Just In Time For The Holidays, Amazon Launches Next-Gen Kindle Devices

Well in advance of the biggest gift-giving season of the year, Amazon has rolled-out a collection of brand-new Kindles – one for virtually every budget. At the bottom of the ladder is the basic Kindle, priced at $79. Compared to the last-gen version, this one boasts 20% faster performance and double the storage space. As before, it can last a couple of weeks on a single battery-charge.

Climbing the ladder, we quickly run into the Fire HD, which is offered in 6 and 7-inch flavors. Both feature a 1280×800 resolution and quad-core 1.5GHz processor, along with rear 1080p and front HD camera. These also include the brand-new Fire OS, 4 “Sangria”. The 6-inch Fire HD sells for $99, while the 7-inch bumps the price up to $139.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD

The high-end Fire HDX series has seen a new replacement for the 8.9-inch model. This time, we see an impressive 2560×1600 resolution, a 2.5GHz quad-core, 2GB of RAM, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, an 8 megapixel camera at the rear, an HD camera at the front, and a weight of 13.2oz – 20% lighter than Apple’s iPad Air. The 16GB version of this tablet is priced at $379. Those wanting to go with an LTE option are free to do so; $529 will get you an unlocked model with 32GB of storage space.

Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″

All three of the Kindle models mentioned above are available in Canada as well as the US, but the US has gained two models beyond that: Fire HD Kids Edition, and Kindle Voyage.

The Fire HD Kids Edition looks like a kids edition, and rides the coattails of competing kid-centric tablets we’ve seen roll out of the past couple of years. This tablet comes in three colors – blue, green, and pink – and is available in 6 and 7-inch form-factors. Bundled in is Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited, which gives kids access to a wide variety of free content, including 5,000 books, movies, TV shows, and of course, educational apps.

Amazon Kindle Fire Kids Edition

Interestingly, because most kids tend to be great at breaking things, Amazon’s offering a 2-year “worry-free” warranty on this tablet. “If they break it, we’ll replace it. No questions asked.” Impressive.

Lastly, Amazon has also launched the 6-inch Kindle Voyage, its lightest eReader ever. It boasts an impressive 300ppi Paperwhite display, auto-adjusting brightness, and a thickness of just 7.6mm. “PagePress” is a feature notable on this one, as it allows you to turn the page in your book simply by applying some pressure to the bezel (which you’d already be touching). The Wi-Fi version of this eReader sells for $199, while the model with free 3G bumps the price to $269.

Amazon Kindle Voyage

All of the prices quoted here are “with special offers”. If you want to forego those, about $15~$20 will be added to the price.