Apple has just unveiled its most expensive tablet a few weeks ago and it’s quite expensive at $799. For those who don’t mind compromising the performance and a high-resolution screen, then Amazon’s new set of Fire tablets is going to get you interested.

The first two slates are the Fire HD 8 and 10, which will replace last year’s HD6 and HD7. Both tablets come equipped with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, up to 16GB of on-board storage that can be expanded using a micro SD card, 1GB of RAM, and a display that offers 400 nits of brightness.

Amazon has also put stereo speakers with virtual surround sound on both models as well as 802.11 Wi-Fi and a new feature called “On Deck” that can automatically download content to the tablet when the device is plugged in.

The two tablets will also run the new Fire OS5 and a 5MP rear camera.  There’s also a 720p front-facing camera, a 3.5mm stereo jack, integrated stereo speakers with Dolby Audio, an accelerometer and gyroscope.

The Fire HD8 and HD10 will be sold for $150 and $230 respectively.

In case you want an even cheaper tablet, Amazon also has the new Fire 7 which only costs $50.

The tablet goes with a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 7-inch 1024 x 600-pixel display, a 2MP rear HD camera and a VGA front-facing selfie snapper. The Fire 7 boasts 8GB of expandable storage and a 7-hour battery life.

Now, for a few dollars more, you can get a kid-friendly version of the Fire 7 that comes with a 2-year worry-free warranty. According to Amazon, the warranty covers repairs both electrical and mechanical breakdowns for the tablet.

The Amazon Fire Kids Edition will sell for $99.99 and will be available by the end of the month. The online retail giant is also selling the tablets in a 6-piece pack where you get the 6^th tablet for free.

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Retailing giant Amazon just launched a new speaker product in the market. But if you’re thinking that it’s just one of those run-of-the-mill Bluetooth speakers, you’re underestimating Amazon a bit too much.

Aside from streaming songs online or via Bluetooth, Amazon’s Echo also acts as your home’s virtual assistant much like Siri, Google Now and Cortana are for phones. The speaker connects to the internet where it gets all the information it needs for your requests. Just like its mobile counterparts, the virtual assistant in the Echo is voice activated.

The speaker is always on and users can instruct the device using an assigned “wake word”. According to Amazon, Echo uses far field technology including a group of seven microphones around the top of the device so you don’t need to shout in order to give it instruction.

A companion app can be downloaded into a smartphone and tablet to help a user sort music, alarms and check shopping lists to name a few. Echo is a plug in and is meant to reside in the living room alongside the Fire TV in contrast to other Bluetooth speakers in the market.

Amazon is currently offering the Echo for $199 in an invite-only setup for now, possibly to test the product itself and its practical use in real life. If the sample group’s reception is positive we may soon see a smart speaker talking to us in the near future.

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Amazon is challenging the Google Chromecast with its own HDMI streaming dongle – the $39 Fire TV Stick.

The dongle features a dual-core processor, 8GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, a dedicated VideoCore4GPU and Wi-Fi 802.11n. It also comes with its own TV remote which should make surfing and navigating its interface easier. You can also use your Android phone as a remote control or a voice control by downloading the companion app.

The stick also features Amazon’s ASAP technology (Advanced Streaming and Prediction), which learns the kind of movies and shows you like to watch and readies them before the user presses the play button.

Other notable features of the Fire Stick TV include Bluetooth v3.0, support for Dolby Digital Plus, support for Amazon Fire Game controller (compatible with other Bluetooth controllers), and finally 720p-1080p video output support.

And one more thing, if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can get the Fire TV Stick for only $19 for the next two days.

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Back in June, Amazon unveiled its camera-filled smartphone – the Fire Phone. Four months later, it seems the retail giant’s first take on smartphones wasn't a good idea as the company had to write off $170 million to cover costs related to inventory and suppliers.

The problem with Amazon’s Fire Phone is that it really didn’t make a lasting impression on consumers in the already crowded Android phone market in contrast to phones from other manufacturers including Samsung, LG and HTC. Moreover, the phone was initially offered as an AT&T exclusive which even made it less accessible to consumers.

All these factors play a part on why Amazon’s Q3 earnings report indicated an operating loss of around $544 million compared to last year’s loss of $25 million. The good thing though is that revenue is up by 20% from $17 billion last year to $20 billion. The question now is how Amazon plans to move forward with the Fire Phone; will they drop it or do a major overhaul?

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Amazon has recently revamped its Kindle Fire tablets making them more competitive both in the high-end market as well as in the entry-level arena by announcing a smaller Kindle Fire to compete with other budget-friendly Android tablets in the market.
On the high-end there’s the Fire HDX 8.9 which features the latest SoC from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 805 with a 2.5GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 420 GPU, 2GB of RAM and 16-64GB of on-board storage. The 8.9-inch display of the tablet sports a 2560x1600 pixel resolution, a screen density of 339ppi and 400nits of brightness.

There’s an 8MP camera with an f/2.2 lens and LED flash at the back as well as a 720p front-facing camera. The HDX 8.9 can be equipped with 4G LTE, dual-antenna Wi-Fi and Dolby Atmos audio and a 12-hour battery.
The Fire HDX 8.9 will of course run on Fire OS 4 and will include a couple of Amazon’s custom apps such as Mayday on-device support and Firefly shopping assistant. Amazon is putting a $379 price tag on the 16GB model and $594 for the 64GB version.
On the cheaper end there are the Kindle Fire HD6 and HD7. The two devices are almost identical with the exception of only a few components including the screen size. Both tablets are equipped with quad-core processors, 1GB of RAM and 8GB or 16GB of internal memory.

Moreover, their displays are both 720p resolution but since their screen sizes are different (6 and 7 inches), display density are at 252ppi for the HD6 and 216ppi for the HD7. The two tablets sport a 2MP camera at the back and a VGA snapper on the front. In terms of audio equipment, the HD6 comes with mono speaker while the HD7 gets an extra stereo speaker than its smaller brother.
Just like the HDX, the two tablets will run on the Android-based Amazon Fire OS 4. The HD6 will be offered at a price tag starting at $139 while the HD7’s price will start at $174 for the base 16GB model.
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The long wait is over. Amazon has finally announced its long-rumoured smartphone – the Amazon Fire Phone at the company’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Introduced by Jeff Bezos himself, the Fire Phone sports typical Android specs but infused with some clever hardware and software as well as a lot of Amazon services.

At first glance, the handset looks like a larger and slightly different version of the iPhone 4 with Gorilla Glass 3 panels at the front and back with sides surrounded by polyurethane rubber and buttons made from anodized aluminium.

The phone’s guts is composed of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset with 2.2GHz quad-core processor, an Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of non-expandable internal storage. The Fire Phone packs a 13MP snapper at the back with an f/2.0 aperture and a five-element lens that is capable of capturing 1080p videos, and a 2.1MP front-facing camera for selfies.

There are also four extra camera sensors at the front of the device that tracks a user’s eyes for the phone’s Dynamic Perspective feature which adjusts the contents of the screen based on how a user holds the phone. The feature works best with tilt gestures that allow users to initiate actions in games and apps by simply moving the phone.

Amazon has equipped the Fire Phone with a 4.7-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels that roughly equates to a 315ppi screen density. Moreover, the display has 590nits of brightness and a contrast ration of 1000:1.

In the connectivity department, there’s support for global LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth and NFC.

The Fire Phone also boasts two stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus for an immersive audio experience. Amazon is also adding a premium headset with the phone that features flat and tangle-free cable and magnetic earbuds that stick together for easier management.

The handset will run on Fire OS 3.5, which is essentially a heavily customized version of Android without Google’s services. Just like the Kindle line of tablets, Amazon is relying on its own app store which recently reached the 240,000 mark.

Being an Amazon product, the Fire Phone will naturally be infused with a lot of the features to complement the retail giant’s businesses. For starters, the device comes with Mayday – Amazon’s 24/7 customer care hotline which was first introduced in the Kindle tablets.

There’s also this new feature called Firefly, which uses the phone’s camera or microphone to identify things around you and matches them to Amazon’s database so you can buy one. Firefly also identifies phone numbers, email addresses, websites, movies, TV shows and songs.

Click to see Full Specifications

Size	5.5" x 2.6" x 0.35" (139.2mm x 66.5mm x 8.9mm)
Weight	5.64 ounces (160 grams)
Processor	2.2GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, with Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM
Display	4.7" HD LCD display, with 1280 x 720 resolution at 315 ppi, 590 cd/m2 brightness (typical), 1000:1 contrast ratio (typical)
Cameras	13 MP rear-facing camera, multi-frame HDR, auto focus, optical image stabilization, f/2.0 5-element wide aperture lens, LED flash
	2.1 MP front-facing camera
OS	Fire OS 3.5.0
Storage	32 GB or 64 GB
Cloud Storage	Free cloud storage for all Amazon content, and photos taken with Fire phone
Battery	Battery size: 2400mAh. Talk time: up to 22 hours; standby time: up to 285 hours. Video playback: up to 11 hours; audio playback: up to 65 hours.
Video recording	1080p HD video recording at 30 fps (front- and rear-facing cameras)
Audio playback	Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus audio processing
TV and Video	Supports screen mirroring and Second Screen
Content formats supported	Audio: Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3), non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, PCM/WAVE, AAC LC/ELD, HE-AAC (v1 & v2), AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AMR-WB+, Audible Enhanced format (AAX); Video: MPEG4, VP8, H.264/MPEG4/AVC,MPEG4 SP, H.263,AVI,HDCP2.x, PlayReady DRM; Images: JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, GIF87a,GIF89a; Viewable docs: PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, DOC, DOCX, Kindle (AZW), KF8, TXT
Sensors	Dynamic Perspective sensor system with invisible infrared illumination, gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, barometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor
Location	GPS, Assisted GPS, GLONASS, Wi-Fi/Cellular location, and Digital compass
Cellular	UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz), Quad-band GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), 9 bands of LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 17, 20), supports carrier aggregation
Connectivity	802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, up to 300 Mbps with channel bonding; Bluetooth 3.0 wireless technology; NFC enabled
Headphones	Premium, tangle-free headphones with remote and mic
Rating for hearing aids	M4, T4
SIM Card	Pre-installed Nano SIM card
Ports	Micro USB 2.0
	3.5mm headphone
Warranty and Service	1-year Limited Warranty included. Use of Fire phone is subject to these terms
Included in the Box	Amazon Fire Phone with Fire OS 3.5.0
	Premium headphones with remote and mic
	Micro USB to USB charging cable
	USB power adapter (5W)
	Quick Start Guide

The Amazon Fire Phone will be available on July 25 exclusively on AT&T. Pricing starts at $199 for a two-year contract up to $649 off-contract.

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Amazon has been doing some catch-up these past few months in terms of recent tech trends that a lot of consumers are now embracing. Aside from a long-rumoured smartphone, the e-retailing giant is reportedly planning to launch its own music streaming service as early as tomorrow.

But unlike the service offered by Spotify, Rdio or Beats Music, Amazon’s would serve as an add-on feature for its Prime subscribers rather than a full service for everyone. Because of this, the service is not as full-featured as those from its competitors. For starters it will only offer a limited number of songs and will not include new releases and new tracks from Universal Music Group.

According to a report by The New York times, the restrictions on the service was caused by Amazon’s and Univeral’s licensing terms, which according to the latter were too low. Currently, Amazon claims that they have over 20 million Prime subscribers, so even though the service isn’t quite at par with Spotify or Beats Music, there is still money to be made here. For now, we’ll just have to wait for an official announcement from Amazon.

UPDATE: Amazon has just launched Prime Music. The service is available for free to existing Amazon Prime subscribers who paid the $79 to $119 subscription.

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