Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE service is the same price as the entry-level Apple iPad. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:54 AM: And it’s over folks! We’ve got three new Kindle Fires (7-inch, 8.9-inch, and 8.9-inch with 4G LTE) and a family of new Kindle e-readers. Can’t wait to get our hands on them!
11:52 AM: Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch 32GB $499. Data plan: 250 MB per month. 20GB of clud storage. $10 Amazon credit. The price? $50 a year. It ships November 20, and you can order it starting today.
Amazon is teaming with AT&T to offer a 4G LTE version of its Kindle Fire HD tablet at $500 and $50 a year for wireless service. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:50 AM: Bezos wonders aloud what they would put in a $499 tablet. They would double the storage to 32GB and add the ultimate tablet feature: 4G LTE Wireless. Annnd we have the Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE Wireless.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD tablet will also be available in a 8.9-inch size at $300. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:48 AM: “The Kindle books store is by far the best bookstore in the world,” Bezos says. If we made a lot of money selling our devices, we’d be tempted to make it so people would only get content on the Kindle.
11:46 AM: “How are these prices possible?” Bezos asks. “We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices.”
11:45 AM: Now pricing. The Kindle Fire HD 7-inch 16GB is $199 and ships September 14. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch model is $299 and ships November 20.
Amazon’s new Kindle Fire HD has the same old Kindle Fire price point — $200. That’s a good thing. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:44 AM: Kindle Fire HD in conclusion: It’s available in 7 and 8.9 inch displays. Dual stereo speakers. Dolby sound. Front facing HD camera. HDMI out and Bluetooth . X-Ray for movies, games, textbooks, books. Whispersync for books and audiobooks.
11:43 AM: And a Kindle Fire HD video. Amazon really hates “Normal.”
11:40 AM: Photo demo: pretty much all the stuff you can do now. these demos are taking a while. X-Ray for Textbooks: A feature that’s cool for students. Everyone else, meh. Magazines look good from our seats (pushed through a camera and a projector).
11:38 AM: Games demo time. The games list shows how many of your Facebook friends are playing, as well as achievements and game progress. Skylanders demo: The game has ingame offers for physical products, which you can buy with one click. Now your kids can get toys delivered straight from their game, like toys of the characters that appear in the game.
A front-facing HD-quality camera allows for Skype video chats in (you guessed it) HD. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:37 AM: Whelp, we’re listening to fun. He says the sound sounds good without the headphones… Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell because they are using giant monitors to rock out.
11:36 AM: Recommendations appear in portrait mode at the bottom of the screen. Email recommendations show shortcuts to start a new message, check calendar, or check contacts.
11:34 AM: Demoing The Hunger Games video. On pause, X-Ray for Video appears in the top left hand corner. You can tap on actors to expand information retrieved from IMDB, and add recommended movies to a watch list from X-Ray.
11:33 AM: The demo of the Kindle Fire HD’s carousel navigation looks smooth. No RED cameras in sight, so that’s good. You can tap on the bottom of the screen for a favorite to pop up. You can pin content, websites and apps to the favorite drawer.
The Amazon Kindle Fire HD will allow parents to set time limits on how long their children can use the device. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:32 AM: The screen turns blue when locked in Kindle Free Time mode so a parent can easily see from across the room. Pretty sneaky stuff, Jeff. Demo time!
11:30 AM: Jeff has four kids. “Kids love screens.” He talks about negotiating with kids to go outside and get away from the screens. So now there’s Kindle Free Time: Time limits for kids. Set separate time limits for different content. Let them read all the time, but set time limits for games and video. You can create profiles for different kids.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD has a new email app that looks to be a sign that Amazon wants its new tablet to be used for more than just content consumption. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:29 AM: Whispersync for Games: Stores all unlocked levels in the Amazon cloud. Awesome! Never battle the same level again. There’s also new email with Exchange integration. Facebook built a custom app for the Kindle Fire, and Skype built a custom app.
11:28 AM: X-Ray for Movies with IMDB. This lets you find out who that actor is in a movie.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD will start at 16GB, not 8GB. We like that. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:27 AM: A few more features… Immersion Reading: Improves understanding and retention.
11:26 AM: We’re getting a sample of a Samuel L. Jackson-voiced audiobook. While the BMF, reads, the Kindle follows along with highlighted text.
11:25 AM: Jumping back to audio-related stuff again: Amazon added 100,000 audiobooks to Kindle HD thanks to the Audible acquisition. There’s a new feature called Whispersync for Voice: Listen to audio book on one device, pick up a Kindle and start reading right where you left off on the audio version. Pretty cool for travelers.
11:24 AM: Thus, the Kindle Fire HD starts at 16 GB.
11:23 AM: We’re finally talking about local storage. Bezos talks about HD content taking up all your space on the tablet — 8GB is dead on arrival for HD.
11:23 AM: MIMO turns echoes from a disadvantage, to an opportunity. It’s so complex, it has to be done with hardware on the silicon level. Kindle HD is the first tablet to incorporate MIMO. It’s got dual band 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz antennas. Bezos says the Kindle Fire HD’s WiFi is 41 percent faster than the iPad’s.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD looks like…a black rectangle. Not a surprise considering the original Fire had the same simple design. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:20 AM: Bezos is expertly talking about WiFi technology, particularly about echoes, echoes, echoes.
11:18 AM: “WiFi is crucial on the tablet and other tablets are not giving it the attention it deserves,” Bezos says. He talks about the 5 Ghz band and two antennas. Please just tell us the Wi-Fi specs. PLEASE. He’s still talking about the wonderful world of two antennas.
Unlike Apple’s iPad, the Amazon Kindle Fire will feature dual speakers and a little help from Dolby’s sound engineering. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:17 AM: And how does the Kindle Fire HD sound? Bezos is making fun of the iPad with its one speaker. Kindle HD will have dual stereo speakers. Added Dolby Digital Plus.
11:16 AM: Inside, it’s got a TI OMAP 4470 Processor, which has 40 percent more emory bandwidth than NVIDIA’s Tegra 3.
11:15 AM: Now all the files will look better because of the HD display. So how much memory are you giving us Jeff? HOW MUCH?
11:14 AM: Now we’re talking glare. Air gaps create glare. Amazon laminated the touch sensor on top of the display to reduce glare (by 25 percent, in fact). It also provides better contrast.
Amazon’s next Kindle Fire tablet will be called the Kindle Fire HD. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:13 AM: The Kindle Fire HD: It’s 8.8mm thick, weighs 20oz, and has an 8.9 inch, 254 ppi display with in-plane switching. It has an advanced true wide polarizing filter.
11:13 AM: Bezos says, “This year, we want to have the best tablet at any price.” Perhaps a nod that the original Kindle Fire was a good price, but not the “best” tablet?
11:12 AM: The new Kindle Fire HD: 205 faster processor. Double the RAM. 40 percent faster. Longer battery life. $159. Ships September 14, but you can order it today.
11:11 AM: The Kindle makes up 22 percent of tablet sales in the U.S. according to Amazon.
11:10 AM: Let’s talk about the Kindle Fire now.
11:09 AM: Stats of post-Kindle world: People are reading more, according to Amazon. 2.5 times as much in 2008. In 2009, 3.5x. 4.21x in 2010. 4.62 in 2011.
11:08 AM: Introducing the Kindle Serial: Pay once, get all the installments. It features automatic and seamless updates, as authors issue installments authors can follow along to the reaction. A yoga murder mystery “Downward Facing Death” is one of the new serials. Serials are $1.99.
11:07 AM: Now Bezos moves on to talking about Kindle Singles. 3.5 million have been sold.
11:05 AM: Kindle Direct Publishing: authors can publish for free and keep their coyright. Bezos says, “It’s working.” 27 of the top 100 Kindle books are Kindle Direct Publishing. Another video shows examples of authors that succeeded on Kindle Direct Publishing, and Bezos gives a shoutout to various KDP authors in the audience.
Amazon says more people are reading Kindle e-books than ever before. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
11:01 AM: “Invention does not stop at the hardware,” Bezos says. He shows rejection letters sent to Stephen King and Dr. Suess back in the day. Keep trying kids.
11:01 AM: Now they’re showing a new Kindle Paperwhite ad. People reading in bed and in the car at night.
The new Kindle Paperwhite e-reader features a touchscreen and no physical buttons. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
10:59 AM: Now Bezos is talking abou the regular button Kindle. The original Kindle is $79. It’s been updated with new fonts, crisper text, 15 percent faster page turns. Called the $69 Kindle. Ships September 14.
10:59 AM: The Paperwhite 3G is $179, also ships October 1.
10:58 AM: The price is $119, and you can order it today. Ships October 1. Oh hai, someone giving you prices and ship dates!
The Kindle Fire Paperwhite e-reader is shipping Oct. 1. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
10:57 AM: Author bios are now available with a list of authors’ books. You can purchase books straight from the bio. Sounds bad for your wallet, but good for book sales.
10:56 AM: X-Ray: Helps you learn about characters form the book. Each character gets a biography
10:55 AM: Now for a rundown of its new features. The time to read feature: Tells you how much time you have left in the chapter and in the book. It learns how quick you read and determines the time based on your speed.
10:55 AM: Each font has been hand-tuned to the pixel grid. The new fonts can use drop caps. Bezos says, “You can’t do this font without this display.”
10:53 AM: You can switch to the cloud to see all your content. Now they’re showing of “Game of Thrones” on screen. For WINTERFELL!
10:52 AM: Bezos says it gets eight weeks of battery life even with the light on. Impressive! More specs: It’s 9.1mm thick and 7.5 ounces. It also has Covermode like the Kindle Fire.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos holds up the new Kindle Paperwhite e-reader. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
10:51 AM: We had to invent the display, Bezos says. It’s 212 pixels per inch. 62 percent more pixels at a 25-high contrast. Now he’s showing what’s going on behind the scenes in the device, the screen stack. The light travels down a fiberoptics-type display and a nanoprinted light guide evenly distributes light.
10:50 AM: Yup, the new Kindle Paperwhite. It has a black bezel, glowing front-lit screen, and no physical buttons.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, talking hardware. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
10:49 AM: “Hardware is a critical part of the service,” Bezos says. Now they’re playing a new Kindle ad, which includes interviews with Kindle owners talking about their Kindle. The ad shows a customer’s Kindle replaced with the new Kindle Paperwhite.
10:45 AM: Bezos shows an email from a customer. The customer writes “Thank you” for additional content. “We live for email like this,” he says. Bezos continues: Last year, there were more than two dozen Android tablets launched into the market place and nobody bought them. Because they were gadgets. People want services, not gadgets. Things that improve. Kindle Fire is a service.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos takes the stage.Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
10:43 AM: “Normal just begs to be messed with,” the video concludes. And now Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is onstage. “We love to invent. We love to pioneer,” he says.
10:42 AM: The event is finally starting, 12 minutes late. The lights just went down and they’re showing a video about Amazon. It’s pretty much telling us that we use Amazon to buy everything.
10:32 AM: People are still filing in. Fun fact: We can hear planes taking off from inside the hangar. Hope they can time those sounds to today’s product announcements. “And here’s the new Kindle!” Zooooom.
Inside Amazon’s Kindle event, the room is blue and packed. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
10:25 AM: Only five minutes to go till this shindig is supposed to start. Taking bets on how long the event lasts today. My guess: 64 min.
10:12 AM: We’re listening to the Bird and the Bee’s cover of Hall and Oates’ “Maneater.” Could it be a clue as to what Amazon will be showing off today? Yeah, probably not.
10:09 AM: We’re inside the hangar now, listening to Amy Winehouse. Blue lights everywhere, with blue spotlights onstage. Complimentary color to the orange outside.
Reporters are waiting to see what Amazon has to show off. Photo: Dennis Provost/Wired
Outside of Amazon’s Kindle event in Santa Monica, there’s a whole lot of orange going on. 
9:51 AM: Press is lining up at the hangar doors hoping to get the best seats possible.
9:45 AM: So much orange.
9:43 AM: We’re here at the Amazon event, waiting outside! They are serving us tiny muffins and coffee.
Bezos and company are expected to refresh the Kindle line. Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired
SANTA MONICA, CA — Amazon’s Kindle event starts Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. PDT. Wired is here covering the event live from a hangar in beautiful Santa Monica.
Amazon is expected to announce new Kindle e-readers. Rumors point to a new Kindle Touch with a front-lit-screen feature called Paperwhite. The new Kindle would take on Barnes & Noble’s Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight.
The event should also bring a new Kindle Fire. Observers expect the online retailer to announce an update to the currently sold out Kindle Fire and introduce a 10-inch version of the forked-Android tablet.
Wired staff writer Roberto Baldwin will be on the scene. Live coverage starts at 10:30 a.m. PDT right here in this article — just refresh the page to get the latest news. You can also follow along via Twitter @GadgetLab and @strngwys.
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/09/amazon-kindle-event-live-blog/
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