Amazon Fire 7 tablet
Source: Amazon
Amazon announced the latest version of its Fire 7 tablet on Wednesday. At $ 59.99, the tablet is slightly more expensive than its predecessor, but the company promises longer battery life.
Amazon’s Fire tablets have served as a cheaper alternative to Apple’s iPad, but it’s not a big business segment for Amazon, as hardware is for Apple. Instead, Amazon’s hardware products serve as an entry point into Amazon’s ecosystem of services, such as Alexa voice assistant and music, books, and apps.
The latest version of the Fire 7 did not have much battery life, and the screen and camera were not very sharp. Amazon said the new model has a 40% longer battery life, for up to 10 hours of browsing, but that it has not made any changes to the screen or camera.
The updated Fire 7 also has a 30% faster processor that should help the tablet feel more responsive, Amazon said. It will also continue to have 16GB of storage on the base version, which is probably fine for most people who just need a budget tablet to browse and download some movies, though you can expand the storage by adding your own memory card. It also replaces a dated charging port with a newer and more common USB-C port.
The new Fire 7 can be pre-ordered from Wednesday and will start shipping on June 29th. It comes in black, denim and pink colors with coordinating covers that cost $ 28.99 each.
Amazon also introduced a new version of Fire 7 Kids, which comes with a “kid-proof” case (in red, blue or purple) that comes with a one-year Amazon Kids +. The device has a starting price of $ 109.99 and is also available from June 29th.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.