The Amazon Kindle Fire HD Thread

[MaCruz]

Amazon announces new Kindle Fire HD

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...1#.UEjqlSI-Fak

Amazon.com is firing up interest in its latest hardware at an event in Santa Monica, Calif., today. USA TODAY's Ed Baig is reporting from the scene.

Heavy speculation is that Amazon will unveil a new version of its popular 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet, and perhaps a larger-screen tablet as well. Amazon is also refreshing its Kindle eBook readers. First up in the event, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced Amazon a new Kindle called Kindle Paperwhite. It has a brighter, sharper front-lit screen. It will compete against the read-in-the-dark Barnes & Noble Nook with Glow Light.

Follow along with our latest updates here:

2:14 p.m. Amazon is upgrading Kindle Fire with a faster processor, 2x RAM, 40% faster and longer battery life. The price drops to $159 and it ships Sept. 14.

"We were happy last year to have the best tablet at a certain price. This year we want to have the best tablet at any price," Bezos says.

The result is Kindle Fire HD.

2:13 p.m. Bezos is talking about an Kindle Serials. You can buy once and receive all future episodes, automatically and seamlessly. Readers and authors can join the discussion.

First offerings will include Downwards Facing Death, a yoga murder mystery from Neal Pollack. All those books will be $1.99.

Amazon is also reissuing Dickens Pickwick Club and Oliver Twist to kick off Kindle Serials.

2:07 p.m. Bezos is reading rejection letters sent to Stephen King, Dr. Seuss and Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help. The latter sold over 10 million copies. Bezos asks, "Who are the creators we've never known." That is rejection letters sent before such authors struck it big.

It's a lead in to talk about Kindle Direct Publishing, which lets authors self-publish in hours, publish for free and keep their copyrights.

Amazon says that of the top 100 paid Kindle books, 27 are Kindle Direct Publishing books (KDP).

Bezos is showing a video featuring KDP authors.

2:04 p.m. Amazon said it is keeping the cheap $79 Kindle in the market but is improving it with new fonts. "And we're going to change it's name--now calling it the $69 Kindle, reflecting new price.

2:01 pm. Here's what you get.

It's $119 and ships today. Paperwhite with 3G costs $179 and ships Oct. 1

First-ever Paperwhite display

8week battery.

Light guide

Carry your library

Millions of books

Over 180,00 exclusive books

Lending library

XRay

Tiume to Read

Whispersync

Free storage in Amazon cloud

2 p.m. Bezos is showing off tiny fonts, yet the screen looks sharp. Couldn't have done it without this display, he says. And couldn't do a font like palontino properly without this resolution.

One new cool feature is called Time to Read. Tells you how many minutes are left in a chapter or how much time is left in a book. Kindle can detect your reading speed, and adjusts time accordingly. Very cool.

1:55 p.m. Bezos is showing another video with Kindle fans. It talks of new Kindle with an improved screen. It is a front lit device. Yes, this is Amazon's answer to the Nook with Glow Light from B&N.

It is called "Kindle paperwhite."

It will be perfect in bedroom, perfect in direct sunlight, Bezos say. "People are going to love the light and love the light so much they're going to leave it on all the time." It can get 8 weeks of battery life, even with the light on. You won't have to recharge paperwhite until Halloween.

It weighs 9.1mm or 7.5 ounces. It is thinner than a magazine, lighter than a paperback.

1:50 p.m. The event starts with a video, the TV commercial that aired during the NFL opener between the Giants and Cowboys last night.

Jeff Bezos comes on stage. "We love to invent. We love to pioneer. We even love to go down alleys that turn out to be blind alleys. Every once in a while those blind alleys open up to a broad avenue--and that's really fun."

He is now reading an email from an Amazon fan who says, "You keep adding more, but not charging more. So, thanks again for all the additions." Bezos says "we live for email like this."

Kindle Fire is a service, Bezos says. What does that mean. It greets you by name, prelaods content, buy once, enjoy everywhere in big ecosystem, keeps your place and keeps all your content in Amazon cloud backed up, worry free.

Our service, he says, includes 180,000 books exclusive to Kindle Store.

Includes Kindle owners lending library. No due dates. Never waiting list.

Includes all seven Harry Potter books in several languages.

25,000 movies on Prime with Epix added two days ago.

Hardware is a critical part of the service, he says.

1:25 p.m. I'm sitting in an airplane hanger at Santa Monica Airport, venue for Amazon.com's media gathering. The room is crowded with journalists and analysts but there are far fewer in attendance than you typically see at an Apple event. I even see empty seats. I don't detect the frenzied anticipation that you often feel at Apple media events. Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos is expected on stage shortly.

See photos of: Amazon.com