Amazon unveils new Fire HD tablets with Fire OS 5 for as low as $50 USD
The rumors were true. Shortly after the leak of the first press renders of one of the new tablets, online retailer Amazon revealed its latest family of Fire tablets and even a line-up of updated Fire TV devices. Its Fire TV set-top box can stream up to 4K content and the Fire TV Stick can now be voice-activated.
The new Fire tablets start for as low as $50 for the basic 7-inch model, while the Fire HD 6 and HD 8 will cost just $99 and $149, respectively. The largest 10.1-inch model will retail for $229. The native resolution for all sizes will be 1280 x 800 pixels except for the basic 7-inch model where resolution will be just 1024 x 600 pixels. A more detailed look at core specifications is provided by the comparison table below.
The new Fire OS 5 is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop and will include a more streamlined interface with the usual heavy integration of Amazon services. Perhaps the most noteworthy addition is that Amazon has promised easy compatibility with Android Play Market apps. The retailer has noted that developers can quickly port their applications to Fire OS 5 with little to no changes. This may be Amazon's answer to side-loading applications on previous Amazon tablets where perfect compatibility was not guaranteed.