Kindle Fire HDX 8.9”, light, thin and with a screen extraordinary
The Amazon tablet, equipped with a hardware of the highest quality, it has an exceptional value for money
After one year since the launch of the Kindle Fire is in Italy a few days ago came in the store of the Bel Paese new family of tablets Amazon : Kindle Fire HDX , with display from 7” and 8.9”, both equipped with a processor 3 times faster and double the memory than the previous generation.
We’ve got to get your hands on this review on the big screen version of the new tablet, which Jeff Bezos , founder and CEO of Amazon, aims to consolidate the second place in the global market for tablets pc , leaving behind the family of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and going closer and closer to undermine the leadership of the Apple iPad.
EQUIPMENT – In essential but elegant package , in addition to the tablet, there is a USB-MicroUSB cable, quick start guide on paper and, by popular demand charger 9W Kindle PowerFast , which in the past was an accessory to be bought separately.
DESIGN AND HARDWARE – The new Kindle Fire HDX 8.9” weighs only 374 g , achieved a leading position lightest large screen tablet with outstanding (the iPad Air weighs about 100 grams more). This exceptional result is reached by integrating the Amazon in the glass surface capacitive touch screen , so as to obtain a single layer, less heavy than the typical double-layer screen, and adopting a alloy frame Magnesium worked with a mixture of glass and nylon, all materials used for the F1, which have little effect on weight but provide high strength and toughness .
The Amazon tablet is perfectly assembled , well balanced and has good ergonomics . In addition to being lightweight, you can hold comfortably with one hand, it is also very thin (7.8 mm) and the main dimensions contained (231 mm x 158 mm), thanks to a reduced screen bezel to a minimum.
Frontally are one of the strengths of this device, the touch screen 8.9 “ (22.6 cm diagonal), with an IPS panel HDX resolution (2560×1600) and record density of 339 ppi .
This display photos and video up to 1080p with crisp colors and realistic (100% sRGB space), deep blacks and high contrast. Exceptional touch sensitivity and optimal viewing from any angle. The brightness more than 400 nit combined with reduced reflexes and advanced polarizing filter, make that vision is also more than satisfactory outdoors under direct sunlight . Although this is not an e-ink display (what to speak of the Kindle eBook Reader), is also good experience of reading books and magazines.
placing the tablet horizontally, above the screen, we see the goal of front camera 720p HD , designed especially for video calls or photos to be included on the fly in social networks.
Along the thin side profile , on the right, there is a 3.5 mm audio jack, left, microUSB port for charging and data connection at top the holes in the integrated dual-microphone .
The rear face of the tablet has a completely new look, characterized by clean lines , from four beveled edges, over that from the Amazon logo clearly visible at the center. It ‘almost entirely covered by matt black plastic with nice soft touch treatment , with the exception of the upper edge glossy black plastic, which houses, in a central position of the target 8 MP camera with LED flash , and, at the two ends, small grids, which are positioned behind the two stereo speakers , that offer, thanks to Dolby Digital Plus and 5.1 multi-channel virtual surround , a sound full-bodied, rich bass and high with well defined.
Always on the back , along the two short sides, are placed at the top, flush with the chassis, right, the volume rocker , left, the power button , a location that makes it easy to identify the two commands if you use the tablet horizontally, much less if you use it vertically.
Under the hood the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 turns powerful Quad-Core 2.2 GHz Snapdragon 800 ( first and, for now, the only tablet to have one with a clock frequency above 2 GHz). In support of the chipset are well 2 GB of RAM and the performance Adreno 330 graphics engine .
The performance , tested during our test, were height of the hardware equipment . Fast app loading, fluid and stable user interface navigation, the total absence of slowdowns or even jamming with a multi-tasking pushed. , Gaming experience comparable to that of a console .
The internal memory is 16, 32 or 64 GB unfortunately not expandable with microSD (there is, however, the Amazon Cloud Drive where you store photos, videos, documents and other digital files easily and fast, with 5 GB of free storage space , optionally expandable to apply).
To complete the hardware equipment: light sensor, accelerometer and gyroscope.
SOFTWARE AND FUNCTIONS – The Amazon tablet using Fire OS , the proprietary operating system based on Android, which is a window on ‘ ecosystem of multinational Seattle , with more than 27 million between songs, apps, books, newspapers and magazines. On Kindle Fire HDX is installed version 3.1 (code-named “Mojito”), which introduces numerous new features and services exclusive Amazon.
The home screen is always characterized by sliding carousel of icons giants of the applications and content favorites or recently opened, but now you can switch easily from the sequential display to less dispersive grid view .
With the new Quick Switch you can switch from one application to another without having to return to the home screen.
The Do Not Disturb allows you to turn off notifications on arrival at predefined times or when you are engaged in an activity, such as watching a movie or reading a book.
1-Tap free space on the Kindle Fire by identifying the elements, content and apps, little used and moving them to the Cloud Drive, from where you can download it again at any time.
The Amazon Shop although in terms of number of apps not stand the comparison with Google Play Store (note that if an application runs on Android, runs on Fire OS), presents a broad and growing catalog of programs and offers promotions such as “ free app of the day “, which gives every day app , selected among the most popular , usually for a fee,.
Beyond the app, there are Amazon in the shop over 20 million songs and more than two million albums, over 2 million books digital format including more than 50,000 in Italian, newspapers and national magazines most important.
Whispersync automatically synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights of their e-books between all devices owned. With the Kindle reading applications available for smartphones, tablets, PC and Mac, so you can continue reading wherever you are.
AutoRip you get the MP3 version of the CD and vinyl purchased on Amazon, which is automatically added to Cloud Player library, where you can then listen to them or download them at no cost additional.
addition to leisure, the Kindle Fire HDX also aims to be an effective business tool , given the integration of hardware and software encryption, Kerberos Intranet , and support for Wi-Fi connections secure VPNs and wireless printing.
INTERNET MESSAGING – For browsing the internet Kindle Fire HDX provides the Silk browser , one of the few elements of this tablet that not convinced us completely . While ensuring a decent user experience , fluidity and speed of zoom, pan and pinch are not up to the processing power available. Speaking of browsers, interesting Displaying Reading, that allows you to have many web pages, a simplified version with only textual content and photos / video for better enjoyment.
Nothing to say about client built to handle mail, email, contacts and calendar , also with Exchange ActiveSync account. In particular, the e-mail client, which supports the most popular providers, does not regret the Gmail app, making it easy to send messages, view attachments, group e-mails in a conversation.
MULTIMEDIA ‘- Good photos , obtained by the 8-megapixel rear camera, with LED flash, autofocus, 4X digital zoom, electronic image stabilizer and wide-aperture lens 5P f/2.2, support for panoramic images and high dynamic range (HDR). Quality more than satisfactory for the video Full HD 1080p, with a reasonable level of recorded audio.
With the application Camera Roll is easy to view, share or retouch photos of their photo albums.
Full playback compatibility with all popular audio and video formats, including MKV 1080p .
CONNECTIVITY ‘- As far as the connectivity are Bluetooth with support for various accessories such as wireless keyboards or controllers , stereo headphones, earphones and speakers that are compatible with A2DP, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi dual band , with dual-antenna (MIMO + HT40) for streaming faster and more stable connection compared to traditional Wi-Fi.
Also present Miracast , technology with which you can duplicate your tablet’s screen on TV and so watching movies, applications, games and photos on the big the screen.
Notably absent 3G/4G connectivity with sim phone, at least in the copies that will be marketed in Italy.
AUTONOMY – Amazon says that, thanks to the advanced power management technology , you can read, browse, watch videos and listen to music 12 hours of below , rising to a range of 18 hours , in the case of exclusive use for reading, when the Kindle Fire HDX automatically disables all system components not Use and save the text displayed in a dedicated memory consumption low.
During our test makes heavy usage (calls, music, video, games, web browsing, push email), we arrived late in the day without any problems. A less intense assured us over the two days of autonomy.
PRICE – Kindle Fire HDX 8.9” is on sale from 394 € for the version equipped with 16 GB of memory, a very attractive price considering the technical features of the first class of this device. If you want, you can save 15 € on list price, agreeing to show on the lock screen of the tablet purchased, Amazon offers the catalog relating to books, apps, games, MP3 and accessories for the Kindle.
About accessories , worthy of reporting, for its innovative design, it is the case Origami , which is fixed and is easily removed thanks magnet and allows you to position your tablet in either portrait or landscape mode.
12/16/2013
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