More details about next-gen Amazon Kindle Fire HD tablets surface

Amazon was earlier reported prepping a slew of tablet additions to its Kindle Fire HD range. The online retail giant has shifted its stance in recent years. That new approach, as seen with the next-generation Kindle Fire HD tablets, seems to be to pack a lot of punch, a fact that its competitors are sure to note.

A recent report by BGR has helped to fill in some of the blanks that were earlier encountered about the specifications of the new tablets. The first tablet that the company is planning to revamp is the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet. Apart from a high-resolution 1920 x 1200 pixel display and a new design the new report suggests the presence of a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974) processor clocked at about 2GHz. The processor will come with four Krait 400 CPUs and Adreno 330 graphics.

The new 7-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet will come with 2GB of RAM as well as a front-facing camera, Wi-Fi and other available cellular connectivity. The source report states that the tablet will ship with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB variants. Internal test units seem to currently run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with Amazon’s heavy customisations thrown in.

More details about the next-gen Kindle Fire HD tablets have surfaced

The larger 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD model sports similar specifications to the 7-inch model. The main difference is the 2560 x 1600-pixel high-definition display. The source report indicates that the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset will run the tablet, along with the same front-facing camera, optional cellular data support, internal storage sizes as well as 2GB of RAM. The note-worthy difference seen in the 8.9-inch model is the presence of an 8 megapixel rear camera.

Another major difference between the successive generations is the weight. The new models are said to be lighter and more comfortable to use. The current 7-inch Kindle Fire HD model weighs 395 g, while the 8.9-inch model weighs 566 g. Another source has noted that the bezel around the screen on the 7-incher measures about half an inch all around, while the 8.9-inch variant comes with a bezel that is about three-quarters of an inch wide. The benchmark test results conducted has also revealed a performance rating that is roughly three times better than the scores achieved by the current Kindle Fire HD line-up. The price tags of the three new tablets, which also includes a subsitute to the 7-inch Kindle Fire, have still not been mentioned anywhere. The company has said that it is trying to carry forward the current tablet pricing points to the next-gen models.  

Another note-worthy addition to the tablet market is Google’s brand new Nexus 7 tablet . Apart from solid specifications and the brand new Android 4.3 software, what really impressed users was the starting price of $230 (Rs 14,020 approx). And competitive pricing seems to be the name of the game. It remains to be seen what tablet bigwig Apple plans to do about the new Amazon tablets and the possible threat that they pose.