The biggest announcement in Amazon's home entertainment comes in the Amazon Fire TV Gaming Edition, which is a new, high-powered (for a Fire device) streaming box that can handle games like Minecraft and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The Fire TV Gaming Edition has a quad-core 2 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, a dedicated GPU, and 8GB internal storage with an included 32 GB microSD card. The Gaming Edition also comes bundled with a new controller, following convention in its name: Amazon Fire TV Game Controller. It's pretty much an Xbox controller, with an extra button for voice commands and a headphone jack for personalized gameplay. The Gaming Edition shares a few upgrades with the updated Fire TV. They both support 4K content from providers like Netflix and YouTube, and come pre-baked with Alexa, the personal voice-based assistant found in the Amazon Echo. The Gaming Edition will sell for $139.99. Amazon
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With little pomp and circumstance, Amazon unleashed a huge lineup of new consumer tech products today, including a Fire TV geared towards gamers, a tablet for kids, and its cheapest Fire tablets so far.
These new pieces of hardware solidify Amazon’s stake in low-cost tablets and streaming content to TVs; they’re specifically built to be a means to access Amazon’s Prime online multimedia store, which offers streaming movies and TV as purchases and rentals. The tablets, like the new Fire tablet and HD 8 or HD 10, preload Amazon content based on what you previously watched and liked. The operating system itself — a variant, or “fork” of Android — has been redesigned to be less restrictive, but still offer every service that Amazon provides, from Mayday customer service to the child-oriented FreeTime.
This release comes just in time for the holiday buying season, where Amazon has traditionally fallen short against bigger brands like Apple, which also just announced a lineup of new tablets, and its own new Apple TV streaming box. Instead of competing on the top tier, Amazon is making the lower-cost options a cornucopia of “free” media, offering a free month of Amazon Prime membership with every purchase. Then, it’ll be $99 per year, where Amazon really makes its money.
The Fire tablets will be available September 30, but you’ll have to wait until October 5 to buy the Fire TV and Fire TV Gaming Edition, and October 22 for the Fire TV Stick.
Amazon’s new Fire tablet (which harkens back to the original Kindle Fire) is a new standalone tablet, that costs only $50— and is sold individually or in a 6-pack. It aims to take over the low-cost tablet market, and includes Amazon’s new mobile OS, Bellini. Bellini gives a much more traditional Android experience, compared to the walled garden of Kindle tablets’ previous software. However, it still does many things out of your control, like the new On Deck feature, which automatically downloads content onto the device, so you “always have something good to watch.” Amazon’s Fire tablet six-pack actually gives one away for free, with the entire bundle totaling $249.95. The tablet has a 7-inch IPS screen with 1024×600 resolution, 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, one GB of RAM, and 8 GB of storage (with microSD slot). Amazon touts the device’s gumption, saying its twice as durable as the iPad Air 2. AmazonOne of the most interesting new offerings from Amazon is their new tablet for kids. It’s aptly named the Fire Kids Edition. The 7-inch tablet pretty much the same as the Fire tablet, but comes with a big plastic “kid-proof” case, and a warranty that covers anything a child might concoct to destroy the device (they cite “typical mayhem”). If your child breaks it, Amazon sends another for free. Amazon also includes a year free of their child-friendly FreeTime, which includes books, movies, shows, educational games, picture editing, and an inability to post to social media. AmazonThe Amazon Fire HD 8 and HD 10 tablets both were revamped, adding the new operating system, more speed, and better displays. They cost $149.99 and $229.99, and are Amazon’s thinnest tablets, at 7.7mm deep. The HD 8 is also Amazon’s most colorful tablet, with offerings in magenta, tangerine, blue, and black, although the 10-inch is only available in black and white. The tablets have 8 and 10.1-inch displays with 1280×800 resolution, pack quad-core 1.5 GHz processors, and reportedly last for 8 hours per charge. The 8-inch tablet is sold with 8 or 16 GB of storage, while the 10-inch is available with 16 or 32GB. Both have microSD slots. AmazonThe Fire TV has the same tech specs as the Gaming Edition, because it’s actually the same hardware. The only obvious difference is the controller. The Fire TV enjoys the same 4K capabilities and Alexa integration as the Gaming Edition, but with the standard Fire TV Remote. Amazon’s popular Fire TV Stick also saw similar changes, with Alexa integration. The new Fire TV will sell for $99.99, while the new Fire TV Stick will go for $39.99.
