Kindle Fire HD now available in the UK
£159 tablet gives Google's Nexus 7 its first real competition
Amazon’s 7in Kindle Fire HD tablet goes on sale in the UK today. Starting from £159, it’s the first real competition to Google’s Nexus 7 and looks like it could shake up the budget tablet market in the run up to Christmas.
The entry-level 16GB Kindle Fire HD has twice the capacity of the similarly-priced Nexus 7 and there will also be a 32GB model available for £199. It uses a capable-looking, dual-core TI OMAP4460 chipset running at 1.2GHz, which might not be as fast as the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 in the Nexus, but the differences shouldn’t be that noticeable.
It has a 1,280×800 IPS laminated display where the LCD segment and touch segments are bonded together to give better image quality – rather than having an air gap. Other major features include dual Wi-Fi antennas for 802.11n 5GHz support, quad stereo speakers and a purported eleven hour battery life.
As part of the launch, Amazon’s LoveFilm service is also launching today – with a subscription you’ll be able to rent films, sync playback positions between devices and create wish lists of what to watch later. Anyone buying a Kindle Fire HD will unlock a free month’s trial of the service.
“Kindle Fire HD is our most advanced 7” tablet and is already the bestselling product for Amazon worldwide”. Jorrit Van der Meulen, VP of Amazon’s EU Kindle division, said of the launch. “We’re excited that Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD are available to customers in the UK today.”
Amazon is also making its front-lit Kindle Paperwhite eReaders available for the first time today. The E-Ink display has a higher resolution than previous Kindles, and despite having an LED light for night time reading, it still promises an eought week battery life.
Both the Kindle Fire HD (£159 for 16GB or £199 for 32GB) and Kindle PaperWhite (£109 for Wi-FI or £169 for 3G) are available now from www.amazon.co.uk, as well as UK retailers including Carphone Warehouse, Comet, Currys, John Lewis, PC World, Rymans, Staples, Tesco and Waterstones.
There’s plenty more information on each of the new models on the Kindle website.