Amazon has scheduled a press conference for September 6th, where the company will announce… something. The invitations don’t provide many details aside from the date and location, but Amazon tends to save these press events for the introduction of new hardware such as Kindle or Kindle Fire tablets and eBook readers.
While last year’s Kindle Touch is still a perfectly good eReader, it might be about time for an update. Competitor B&N recently introduced a new model with a front-lit screen, and word on the street is that Amazon has something similar up its sleeve.
Amazon also appears to be out of stuck of Kindle Touch WiFi eReaders at the moment, although you can still grab a 3G model for $149 or a non-touchscreen model for $79.
The Kindle Fire tablet, on the other hand, is definitely looking dated. When it launched last year, the Fire was one of the best tablets you could buy for $199. This summer it was eclipsed by the Google Nexus 7 which offers a higher quality display, faster processor, and newer software for the same price.
What would you like to see from the next Kindle or Kindle Fire?
via Engadget
New Kindle Fire wishlist: – Drop the ‘no Google apps’ restriction (have gmail, maps, etc all preinstalled) – GPS – NFC – Bluetooth (so I can take advantage of wireless speakers) – Front camera for video calls, incl. microphone as well – Support, out of the box, a ‘kid profile’, that parents can turn on to let their kids use the device and have it restricted to a set of pre-approved apps – Thinner and lighter – Better screen resolution – Better control of brightness without needing 3rd party apps to make it dimmer for nighttime reading – Allow the Kindle Lending Library to work on ALL devices if a customer is a Prime Customer, not just Amazon Kindle approved devices – And since Amazon makes it, fix the bloody Kindle app so one can set different ‘active regions’ on the screen for enabling page turning so I can accidentally… Read more »