The Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Paperwhite coming soon to the UK

Kindle Fire HD 7", click for more info

 Not long ago we discussed a report from Amazon chief Jeff Bezos who revealed that company is making little profit from just selling the Paperwhite and Fire HD and earn their keep from the content and items the users actually buy from their tablets. The new Kindle love will be spreading across the world as the release of the new kindle line-up is bound for the UK within the next few weeks.

 As far as Amazon's plans go, the Kindle Fire HD tablet and Kindle Paperwhite e-readers are bound to get to the European market, including the UK, on the 25th of October. The preorders on branches such as amazon.co.uk. As you know the device has been on sale in the USA for quite some time now and while we have no official reports we do know that Amazon is quite satisfied with the results they have been getting so far.  Right now we are waiting for the device to come to the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and France in time for the holiday season and knowing Amazon they will certainly meet their deadline.

 But there is more good news for the European Kindle fans! According to what the Amazon CEO is saying, the company plans to roll out its Lending Library in the chosen countries listed above which means that at long last European Amazon Prime subscribers will get the ability to borrow from a collection of 200,000 books for free.

The Kindle Paperwhite eReader, click on the picture for a quick tour that opens in a new window!

 When it comes to the Kindle Paperwhite, it will come in a Wi-Fi-only and Wi-Fi-plus-3G variants. These two models will be priced at £109 and £169 respectively. If you missed our Kindle Paperwhire review we suggest you check it out before choosing what eReader and/or tablet you plan on buying! As far as seven-inch Kindle Fire HD is concerned, it will costs £169 for the 16GB version and £209 for the 32GB version. There will also be an option to get a £10 discount off those Kindle Fire HD prices if you agree to see advertising on the device.

 So, how about it UK fans, are you going to get the new Kindle Fire HD or Kindle Paperwhite once they hit your country? And if not, what's the reason?

Kindle Fire HD versus iPad Mini : The Clash of Tablets

The first tablet which was able to make a good competitor for Apple’s iPad was the Kindle Fire, Amazon’s tablet which was released in 2011. Kindle Fire represents more affordable tablet, while iPad dominates the high end spectrum of the tablet market. Even though there has been no official announcement, there is a wide belief that iPad Mini will be announced during October. Comparing the rumored iPad Mini specs with Kindle Fire HD’s specs, we will try to answer the question : “Which device is better : Kindle Fire HD (which runs Android OS) or iPad (which  is supposed to run iOS 6).”

   

 Btw check out the Kindle Fire HD 8.9'' vs the iPad 3!

 

iPad Mini mockup

 Display, Connectivity and Prices

 The Kindle Fire HD is shipped in two variants : 7-inch variant (for $199) and 8.9-inch variant (for $299). 8.9-inch 4G LTE variant is also available, for $499. All variants come with 16 GB of internal storage and support dual-band Wi-Fi.  The 7-inch Fire HD has a 1200 x 800 resolution, which can record 720p videos and 8.9-inch version has 1900 x 1200 resolution, which can record 1080p videos. iPad Mini is believed to be a 7.85-inch device with 1024 x 768 resolution. It is also believed to support 4G LTE connectivity and Wi-Fi. Its expected price is $249-$299.

 Processor Power

 7-inch Kindle Fire HD is powered with a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU, 8.9-inch Fire HD is powered with a 1.5 GHz dual-core CPU. Since it is still unknown if A6 chip will power iPad Mini, we can’t make a fair judgment on this field. 

Apple vs Amazon Appstore

 Kindle Fire HD has a very closed ecosystem – you can download apps only from Amazon’s Appstore, and there you can find 50,000 apps for Kindle Fire HD. Even though the device itself is pretty cheap, it is Amazon’s tactic to make money on other products. iPad Mini, on the other side, would have 225,000 specifically designed apps for iPad, and 600.000 apps on the App Store, and it could run all of them. 

 

Conclusion of the iPad Mini vs Kindle Fire HD debate (so far)

 Kindle Fire HD beats the rumored iPad Mini feature-to-feature, but both tablets have their bad and good sides. Kindle Fire HD’s most important advantage is the low price, and iPad Mini’s main advantage is that it is an Ipad. But, one thing is certain on the other side - Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch version has a great advantage over rumored iPad Mini.

No Hardware Profit for Amazon on Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Paperwhite

 Do you remember when we first analyzed the original Kindle Fire HD cost analyses we did back in March? It was quite a long time ago, but what we said still stands. Amazon doesn't plan on making money by selling the device itself, they plan on making money from the content they sell through their online store. All of this has been proven by the official reports from Amazon receantly.

 Quite often, technology products and gadgets are sold at break even, or with a slight loss. How is the money made then? Money is made off services and accessories, which come with the products.  “We sell the hardware at our cost, so it is break-even on the hardware”, said Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, referring to Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Paperwhite. Kindle Fire HD tablet and Kindle Paperwhite eReader will be launched in Europe on October 25.

 Amazon has been making money off digital content and not from the devices  for quite a while now and they believe that this tactic works perfectly well for them . Therefore, they are applying it this time too.  They are also assured that Kindle users read 4 times more than they read before they buy Kindle device.

Kindle users in the UK, Germany and France will be able to access the Kindle Owners Leaning Library. This allows them to borrow up a certain book from a great selection of titles. Users can borrow up one book per month and it is free. The UK service will feature 200,000 books, and users will be able to find some very famous books in the library.

Kindle Fire Paperwhite Review

 Amazon’s Kindle family has got another member – Kindle Paperwhite. This device continues the tradition of Amazon’s great Kindle devices. The device comes in two versions : the version with only Wi-Fi ($119) and the 3G-equipped version ($179). The Kindle Paperwhite can safely be called the world's most advanced eReader and Amazon has taken the liberty of doing just that! Let us see what makes this device to s special, shall we?

 From a design standpoint, Kindle Paperwhite doesn’t differ a lot from predecessors. Compared to Kindle Touch, it is thinner and its display is less sunken into the plastic surrounding. The device is pretty comfortable in hand - its weight is 0.47 pounds and it has the size of an average book. It only comes in black color. It does not have headphone jack and does not provide any audio out. Also, you don’t get an adapter for charging with it, so you have to buy one, use one that you already own or charge it by plugging it into your PC.

 From a display standpoint, it has the E Ink, 6-inch screen. The entire display is front lit with a blue light. It also has higher resolution than previous models, and therefore images and text are clearer. Pixel density is 212 ppi.

 

 Kindle Paperwhite has got a new OS which is much different than OS on past devices. When Paperwhite is woken, you have to swipe across the display to resume your session. Display contains your recently read items, recommended items beneath them and general menu on the top of the display. You can move between pages with swipes and taps, or highlight sections with long presses. There is also X-ray functionality, web and Wikipedia search and translation in many languages. And, fortunately, it has a great non-removable battery, which can last a week without charging, even if it is used a lot.

 As for other specifications - it has a Micro USB port and it supports Wi-Fi. Internal storage is 2 GB, without possibility of expanding it. It supports PDF and DOC files. All in all, Paperwhite is one of the best readers out there, maybe even the best one. The greatest advantage it has is Amazon’s ecosystem – the vast library. It rarely happens that you don’t find the book that you are searching for there.