Amazon has expanded its Kindle products with its release of the new tablet, the Kindle Fire. This 7-inch LCD tablet is expected to be part of the buzz in popular requests this holiday season. With the move, Amazon jumps on board to compete alongside other companies with similar devices, such as the Apple iPad, Blackberry Playbook, and the Nook Tablet, traveling outside of its comfort zone to create a tablet that is much more than an e-reader.
The $199 touch-screen tablet is a 7.5-inch by 4.7-inch slab that’s .45 inches thick. It runs on Google’s operating system and has 8GB of storage, including the features of the Cloud. In addition to this, Amazon’s device also features the abilities to read e-books using Amazon’s popular Kindle software, download Android apps and games using Amazon’s Appstore, purchase music using Amazon’s MP3 store, and watch videos using Amazon’s video on-demand and download services. Software is limited to Amazon and their content, but there is still much to do.
Amazon’s cloud technology adds a key component to the Kindle Fire and its experience. Similar to Apple, Amazon will back up any digital media that is purchased and will serve it back down to you at your convenience. In addition to archiving your purchased content, Amazon’s Cloud Drive service offers another 5GB of storage any additional content you want to access. The Kindle Fire also comes with a unique Web browser called Silk for faster loading pages, as well as some predictive loading of sites that are often accessed.
However, in every new device, comes good and bad. The good? The screen quality, the large collection of digital services such as apps, music, games, videos, and books, the quick Web browser, the great Android app store that includes the must-have applications, and the affordable price of just under $200. The bad? The lack of premium features, limited storage (only 8GB), and the requirement to use Amazon Prime to take advantage of some of the better deals on the device. Amazon’s Kindle Fire is here to entertain, and many will take Amazon up on their offer.