Online retailer Amazon has announced two new Kindle ebook readers and three new Fire tablets coming to the UK.
The entry-level Kindle now has a touch-sensitive screen, a faster processor and double the storage of its predecessor. It’s priced from £59 and will be available next month.
A new model called the Kindle Voyage is just 7.6mm deep, making it the company’s thinnest Kindle reader. UK pricing is £169 for WiFi-only or £229 with WiFi plus free 3G connectivity. Shipping to the UK begins in November. There’s a 300 pixels-per-inch display protected with strengthened glass and a pressure-sensitive bezel for turning pages.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com’s CEO, said “Our mission with Kindle is to make the device disappear, so you can lose yourself in the author’s world. Kindle Voyage is the next big step in this mission. With the thinnest design, highest resolution and highest contrast display, reimagined page turns, and all of the features that readers love about Kindle - books in seconds, no eyestrain or glare, readability in bright sunlight, and battery life measured in weeks, not hours - Kindle Voyage is crafted from the ground up for readers.”
Amazon’s Fire tablet range has a new lower starting point. The Fire HD6 has a 6-inch screen and is priced from £79 for the 8GB version. It runs version 4 (‘Sangria’) of Amazon’s Android-based Fire OS on a quad-core chip that can perform at up to 1.5GHz. A version with a 7-inch screen - the Fire HD7 - costs from £119. Both are due to be released in the UK on 2nd October with a choice of five different coloured bodies.
In addition, the top-of-the-range Fire HDX has been updated to a 2.5GHz quad-core processor. It’s equipped with a 339 ppi 8.9-inch display and is offered in a choice of WiFi-only or WiFi+4G versions. UK pricing is from £329; shipping is from 4th November.