back to article Amazon pitches cheap new Kindles for Blighty

Amazon is bringing its Kindle Fire to the UK almost a year after the 7in Android tablet's US debut. The good news for folk who've been patiently waiting: it's only 129 quid. Punters may prefer the better spec'd Fire HD. It's the obvious choice, particularly since it's only 30 quid more expensive. So, just £159 for a 7in, 1280 …

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  1. Dave 8
    Pint

    Sorry got tired of waiting.

    Bought an Asus TF300.

    The end.

  2. DuncanL
    Unhappy

    Sulk

    Why aren't we getting the good versions? The Paperwhite eInk and 8.9 inch Fire HD. Thanks for remembering the world outside the US exists, Amazon, but we don't want to be permanently a year behind the US.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sulk

      Yep, disappointed here too.

      At a guess - supply of the larger Fire and the Paperwhite are going to be limited for a few months and Amazon are concentrating on their home market. Hopefully they'll get round to remembering us before long.

  3. Joe Harrison

    Why can't they do an A4-sized e-ink Kindle?

    You can't read the average non-fiction PDF on those little screens.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why can't they do an A4-sized e-ink Kindle?

      Well, you can. In the good ole USA. I think it's called the DX - you can read an A4 page of a pdf with no problems. Have a poke around - quite a few show up here on ebay, but they carry a hefty premium over the normal one.

      1. DuncanL

        Re: Why can't they do an A4-sized e-ink Kindle?

        You could get the DX, - but they're just selling remaining stock and not making any more - http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/6/3298468/amazon-kindle-dx-kindle-touch-e-readers-retired

        (Sorry, still not allowed to do proper links)

        1. Aldous
          Go

          Re: Why can't they do an A4-sized e-ink Kindle?

          problem with the dx is it treats pdf's as images (don't know if calibre cure this only seen reviews) i wanted one for PDF's but after researching went for a tablet instead. if you do go for a tablet it is essential to get one with an IPS screen they ar eperfect for pdfs and use the small kindle for everything else.

          i went for an onda vi40 dual core 9.7 inch IPS. it has the same screen as the iPad 2 and performs similar and to top it all off is cheaper then a kindle dx.

    2. Tom 7

      Re: Why can't they do an A4-sized e-ink Kindle?

      that's why its called Pointless Document Format.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    After the debacle with the Kindle Fire...

    ...Amazon can suck my balls

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: After the debacle with the Kindle Fire...

      Plain or chocolate salty?

  5. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    What an absolute bugger to be an Android OEM. You've got Google on one side of you, punting the Nexus 7 at pretty much cost price. You've then got Amazon going for a bit of loss-leader action, and this time their hardware might actually be a lot less horrible. Although I have personal doubts about their software...

    Then you've got the bastards at Apple, hoovering up all the profits at the top-end (stopping you going premium). Plus they get all the free publicity that the world's media can throw at them.

    And Microsoft coming up on the rails, who might try a bit of loss-leadering themselves... OK, a lot of people have their doubts about how Windows 8 will go, but it might go brilliantly, and certainly adds an awful lot of uncertainty to your life.

    I got an email from dabs.com yesterday, offering the new Samsung Galaxy 10.1 for £210. Admittedly that's including £50 cashback - where they hope you'll forget to claim it so they keep the money. Samsung can make huge profits on the Galaxy III, selling at £500 odd, but clearly not on tablets.

    1. Arctic fox

      Re:"Samsung can make huge profits on the Galaxy III, selling at £500 odd, but.......

      .......... clearly not on tablets."

      I have to admit that I do not understand it. In both cases they are running the same os as the equivalent phone and both phones sell gangbusters to their respective customer bases, so it is not unfamiliarity with the respective operating systems. In certain ways Sammys offering is clearly better equipped than the iPad and both systems have a very large choice of apps. If it is not primarily the screen (iPad 3) then I have to say I am at a complete loss as to how to work out how Sammy's high-end phone can compete with the iPhone and then some but apparently not the tablet.

      1. dajames
        Meh

        Re: Samsung can make huge profits on the Galaxy III, selling at £500 odd, but.......

        I am at a complete loss as to how to work out how Sammy's high-end phone can compete with the iPhone and then some but apparently not the tablet.

        For one thing, the Samsung phones have USPs that distinguish them from iPhones and make them more attractive to some users -- things like removable batteries, upgradeable flash memory, choice of screen size, and so on. The Galaxy tablets do NOT offer the obvious hardware differences that many of us would like to see (host USB ports, memory slots, etc) so one might as well buy an iPad -- especially one with the lovely retina screen.

        Then again, it could just be cost. The high-end Samsung phones are cheaper than the nearest-equivalent iPhones, but the Galaxy Tab costs just as much as a similarly-spec'd iPad.

  6. mikeyboosh

    I was just about to buy a nexus 7, and after looking at a side by side comparison, I still am. I just want pure android. And I don't mind paying a little extra for it.

    1. Jedit Silver badge
      Thumb Down

      "And I don't mind paying a little extra for it."

      Unless you buy your Nexus 7 from Amazon, where they're charging £60 more for it so no naughty comparison shopper accidentally buys one instead of a Kindle Fire.

      1. mikeyboosh

        Re: "And I don't mind paying a little extra for it."

        Just had a look and that is interesting. However, it's not being sold directly by Amazon so maybe you're being a bit cynical!

  7. FartingHippo
    WTF?

    Kindle reader and 802.11n

    I find it's crucial to have such a fast connection to download a one meg ebook (and that's a big Tom Clancy jobbie). Saves me 0.2 seconds every time, and at a book a week that's almost 10 seconds a year! Now I just have to think about what to do with all that extra free time.

    Too sarcastic?

    1. Rupert Stubbs

      Re: Kindle reader and 802.11n

      Yes - it's a bit weird to have 3G on the monochrome Kindles, isn't it... Especially as you can't use them as web browsers any more. 3G sucks a lot more juice, as well...

    2. dotdavid
      Thumb Up

      Re: Kindle reader and 802.11n

      To be fair, the 802.11n is probably only because the wifi chip has been updated - I doubt Amazon went out of their way to source an n-capable chip rather than a g-capable chip.

      Also it provides a bit of future-proofing (although getting cheaper every year it might not be too long til the e-ink kindles are only £30 or so, almost disposable) for if/when there are no more g-capable wifi networks around.

  8. Thomas Whipp

    grrr

    @Mike - yes the paperwhite is the one I'd buy, I've been watching Kindles for the last couple of years and thinking they're just not quite what I need in terms of contrast (albeit the touch is *very* close to my comfort level). The paperwhite looks perfect for what I'd use it for.

  9. Chz
    Thumb Down

    Gah. The Paperwhite doesn't solve the Kindle Touch's greatest problem - even with a touchscreen, many of us would like physical buttons for page turning.

  10. JimM

    I think the new Kindle is the current Kindle in a new colour with a lower price.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    But why?

    I mean it's the same price as the Nexus7, but with worse specs, and only allows content from Amazon's store.

    #FAIL

    1. Drat

      Re: But why?

      > I mean it's the same price as the Nexus7, but with worse specs, and only allows content from Amazon's store.

      >

      > #FAIL

      Yoou might be right, but then Amazon do have brand identity which counts for a lot, just look at Apple.

  12. John Whitehead

    Boycott them until they allow lending

    I'm having nothing more to do with Kindles until Amazon gives UK customers the same rights to lend and borrow Kindle books as US customers. It's bad enough charging the same or more for a bunch of bytes as they do for paper and ink, but to make me buy it again so a family member can read it? It's an outrage!

    1. Lallabalalla
      Happy

      Re: Boycott them until they allow lending

      Yes it is, and I had a similar problem with a Kobo book that woudn't work on my reader of choice - my old Sony. Solution: Calibre, with the usual plugins installed, converts to DRM-free and uploads to any reader. Sorted.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Boycott them until they allow lending

        Indeed, finding a website that describes how to remove DRM using Calibre plugins is very easy.

        And the process is actually even easier than that.

        I have no qualms about removing DRM from books I pay for - now I actually do it as a matter of course once I've bought one, as now the relevant plugins are installed it happens automatically when I import the new book into Calibre.

    2. Chris Parsons

      Re: Boycott them until they allow lending

      Ditto. And when my original keyboard model died, just under two years old, they told me that 'it only had a limited 1 year guarantee'. I pointed out the EU said otherwise and am still waiting. Meanwhile, have a Nexus 7 which, apart from a battery life of one day versus the 3 to 4 weeks of the Kindle, is very nice indeed.

  13. John Robson Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Just install Android then...

    http://rootkindlefire.com/

    Personally I run CyanogenMod on my phone, I'd be happy running the same on the Kindle - it just made my birthday list I think...

    Need to run a side by side with the Nexus before I put one on the list properly.

    Hmm - KFHD / Nexus

    GPS vs extra memory

    1. Lallabalalla
      FAIL

      Re: Just install Android then...

      I'm never buying any product that I immediately have to root/jailbreak/hack in some way just to get it to do something as simple as that. End of.

      1. Haku

        Re: Just install Android then...

        "If you can't hack it, you don't own it."

        I wouldn't have bought my Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet if I couldn't root it, heck you can boot CyanogenMod7 from a micro SD card on it without even needing to root it.

        1. JimM

          Re: Just install Android then...

          I'm waiting to see whether B&N launch a "Paperwhite" version of the Nook in November. If it can still run Android I'll be buying it.

  14. RobE
    FAIL

    Returning my kindle now

    Having recently lost my kindle, I have ordered a new one - Amazon don't give any indication of thier product line-up/road map in the UK and its shit. Needless to say I will be instantly returning my kindle and rebuying one of the newer ones at £20 less, unless they send the new one in the first place. morons.

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