Amazon Tablet Specs Revealed, Costs $199, Release Due in November

Sep 2, 2011 - 12 Comments

Amazon Tablet, the Amazon Kindle

Update: Amazon launched the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire, the tech specs are better than expected and you can read more here.

Another iPad competitor is about to enter the stage this holiday season, this time from none other than Amazon. Apparently it’ll just be called “Amazon Kindle”, and while the name isn’t too groundbreaking the preliminary info and specs of the prototype that TechCrunch’s MG Siegler used are quite interesting:

  • 7″ touch screen display
  • Exterior looks like a Blackberry Playbook (no images have surfaced yet)
  • 6GB of internal storage
  • Single Core CPU
  • Wi-Fi equipped
  • Micro-USB port
  • Dual speakers
  • Runs custom forked build of Android OS
  • Includes a WebKit based web browser, Cover Flow-like user interface to flip through content, a Dock for apps and favorite items
  • Integrated Amazon access to Amazon Store, Kindle books, music through Amazon Cloud Player, video streaming, and Amazon’s Android Appstore
  • Free Amazon Prime account with purchase
  • $250 price point

A few other interesting notes from the TechCrunch scoop: a second 10″ model will probably come out next year in early 2012, possibly with a dual core CPU and some other expanded features, there may be an SD card slot, and Amazon apparently isn’t working with Google whatsoever on the device, despite the fact that it runs a variation of the Android OS and all Android apps will run on the hardware:

Google’s Android Market is nowhere to be found. In fact, no Google app is anywhere to be found. This is Android fully forked. My understanding is that the Kindle OS was built on top of some version of Android prior to 2.2. And Amazon will keep building on top of that of that over time. In other words, this won’t be getting “Honeycomb” or “Ice Cream Sandwich” — or if it does, users will never know it because that will only be the underpinnings of the OS. Any visual changes will be all Amazon.

I’m a big fan of the iPad and of the Kindle, so I’m pretty interested to see what Amazon puts out and how well it runs, and the $250 price point with free Amazon Prime access will be really compelling to a lot of people. Amazon could really be onto something here, but the big question is if they will succeed where so many others have failed in the fight to compete with Apple’s runaway hit, the iPad.

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Posted by: Matt Chan in iPad, News

12 Comments

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  1. […] of the anticipated specs are true and some of the technical details are even better than the original rumors, like a […]

  2. […] latest and greatest.  We’re only hours away from the Kindle Fire’s debut! Via OsXDaily. This entry was posted in Kindle Fire Tech Specs and tagged 6 GB Storage, Amazon Android […]

  3. John Doe says:

    tablets are not gaming machines so intensive specs are not important to me. But I am only considering this because I have an ipad, and I want a 7 inch tablet.

    I have not decided between this or nook color with rooted overclocked honeycomb. But if the form factor is similar to the playbook, this might be no good. The 7 inch tablets seem to be too thick to me.

  4. mark caves says:

    Listen here AMAZON

    Single Core is not gonna do it….You want us to buy your stuff and buy your music, and buy your movies FINE. But if that’s the reason why you think we need a single core you are mistaken.

    In today’s world we need Duo-Core even Quad Core……
    for video gaming, multi tasking etc etc

    SIngle core I ain’t buying and I’ve spent over 9000 on amazon since 2009 I still wouldn’t get it.

  5. Paul says:

    There is a tablet at that price point that has tegra 2 512mb ram 8gb. It also has 2 usb, micro sd. It is the viewsonic g tablet. And it is a 10″ for 259.00 at Woot through Amazon. For multimedia the single core of the tablet Kindle just wont cut it.

  6. CKona says:

    This will be successful because of Amazons brand, but does Amazon have a good user interface experience? Look at their website!

  7. Nacymex says:

    7 inch
    No SD card access
    Single core

    Was excited before but not longer :(
    Rather pay 150 more for real features

    • Tom says:

      Letdown
      Those specs are available already now, at lower prices.
      Now i am glad i didn’t wait for this piece of Junk, but got a beautiful icoia A500, which just has been upgraded to 3.2.
      What happened to the Quad-Core?

  8. Macbodo says:

    Single core? No, sorry.

  9. guincho says:

    This will be a hit at $250, if the UI is nice I’ll get one too.

  10. Michael Dell says:

    7″ is too small

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