Now that the 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX is out and about, new owners are starting to notice that the display has a bluish tint around the edges. Not to worry; it's not a defect, but a side effect from the use of blue LEDs in the lighting to achieve the boasted "perfect" color accuracy. Amazon claims that this lighting technique increases the tablet's battery life by 20 percent.
"You may notice a very narrow, faint blue tint around the edge of the device when looking at items with a white background, such as books or web pages," the company explains via the 'we want you to know' pop-out window. "All displays have some level of light emission around the edges, and the light on the Kindle Fire HDX 7" is blue due to the technology used to render perfect color accuracy."
"Most LCD displays use white LEDs, and then apply filters to extract the desired color," the company continues. "The result is oftentimes a compromise to tone and color accuracy, or -- if attempting to address these compromises -- an increase in battery consumption and, thus, device weight."
"We've taken a different approach. To achieve the perfect color accuracy on Kindle Fire HDX 7 inch at the lowest possible battery consumption and device weight, we used blue, not white, LEDs," the explanation concludes. "Blue LEDs allow for a much more accurate and rich representation of color and result in an up to 20% improvement in power efficiency."
Amazon began shipping the 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX on Friday. The device was first introduced back on September 25, sporting Fire OS 3.0 "Mojito" and exclusive new features like the Mayday button, Prime Instant Video downloads and X-Ray for Music. Pricing starts at $229 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi only model with special offers, and up to $424 for the 64 GB model with 4G LTE connectivity and no special offers.
The 7 inch tablet packs a 1920 x 1200 resolution (323 ppi) screen powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chip clocked at 2.2 GHz, Adreno 330 graphics, 2 GB of RAM, and a battery promising up to 11 hours of mixed use and up to 17 hours of reading. Additional specs include a front-facing HD camera, dual-band Wireless N connectivity, dual speakers, a built-in microphone and Dolby audio. The tablet measures just 0.35 inches thin, and weighs 10.7 ounces and 11 ounces for the Wi-Fi and 4G LTE models, respectively.
