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Amazon unveils three new HD Kindle Fire tablets

Amazon has taken the lid off three new Kindle Fire tablets, shipping on 18 October — the first that will be available to Australians at the same time as the US.

Michelle Starr Science editor
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr
2 min read

Amazon has taken the lid off three new Kindle Fire tablets, shipping on 18 October — the first that will be available to Australians at the same time as the US.

The Kindle HDX 8.9 with origami case. (Credit: Amazon)

The 7-inch Kindle Fire HD will be available for pre-order on 2 October, and the 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX and 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX will be available for pre-order on 18 October, Amazon has announced.

The lower-end Kindle Fire HD has upped the entry-model ante, with the same processing power and display resolution as last year's 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD. With its dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1280x800p (216ppi) screen and 10 hours of battery life, it's an affordable, yet decent-sounding, device.

It's with the HDX version that things start to incline. Both have a beefy quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 2.2GHz processor, Adreno 330 GPU, boosted battery life — 11 and 12 hours of mixed use, respectively — optional 4G, front-facing HD camera and up to 64GB of on-board storage. The 7-inch HDX has a screen resolution of 1920x1200p (323ppi), while the HDX 8.9 boasts 2560x1600p (339ppi), as well as an additional 8MP rear-facing camera.

The 7-inch Kindle HD.(Credit: Amazon)

All three tablets are packing Amazon's latest Kindle Fire OS 3.0, aka, "Mojito". This claims "hundreds of new features and updates", including a feature that Amazon is calling "Mayday". This is particularly interesting. It will allow users with the tap of an icon to contact on-device tech support to walk them through any troubleshooting issues, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Other features of the new OS include better gesture-based controls, different content navigation options, printer support and something called "X-Ray" that allows you to view song lyrics line by line as music plays or trivia during movies.

In November, the OS will add second screen support; Goodreads integration; printing support for photos, PDFs, emails and more; Cloud Collections, so you can organise your content in the cloud for synchronisation across all Kindle devices and apps; and complete enterprise support.

And, for the HDX 8.9, users can now get a fancy cover with a built-in origami-style stand.

The Kindle HD starts at US$154 for the 8GB model, the HDX at US$244 for the 16GB model and the HDX 8.9 at US$394 for the 16GB model. CNET Australia has contacted Amazon to see whether the 4G long-term evolution (LTE) models will be available outside the US, and we will update when we have more information.