Just a day after its Appstore launched in Canada, bringing Android apps and games to phones and tablets, Amazon has announced it is launching its popular Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD tablets in our fair country.
Launching next month, both the 7-inch and 8.9-inch versions will be available, the former starting at $214 for the 16GB 7-inch version and increasing to $314 for the 32GB 8.9-inch version. While these have been available since last year in the United States and a few other countries, Amazon’s latest push brings the Kindle Fire, along with its Android Appstore, book library and more to some 170 countries.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire will be fairly limited in its functionality when it comes to Canada on June 13th, though. Not only will it carry a price premium of $15 on top of the U.S. version but it won’t support the company’s popular streaming video service through Amazon Prime, nor will it offer MP3s through its relatively inexpensive music store. You’ll have access to books, apps and magazines, somewhat negating the tablets’ advantage over the competition.
The Kindle Fire HD comes with a 7-inch 1280×800 display, a 1.2Ghz dual-core TI OMAP 4460 SoC, 1GB RAM, 16-32GB internal storage, a front-facing camera and software that runs on top Android 4.0 ICS.
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ comes with a 8.9-inch 1920×1200 px display, a 1.5Ghz dual-core TI OMAP 4470 SoC, 1GB RAM, 16-32GB internal storage, a front-facing camera and software that runs on top Android 4.0 ICS.
Aside from specs, the two tablets do boast some impressive “real-world” features. Both come with excellent, stronger-than-your-average WiFi with dual-band (2.4Ghz+5Ghz) 2×2 antennas; 10+ hours of battery life; an IPS display with “less glare and richer colour from any viewing angle”; and stereo speakers with Dolby codecs.
The tablets will also be pre-loaded with your information out of the box, so there’s no logging in.
Whether the release of these tablets in the Canadian market will do anything to unseat Samsung or convince users to upgrade from their Nexus 7’s or 10’s remains to be seen. The prices are good, though the Nexus 7 is cheaper and more powerful than the 7-inch Kindle Fire. The 8.9-inch version, however, is a great deal, with a faster processor, more capable graphics, a higher-resolution screen and a nice, compact form factor. We’ll be taking a look at both, so check back in the coming weeks.
These devices ship on June 13th, but you can pre-order them starting today.
Via: Amazon PR
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