Amazon is getting into the tablet game with the newly announced Kindle Fire. It was revealed at a press conference this morning in New York, where Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos proudly showed off the 7-inch offering. It will be priced at only $199, which had to make the boys at Cupertino wince a bit.
This isn't some plastic e-reader like the other Kindle offerings. It runs Google's Android, which is displayed on a full-color IPS LCD display, covered with Corning's Gorilla Glass. Expect 8 hours of battery life. There's 8GB of memory and WiFi, too. All data is synced through the cloud, with full access to all of Amazon's digital offerings.
What you won't find are all the extras: microphone, camera, 3G. It's just enough for you to read, browse the 'net, stream movies and music...and play games. Being Android App ready, you can play games on this tablet. Games like Plants vs. Zombies, Angry Birds and the lovely Fruit Ninja were shown at the event.
If nothing else, this is a kick in the balls to all those other Android tablet makers that are selling devices for $500. Do you see yourself gaming on an Amazon tablet?
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
11:15 AM on 09.28.2011 | 
See, its really not that hard people. If I'm ever in the market for a tablet I'll likely grab this, I don't need a camera or 3G stuff, that's what my Android phone is for.
It looks awesome and it seems that the price is more than right for the whole deal.
Also I want this to pressure tablet manufacturers to bring tablets to a more palatable price for the average joe.
I mean, $700 for a tablet is beyond stupid. I can get a great laptop at that price!
And for those of you who will say "well just bring a book". Sometimes i feel like reading CNN and sometimes i feel like reading Conan, be nice to have an affordable portable with out all the extra BS.
Regardless, I need a nice mobile device for web browsing and was looking at a portable 4G hotspot. This would go nice with that.
8gb also scares me as that is not a lot of video or music content.
The size puts me off a bit, but for the price and specs this could be fun while at the local coffee shop, and with Amazon Prime this could also be the thing that finally turns me away from Netflix (as if I needed more reasons anyway).
And yes, I see myself gaming on this thing. It doesn't need Sony or Nintendo printed on it to be a valid gaming device, especially during my quiet time when I;m making bears.
I'd love an iPad, but can't afford one. A Kindle Fire (love the name), would make a nice small media player. And if the 8gb is too small, it should surely take SD cards or USB sticks.
Once everyone gets serious on the tablet price like this, more of us will buy one.
I really like the free Cloud service,and Amazon Prime unlimited TV and Movies for $80 a year Idea.
Plus after carrying around an iPad for a year,the smaller size sounds good to me.
Look up "cat orgy"
???
Profit!
A $200 media player with Android for web browsing and emails is pretty rad, though