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It'll cost you to opt out of Kindle Fire HD lock screen ads

Amazon has announced it will let you opt out of ads on the Kindle Fire HD, but you'll have to pay.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

Good news (of sorts) if you're thinking about buying the new Kindle Fire HD. Amazon has announced you'll be able to get rid of the annoying adverts that pop up on it, Engadget reports. But it'll cost you.

The Kindle Fire HD sells at a Nexus 7-matching £159, but the price you pay is adverts appearing on-screen every time you lock the device. Well now Amazon has said you can opt out of the ads, if you pay $15. There's no word on a UK price yet, but considering the price differences between the UK and US models of Kindle Fire HD, I'd wager it'll be around a tenner.

"I wanted to let you know that with Kindle Fire HD there will be a special offers opt-out option for $15," Amazon said in a statement. "We know from our Kindle reader line that customers love our special offers and very few people choose to opt out. We're happy to offer customers the choice."

Funnily enough, our US cousins didn't "love" the special offers in their hands-on. And I'm sure many (myself included) will opt out, given the choice. 

If you do want to opt out, you'll have to cough up once you've bought the tablet, as it's not an option before you add it to your basket -- which is a bit of a pain.

Amazon announced the Kindle Fire HD this week. The 7-inch screen has a resolution of 1,280x800 pixels, which is the same as the Nexus 7. Sadly, the 8.9-inch version isn't bound for UK shores.

Amazon has updated the Silk browser too, and the big news is that it's ditched Google as the default search engine, instead plumping for Bing. If this thought fills you with dread, fear not -- you can switch it back to Google if you prefer.

There's also an intriguing new feature called Trending Now, which brings to your attention web pages that have had a lot of traffic recently. We'll bring you more as soon as we have a review device.

Are you glad to see the back of the ads? Or do you think it a shocker Amazon is charging for the privilege? Let me know in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.