3 new Kindles and a tablet
Well, I have to say, I was pretty close in my predictions. 🙂
I still have to go through these thoroughly, but here are the new devices announced by Amazon today:
Kindle ($79) (without special offers: $109)
Amazon has done their normal thing of calling the latest 6″ Kindle just the Kindle. This one does not have a touchscreen, has less memory than the Kindle 3…it’s entry level. It doesn’t appear to have audio capability, but I need to check that more later.
Kinde Touch ($99) (without special offers: $139) (wi-fi)
Kindle Touch 3G ($149) (without special offers: $189) (wi-fi &3G)
Kindle Fire ($199)
This is the tablet…movies, Angry Birds, and more. I’ve ordered mine…it’s being released November 15…I did one day shipping, so I should have it November 16.
Oh, and your Kindle 3? It’s now called the “Kindle Keyboard”. 🙂
Update:
I’ve prepared a table with some comparisons. I dont have the Kindle Fire on this…but I’ll add data about that.
| Kindle | Touch | Touch 3g | Keyboard | Keyboard 3g | KDX | |
| Price* | 79/109 | 99/139 | 149/189 | 99/139 | 139/189 | 379 |
| Release | 9/28/11 | 11/21/11 | 11/21/11 | 8/25/10 | 8/25/10 | 5/6/09 |
| Screen | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 9.7 |
| Height | 6.5 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 10.4 |
| Width | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 7.2 |
| Depth | 0.34 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.34 | 0.34 | 0.38 |
| Weight | 5.98 | 7.5 | 7.8 | 8.5 | 8.7 | 18.9 |
| Books | 1400 | 3000 | 3000 | 3500 | 3500 | 3500 |
| Storage | 2gb | 4gb | 4gb | 4gb | 4gb | 4gb |
| Available | 1.25gb | 3gb | 3gb | 3gb | 3gb | 3.3gb |
| Battery | 1m | 2m | 2m | 2m | 2m | 3w |
| To charge | 3h | 4h | 4h | 4.5h | 4.5m | 4.5h |
| Adaptor | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Wi-Fi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 3G | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Interface | 5-way | Touch | Touch | Keys | Keys | Keys |
| X-ray | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| TTS | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MP3s | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Update: the above table was updated when we had inadvertently indicated that the Kindle Keyboard line had the new X-Ray feature. Thanks to the readers who pointed that out…I had copied the answer too far over.
This post by Bufo Calvin appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
September 28, 2011 at 5:13 pm |
The $79 K does NOT support text to speech. All of the others do. I ordered a $99 Touch and a Fire. If you need me for anything I’ll be standing out by the mailbox watching for brown trucks.
September 29, 2011 at 1:58 am |
Not so sure about TTS on Fire. I certainly hope it will be there, but it’s not listed as one of the Fire features. Or if not, hopefully it is something they can add later on for Kindle reader app. There are some good TTS engines for Android, better than what Kindle comes with (Nuance). It would be a shame not to be able to leverage them.
September 29, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Thanks for writing, Tom!
I haven’t heard a TTS that I liked better than Vocalizer (the one on the K3 from Nuance), but I’ll admit to not having sampled too many. There are 32 apps found when I search for “text to speech” in the Amazon app store, and it may be compatible with screen readers. Just too soon to tell, I’m afraid.
September 29, 2011 at 7:18 pm |
Thanks for writing, Harold!
Yep…that’s the biggest negative to me of the Mindle…no text-to-speech.
I assume you’ll be reading your Kindle while you are waiting…once you get your Fire, you may need to carry an umbrella for outside use. 🙂 Just kidding, I don’t know how it will look in the sun.
September 28, 2011 at 5:23 pm |
It is amazing what they can do in less than a yr. I received my Kindle 3G/wifi last Christmas and it was $189. The Fire is $199 and I am very tempted to place an order but may wait for the 2nd generation as I don’t really “need” a tablet. 🙂
September 29, 2011 at 7:16 pm |
Thanks for writing, JoAnna!
Hey, you could get five Mindles for the original cost of the K1…and that wasn’t even four years ago yet. Pretty soon, we’ll be giving them out as party favors for kids’ birthdays. 😉
September 28, 2011 at 5:30 pm |
It appears that connectivity is WiFi only, so I guess that means those of us without WiFi are left sitting in the dust!
September 29, 2011 at 7:14 pm |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
You can always try
http://www.openwifispots.com
to see what’s around you.
Are you saying, “Where there’s dust, there’s fire?” That doesn’t sound quite right. 😉
September 28, 2011 at 6:15 pm |
I also ordered the Kindle Fire with an estimated delivery date of November 16th! I was glued to my PC this morning hitting the refresh button until the pre-order link started working. I have an iPad 2 but don’t really use it much due to the heaviness factor. I think the Kindle Fire’s going to be perfect. Plus, it’s already integrated into everything Amazon from the get-go. What’s not to love!
September 29, 2011 at 7:13 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jamie!
I like your enthusiasm! 🙂 I’ll be interested in your opinion of it…
September 28, 2011 at 6:19 pm |
FYI:You might be interested in this, which explains why the Fire is not much like the ipad in many ways. Seems to me the ipad would suit you more since you’re such a techie and might use it for work. Fire is very limited. Not for me but for many others as explained here. Would like your responses to this.http://ipad.about.com/b/2011/09/28/kindle-fire-vs-ipad-5-reasons-why-amazons-tablet-is-no-ipad-killer.htm
September 29, 2011 at 7:12 pm |
Thanks for writing, Alan!
I’ve never really understood any of those “Fill-in-the-Blank Killer” ideas. Remember when the iPad (before it was even called that) was supposed to be the “Kindle Killer’? 🙂 The article you reference is comparing the Kindle to the iPad, and essentially saying it doesn’t measure up in key areas. That’s fine…if those are your key areas for this device. I wouldn’t want people to get the Fire thinking it would be a working tool. It’s clearly designed for fun…and I think it will deliver that. Maybe it’s not going to be your MMORPG platform (or Red Dead Redemption, for that matter), but for a lot of people, music, movies, TV, Web, and Angry Birds is enough. 🙂 We have to see the implementation….it has to be easy to use. I suppose we could go back a few decades and compare the Walkman to the High Fidelity systems people had at the time. I’m sure there were analysts who said the Walkman would never succeed because it didn’t have the sound quality of those Hi-Fi sets. There was market room for both.
I think it’s more the media that wants to make that a fight…I’m not sure a consumer who would lay out the money for an iPad and data plan is going to back up and consider the little Fire. People who haven’t been quite convinced by the iPad, though, might get the Fire.
My basic response is that I don’t think I would be able to use the Fire to do everything I do for work (although it might do some of the things). I can’t get past the Agency Model yet and embrace Apple products. That means I got an Android phone, which I love…and compares very favorably to my offspring’s early gen iPhone.
September 28, 2011 at 6:28 pm |
I’ve preordered both the Fire and the Touch 3g – I couldn’t resist! It sounds like they’ve thought about how to do touch intelligently so that you can hold the device with one hand – no swiping to change the page. So I have to check it out!
September 29, 2011 at 6:54 pm |
Thanks for writing, Sherri!
They don’t talk about it much, but the NOOk Simple Touch does have “page turn” buttons on the edges, I believe. 🙂
I’ll look forward to hearing your feedback…we can compare our experiences (although I went with the wi-fi rather than 3G Touch).
September 28, 2011 at 6:29 pm |
Note that all the Kindles are being offered both ad supported and not for $30 – $50 more (depending on the version).
September 29, 2011 at 6:53 pm |
Thanks for writing, D.!
I appreciate you pointing that out. I’ve updated my posts since yesterday. 🙂
September 28, 2011 at 6:55 pm |
I ordered a Fire and I’m not even sure why!! I think maybe it will go to the wife for Christmas. I would need 3G for it to be worthwhile to me (very disappointed it’s wi-fi only), but for her, at home, it should work well. Got to get her off the 5 year old laptop and AOL at some point!!!
September 29, 2011 at 6:52 pm |
Thanks for writing, Dave!
Hey, nothing wrong with those old steam-powered laptops. 😉
September 28, 2011 at 8:10 pm |
Happy, Bufo?
I hope so!
Know you when K4 (touch or Fire) will be available in other countries?
September 29, 2011 at 6:51 pm |
Thanks for writing, Magno!
No word yet…there would be rights issues to resolve, since so much of it is streaming for the Fire. There may be rights issues involved with the X-Ray feature on the Touch, but I’m not sure.
September 28, 2011 at 8:19 pm |
After all the hype by so-called “analysts” and “industry experts”, I’m glad to see Bezos is sticking to his strengths. The Fire clearly doesn’t compete with the iPad. Instead, he’s directly taking on the Nook. The Fire also competes, though less so, with the other Android tablets. But it’s mainly a reader.
One could say that there have been touchscreen eInk readers, and color readers, for many months now…so Amazon is not doing anything new. True enough. But like Apple, people do trust Amazon, and these several releases today are much needed and will do well…just not at the iPad’s expense.
September 28, 2011 at 8:38 pm |
Thanks for writing, Bob!
Yep…I think I had people laughing at me when I was suggesting Amazon would introduce reflective devices along with a tablet at today’s event.
I’d disagree with you a bit: the Kindle Fire looks like it is primarily a media player: e-books, videos, games, apps, web. It doesn’t appear to be intended as a creator, but a player. I’d guess it isn’t used primarily for reading.
September 28, 2011 at 10:24 pm |
I have a K3 and ipad 1. Ordered the Fire just to get in line but may cancel .Why do I need it? Bufo,why do you want it? Thought you were looking for a tablet and this isn’t much of a tablet according to the article I posted above. Thought you were mainly a reader and the back-lit screen ain’t for long term reading.
September 29, 2011 at 6:50 pm |
Thanks for writing, alan!
I’m a reader, certainly, but I’m also a data junkie…I’m not too particular as to form. 🙂 I’m hoping I’ll be able to type (or speech to text) reasonably o it, so I can blog on the road more easily (ideally, also be able to compose offline, when I’m away from wi-fi). I also do listen to music, and watch TV & Movies. I use some apps but I don’t game much. I do have a gap now…I am often places (at work and away) where I can’t use a laptop…and my SmartPhone is too small to use for documenting or writing. My Kindle is too clunky for writing like I do for the blog. I would still expect to use a reflective screen for long form reading.
I’d also be looking at a more full-featured tablet when they release one.
September 28, 2011 at 11:22 pm |
Bufo: do you know whether the Fire will be able to read extended ebooks? (apparently there’s a kobo ap that’s available for it)
September 29, 2011 at 6:43 pm |
Thanks for writing, Becca!
I haven’t seen any information on that for sure yet…I would hope so. 🙂
September 29, 2011 at 12:27 am |
Here’s a pretty decent early review – http://www.pcworld.com/article/240801/amazon_kindle_fire_first_impressions_solid_but_limited.html – she’s unhappy with the small memory (8GB) and with the readability, but very happy with the price and the built-in storefronts for accessing content.
September 29, 2011 at 5:05 am |
I’m not sure the keyboard kindles have the XRAY feature (nor the 4.01 software version for that matter). Couldn’t find any info on this.
Bought a KFire within 1 minute of conclusion of press event: ship date Nov 15.
September 29, 2011 at 6:34 pm |
Thanks for writing, Edward!
I’d made a mistake on the X-Ray being on the Keyboards…I’ve corrected it. Just a copying error…I extended the range too far in Excel and didn’t realize it.
September 29, 2011 at 12:19 pm |
This is the first time I’ve seen someone claim that our Kindle Keyboards will have XRAY, though I’d be delighted. Seems like it would be software based, so very possible. By the way, I’m guessing that you meant the Keyboard 3G was released on 8/25/10 rather than 8/35/10. I, too, kept hitting the refresh page until the Fire showed up to pre-order. It’s a great price point. I don’t imagine it will primarily be used as a reader (certainly not here) but for the kind of light entertainment for which it’s optimized, as well as occasional reading. For that, I imagine myself using it more for things like cookbooks, magazines, and children’s books (I have my first grandchild on the way!)
September 29, 2011 at 4:54 pm |
Thanks for writing, Denise!
Thanks for calling that to my attention. I always appreciate it when people take the time to do that. I’ve already corrected that and apologized for it…it was actually a copying error. I just dragged the “yes” over too far in Excel without realizing it. You may not see the updated version if you are reading it on a Kindle until the next time the blog downloads.
I’ll fix the date…gee, I’ve had some wonderful times on the 35th of August, though. 😉
Congratulations on the grandchild! I think they are born knowing how to use a tablet, now… 🙂
September 30, 2011 at 12:47 am |
>>Are you saying, “Where there’s dust, there’s fire?” That doesn’t sound quite right.
LOL! No, just feeling left in a cloud of dust by the stampede of folks rushing to order the “fire.” There are a few local WiFi spots that I use with my Kindle 3 like the laundromat where I’m having to go until the replacement part for my washer arrives. But my K3 also has G3. I think it would be a real bummer to be snowed in or otherwise unable to leave the house for awhile with a device that can only download fresh content away from home.
September 30, 2011 at 12:55 am |
Thanks for writing, Lady!
Well, Jeff Bezos was in a crowded theatre when he yelled “(Kindle) Fire!” You know what a stampede that can cause… 😉
I have wi-fi at home…I think it will even run for a while on battery.
October 1, 2011 at 7:30 pm |
I have not seen mentioned that the new touches are actually $10 more expensive than they seem, as they, unlike the K3 (or the Kkeyboard), do not come with a power adapter ($10).
I think I’ll buy a refurbished K3G3 the next time I see one. Most of the time I’m very content with my K3wifi.
October 1, 2011 at 9:59 pm |
Thanks for writing, Tony!
Well, you don’t actually need that power adapter…they charge through the USB. You can do everything you need to with the Kindle without buying the adapter…which makes it more of an accessory.