Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon today took wraps off a whole new family of Kindle tablets and e-readers, taking aim at top, middle and bottom of the portable media device market. The biggest announcement of the day was the new series of Kindle Fire HD tablets, ranging in size from 7″ to 8.9″ and aiming squarely at Apple’s iPad juggernaut.

Priced at $499 USD (32GB) to $599 (64GB), the top-of-the-line Kindle Fire HD offers an 8.9″ 1920×1200 touchscreen display (for full 1080p video playback), 4G LTE connectivity, Dolby audio, dual stereo speakers (so you get stereo in either landscape or portrait modes), and a front-facing HD camera for video chats. Also revealed was an improved dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi system which claims to be 40% faster than the latest iPad at streaming content on a compatible Wi-Fi network. The tablet is powered by a speedy 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP4470 CPU with a PowerVR 3D graphics core.

In addition to the 4G LTE model, a Wi-Fi only Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ is available for just $299 (16GB) or $369 (32GB), dramatically undercutting Apple’s pricing scheme for similar models. Those who pick up the 4G model will be happy to hear that AT&T and Amazon have teamed up to offer a full year of 4G service for just $49. However, this does include only 250 MB a month of data, so you could burn through that quickly – especially with streaming HD video content. 3GB and 5GB data plans are also available, but pricing wasn’t announced.

There’s also a 7″ Kindle Fire HD going for just $199 (16GB) or $249 (32GB) with all of the same features, but a slight cut in processor speed down to 1.2GHz, and a reduction to 1280×800 screen resolution, but there’s no 3G or 4G option available for the 7″ model at this point. We can only imagine that if Apple is to reveal an iPad Mini, it will be similarly priced and spec’d.

All models offer an IPS display with polarizing filter and anti-glare technology to make the screen as useful as possible in a variety of viewing environments. include unlimited cloud storage for content from Amazon, as well as integrated Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and Exchange support. Of course, you’ll also be able to load Android apps, as well as have access to the Kindle Owners’ free Lending Library with these tablets.

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ models are expected to ship on November 20th, while the Fire HD 7″ model will be available next week – on September 14th. And if you’re perfectly content with the plain old Kindle Fire display and Wi-Fi, you can grab one today for just $159, with the bonus of a 40% speed bump, twice the memory and improved battery life from the original.

If you’re in the market for an e-Reader, today is your lucky day – with the reveal of the Kindle Paperwhite, you can finally get the benefits of an electrostatic ink display, but also be able to read it at night. The Paperwhite offers not only a super-sharp paper-like display, but has a built-in light so you can read it in bed without an external light source.

Amazon claims an astounding 8 week battery life for the Paperwhite, even with the light on! Amazon also says the paperwhite display has 62% more pixels and a 25% higher contrast from standard E-Ink displays, as well as a bunch of specially optimized fonts for making reading as good as any paper book you ever looked at.

The Wi-Fi model of the Kindle Paperwhite is going for just $119 (if you’re willing to look at Amazon’s special offers), or $139 without, while the 3G version is $179 (with offers) and $199 (without).

Amazon is accepting pre-orders now for all new Kindle models.

Just as we were expecting, Amazon pulled the veil off the newest iteration of the Kindle today. Dubbed the Kindle Paperwhite, by far the most noteworthy feature about this new eReader is its display. With it, we’re seeing Amazon make a departure from the Pearl E Ink display it has used in previous Kindles and instead go for a white display that comes complete with a backlight.

That “Paperwhite” display lends to a number of improvements in the eReader field. Amazon says that the Kindle Paperwhite offers 25% more contrast, whiter whites and blacker blacks. The high-resolution screen provides 212 PPI and 62% more pixels, a significant improvement over Kindles from the past. Even better? Amazon says that the Kindle Paperwhite boasts a 8 week battery life, even with the light turned on the entire time. Any way you slice it, that’s pretty impressive.

Like most eReaders, the Kindle Paperwhite is pretty lightweight and easily portable. The entire unit sports a thickness of 9.1mm and a weight of just 7.5 ounces. It’s no surprise that Amazon has announced a new Kindle with a backlight – doing so lines it up to be a direct competitor with Barnes and Noble’s Nook Simple Touch with Glow Light – but these additional features and that sexy display might just make it the eReader to have this holiday season. Stay tuned for more news direct from Amazon’s Kindle press event!

Kindle Paperwhite arrives with backlit screen is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Big-screen smartphones may be the fashion, but how about two sizable screens on your next handset with negligible battery impact. SlashGear caught up with E Ink at IFA today to check out the company’s latest prototypes, intended to spur some imagination among potential hardware partners. The mockups have a working e-paper screen filling the back, and a (non-functioning) LCD up front, offering two ways of displaying content simultaneously. And, while these might be concept devices right now, E Ink confirmed to us that there’s at least one vendor looking at using the idea. Read on for a video demo.

As E Ink sees it, an LCD or AMOLED screen on a phone is great for multimedia and browsing, but is wasted on showing text or other persistent data like network status and battery level. Instead, the whole rear of the phone – also typically wasted space – is filled with an e-paper screen, that consumes minimal battery life (only requiring power when the content is changed).

The e-paper display itself is incredibly thin, and even with a protective plastic coating – making it just about shatterproof – is roughly as thick as a typical phone battery cover. E Ink’s concepts used functional e-paper, and plugged into a driver unit as per in our video demo were able to change on the fly; the LCD was simply printed on.

What could a twin-screen smartphone of this sort be used for? E Ink has a few ideas, though is leaving most of that to OEMs. An ereader app is the obvious choice, though you could also show a digital boarding pass for a plane (even if you had no battery life remaining on your phone to drive the regular screen), QR codes, or mapping directions. Alternatively, the panel could be used to show promotional information, such as vouchers for nearby stores, or even sponsored messages in return for free call, message and data credit.

E Ink couldn’t tell us which companies it has shown the idea to, and which have said they’d be interested, but did say that at least one was working on something. The first such device could hit the market by 2013 at the earliest.

E-Ink concept double-display smartphone hands-on is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Well hells bells, it was only yesterday that the idea of an e-ink / LCD screen mash-up device was the stuff of patent dreams, and now it’s a reality. The chaps at Stuff were shown the prototype handsets at a closed meeting at IFA, as expected with a regular screen on one side, and the e-reader-style display on the other. E-ink was apparently tight lipped about possible vendor interest, but they did confirm that one firm was working with the concept already. We’re not about to make any leaps, but if we’d applied for the patent, we’d also want first dibs.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

LCD and E-ink dual-screen prototypes show up at IFA, one vendor already said to be on board originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 08:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Indian consumers haven’t been cut off from Amazon’s world of e-book goodies, but their experience is about to get a lot more native with the launch of a local Kindle Store. The prices of over a million books are now available in rupees, and if you’re in need of hardware, the latest bare-bones Kindle can now be found in-store at Croma for Rs. 6,999. That E Ink Pearl screen comes at a premium, however, as there are more than a few budget-friendly tablets available in the country which support the Kindle app. The best news is probably reserved for fledgling writers, who now have access to Kindle Direct Publishing to showcase their work and hopefully net some purchases.

Continue reading Amazon launches India Kindle Store, swap rupees for good reads

Amazon launches India Kindle Store, swap rupees for good reads originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 11:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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