Amazon announces new Fire tablet and Kindle range

Leading retailer and growing platform holder Amazon has announced a complete refresh of its Fire tablet and Kindle ereader range.

Leading the charge is its iPad Air rivalling Fire HDX 8.9 tablet, which offers a super hi-def 2560×1600 pixel display – that’s 1m more pixels on screen than can be found on Apple’s machine.

Also revealed is a Bluetooth keyboard that seemingly fronts up to Microsoft’s Surface Pro range.

The Fire HDX 8.9 is due for release in October, leaving very little wriggle room before Apple unveils its new iPad at the end of the same month.

Also revealed is the Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition, although that’s currently without a UK release date. The existing Fire tablet has been rebranded as the Fire HD 6 Tablet and can now be had for 79 for the 8GB model and 99 for the 16GB. It’s available in five different colours.

There’s a new Kindle on the way too in the form of the Kindle Voyage. At 7.8mm thick Amazon reckons it’s the thinnest ereader ever. It also offers a 300ppi display behind a new glass screen and a new page-turning mechanism called ‘PagePress’ that offers two haptic buttons on either side of the device.

The Kindle Voyage will cost 169 and will arrive early next month, alongside an updated version of the current Kindle Paperwhite for 109 and a revised standard Kindle for 59.

Amazon will also next month release its Fire TV and Fire Phone in the UK.

"The team has packed an incredible amount of technology and innovation into the new Fire HDX-an incredible HDX display,” Amazon’s founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said.

A powerful quad-core processor, a 70% faster graphics engine, exceptional audio, and faster Wi-Fi-and it’s still startlingly light. Fire HDX combines excellent hardware with exclusive features from Fire OS4 including Firefly, the Mayday button, Family Library, ASAP and more."