Everyone has been waiting for Amazon to release new Kindles, especially with the current lineup being largely out of stock just about everywhere, and with leaked information turning up last week about a new 2024 Kindle, the release has to be drawing near, but Amazon still hasn’t announced anything about new Kindles yet.
However, yesterday they did release a new device that can be used to read Kindle ebooks, but it’s a new Fire HD 8 tablet, not a Kindle. They released a couple of new kids models as well.
An interesting thing about it is they’ve already put the new Fire HD 8 tablet on sale right out of the gate, and it’s a significant discount. The normal price is $99 for the ad-supported version, and it’s on sale for $54.99 through Prime Day, and you don’t even need a Prime membership to get the discount.
Amazon would never discount a new Kindle by that much at launch. In fact, the 2022 Kindle, which also sells for $99, has never been priced that low since it was released. How does that make any sense?
The new Fire HD 8 tablet appears to be pretty much exactly the same as the last model, but it has 3GB of RAM now instead of 2GB. And the rear camera has been upgraded from 2MP to 5MP.
One thing I noticed is that Amazon is still calling it a 12th generation model on the product page, which is the same as the last model that came out in 2022. I wonder if the new 2024 Kindle will still be classified as an 11th gen model since the changes are so minor.
Amazon is touting new AI features on the Fire HD 8, but those features are supposed to be coming to other Fire tablets as well via software updates.
Well, at least Amazon is coming out with something new that can be used for reading Kindle ebooks, but we’ll have to keep on waiting for them to release any new Kindles for 2024.
Feels like Amazon has no idea where to go with Kindle to distinguish themselves on the market of e-readers… Especially given that Amazon is not holder of IP for Eink screens, so they have to deal with what’s available…
Interesting times, basically I wouldn’t put my spending into Amazon’s e-book store.
Nathan! This isn’t the new one, it’s the old HD Plus, minus the Plus in the name. Hence the 12th generation. There is a 13th gen Kindle w/64GB storage and 4GB RAM. It’s on sale for $84.99 and is available with five easy payments! Scroll down on the Fire page for options.
64GB of storage also gets an extra GB of RAM.
To me, that extra GB of RAM is worth an extra 30 bucks!
Okay, just ordered the 64GB version w/4GB Ram for my wife, will report back!
It might be essentially the same as the old HD Plus, but they’re calling it a new model with a 2024 release designation. The 64GB version with 4GB of RAM also shows as 12th gen. As far as I can tell only the Fire HD 10 and Max 11 are 13th gen.
I just wish they’d stop with the whole “generation” thing. In my mind, a Kindle and a Fire are two different – although similar – things, much like how a smartphone and a tablet are similar, yet different products. Seriously, who cares what “gen” your product is in their muddled line up?
When they keep reusing the same names over and over again, that’s about the only way to distinguish an old model from a newer one. That’s why it’s weird these new ones are listed as 12th gen models like the previous ones. Why is the Fire HD 10 listed as 13th gen when it was released last year? It doesn’t make sense…
Well I traded in 2 devices that I now longer use. And got a total of $57 off the price of the 64 gig version. It is worth it to get rid of two devices that i no longer use anyway. The only reason I use the fire tablet is for read Kindle books. Well actually using the text to speech option
Kindle devices can do TTS, they call it voiceview.
Yes but it is very clumsy, and hard to move around. I guess if I could memorize the code of how it works then it would be usable. But it isn’t usable to me.
3 and 4 gigabytes of RAM at the end of 2024 in an Android tablet released by Amazon. I just don’t know what to say.
I have a difficult time picturing Prime Days without all Kindle models available.
I got my new Fire HD8 today and it is much faster that my older HD8, I got the 64gig version.
I wish the Kindle Fire tablets had the following:
Higher ppi (260+) for a sharper screen
Matte screen with anti reflective, blue light protection and anti glare features
Faster Mediatek processor and better GPU
8GB RAM or more
Work out some deal with Google to add Google Play Services (stop this nonsense) to reduce the
Better speakers (Quad)
These features would make the Kindle Fire a great alternative to the Kindle if Amazon doesn’t wish to update the Kindle reading devices. Make the Kindle Fire better for media consumption. An improved device for reading, playing games, watching movies and listening to music. Even at $299-399 price, this would be a great Kindle Device for every consumer with features everyone could appreciate. Like Lord of the Rings, one ring (Kindle) to rule them all (Lol), instead of a device for this or a device for that (remove the confusion).