Here they are…the new Kindles!
I woke up more than an hour early this morning…just from the excitement of Amazon’s presser (press conference) scheduled for 10:30 AM Pacific!
Update: here is Amazon’s video of the entire press conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYi1jZXz9Kg&feature=g-all-u
I’m going to put the links for any new products right here, as soon as I can:
I want you to be able to see them right away, and I’ll add information to this post about them as I can.
- Kindle Fire HD 7″, Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, 16 GB
- Kindle Fire HD 8.9″, Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, 16 GB
- Kindle Paperwhite 3G, 6″ High Resolution Display with Built-in Light, Free 3G + Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers
- Kindle Paperwhite, 6″ High Resolution Display with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers
Here’s the first information:
- The Mindle goes to $69 from $79…right now
- New RSK (Reflective Screen Kindle) called Kindle Paperwhite, available for pre-order September 14 (ships October 1), $119 (or $179 with 3G). This is a frontlit device, with a different touch screen system, faster page turns…and it calculates your reading speed. Even with the light, battery life of eight weeks
- New same size Kindle Fire
- Fire HD 8.9″ with one front facing camera and HMDI out (you can hook it up to your TV). 41% faster than the iPad. $299 for the standard version.
- Fire HD 8.9″ with 4G…you can get 250MB of data a month from AT&T…for only $50 per year! That’s a very low cost data plan. Has 32GB hard drive. $499. Shipping November 20.
- The currently sold-out Kindle Fire is basically reborn for $159…and includes new features, including the “FreeTime” parental control, X-Ray for movies, audiobooks synced with sight-reading…yowza!
Released on September 14
This is all preliminary…I’ll update this.
Update: they also announced Kindle Serials…serialized fiction. I was suggesting that was a good thing some time ago.
X-Ray for movies: pause a movie, and find out about the actors in it.
It sounds like they are able to sync your position in an audiobook to a book you are sight-reading…that’s pretty amazing, if true.
Skype on the tablet, with a custom app for the front-facing camera.
Parental controls for the amount of time spent on different types of content…hm, something about multiple child profiles.
X-Ray for textbooks.
Game information stored in the Cloud…sounds like you might be able to move high scores and game progress from one device to another.
Bluetooth! Hello, physical keyboard!
Again, this is all preliminary…I’m not seeing the official stuff from Amazon yet, just skimming online sources. When I can link you to the real information, I will.
Update: here are the press releases:
- http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1732545&highlight= (Paperwhite)
- http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1732546&highlight= (Kindle Fire HD)
Update: note that the Paperwhite does not have audio…
Update: I have done a separate post comparing the currently available Kindles.
Update: Two of the 7″ Kindle Fires (the HD and the SD) are coming to Amazon.co.uk! That’s a big change!
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
September 6, 2012 at 7:40 pm |
I have been refreshing your page again and again since lunch hour, waiting to hear the news! Thanks for keeping up with the news for us!
September 6, 2012 at 8:01 pm |
You can pre-order the Paperwhite now!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007OZNZG0
September 6, 2012 at 8:14 pm |
Does the 7 ” hf have the camera and skype?
September 6, 2012 at 8:42 pm |
Here’s a departure–the Paperwhite does not have audio. And only 2 GB (1.25 available) memory. Guess since there is no audio, the extra memory is not needed from Amazon’s point-of-view.
September 6, 2012 at 8:49 pm |
I am seeing discussions in the kindle forum that point out the lack of audio in the specs for the new Paperwhite. Surely this must be a mistake! Can you verify?
September 6, 2012 at 10:24 pm |
Thanks for writing, Betty!
I can confirm, unfortunately…no audio for the Paperwhite.
September 6, 2012 at 8:51 pm |
Bufo, I am very excited about the new Fire! I have 3 Kindles (since the first one) and love them all. The one thing I have missed with my Fire is the 3G capability of my ‘keyboard ‘. Now with 4G and all of the other awesome features…. well… HEAVEN!!!!!
September 6, 2012 at 9:18 pm |
Exactly as I expected – frontlit, but touch only, no real buttons. I would love to have frontlit, I hate not having real buttons. I will stay with my Mindle.
Fire HD, is there finally a hardware volume control ?
Thank you for keeping the hype alive
September 6, 2012 at 9:27 pm |
I just preordered the kindle paper white wifi for $119. Today.
September 6, 2012 at 10:42 pm |
As a Kindle Touch Screen owner I noticed something odd in the Kindle E-reader Family on the Amazon website… the Kindle Touch is gone! Wonder why? Sure hope support will still be there.
September 6, 2012 at 11:20 pm |
Thanks for writing, John!
They still support the Kindle 1.
The Paperwhite effectively replaces the Touch…it is also a touchscreen, reflective device.
September 6, 2012 at 11:29 pm |
Thanks. There are info-tidbits here I hadn’t seen elsewhere.
No audio on the Touch? Squeezed out to make room, perhaps. Plus maybe they’ve surveyed customers and found that audio is not much used.
I’m pleased that ad-support is now standard. Otherwise the product lineup would be too cluttered. We can ignore banner ads on our computers. As long as those on the Kindle aren’t intrusive, they won’t hurt sales or the reader experience.
(This is one of the “edges” Amazon has over Apple—Apple won’t stoop, as it probably views it, to such a tactic—which is going to hurt them sales-wise.)
(Maybe users can opt out of the ads afterwards, if they make an additional payment. This would be a clever way to keep the product lineup simple and reduce the number of decisions a potential buyer has to make.)
Where’s the K4 (an upgraded keyboard model)? There are a hundred-plus software flaw-fixes & enhancements that could make it a much better value, leaving the Nook keyboard version in the dust. (But I guess their software team was busy working on these new models—or at least that they didn’t want to disturb their software “base” while they were building on it elsewhere.)
Kabo & Sony are now further behind.
You (Bufo) were right-er than I was when you said the announcement would be more about deals than doodads (my focus). But, even so, it’s as much about hardware as deals, so you were only 2/3 right. (Abhi, for instance, says the Kindle now outshines the Nexus 7, spec-wise. Its reign was brief!) Still, you did better than me. And I guess if you count pricing as being in the “deal” category, as one should, that ups your on-target %age to ¾. (But “wait till next year”!)
September 6, 2012 at 11:35 pm |
PS. They could have called the K4 the Kindle Four, to piggyback allusively on the Kindle Fire!
September 7, 2012 at 2:16 am |
No text to speech in the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kindle Fire HD is very disappointing!
September 7, 2012 at 3:54 am |
Thanks for writing, John!
I’m told that the Kindle Fire HD does have TTS, but I’m confirming what kind…
September 7, 2012 at 2:16 am |
I’m really disappointed about the lack of audio for the paperwhite, so if my Touch breaks, I will have to buy a Kindle Keyboard, to get the audio to listen to all my audible books, and use TTS. And do any of the new Fires have TTS for the books. I don’t see it anywhere. I know its even more important to you than it is to me. I prefer the audible interface on the Touch versus the Fire, and its lighter to go to the gym and to go walking with.