As expected, Amazon announced an updated version of the Kindle Fire. Rather than going with a one-size-fits-all approach to tablets like they did last year, they introduced two screen sizes (three if you included the lower resolution model), several storage sizes, and an option for 4G access.
While this is a huge improvement on last year's model, I remain wary of this walled-garden approach. Apple has been very successful with it, but the huge abundance of apps and accessories makes Apples line still feel less restrictive to users, even if they may be even more restrictive in some ways. The good news is that you can still read your non-Amazon content on a Kindle.
I have pre-ordered the new Kindle HD from Amazon and must admit I am really looking fwd to it arriving, I have stayed away from Kindle for years preferring Sony because I felt like I was trapped to buying from Amazon only with the Kindle, this of course is not the case at this time and I feel the specs on the new HD model are very good and the rest of the market will have to catch up. It comes out here in the UK on the 24th October so I have another month to wait, and I believe they are only releasing the 7″ version over here (which suites me fine as that’s what I was looking for I already have a 10.1″ tablet) but I imagine they are missing out on quite a sizable market by doing this and I can’t for the life of me think why? do you know why they are only releasing the 7″ in the UK?. It has taken them quite some time to release any version of the fire over here but I imagine this new HD will be a huge seller for them as they already have the lions share of the reader market and unlike a lot of other companies they have not priced themselves out of the market.