Amazon introduces four new Kindle Fires

By Salvador Rodriguez

Sept. 6, 2012 12 AM PT

Amazon introduced four new Kindle Fires on Thursday, including two versions that will feature a larger, 8.9-inch screen.

The company said the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD’s screen will have a 1,920 by 1,200 pixel resolution with 254 pixels per inch. It said the device’s screen also has a laminated touch sensor that allows for 25% less glare.

The Kindle Fire HD is 8.8 millimeters thick and weighs 20 ounces. The device runs on a Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 processor with 16 gigabytes of storage.

PHOTOS: Amazon’s newest Kindles

Amazon also announced that the Kindle Fire HD includes dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus as its audio engine.

The company fitted the Kindle Fire HD with two antennas, which is supposed to allow the device to pick up Wi-Fi signals better than its competitors and provide faster Internet download speeds.

Amazon said the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD will be available for pre-order Thursday for $299 and will begin shipping on Nov. 20.

Amazon also announced that a 32 GB version with 4G connectivity, called the Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE, will be available for $499.

Data for this version of the device will cost $49.99 and will allow for 250 megabytes of data each month as well as 20 GB of cloud storage. The company will also throw in a $10 credit for the Amazon Appstore.

The Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE will also be available on pre-order Thursday and will ship Nov. 20.

The Kindle Fire HD will also come in a 7-inch version that is available for pre-orders. It is set to ship on Sept. 14.

Besides the Kindle Fire HD, Amazon also upgraded the existing 7-inch Kindle Fire with a faster processor, twice as much RAM and longer battery life.

The company dropped the device’s price from $199 to $159 and said it will begin taking orders on Thursday. The upgraded Kindle Fire is to start shipping on Sept. 14.

As far as the device’s software, Amazon said users can now tap on an actor while watching movies to activate a new feature called “X-Ray for movie” that will take them to that actor’s page on IMDB.

For reading, the company introduced a new feature that lets users listen to audiobooks and read at the same time. This is supposed to allow for improved retention and understanding.

Amazon also introduced a feature called Kindle FreeTime, which lets parents set time limits for their kids for different types of content.

Amazon introduces four new Kindle Fires

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