Amazon Kindle tablet: what you need to know
If you're a Kindle owner, you'll know that the buying and ownership experience is the most Apple-y experience you can have without giving Steve Jobs all your money.
The device is superb, and getting content onto it is effortless. Imagine if Amazon did the same thing not just with books, but with music, movies and apps too. Excited yet? We are. Here's what we know about the Amazon tablet.
Check out what TechRadar thinks will be found on the upcoming Amazon Kindle tablet.
UPDATE: MG Siegler of TechCrunch says he has played with a Design Verification Testing unit of the Amazon Kindle tablet. According to TechCrunch, and matching rumours we reported on previously, the Kindle tablet will feature a seven-inch, multi-touch screen and will be running Android.
The Amazon Kindle tablet won't kill the Kindle
Don't worry, Kindle fans. Amazon isn't going to dump the Kindle we already know and love. Speaking to Consumer Reports, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos said "we will always be very mindful that we will want a dedicated reading device."
Bezos couldn't possibly comment on other product plans, but suggested that everybody should "stay tuned" for news of a Kindle tablet.
There may be two Amazon Kindle tablets
According to Boy Genius Report, Amazon isn't preparing one Kindle tablet: it's preparing two. The entry level tablet, codenamed Coyote, will be based on the Nvidia Tegra 2, while the more powerful model, Hollywood, will be based on the quad-core "Kal-el" processor, Nvidia's T30. The entry level tablet is likely to get a seven inch screen, with Hollywood getting something around the nine to ten inch mark.
On 24 May 2011, we reported on new rumours that point to a 7-inch and 10-inch Amazon tablet, while on 24 August, Digitimes reported that a third touchscreen supplier had been recruited.
Some sources predict an Amazon tablet could ship as many as 5 million units in the last quarter of 2011.
The Amazon Kindle tablet software will be Android
Something of a no-brainer, this: Amazon has already invested heavily in Android and runs its own Android app store. Amazon also has a cloud-based music player, and of course it knows a thing or two about eBooks.
That said, the TechCrunch writer who got his hands on the test unit said that "Amazon has forked Android to build their own version for the Kindle. Simply put: it looks nothing like the Android you're used to seeing."
The Amazon Kindle tablet display should be interesting
Digitimes reports that Amazon's Kindle tablet may get its screen from E Ink Holdings, and that the touch screens will use Fringe Field Switching (FFS) technology. FFS is like the IPS tech in Apple's notebook and iMac screens and delivers a very wide viewing angle. The E Ink bit is interesting: could Amazon be working on something that, unlike other tablets, isn't hopeless in direct sunlight?
CONTINUING KINDLE: The old Kindle will still be sold even if there is a new Amazon tablet
Amazon's hiring lots of tech staff
Lab126 "engineers high-profile, portable, hand-held consumer electronics products,like the Kindle." It also happens to be part of Amazon's empire, and its current job adverts run to some eighteen pages of listings talking about things such as "leading-edge display designs for Kindle" and experience in "active matrix display operation". You may know active matrix displays by another name: TFT LCD (hat tip to Tap! columnist Ian Betteridge for spotting the ads).
Amazon Kindle tablet price
Amazon built its business by losing money - it didn't make a penny in profit for years and years - and we'll be amazed if the entry level Kindle isn't priced aggressively. That should in turn mean the current Kindle's heading for another price drop.
UPDATE: On 8 August 2011, we reported that Amazon may be planning to sell the Amazon tablet at a loss to encourage sales, making its money back on apps, music and ebooks. That could give the iPad and competing Android tablets something to think about.
UDPATE: The TechCrunch writer says that the Kindle tablet will be half the price of the entry level iPad, which puts the Kindle tablet price at £199.
Amazon Kindle tablet release date
Digitimes reports that Amazon has placed orders for lots and lots of tablets with notebook and tablet manufacturer Quanta and suggests that they could be shipping as soon as "the second half of 2011" to the tune of three quarters of a million units per month. That's a lot of tablets.
UDPATE: Latest rumours suggest the Kindle tablet release date will be November 2011.
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