Back in the fall of 2011 Amazon released its newest innovation to the tech world, the Kindle Fire. In doing this, Amazon itself became a new player in the tablet market.

The Kindle Fire has a dual-core processor, free cloud storage courtesy of Amazon, and access to millions of shows, movies, and books from Amazon’s large database. The Kindle Fire has everything a good tablet should have, but for me there is something missing. While the Fire has been a success thus far, it still seems subpar to other major tablets such as the iPad and the Asus Transformer.

Amazon Kindle Fire Screen Size:

In my opinion, the major downfall does not come in the OS, it is in the screen size. The screen of the Kindle Fire is a 7” multitouch display, comparable to the size of the Blackberry Playbook, but not the more successful iPad. If a tablet wants to become a major threat in the industry, it needs to have the option of having a larger screen such as the iPad’s or Transformer’s. Many people sought for a larger sized Fire. When Amazon was questioned about a possible 10” Fire they said, “Stay tuned”.

Ever since that comment, rumors have been flying all over the tech community. Rumors have it that Amazon will be launching a 10” Kindle Fire in their second quarter, specifically this summer. What does this mean? It means that Amazon would then be in competition with Apple’s iPad and the likes of the Asus Transformer. With a larger screen and Amazon’s outstanding support for the device, the Fire would be put in the elite tablet category. The Kindle Fire already has the media, hardware, and support to compete with the big dogs, all it needs now is the screen. Amazon Kindle Fire 10”, summer 2012?

Well the first Kindle fire is only a few months old, but reports are emerging that the next incarnation of the popular iPad alternative (though not on specs) is due a facelift, so when will it arrive and what will make it a version 2 tablet?

Well many believe that Amazon rushed the release of the Kindle Fire 1, using a Quanta off the shelf Playbook design. They did this to get their tablet out prior to the Xmas break and cash in on all those visitors to Amazon just as they have done with the Kindle.

This worked out well for Amazon as they sold 6 million of the first gen tablets in little over 2 months.

Amazon took a loss of $50 per tablet:

Quanta charge Amazon $250 per unit and Amazon then sell the Kindle Fire for $200, but they have made up this loss as expected with sales of digital assets like movies, apps, and music.

The real Kindle Fire to arrive in June:

Many see this first run of fire’s as just that, a test drive of a decent enough tablet that could satisfy a general population, not the best on the market, but functional, minus a few things such as bluetooth, a dedicated volume control, and a Micro SD slot.

So who will manufacture anew Kindle Fore?

Bye bye Quanta hello Foxconn:

It appears the Amazon will start to use Apples trusted manufacturer in Taiwanese based Foxconn who produce a lot of Apple devices in China, with component deliveries expected in March it appears that those in the know are tipping a May/June release date though I expect things to be a little later than this.

So will this mean that the UK will never really see the first iteration but will simply get the Amazon Kindle Fire 2 as a proper release?

What would you like to see introduced to a new version of the Amazon Kindle Fire?

We have heard rumours that the UK arrival of the Amazon Kindle Fire will be some time soon, with varying release dates ranging from the end of January right up to March being tipped as the correct release schedule.

We have already done a review of the Amazon Kindle Fire, and found that the device certainly had its plus points.

One of which was the obvious price level that it was being sold at, coupled with access to a huge Amazon owned eco-system and their own version of Android running the tablet.

It seems like a great alternative to more costly versions of tablets running the Android O/S, and obviously Apples own premium priced iPad 2.

Amazon sell millions of Kindle Fires over Xmas:

With Amazon selling upwards of five million units so far, it will be interesting to see if the same success is replicated in the UK.

This will likely come down in many ways to what price level they decide to sell the tablet at.

On the amazing sales so far of the Kindle Fire, Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO and co-founder states:

“We are grateful to our customers worldwide for making this the best holiday ever for Kindle,”

Amazon Kindle Fire or iPad 3?

Of course this is an unfair comparison in many ways, but just ask yourself the question:

If you were given the choice of waiting for the arrival of the next iPad 3 release, or probably waiting a shorter period of time and saving yourself a couple of hundred pounds in the process on top, which would you choose?

That is assuming that there is only one version of the new iPad being launched. As we hear there is a strong chance that two variations of the next iPad will be offered, with one cut-price version attempting to compete with the likes of the Amazon Kindle Fire which will undoubtedly be eating away at Apples bottom line now that it is fully unleashed.

Let us know your thoughts below.

Rumours abound as to when the new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, which we reviewed a few weeks ago, will arrive here in the UK.

Latest updates:

So will the new Kindle Fire be hitting shelves in tie for Christmas?

Unfortunately, sources at Know Your Mobile seem to say not.

Though this is one more step above rumours that the Kindle Fire will never even make a UK entrance at all.

January release for Kindle Fire in UK:

With the source claiming that the device will get a UK release in January 2012, it will be a bit late for the Christmas rush, but analysts are predicting that despite the later arrival here in the UK market, the cut price Android tablet will end up accounting for 50% of the tablet market share in 2012.

If this is true, this will make Amazon’s entrance into this arena nothing short of epic.

So what about price?

Well this model is all about the price, and Amazon are rumoured to be subsidised the release over in the US and main a loss per device. This us so they can tie new tablet users into the Amazon eco-system an deliver entertainment via their cloud service at a cost, albeit a reasonable one, the money for a main is in the relationship after the sale not just the initial hit.

Apple to bring out cheaper iPad to compete?

So will Apple bring out a new iPad to compete with the reason cut price editions that are entering the market?

I thin it is fair to say that there is a good chance that a new slimmed down version may be possible, as Apple would not want to lose ground to Amazon, when there are up-sells and cross sells to be tied into after the initial sale.

Has Amazons “Kindle Fire” had a natural dip after a successful launch or is there another issue present?

Chitika have revealed data that shows the dip in traffic and general buzz of the Amazon Kindle Fire before during and after launch.

I gave an honest review of the Amazon Kindle Fire last month, and do have high hopes for the cut price tablet. So it is interesting to hear an analyst from Chitika talk about the areas they feel Amazon will need to look into in order for them to make a success of the Android based tablet.

Analyst at Chitika, Gabe Donnini has the following points to say about the cut price tablet:

“With the current level of competitiveness in the tablet market, currently dominated by the iPad, it appears that Amazon has a long way to go in terms of offering the complete and viable tablet experience,”

Now I am unsure that this point has much merit considering the general awareness and lack of marketing that I have personally seen.

I think it is way too early to say that a drop in general traffic surrounding the device means that the Kindle Fire is a flop, especially when Amazon are so protective of their sales data, and the device is so new.

His other points were related to the tablet being “close but no cigar”:

“The Kindle Fire certainly is a step in the right direction for Amazon and one of their most impressive tablets to date….it offers significant benefit at a relatively low cost, and if you’re willing to pay the extra mile, you can gain access to services such as Amazon’s Digital Content platform. However, if you are expecting a full-fledged tablet, you may be disappointed with functionality, given the Kindle Fire is more of an E-reader+.”

Give it a chance I say:

I feel that again the points made are based on poor knowledge of the device as the kindle fire is much more than an E-reader, offering access to movies and games is much closer to the tablet it rightly claims to be.

I do also think that the period chosen to extrapolate this data by Chitika is very misleading for a new device. The Kindle Fire was released in the Thanksgiving period with Black Friday also falling in and around that time, so this naturally sees huge peaks and troughs compared to the average internet activity for pretty much any device, never mind a brand new one.

“Pinch of salt” I would say regarding this data and report…and Chitika get a…”could do better” mark from me.

Amazon Kindle Fire = Entertainment on a budget?

Amazon are a shrewd set of tacticians. They are fully aware that in the connected world content is king. If you can not access good quality content it does not matter how good your platform or device is, you are stuck. So Amazon have been clever in gaining the rights to a vast amount of Music, Books, Films, and now games, on top of which they have developed a very canny eco-system/marketplace that allows users easy access to the Amazon store and marketplace as the Kindle is already pre registered at purchase/delivery, this is in a similar vain as iTunes relates to Apple products but at a much more all consuming level and is vastly more accomplished than anything the Google Android marketplace currently offers.

What is more they are giving access to their well respected, and in many ways ground breaking cloud service for free. Taking this tablet into completely new territory for this price range.

Watch the Amazon Kindle Fire video review below:

Kindle Fire Uses Customized Android O/S:

So with the new Kindle Fire running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, is the retail giants new tablet offering a direct competitor to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, iPad or the Blackberry Playbook?

Well let’s take a look at the specs first of all:

Amazon Kindle Fire Technical Teardown:

[arrowlist]

• 1024 x 600, 7″ display
• Built in WiFi
• 8GB Storage
• Free Cloud Storage
• “Silk” browser
• Dual core processors
• No 3G

[/arrowlist]

And some further statistics:

Weighing in at a sub $200 price tag has been rumoured to be a loss leader for Amazon, which always begs the question, why would a company offer something for less than cost price?

The answer no doubt is because of the Amazon eco-system, so yes, while Brazil’s’ lungs of the word are struggling, gasping and generally asking for help, the lungs of the largest internet retailers have become so huge that they can afford to swallow up and subsidise the consumer desire for tablets, just so long as they integrate themselves in the eco-system, which they are forced to do anyway…maybe the Amazon rain forest needs a big old cloud!…or perhaps benevolent dictators are the way forward?

The tablet for the generalist?

In my own opinion I feel that Amazon have really worked out what the mass market wants and aimed to deliver that in two ways:

1 – Price wise, $199 is well in the price point of most people, especially those who are “thinking?” about getting a tablet.

2 – Features wise, with access to 18 million movies, games, books, magazines and songs, content is within easy reach of Kindle Fire users, plus they have access to the Amazon cloud service to store things easily and safely rather than worrying about hard drives…this is a massive shift from hardware to the cloud.

So for the every day user, which we all are quite often, this tablet proves to be quite a winner.

With this in mind, we thought it would be rude to not delve a little deeper into what the tablet has to offer and how it works once you actually get a hold of the device.

Handling:

At 7 inches it is not a huge device and does fit neatly into bags and perhaps even some pockets for the less vertically challenged, rather than the average person. At just under a pound in weight, it is less weight than the iPad 2, though it does feel a bit clunky.

It appears to utilise the tried and tested one button approach, but takes this to the extreme as it literally has only the one button, though this has ended up being a snagging point as it is a disappearing touchscreen button that is not quite ready when you want it.

Using the Kindle Fire:

So what happens when you start to use the device properly?

The Amazon Kindle Fire uses a carousel homescreen with all your content easily accessed at the swipe of a hand which is seemingly a nice touch, a variant on the app style of Android and Apple, with the top bar offering categorised content also, Video, news, Books, Docs etc, their is a minor gripe with responsiveness but it is only a minor issue occasionally noticed.

Kindle Fire Music:

With over 17 million songs already available, the new Amazon music store is a serious iTunes rival, when using it you are OK to upload your tracks from iTunes and can then purchase more music using the device and the marketplace, you are also able to transfer music using WiFi or USB. Being stored in the cloud means you can then access this content from any computer with a WiFi connection and access to the internet.

Kindle Fire Books:

With over 1 million books for the Kindle device, the original use of the Kindle still has huge appeal even if the black and white anti glare screen is missing, what is more there are thousands of out of copyright material that is totally free to download and enjoy.

So you can use the tablet just like an e-reader with pages that swipe, controls over font size, typeface and margins and line spacing. You are also able to add notes as you read and highlight areas of interest. A nice feature is that you can access Wikipedia straight away with words that are unfamiliar by simply holding down for a few second on highlighted text. With Amazon Whispersync remembering where yo are with your reading material so you can get back to where you left with ease, all in all things work very well on the new kindle.

Kindle Fire Newsstand:

With around 400 colour digital newspapers and a 3-month free trial to 17 Condé Nast magazines. you can read your favourite news as you woudl pretty much on any other tablet, and do all the things you would except to customise the experience to your own taste.

Kindle Fire Video:

With video being one of the Internet’s main drainers in terms of data used, the simple fact remains that people love a good film or to watch shows or clips of cats doing silly things, oh yes and that other vice.

And though Amazon are not forging ahead into the Adult arena just yet, they are muscling into yet another large technology giants territory with access to more and more premium video content.

Can you see where Amazon are going with their new tablet?…it is ALL about content and easy access to this.

With the Kindle Fire you get one months access to Amazon Prime which offers unlimited streaming, similar to Netflix’s options, though with only 8GB of storage on the device you will be needing to ensure that you are connected via WiFi at all times when using as the storage space is limited.

Kindle Fire Apps:

If you already use Pulse as a news aggregation service, then the fact that this is the only app that is given initially will be welcome news!…pun intended. But if you want more apps as we are sure you will, then you will have to start looking around the Amazon Appstore, which is basically a similar version to the Android marketplace, with all your favorite apps like angry birds and such like, which are all rumoured to work perfectly well.

Kindle Fire Email:

Thankfully your email accounts in various different disguises, Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, and IMAP and POP systems are all easy to configure within the Kindle Fire and the integration seems to be great also for Microsoft Exchange users when using the Microsoft Exchange App in the App store.

Kindle Fire Web Browsing:

Amazon’s brand new “Silk” browser seems to take one of the key features that made the e-commerce giant so successful and add a new spin on it, and that was the ability to profile you and up-sell more “stuff”. In the browsers case “Silk” will remember what pages seem to be the most important to you and offer them up as you browse. Could this be used to up-sell more content, damn straight it could and probably will.

Kindle Fire Battery:

Amazon have delivered well here. A tablet that can last 8 hours of use with “continuous reading” is a device that finally has some credibility in terms of usability of a portable device, ironically though, with it’s cloud based eco-system that needs to be connected to the internet for so much of its functionality I expect most people will have access to a power point anyway while using this WiFi loving and 3G missing tablet.

Conclusion:

The Amazon Kindle Fire is a content lover that excels at delivering entertainment on a budget, it is a perfect gift for a wide variety of people and also allows late adopters of tablet like devices to sample a good quality tablet device for under $200.

Integrate this tablet to Amazons’ prime package at $79 per year and you have one hell of an entertainment system for sub $300:

Amazon Prime is an annual membership program that offers customers unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items, instant streaming of more than 10,000 movies and TV shows and access to borrow a Kindle book every month, including New York Times Bestsellers, with no due dates — all for just $79 a year. Eligible customers who purchase a Kindle Fire will be given a free month of Amazon Prime.

As such, the Amazon Kindle Fire gets a huge thumb’s up from me as this new tablet will hopefully bring about a bit of a price war where consumers can start to benefit a little more in terms of what they pay to become “connected”.

The technology contained is not the most advanced but with a price tag sub $200, the occasional screen lag at certain periods of use is a minor gripe as this tablet is great in so many other ways that allow it to be a really utilitarian device.