and integrated speaker with Dolby Digital Plus audio engine
  • Accelerometer, gyroscope
  • Formats: Kindle (AZW), KF8, TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible Enhanced format (AAX), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3), non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, PCM/WAVE, OGG, WAV, M4V, MP4, AAC LC/LTP, HE-AACv1, HE-AACv2, MKV, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, HTML5, CSS3, 3GP, VP8 (WEBM)
  • Battery Life: up to 8 hours.
  • Weight: 10.1 oz (290 grams).
  • Dimensions: 6.7″ X 4.1″ X 0.4″ (169 X 103 X 10.7 mm).
  • Colors: Black, White, Cobalt, Magenta, Citron.

Fire HD 7

The Fire HD 7 is basically the same as the Fire HD 6, but it has a larger screen. It starts at $139 for the 8GB model, and goes up to $159 for 16GB.

  • 7" LCD display.
  • 1280 x 800 pixel resolution (216 ppi) .
  • Processor: Quad-Core 2 @ 1.5 Ghz + 2 @ 1.2 GHz.
  • 1 GB of RAM
  • 8GB/16GB internal storage (5GB/12.2GB usable).
  • Front-facing VGA camera + 2 MP rear-facing camera
  • Single band Wi-Fi.
  • Bluetooth
  • SlimPort enabled USB 2.0 (can connect to HDTV or VGA monitor with adapter).
  • 3.5 mm stereo jack and integrated speaker with Dolby Digital Plus audio engine
  • Accelerometer, gyroscope
  • Formats: Kindle (AZW), KF8, TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible Enhanced format (AAX), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3), non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, PCM/WAVE, OGG, WAV, M4V, MP4, AAC LC/LTP, HE-AACv1, HE-AACv2, MKV, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, HTML5, CSS3, 3GP, VP8 (WEBM)
  • Battery Life: up to 8 hours.
  • Weight: 11.9 oz (337 grams).
  • Dimensions: 7.5″ X 5.0″ X 0.4″ (191 X 128 X 10.6 mm) .
  • Colors: Black, White, Cobalt, Magenta, Citron.

Kids Edition Fire HD

Amazon has new Fire HD Kids Edition Tablets that sell for $149 for the 6-inch model and $189 for the 7-inch version. Each is available in Blue, Green and Pink colors. There are no ad-supported or wireless models.

These tablets are the same as the Fire HD 6 and 7; the difference is they come with 1 year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, a Kid-Proof Case, and a 2-year guarantee.

Fire HDX 8.9″

Lastly, Amazon has a new Fire HDX 8.9. It starts at $379 and goes all the way up to $594, depending on various storage and wireless options.

  • 8.9" LCD display.
  • 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution (339 ppi) .
  • Processor: 2.5 Ghz Quad-core Snapdragon 8084, with Adreno 420 GPU.
  • 2 GB of RAM
  • 16GB/32GB/64GB internal storage (8.8GB/25.6GB/54.3GB usable).
  • Front-facing 720p HD Camera; 8MP rear-facing camera with LED flash, Electronic Image Stabilization, and a wide-aperture 5P f/2.2 lens.
  • Dual band, dual antenna (802.11AC with MIMO+HT80) Wi-Fi.
  • Bluetooth
  • SlimPort enabled USB 2.0 (can connect to HDTV or VGA monitor with adapter).
  • 3.5 mm stereo jack and integrated stereo speakers with the latest Dolby Audio and Dolby Atmos
  • Ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS (4G)
  • Formats: Kindle (AZW), KF8, TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible Enhanced format (AAX), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3), non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, PCM/WAVE, OGG, WAV, M4V, MP4, AAC LC/LTP, HE-AACv1, HE-AACv2, MKV, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, HTML5, CSS3, 3GP, VP8 (WEBM)
  • Battery Life: up to 12 hours.
  • Weight: 13.2 oz (375 grams) 4G: 13.7 oz (389 grams) .
  • Dimensions: 9.1″ X 6.2″ X 0.3″ (231 X 158 X 7.8mm).

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. New tablets… looks like more of the same. Not to impky that’s a bad thing. Kid safe Kindle Fire? Consumers have been asking for these since the start. Entry level Kindle? Yep, also good sense. I like thst the Voyage is an addition to the lineup and not a replacement for the Paperwhite. Nice specs, features, and size. This is the new eink hotness if you’re willing to drop the scratch. At $220 (I don’t dig unsolicited ads), it’s a bit pricey, but that sessy screen makes it worth the money.

    • Yeah, all the leaks came from international Amazon websites so they’ll be releasing them everywhere. It might take a few weeks longer but they’ll be offered internationally soon.

  4. I didn´t think I would ever get an Amazon tablet, but that 6 inch tab at $99 is appealing to me.

    • Yeah, that seems like a pretty good price for the specs and high resolution screen, better than other tablets at that price point. I ordered one to review. It’s kind of crazy to think the less-capable Kindle Voyage costs twice as much.

  5. I’m not a buying a e-ink reader for $199 with ads and no 3g. I think having that many Kindle Fires is just going to overwhelm people. Why do a 6″ Kindle Fire instead of adding a 10″ one? I think Amazon seems a bit desperate.

  6. After seeing the specs on the new one, I don’t feel so bad about just having bought a Paperwhite. I don’t think I’m missing much of anything.