Amazon’s newest tablet, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9, starts shipping today. At $299 (for the WiFi version), you get a 8.9″ 1920×1200 display (with 254ppi), TI OMAP4470 dual-core processor, dual stereo Dolby Digital Plus audio speakers, a front facing camera for video chatting, and easy access to all of Amazon’s content.

If a WiFi-only model doesn’t fulfill your needs, then you may want to consider the 4G LTE equipped 8.9. It starts at $499, but more importantly, gives you the opportunity to purchase a $49 year-long data package. Amazon partnered with AT&T to offer this one-of-a-kind data deal. The 4G LTE model ships next week.

Amazon Links:  Fire HD 8.9 w/ WiFi ($299) | Fire HD 8.9 w/ 4G LTE ($499)

Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Starts Shipping Today for $299, in Stores Tomorrow is a post from: Droid Life

Ever since the original Kindle Fire was released last year there has been some controversy about whether or not to consider Amazon’s tablets to be Android tablets. While Amazon has always admitted that the products run a forked version of Android and Android apps, the Android community was quick to distance themselves from the product despite its record sales. While Amazon likes to talk about Fire apps and doesn’t talk about the version of Android running underneath the Fire interface in any of their official documentation, I believe the Kindle Fire should be considered an Android tablet.

The first reason the Kindle Fires should be considered Android tablets is that they run Android. This may seem a bit obvious, but hear me out. Many Android enthusiasts want to discount the Fire because the interface it runs is so wildly different than stock Android. Since the interface on HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola, and Sony products are also very different from stock Android, should we not consider them Android? Did anyone ever accuse the Nook of not being an Android tablet? Yes, the Fires run a forked version of Android, but it is still Android.

The second reason that the Kindle Fires should be considered Android tablets is that they run Android apps. While the Kindle Fire lacks access to the Play Store, every Fire that has been released has been rooted and therefore able to install the Play Store. Even if a Fire isn’t rooted, every app that is available in Amazon’s Appstore is an Android app.

The argument might be made that Linux can run Windows applications with Wine, but no one would call Linux Windows. While that is true, no one would say that the applications that come preloaded with Ubuntu, a more popular Linux distribution, are Windows applications. Perhaps most importantly, applications designed for Linux don’t run on Windows machines without a virtual machine to run Linux on top of Windows. Applications that run on the Kindle Fire will run on other Android tablets and vice versa. The Linux/Windows comparison is clever, but ultimately inaccurate.

The third, and certainly most meta reason, to consider the Kindle Fires to be Android tablets is that Amazon is to date the most successful Android tablet manufacturer. As of the time of this writing Google has not released sales or activation numbers for the Nexus 7. While I hope it has out-performed the Fires, at this point the only numbers we have are that the Fire has 22% of the tablet market. That is a huge chunk of the market when you remember that Apple has 68%. About 1 out of every 5 tablet owners have a Kindle Fire based on the latest numbers we have. As difficult as it may be to admit, the Kindle Fire did what no other Android tablet maker was able to do: gain significant market share in the market.

I think a lot of Android enthusiasts’ antagonism towards the Kindle Fire stems from two issues: Amazon has changed the way that Android looks and works on the Fire, and Amazon was successful. It didn’t bother anyone to call the Nook Color and Nook Tablet Android tablets because they came before Honeycomb was released (and shortly after the original Galaxy Tab was released). When Amazon was successful with a forked version of Android while other tablets like the Xoom and Galaxy Tab failed in the market, I think many Android enthusiasts turned against Amazon. We know how powerful and useful Android is, but the only products that have been successful in the market have been Amazon’s forked version. That is not the Android we want to see succeed, so we want to discount the Fire.

I really want Google to succeed in the tablet space, but I have to admit that Amazon got there first. Hopefully Google has been able to play catch up with the Nexus 7 and will be able to compete with the Fire HDs, iPad, and Surface with the rumored Nexus 10. Even though I want Google to do better than Amazon, however, I have to admit that Amazon beat Google to the punch and was successful in the market with an Android tablet before anyone else. We may not like what Amazon is doing with Android, but that doesn’t mean the Fires aren’t Android tablets.

Three Reasons Why the Kindle Fires Should Be Considered Android Tablets [Opinion] is a post from: Droid Life

The brand new Kindle Fire HD 7″ and the 2nd generation Kindle Fire are now available. Announced last week at an event in Los Angeles, Amazon initially only opened up pre-orders for these two devices with a launch date of September 14. Since it’s now September 14, the switch appears to have been flipped, with pre-orders becoming a thing of the past. If you don’t feel like waiting for the Fire HD 8.9″ or Paperwhite, then hit up the links below and get to ordering.

At $199 for the 7″ HD model, you are looking at one of the better deals in all of tech. Amazon’s UI may take some getting used to if you are coming from a traditional Android device, but that screen, new WiFi tech, Whispersync, and Amazon ecosystem are tough to deny.

Link:  Kindle Fire HD 7″ WiFi (16GB for $199, 32GB for $249) - Available September 14

Link:  Kindle Fire 2 WiFi (8GB for $159) – Available September 14

Kindle Fire HD 7″ and 2nd Generation Kindle Fire Available Now is a post from: Droid Life

Since yesterday’s Amazon event wasn’t streamed live, most of you participated in our live blog (which Ron did an amazing job during). If you missed that or simply want to go back and catch every single detail that Jeff Bezos belted out about the new Kindle Fire HD models, the Paperwhite, and all of their new software enhancements, then Amazon has gone ahead and uploaded the entire thing to YouTube for you to watch. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video: Watch the Entire Amazon Kindle Fire HD Event is a post from: Droid Life

As more hands-on time is being spent with the newest Android-powered Kindle Fire tablets from Amazon, we’re learning much more about how Amazon is able to sell the hardware for so cheap. The newest piece of info we’ve learned, whether you think is good or bad, is that all three of the new Kindle Fires (Fire, HD7, HD8.9) will be ad-supported. Much like on the older e-reader from last year, Amazon will display “special offers” on the lockscreen of the device while it is not in use. 

Although the idea of ads being on a device you paid for may seem a tad ridiculous, keep in mind that Amazon is selling these tablets at an extremely low price point. It’s reported that the ads won’t be very intrusive or spammy. More than likely, they will range from sales on books and movies or other content that Amazon offers.

Note: According to a response from Amazon’s customer support team, Engadget was able to snag the following tidbit, ensuring us that there will be a future announcement explaining how to opt out of the offers. Excellent.

“Special Offers appear directly on your Kindle Fire. Offers appear on your lock screen, and you can also view offers from the Home screen by tapping Offers. By delivering these offers to your Kindle Fire, Amazon is able to sell it for a lower price.

“I understand that you would like to opt out of the special offer and willing to pay extra for opting out special offer. Options for unsubscribing special offer will be announced soon.

“To ensure the utmost attention, I’ve also passed your message on to the appropriate people in our company. We value customer feedback such as yours as it helps us continue to improve the service and selection we provide.”

Update 2: According to new reports out of CNET, Amazon has confirmed that the sponsored ads are there to stay and are non-removable. End of story. Sorry, folks.

You okay with the idea of an ad-supported device?

Via: The Verge

Entirety of Amazon’s New Kindle Fire Lineup Is Ad-Supported (Update) is a post from: Droid Life

After today’s announcements I got to spend a little time playing with the new 7 inch Kindle Fire HD. Amazon has upped their game by releasing an updating Kindle Fire, and more importantly, two Kindle Fire HDs. Read on for my first impressions of the Kindle Fire HD.

While Amazon says they’ve made some major improvements to the Kindle Fire, I didn’t see a lot of improvements in the UI or the response time. The UI itself is almost identical to the original Fire, including the consistent presence of lag from the home screen. Jumping between sections like Books or Videos takes a few seconds, making the overall experience feel cheap. It’s possible that the 8.9 inch version of the Kindle Fire HD will perform better, but there isn’t much of a difference between the processors in each model (the 7 inch model runs the TI OMAP 4460 while the 8.9 inch model runs the 4470).

One big improvement over the previous Kindle Fire is the screen. Bezos wasn’t exaggerating when he noted the crispness and clarity of the display. While there was a noticeable amount of glare, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for a tablet device.

According to Amazon Kindle Vice President Dave Limp, the Fire HD lineup is running a heavily customized version of Android 4.o. While he didn’t mention specific numbers, Limp confirmed that Amazon does indeed make a profit on Kindle hardware (though that profit must be minuscule).

Amazon made it clear in the event today that they’re competing with Apple now with the Kindle Fire HD. This is a big step for Amazon. Competing in the low end doesn’t carry nearly as many risks as competing in the high end, something Google and its partners have learned the hard way. It’s possible that Amazon will be able to take more of the tablet market with their low price points and the attractive new data plan, but that sort of achievement will probably require a much better performing device than the one I saw today.

Seven Inch Kindle Fire HD: First Impressions is a post from: Droid Life

If you were impressed by today’s Kindle announcements, then it’s time to place your order. Most are available starting September 14, with the Kindle Fire HD models coming a bit later on November 20. Why not pre-order, though?

Kindle Fire Family

Link:  Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ 4G LTE (32GB for $499, 64GB for $599) – Available November 20

Link:  Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ WiFi (16GB for $299, 32GB for $369) - Available November 20

Link:  Kindle Fire HD 7″ WiFi (16GB for $199, 32GB for $249) - Available September 14

Link:  Kindle Fire 2 WiFi (8GB for $159) – Available September 14

Kindle Paperwhite

Link:  Paperwhite 3G ($179) – Available October 1

Link:  Paperwhite WiFi ($119) – Available October 1

Kindle Fire HD (All Sizes), Kindle Fire 2, and Kindle Paperwhite Available for Purchase Now is a post from: Droid Life

Amazon finally posted all of the press images of the new Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD, so we wanted to share. This will give you the cleanest looks of these new devices that you have seen yet. You can see the hefty bezel for easy handling, the HD camera front and center, and the slightly tweaked form factors between the three. 

Kindle Fire HD 8.9″

Kindle Fire HD 7″

Kindle Fire 2

Gallery: Kindle Fire HD 8.9, Kindle Fire HD 7, and Kindle Fire 2 is a post from: Droid Life

Amazon just announced the new Kindle Fire for $159, plus the Kindle Fire HD, at their event in Los Angeles.

The new Kindle Fire still rocks a 7″ display, has a new faster processor, double the RAM, 40% faster performance, and longer battery life. It ships on September 14.

The Kindle Fire HD comes with either a 7″ or 8.9″ display with 254ppi, and a 1920×1200 resolution. It’s 8.8mm thick, runs an OMAP4 4470 processor, at least 16GB of storage, HD front facing camera, dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus sound, HDMI out, Bluetooth, and dual band WiFi.

The 7″ HD model with 16GB will be priced at $199 an ships September 14. The 8.9″ HD with 16GB will be priced at $299 and ships November 20. There will also be a 32GB version with 4G LTE connectivity (10 bands) for $499. The interesting part about this, is that they you can spend $50 for the year and get 250MB of data to use each month, plus 20GB of cloud storage and a $10 Appstore credit. As Ron so eloquently put it in the live blog, that’s “bonkers.”

On the software side of things, Amazon built in WhisperSync, which allows you to switch between reading a book and listening to it. It will save your spot, so that you can pick up where you left off. Same thing  for games. Say you play 30 levels on one game and then switch devices. WhisperSync will pull from the Amazon Cloud which stores your game progress, so that you can continue playing without having to start over.

They also tossed in a custom Skype app and a custom Facebook app.

To follow all of the details as they come out, be sure to tune into our live blog.

Amazon Announces the New Kindle Fire for $159, Plus the Kindle Fire HD in Two Sizes Starting at $199 is a post from: Droid Life

The wild first week of September continues today, with Amazon up as the next tech giant to announce something big. We are expecting it to be a new Kindle Fire (or two), along with a new e-Reader and potentially, a phone. The phone part is completely a mystery and may not happen, but the new Kindle Fire is most definitely coming. After all, Amazon announced that they had sold out of the original, so they will need something to fill that void.

From what we can tell, there is no live stream of the event. Our man Ron is on the scene though, so we’ll have a live blog and as much coverage as we can bring you. Ready for the new Kindles?  

Live From Amazon’s Kindle Fire Event is a post from: Droid Life

According to multiple sources that spoke to The Verge, Amazon may unveil its first ever smartphone alongside its new Kindle Fire at an event tomorrow. Their sources claim that the smartphone will run a forked version of Android, similar to what the Kindle Fire runs, however, it may be based off of Ice Cream Sandwich this time around, rather than Gingerbread. “Forked” means that it won’t carry any of Google’s suite of apps, so in place of Google Maps for instance, Amazon will go with Nokia Maps. They are also claiming that this device is unfinished, so if it is on display tomorrow, Amazon may be short on details. 

With Apple on the verge of unveiling their new iPhone, Motorola unveiling 3 today, Nokia dropping new Lumias this morning, and HTC getting ready for something as well, it would make sense for Amazon to at least let their massive customer base know that they have something in the works. After the success of the Kindle Fire, you can imagine that there is a market for a smartphone made by them, especially if it is is unlocked and falls in at an incredibly reasonable price.

Ron will be in attendance tomorrow to bring us the goods.

Would a smartphone powered by Amazon’s UI interest you?

Via:  The Verge

Rumor: Amazon to Unveil First Smartphone at Tomorrow’s Kindle Event is a post from: Droid Life

We are only 4 days into September and a number of the biggest tech companies in the world have announced press events where they are expected to announce their latest game changing products. Motorola is up tomorrow to finally unveil the RAZR HD and RAZR M, followed by Nokia and their first Windows 8 phones. Then Amazon will take the stage Thursday to show off the new Kindle Fire. Next week, Apple will drop the iPhone 5, with HTC showing off their new goodies on September 19. It should be the most exciting month of the year for tech enthusiasts. We get new Android, Apple, Amazon, and Windows products all at the same time. If you had been saving up for your next gadget buy, you are about to be overwhelmed with choices.

Which are you most looking forward to? Moto’s first HD phone on Verizon? HTC potentially announcing a 1080p phone? The new Kindle Fire that will go head-to-head with the Nexus 7? Or maybe Apple’s new i*hone?

Tuesday Poll: September Tech Announcement You are Most Excited About? is a post from: Droid Life

You may be looking at the brand new Kindle Fire. According to a report out of The Verge, this is the device (or one of) that Amazon will unveil next Thursday. There aren’t many details to accompany the image above, but you can see that the custom Amazon skin is present and that a front camera is housed at the top. Other than those two things, the rest is a mystery.

It’s probably safe to assume that even if they do deliver both 7″ and 10″ tablets, that they’ll remain at reasonable price levels. Now that the original Kindle Fire is sold out, Amazon is going to have to fill the $199 space in the tablet industry that they created. The real question then becomes, “How much will they charge for a larger model?” Any guesses?

Via:  The Verge

Is This the New Kindle Fire? is a post from: Droid Life

This morning, Amazon announced that their Kindle Fire tablet holds a massive 22% of the U.S. tablet market share and that the Fire is now completely sold out. Bummer. But don’t worry, Amazon has a press conference set for September 6, which more than likely, will be to unveil their newest Kindle lineup. Amazon’s CEO certainly seems excited about their future offerings:

Kindle Fire is sold out, but we have an exciting roadmap ahead—we will continue to offer our customers the best hardware, the best prices, the best customer service, the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best content ecosystem.

The Kindle Fire was released less than a year ago. To come out as the #1 selling Android tablet and to hold a big stake in the entire U.S. market is quite impressive. There’s no doubt that Amazon’s next offering(s) will surely live up to high expectations.

Via: Amazon

Amazon’s Kindle Fire Completely Sold Out, Holds 22% of US Tablet Market is a post from: Droid Life

On Thursday, September 6, Amazon is holding a press event to introduce something. The invite itself doesn’t give off any hints, but with the rumors of new Kindle tablets on the horizon, one would guess that we may get a new slate or two. Could we see a 10″ device or will it be a beefed up 7-incher to battle the Nexus 7? Tough to tell, but we’ll be there to bring it to you.

Amazon Holding Press Event on September 6, New Kindles Incoming? is a post from: Droid Life