Hasta La Gadget!

If you ever sat there reading an e-book to yourself and thought, wow, I wish I could read this book out loud while Samuel L Jackson read it out loud with me – Amazon says you’re in luck. This week along with the new Kindle Fire HD line and refresh of the original Kindle Fire, they’ve shown off a technology called Whyspersync for Voice – this brings on Bimodal reading for those who have difficulty reading and for high-functioning readers alike. This technology, in a nutshell, syncs your audiobook and the text from the book you’re looking at so you can listen and read at the same time.

This technology was shown off on the new Kindle Fire HD series this week by Amazon with a couple of celebrities in tow. Both Anne Hathaway and Samuel L Jackson were shown up on the big screen, with Jackson specifically reading “A Rage in Harlem.” With Immersion Reading – here with Whispersync – you’ll be changing the way you read electronic books.

This new ability brings on what Amazon prosmises will be dual-sensory reading, this improving your understanding of the content. You’ll be hearing the words as they’re highlighted on the screen – and it will, if Amazon has its way, bring you another giant reason why it makes sense to pick up the newest Kindle Fire HD hardware – coming in October, on the way! Check out the rest of our Amazon and Kindle Fire content from this week’s big event in the timeline below, and stay tuned to SlashGear for more hands-on action as it appears!

Amazon Kindle Fire Whispersync introduced with Anne Hathaway and Samuel L Jackson is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Amazon have revealed a set of Kindle Fire devices that take their original hit and make it high definition. There are two sizes here, one with an 8.9-inch display and another with a 7-inch display, the 8.9-inch display having a lovely 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution. This new larger device has IPS LCD display technology and works with 254 PPI – and it’s more expensive than the Kindle Fire’s regular refresh, of course.

This new set of Kindle Fire units works with no air gap between the display and the glass up front – this means clearer images and a lot less glare than otherwise possible. Inside you’ll find an OMAP4 4470 processor from Texas Instruments, this being shown by Amazon as better than the Tegra 3 in some of the tests they’ve done: specifically in Memory Bandwidth and Floating Point – we’ll see about that when we get this device in hand, of course.

This new set of tablets works with dual stereo speakers rather than the single-speaker setup that most tablets have. Amazon isn’t shy about showing the iPad here, as it does indeed have just one spot on its back with a speaker. With the Kindle Fire HD line you’ll be working with Dolby Digital Plus sound – here an exclusive audio engine made just for this Kindle Fire HD lineup.

Also included inside is a set of antennas, dual-band 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz for faster wi-fi action, and MIMO – MIMO being a technology that only a small number of high-end devices incorporate at the moment. The iPad 3 has just one antenna, as does the Nexus 7, noted Amazon, and only the Kindle Fire HD has MIMO inside of the three. With this technology, Amazon notes that they’ve got the fastest Wi-fi connectivity in the west – so to speak.

Stay tuned for more Kindle Fire HD action as we follow Amazon into the future with their brand new tablet lineup. Stick to the Amazon tag portal to see the rest of our updates as they happen throughout the week and especially here on launch-day!

Kindle Fire HD introduced with new 8.9-inch size is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The new Kindle Paperwhite is official, an ereader with a display technology from Amazon that’s bringing on a whole new level of readability. With this device you’ll be able to easily adjust the light which flows through the display and the whole display has become a whole new level of sharp as well. The Kindle Fire was a big inspiration for this device, Amazon noted, with such features as cover mode – allowing you to look at all the content on the device in addition to the cloud.

With what Amazon calls its new “Revolutionary Display Stack,” the Kindle Paperwhite works with a Patented Light Guide, a Capacitive Touch screen, and a Paperwhite display below. This device has a 212ppi resolution display, works with Nanoimprinted Light Guides above the display to make sure you’re seeing things clearly. You’ll be working with a 9.1mm thin device here that’s just 7.5 ounces heavy – tiny!

This device will be working with an 8-week battery, the ability to download books in 60 seconds – of course – and free storage galore in the Amazon Cloud! You’ll be working with absolutely free 3G coverage, of course, and there’s no contract or annual costs. This device will be available in a couple of different iterations – 3G or non-3G, and the prices will reflect that connectivity.

The Kindle Paperwhite 3G will cost you $179 USD from Amazon with no annual contract, and it’s available today straight from their online store. The wi-fi version of this tablet will cost you $119 USD and will also be available today. Finally – the original Kindle – now with an update to “all new Kindle” status – will be just $69 USD. The new Kindles ship on October 1st – grab one now!

Kindle Paperwhite 3G priced at $179 while original gets price chop is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After a short video showing the power of the Kindle in the past, present, and future, the Amazon event this week prepared the press for the next generation with their own Jeff Bezos speaking before the crowd. He let them know that they want to move forward with the spirit of Amazon and that “we LOVE to invent” may very well be their main point here in 2012. He spoke also about how the Android tablet market flooded right at the start, and how this flood created an environment where noone wanted to buy one – but Amazon is smart, he implies, and customers are smart, he says.

He let the audience know that if you’re wanting content, not just a device, you go with Amazon. They’ve got the massive Kindle lending library, 180,000 Kindle-exclusive books, and even the seven Harry Potter books – rare in this digital landscape. Noting that hardware is a “critical” part of the service Amazon now provides, Bezos showed how physical books sold by the business has been increasing over time at a rate that’s completely eclipsed by Kindle books.

Showing off a video that displayed a font-changing adjustable 7-inch tablet that could only be the next-generation Kindle Paperwhite. Stay tuned to our Amazon tag portal for more information on this next-generation product from the company that brought you the Kindle Fire!

“Kindle Fire is a service” pushes Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Amazon has revealed a sneak early view of its new Kindles, dropping a pair of new ereader/tablets into its NFL season kickoff advert. The commercial, which you can see after the cut, gave a few brief glances of the new models expected to launch officially on Thursday, though exact details were in short supply.

According to previous rumors, Amazon has two new Kindles to bring to Thursday’s launch. Although the commercial is too brief to give anything but a quick glance at the new hardware, they look to be thinner than the existing Kindle Fire and at least one is full video capable with a color display.

The second model, however, is expected to use an E Ink display, and be called the Kindle Paperwhite. Previous whispers have indicated it will be an upgrade to the existing Kindle Touch, and deliver a far more paper-like reading experience as well as having a touchscreen interface.

However, there’s no sign of the Amazon Kindle Smartphone that has apparently been “confirmed” by some for an official debut at the Thursday event as well. SlashGear will be at the launch – which kicks off at 10:30AM PT – so join us for all the details as they’re announced!

[via World Wide Gadget; via CNET]

New Kindles caught on camera in NFL sneak peak is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.