New Kindle Fire a delight

It worked. The new Fire, which Amazon will alpha shipment on Friday, is basically the old Fire done appreciably better, with a sleeker body, a bigger video screen, and decidedly acceptable sound. With a starting amount of $199 for a adaptation with 16 gigabytes of memory, or $249 with 32 gigs, it should accord its abutting rival, Google Inc.’s Nexus 7 tablet, affluence of competition. But the Fire’s got abundant annoying weaknesses to accumulate it durably in additional place.

The aboriginal Fire’s artificial physique addled me as a little crude. Amazon’s done far bigger this time, giving it cone-shaped edges and a firm, bland backside. The old Fire managed apostle aggregate with a touchscreen control; the Fire HD evidently retreats to an old-school pushbutton control. The new Fire comes with a front-facing camera, advised for videoconferencing through software apps like Skype. There’s an HDMI anchorage appropriate alongside the abiding USB connection. With HDMI, you can play downloaded movies on your agenda TV.

Movies looked albino and chapped on the old adaptation but are abundant bigger here, acknowledgment to a 1280-by-800 screen. Still, while watching Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes, I begin the images a little fuzzy, absolutely not up to iPad standards. But the upgraded complete arrangement from Dolby Laboratories Inc. is as clear, rich, and, yes, loud, as I’ve heard from any tablet.

Battery activity seemed decent; afterwards a day of harder use, including a affection movie, the Fire HD still had about 25 percent power.

Amazon alien the aboriginal Kindle aback in 2007 as a authentic e-book reader, with an eye-friendly black-and-white screen. The backlit LCD awning on the Fire HD isn’t as adapted to reading; a abstraction arise endure anniversary by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute warned that account on a backlit awning at night can ruin your sleep. Still, the Fire HD gives you acceptable affidavit to yield the risk. Of course, you can accept from abounding bags of titles. But you aswell get a brace of adorable new features.

One is X-Ray, a array of super-index that provides all-embracing advice on people, places, and contest mentioned in a book, abundant of it acquired from the online album Wikipedia. While browsing through Charles Duhigg’s album book “The Ability of Habit,” I was able to attending up biographical data on 59 humans whose names arise in its pages. X-Ray isn’t accessible for every Amazon title, but afterwards application it you’ll ambition it was.

Another acute e-book affection integrates the accounting and announced words. I downloaded Chester Himes’s abomination atypical “A Rage in Harlem,” and for about $4 added I got the audiobook version, apprehend by Samuel L. Jackson. You can apprehend and accept at the aforementioned time — the words are accent on your awning as Jackson reads them — or just listen. You can aswell play the account at up to three times accustomed acceleration if you’re in a hurry. Amazon calls the arrangement “immersive reading,” apparently because it hopes to absorb us for a few added bucks. It ability work, too; I absolutely enjoyed it.

I didn’t even apperception the commercials. As on added Kindle editions, Amazon sells ad amplitude on the Fire HD. The ads arise alone if you deathwatch the accessory out of beddy-bye mode. I begin them absolutely calm and even attractive. And the ads helped authority down the Fire HD’s price. But some consumers wish an ad-free version, and Amazon has agreed to accommodate one, for an added fee of $15.

Then again, Google sells its Nexus 7 for the aforementioned amount as the Fire, after abashing the awning with ads. The Nexus 7 gives you abounding admission to the apps in the Google Play online store. The Kindle Fire offers alone a abate alternative of Amazon-approved apps. The Kindle Fire doesn’t even appear with an AC adapter for recharging. You can either bung it into your computer or buy an adapter for an added $10.