Kindle Fire

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"Amazon Fire" redirects here. For the smartphone, see Fire Phone. For the media player, see Amazon Fire TV.
Amazon Kindle Fire
Amazon Kindle Fire logo.svg
Kindle Fire web browser 05 2012 1430.JPG
Developer Amazon.com, Inc.
Manufacturer Quanta Computer[1]
Generation 1st
Release date November 15, 2011 (2011-11-15) (USA)
September 6,  2012 (2012-09-06) (Europe)
December 18, 2012 (2012-12-18) (Japan)
Units sold 7 million (as of October 2012)[2]
Operating system Based on Android OS 2.3.3 (customized: 6.3.2_user_4110520) (1st gen.)
Based on Android 4.0.3 (customized: 10.5.1_user_5172420) (2nd gen.)
System-on-chip used Texas Instruments OMAP 4 4430
CPU 1.2 GHz Dual-core Cortex-A9 (ARMv7)
Memory 512 MB RAM (1st gen.)
1 GB RAM (2nd gen.)[3]
Storage 8 GB[4]
Display 7 inch multi-touch Gorilla Glass display, 1024×600 at 169 ppi, 16 million colors.[4] Capacitive touch sensitive.[5]
Connectivity Micro-USB 2.0 (type B)[6]
3.5 mm stereo socket[6]
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
Online services Amazon Prime, Amazon Cloud Storage, Amazon Cloud Player, Amazon Video, Amazon Silk, Amazon App Store, Amazon Kindle Store
Dimensions 190 mm (7.5 in) H
120 mm (4.7 in) W
11.4 mm (0.45 in) D[7]
Weight 413 g (14.6 oz)[8]
Successor Fire HD
Website Amazon Kindle Fire
File:Inside the Kindle Fire.jpg
Kindle Fire showing components, back cover removed

The Kindle Fire is a tablet version of Amazon.com's Kindle e-reader. Built with Quanta Computer, the Kindle Fire was released in November 2011, featuring a color 7-inch multi-touch display with IPS technology and running a custom version of Google's Android operating system called Fire OS. The Fire HD followed in September 2012, and the Fire HDX in September 2013.

History

The Kindle Fire—which includes access to the Amazon Appstore, streaming movies and TV shows, and the Kindle Store for e-books—was released to consumers in the United States on November 15, 2011, after being announced on September 28.[9]

On September 7, 2012, upgrades to the device were announced with consumer availability to those European countries with a localized version of Amazon's website (United Kingdom,[10] France, Germany, Italy and Spain).[11]

The original Kindle Fire retailed for US$199 in 2011.[12] Estimates of the device's initial bill of materials cost ranged from $150 to $202.[13][14] Amazon's business strategy was stated in 2011 as making money through sales of digital content on the Fire, rather than through sales of the device itself.[15][16][17]

As of October 2012, the Kindle Fire was the second best selling tablet after Apple's iPad, with about 7 million units sold according to estimates by Forrester Research[2] and as of 2013 Amazon's tablets were the fourth best selling.[18]

On September 6, 2012, the Kindle Fire was upgraded to the second generation, and its price was reduced to US$159, RAM upgraded to 1 GB and processor clock speed upgraded to 1.2 GHz. A more powerful and video-friendly version, the Kindle Fire HD (7 and 8.9 inch versions) was also made available, initially priced at $199 and $299.[19][20]

On September 25, 2013, the Kindle Fire HD was upgraded as the third generation Fire, priced at US$139, and the Kindle Fire HDX was introduced. The Kindle Fire HDX had an improved graphics engine, double the memory, and triple the processor speed of the previous model. The 7-inch and 8.99-inch versions were introduced at US$229 and US$379 respectively.[21][22]

In September 2014 the Fire HDX 8.9 and the Fire HD were upgraded to the fourth generation of Fire tablets, removing the "Kindle" adjective in the naming scheme.[23] There was also the Fire HD 6 that has a six-inch screen with a quad-core processor priced at US$99.[24]

In September 2015 Amazon announced the release of the "Fire 7", priced at US$49.99. As of March 2016 it is the lowest-priced Amazon tablet.[25]

Design

Hardware

The Kindle Fire hardware was originally manufactured by Quanta Computer (an Original Design Manufacturer), which had also helped design the BlackBerry PlayBook, using it as a hardware template for the Kindle Fire.[26] First-generation Kindle Fire devices employed a 1-GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 dual-core processor. The device has a 2-point multi-touch color LCD screen with a diagonal length of 7 inches (180 mm) and a 600×1024-pixel resolution (160 dpi density). Connectivity is through 802.11n Wi-Fi and USB 2.0 (Micro-B connector). The device includes 8 GB of internal storage—said to be enough for 80 applications, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books.[27][28] According to Amazon the first-generation Kindle Fire's 4400 mAh battery sustains up to 8 hours of consecutive reading and up to 7.5 hours of video playback with wireless off;[29] later generations all offered around 7-8 hours[30]

Of the 8 GB internal storage available in the first-generation Kindle Fire, approximately 6.5 GB was available for content.[31][needs update]

The first-generation Kindle Fire has a sensor on the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This was widely considered to be an ambient-light sensor, disabled since an early software upgrade.[32]

Color display technologies consume much more power than monochrome electronic paper (E-ink) types; Fire offer a typical battery life of 8 hours of mixed usage , while monochrome Kindles offer 15 to 30 hours' use without WiFi—"battery lasts weeks on a single charge"—with a much lower-capacity battery.[33]

Software

The first generation of Kindle Fire devices run a customized Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread OS.[34] The second generation Kindle Fire HD runs a customized Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich OS.[35] Along with access to Amazon Appstore,[6][36] the Fire includes a cloud-accelerated "split browser", Amazon Silk, using Amazon EC2 for off-device cloud computation; including webpage layout and rendering, and Google's SPDY protocol for faster webpage content transmission.[37][38][39] The user's Amazon digital content is given free storage in Amazon Cloud's web-storage platform,[6] 5 GB music storage in Amazon Cloud Drive, and a built-in email application allows webmail (Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL Mail, etc.) to be merged into one inbox.[6] The subscription-based Amazon Prime, which includes unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows, is available with a free 30 day trial period.[6]

Content formats supported by the first-generation Kindle Fire were Kindle Format 8 (KF8), Kindle Mobi (.azw), TXT, PDF, unrestricted MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8.[6][needs update]

Because of Amazon's USB driver implementation, the first-generation Kindle Fire suffered from slow USB transfer speeds. For example, transferring an 800MB video file may have taken more than three minutes in 2011.[40][needs update]

It is possible to convert a Kindle Fire to a tablet running standard Android, with some loss of Amazon-related functionality, and lacking features such as Bluetooth, microphone, camera, and memory expansion.[41]

Reception

Analysts had projected the device to be a strong competitor to Apple's iPad,[12][42] and that other Android device makers would suffer lost sales.[43][44]

In a 2012 review published by Project Gutenberg, the Kindle Fire was called a "huge step back in freedom from the Kindle 3"; the reviewer noted that Amazon introduced a "deliberate limitation" into the Fire that didn't exist in the previous version: it is no longer possible to download free e-books from websites such as Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive and Google Books and have them stored permanently in the same places where books from Amazon are kept.[45][needs update]

Sales

Customers began receiving Kindle Fires on November 15, 2011, and in December 2012, customers had purchased over a million Kindle devices per week.[46] International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated that the Kindle Fire sold about 4.7 million units during the fourth quarter of 2011.[47]

The Amazon Kindle Fire helped the company beat their 2012 first quarter estimates and boosted the company's stock in extended trading.[48] As of May 2013, about 7 million units had been sold according to estimates.[2] Statistics for FY2014 or Q1&2 2015 are not yet available.[needs update]

Models

Generation (within Amazon tablets) 1st generation (2011) 2nd generation (2012) 5th generation (2015)
Model Kindle Fire Kindle Fire Fire
Release date November 15, 2011 September 14, 2012 September 30, 2015
Status Discontinued Current
Screen size 7"
Resolution 1024 × 600 (169 ppi) 1024 x 600 (171 ppi)
OS Based on Android 2.3.3 Based on Android 4.0.3 Fire OS 5
System Version 6.3.4[49] 10.5.1[50] 5.1.2.1[51]
CPU Maker Texas Instruments MediaTek
Kind Dual-core OMAP4 Quad-core
Model 4430 HS MT8127D [52]
Cores 2x ARM Cortex-A9 @ 1.0 GHz 2x ARM Cortex-A9 @ 1.2 GHz 4x ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.3 GHz
GPU Designer Imagination Technologies ARM Holdings
Kind PowerVR Mali
Model SGX540 450
Clock 304 MHz [53] 384 MHz [52] ?
RAM 512 MiB 1 GiB
Storage Internal 8 GB 8 GB or 16 GB
External N/A At least up to 128 GB microSDXC
Camera Back 2 MP
Front 0.3 MP VGA
Microphone Yes
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0 LE
Wireless Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Cellular N/A
Location N/A Wi-Fi based
Proximity N/A
Compass
Light sensor
Accelerometer Yes
Gyroscope N/A
Barometer
Weight 413 g (14.6 oz) 400 g (14 oz) 313 g (11 oz)
Dimensions 190 × 120 × 11.4 mm
(7.48 × 4.72 × 0.45 in)		 189 × 120 × 11.5 mm
(7.44 × 4.72 × 0.45 in)		 191 × 115 × 10.6 mm
(7.52 × 4.53 × 0.42 in)
Battery 4400 mAh 2980 mAh[54]

Gallery

  • Wikipedia Kindle Fire 1442.JPG

    The Kindle Fire in horizontal position displaying web page

  • Courtbean's Kindle Fire.jpg

    Kindle Fire 7 in (180 mm) size relative to a hand

  • The iPad (left) compared with the Kindle Fire (right)

  • Wikipedia Kindle Fire & iPod 1441.JPG

    The Kindle Fire (left) compared with the iPod Touch (right)

  • The Kindle Fire (left) compared with the iPad Mini (center) and the Nexus 7 (2012 version) (right)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Kindle Fire Amazon description Accessed: 11/23/2011
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Kindle Fire Specs & Latest News The Verge
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ [1]
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Kindle Fire HD at Amazon.com store
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Amazon Fire HD 6 review CNET
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. List of current Fire tablets on Amazon, sorted by price.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. See "Compare Fire Tablets" section: New HD6, HD8, and HD10 all claim "Up to 8 hours of reading, surfing the web, watching video, and listening to music"; 7" Fire claims 7 hours. Google search <site:www.amazon.com "compare fire tablets"> for latest information.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Kindle Fire (1st Generation) Software Updates
  50. ↑ Kindle Fire (2nd Generation) Software Updates
  51. ↑ Kindle Fire (5th Generation) Software Updates
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Amazon's Kindle Fire HD: Better; Can It Compete With The Nexus 7?
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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