Tablet wars: the Kindle Fire

For all the Kindle fans, you will be happy to hear the Kindle Fire has been confirmed and we are impressed.

The Kindle Fire is a 7 inch, high resolution tablet that is powered by a dual-core processor and is protected by an IPS gorilla glass display meaning it won’t smash every time you drop it. Amazon also states that the Kindle Fire can deliver 16 million colours in high resolution.

The downfall you may say is that it is running the Android 2.1 but Amazon has tweaked it so much that you won’t even recognise Android’s familiar faces.

Amazons own browser ‘Silk’ also has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. For example the ability to process web pages in the cloud for faster browsing, as well as the ability to learn how you use your browser allowing it to pre-load the pages you use most.

And no need to worry the Kindle Fire is also compatible with Facebook and Twitter.

Another cool feature that Amazon has included is a tablet optimised shopping app to make your Amazon shopping even easier. Within this shopping app there is ‘Amazon Prime’ which is an MP3 store with over 17 million songs as well as ‘Prime Instant Video’ that allows you to stream thousands of advert-free films and shows for free.

Amazon says that they have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to license content and have partnered up with some major US networks including Fox, NBC and CBS.

The Kindle Fire is a WIFI only device which is a little disappointing for this tablet but it does have a lot of great features that gives it some edge in the tablet market.

Obviously, the Kindle Fires list of features isn’t going to be able to compete with the iPad 2, but at its $200 price tag (which is half the price of the iPad 2) does make it quite an appealing tablet.Â

It is to be released in the US on the 15th of November but released dates and pricing have yet to be confirmed for the UK.

By Troy Stanley
Technical Director