Amazon has just announced this year’s updates to their Kindle Fire tablet line-up with the 7″ and 8.9″ versions of the Kindle Fire HDX as well as a cheap redesign of the 7″ Kindle Fire HD. Both new tablets come with some really impressive specs, while the old 7″ model touches a price unheard of before for a tablet of such quality. All three of them come with Fire OS 3.0 aka “Mojito”.
The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9
The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 comes with a stunning 2560×1600 resolution display (339PPI), a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.2Ghz with 2GB of RAM and an 8 MP rear-facing camera. It is also 34% lighter than the previous model and features a new angular design. Its price starts at $379 for the 16GB model.
The Kindle Fire HDX 7
The HDX 7 is quite similar to its bigger brother, only swapping out the display for an equally impressive 7″ 1920×1200 display with a pixel density of 323PPI. Also, unlike the 8.9″ version, the Kindle Fire HDX 7 does not offer a rear-facing camera. It starts at $229 for the 16GB model.
The Kindle Fire HD 7
The Kindle Fire HD 7 also takes advantage of the new design language of the HDX line, with the redesigned chassis. The internals remain similar though, with a 1280×800 display with 1GB of RAM and a faster dual core 1.5GhZ processor. Where it differentiates is the price, with the 8GB model coming in at just $139.
Fire OS 3.0, “Mojito”
Fire OS 3.0 retains most of the design language of the previous versions of the Fire OS. It adds in a more conventional “grid” view of apps as well as multitasking support. Other improvements include updated email, calendar and office apps, more X-Ray functionality with Amazon content as well as a virtual support service called Mayday. Both new HDX tablets will include a Mayday button which would allow an Amazon customer service exec to take control of your device and solve any problems you might be experiencing. You can take a look at the feature in Amazon’s TV spot above.
P.S. Amazon has also introduced “origami” covers for each of the new Kindle Fire models. They look pretty darn funky in our opinion.
