Amazon updates Fire tablets & TV products, introduces $50 tablet & $100 4K Fire TV

Posted:
in General Discussion edited September 2015
Amazon on Thursday announced seven new hardware products from its Fire lineup of tablets and streaming TV accessories, including an entry-level tablet that costs just $49.99, and a new $99.99 Fire TV with support for 4K video content.


The new $49.99 Fire tablet.


With its newly updated tablets, Amazon continues to focus on the low end of the market, as headlined by the new $50 Fire tablet. Amazon is also offering discounts on buying the Fire in bulk, with a six-pack of the devices available for $250.

The 7-inch Fire tablet includes a quad-core processor and front- and rear-facing cameras. It comes with 8 gigabytes of storage, but is expandable to up to 128 gigabytes with a micro SD card.

The entry-level Fire is available for preorder now, and it will be released on Sept. 30.


The Fire HD 8.


The $50 Fire is joined by new Fire HD tablets priced at $149.99 for an 8-inch model, and $229.99 for a 10.1-inch size. Both feature a quad-core processor and Dolby Atmos stereo speakers.


The Fire HD 10.


The 8-inch version comes in 8- or 16-gigabyte varieties with color options of black, magenta, blue, or tangerine. The 10.1-inch Fire HD has capacities of 16 or 32 gigabytes, and is available in black or white.


Amazon Fire Kids Edition.


The Fire Kids Edition has also been given a price cut to $99.99. It features an all-new Fire tablet, a year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, a kid-proof case, and a 2-year guarantee that the device will be replaced if it's broken in any way.

Finally, Amazon's Fire OS has been updated to version 5, dubbed "Bellini." It features a new home screen that simplifies content discovery, a new Amazon Underground app store with free titles, and new "Word Runner" capabilities that aid reading by showing words faster or slower based on their difficulty.


Amazon Fire TV.


As for the Fire TV, Amazon's set-top box has been updated with support for 4K Ultra HD content, thanks to hardware that is 75 percent more powerful than last year's model. Priced at $99.99, Amazon says it's half the cost of any other 4K streaming media player. Apple's forthcoming $149.99 Apple TV will not stream 4K content.

Fire TV has also brought Alexa, the brain behind its Echo device, to the television. Users can ask for music, information, weather, traffic, and more.


Fire TV stick with Voice Remote.


The Fire TV Stick also gains access to Alexa thanks to a new Voice Remote bundled with the hardware. The new Fire TV Stick includes twice the memory of a Google Chromecast, and is priced at $49.99. The device can also be purchased with a standard remote for $39.99.


Fire TV Gaming Edition.


Amazon has also launched a new Gaming Edition of its set-top box, which includes the all-new Fire TV, a dedicated gaming controller, a 32-gigabyte microSD card, and two popular games, "Shovel Knight" and "Disney's Ducktales." The bundle is priced at $139.99, a discount from the full price of $187.95.

The new Amazon Fire TV will start shipping on Oct. 5, while the Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote will ship on Oct. 22.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 212
    mazda 3smazda 3s Posts: 1,613member

    Don't give a hoot about the tablets, but I'll pickup a Fire TV to hook up to my 4K TV, replacing my Roku 3.

  • Reply 2 of 212
    Just ordered the Fire TV. Much better value than the Apple TV I think. It's a shame I can't stream from my iPhone or Mac. But small price to pay for a proper 4K box with Netflix etc.

    And why are they forcing silly gaming options on us!

    In terms of tablets - it's still the case that it's the iPad and then everything else. No interest in these at all.
  • Reply 3 of 212

    How are they able to make a tablet that costs less than the price of an iPad cover?

  • Reply 4 of 212
    leighr wrote: »
    How are they able to make a tablet that costs less than the price of an iPad cover?

    The trick is locking you in to Amazon services, advertising and shopping, that's where the money is.
  • Reply 5 of 212
    More loss leaders from Amazon. Impressive capabilities on their Fire TV. Probably worth getting for evaluation purposes.
  • Reply 6 of 212
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by leighr View Post

     

    How are they able to make a tablet that costs less than the price of an iPad cover?




    Their profit model is such that their profit is earned from the stuff one buys in their store (setting any quality differences aside).

     

    Personally, I've always felt it's a bit dishonest for manufacturers to distract you with cheap prices for its products it offers in one hand, while the other hand slyly and silently reaches around to your back pocket and removes money from your wallet, which is how it makes its profit for the (cheap) device(s) holding your attention.

  • Reply 7 of 212
    leighr wrote: »
    How are they able to make a tablet that costs less than the price of an iPad cover?

    As has been said before, "Amazon is a charity for investors."
  • Reply 8 of 212
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,455member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kkqd1337 View Post



    Just ordered the Fire TV. Much better value than the Apple TV I think. It's a shame I can't stream from my iPhone or Mac. But small price to pay for a proper 4K box with Netflix etc.



    And why are they forcing silly gaming options on us!



    In terms of tablets - it's still the case that it's the iPad and then everything else. No interest in these at all.

    Uhm, not seeing the whole "forcing silly gaming options on us", given that the AppleTV remote is likely better for media than the remote you will get with your FireTV; by a long shot I would argue

     

    For the record, I buy stuff frequently from Amazon, but none of their branded hardware.

  • Reply 9 of 212
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,455member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by williamlondon View Post

     



    Their profit model is such that their profit is earned from the stuff one buys in their store (setting any quality differences aside).

     

    Personally, I've always felt it's a bit dishonest for manufacturers to distract you with cheap prices for its products it offers in one hand, while the other hand slyly and silently reaches around to your back pocket and removes money from your wallet, which is how it makes its profit for the (cheap) device(s) holding your attention.


    Which is why Apply is appealing to the Supreme Court on the ebook case; everything Apple did was pro-competitive at a time when Amazon held 90% of the market using the profit model that you outlined above.

  • Reply 10 of 212
    tmay wrote: »
    Uhm, not seeing the whole "forcing silly gaming options on us", given that the AppleTV remote is likely better for media than the remote you will get with your FireTV; by a long shot I would argue

    For the record, I buy stuff frequently from Amazon, but none of their branded hardware.

    My point is I don't think phone games should be on TV boxes. They are just money making scam games with payable coins etc anyway.

    That's what XBox and PS are for.
  • Reply 11 of 212
    Amazon is clearly ceding the high end of the tablet market to Apple and the manufacturers of the nicer Android tablets. Amazon is going for the low end with these plasticky low-resolution tablets. 1024 x 600 resolution? That's worse than 5-year-old iPad models or the iPad Mini 1 (which is still available new for not much more than the equivalent Amazon Fire tablet).

    On the other hand, there are millions of people who could benefit from a tablet but can't afford an iPad. So Amazon's move has social value.

    Still, a new or gently used iPad Mini 1 is probably a better choice than these cheap Fire tablets and can be found for about the same price as some of them.
  • Reply 12 of 212
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mazda 3s View Post

     

    Don't give a hoot about the tablets, but I'll pickup a Fire TV to hook up to my 4K TV, replacing my Roku 3.


    What is the source of your 4K content?

  • Reply 13 of 212
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    The funny thing is the A8 is perfectly capable of playing 4k video.  Makes me wonder why Apple choose to not support 4k on the ATV

  • Reply 14 of 212
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post

     

    What is the source of your 4K content?




    for me, Youtube, Netflix and my own 4k home video.

  • Reply 15 of 212
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,927member
    Here's a company that doesn't know how to design and throws things out there. A $50 tablet?
  • Reply 16 of 212
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Man those tablets look cheaper than anything you'd find from some no name brand in China. Colors are ugly too.
  • Reply 17 of 212
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,312member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post

     

    What is the source of your 4K content?


     

    Well I assume Amazon will start dishing out 4K content.   Netflix has some 4K content, at least for their own newer programs.  but really, are you actually streaming 4K content, or really highly compressed, but lower quality B.S. 4K.  You're not even streaming 1080P Blu-Ray Quality, 4K content can't be much better then the so called 1080P streaming content.

     

    If you actually want 4K, need to wait for Ultra Blu-Ray to be released.

  • Reply 18 of 212
    herbapou wrote: »
    The funny thing is the A8 is perfectly capable of playing 4k video.  Makes me wonder why Apple choose to not support 4k on the ATV

    It does seem a shortsighted decision on their part considering all of the other 4K capabilities (software and hardware) in their new releases.
  • Reply 19 of 212
    sog35 wrote: »
    both Youtube and Netflix so called 4k is worse quality than standard 1080p bluray.

    Your home video's should look great though.  

    Just keep in mind next years AppleTV will probably be 4k. 

    Have Apple said they are going to start Annual updates? Thought they were on a 2-3 year cycle.
  • Reply 20 of 212
    wigbywigby Posts: 692member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by herbapou View Post

     

    The funny thing is the A8 is perfectly capable of playing 4k video.  Makes me wonder why Apple choose to not support 4k on the ATV




    The same reason why Apple didn't support 3G at first or LTE in their phones. There's just not enough content or 4K watchers out there right now. There might be 1-2 years from now but. The only reason for Apple to support 4k is when their entire iTunes catalog goes over to 4k. Anything before that represents a very small number of users.

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