Amazon Hacks Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Tablet Pricetag
Amazon has lowered the price of its Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablet, further distancing it from Apple's pricier iPad Mini.
Amazon said on Wednesday that it's slashing the price of its Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablets. The Wi-Fi version now has a starting price of $269, down from $299, and the 4G version has a starting price of $399, down from $499. Of course, for the versions without Amazon's "special offers", the starting prices are $284 and $414 respectively.
In addition to lowering the prices in the United States, Amazon has launched the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablets in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. Dave Limp, Vice President of the Amazon Kindle division, claims that by expanding into these areas, the company is able to increase production volumes and thus decrease its costs.
"Across our business at Amazon, whenever we are able to create cost efficiencies like this, we want to pass the savings along to our customers," he said.
Amazon's 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet arrived in North America on November 20, 2012, the company's second-generation Android tablet. It packs a 1.5 GHz dual-core TI OMAP4470 SoC with a 299 MHz PowerVR SGX544 graphics core, 1 GB of RAM, dual-band Wireless N and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity, up to 64 GB of internal storage, and a 1920 x 1200 resolution.
The tablet's launch also introduced new Amazon services like X-Ray for Movies, X-Ray for Textbooks, Immersion Reading, Whispersync for Voice and Whispersync for Games. It also includes Kindle FreeTime, a free, personalized tablet experience just for kids and exclusively available on Kindle Fire. Parents can set daily screen limits and give access to appropriate content for each child.
"We’re thrilled with customer reaction to Kindle Fire HD 8.9," Dave Limp said. "Customers tell us they love our large-screen version of Kindle Fire HD for web browsing, email, gaming, watching TV shows, reading magazines, and more."
To get Amazon's Kindle Fire HD 8.9 at the new lower price, head here.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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STravis I don't know if a $30 drop (about 10%) can be considered "slashing". The 4G version, sure, that's a pretty big drop.Reply -
internetlad too bad the wifi on it sucks. at least on ours. We can barely be on the other side of the house (1 floor 2 bedroom house, not that big) and it'll drop connection whereas other devices on it work fine.Reply
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Darkerson Not bad, but it could fall a little more before I bite. i wanted to get a tablet, but Im still not in that big of a hurry.Reply -
William3a1000 There's a new tablet model released last week called the Novo 9 Spark for $269 at the web site - TabletSprint -- which is a pretty impressive new 9.7 inch Android tablet, with a 2048x1536 iPad Retina type screen and a fast Quad Core processor/1.5 Ghz/2GB -- along with a 10,000 mAh battery, 32GB Memory, Android 4.1 O/S Jelly Bean, MicroSD memory card slot, the new high end 4K Digital HDMI, a 2 MP Front webcam and a 5 Megapixel Rear Camera with AF and Flash.Reply
It comes preinstalled with Google Play Store Market and the entire system runs as smooth as a Nexus 7. It is also easy to install Amazon Marketplace that provides access to Amazon Apps Store. Ainol Electronics makes this new model and is known for winning runner up for best-tablet-of-the-year in 2012 at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) - this new tablet is more than worth the price and the reseller, TabletSprint also offers a promotion with a free 500MB monthly Data plan for 4G internet access that includes a free 4G USB adapter. -
kawininjazx internetladtoo bad the wifi on it sucks. at least on ours. We can barely be on the other side of the house (1 floor 2 bedroom house, not that big) and it'll drop connection whereas other devices on it work fine.Reply
My wife has the Fire HD 7" and the wifi is really good, it picks it up from all over the house no problems. Did you try changing your channel or encryption method on your router?