Amazon Kindle Fire HD UK release date confirmed

Amazon has just pulled the wraps off the follow-up to 2011’s Kindle Fire, the Kindle Fire HD, which comes in two sizes, and confirmed that it, along with the original Kindle Fire, will be coming to the UK.

Launched as a direct rebuttal to Google’s Nexus 7, Amazon has really upped its game with the Kindle Fire HD. The 7-inch Fire HD and 8.9-inch Fire HD will launch in November – just in time for Chrimbo.

The larger of the two ships with a brand new 8.9-inch HD display, 16GB of storage, ultra-fast Wi-Fi, and, best of all, a price tag of just $299.

Update: Only the 7-inch version of the Kindle Fire HD will be coming to the UK.

The Amazon Kindle Fire HD’s 1920x1200 pixel display has a pixel density of 254ppi, making it one of the most impressive slate displays around. 

The device is powered by a TI OMAP 4470 processor and is also the first slate to launch with dual-band (2.4GHz - 5GHz) MIMO technology. Amazon says this new tech makes the Fire HD’s Wi-Fi 41 percent faster than the iPad 3.

The 7-inch Kindle Fire HD will be available from $199 – around £159 in the UK. It contains the same spec as its big brother but uses a slightly lower 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. It also ships with 16GB of storage. 

‘The Kindle Fire HD is likely be a top seller this Christmas season. Amazon's tablet provides a richer user experience than the Google Nexus 7 or any other 10-inch Android tablet on the market,’ said IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo. 

He added: ‘the content is embedded in the hardware in such a way that it seams a feature of it and not an application that comes with it for users to open when they need to access the content.’

Amazon confirmed that LTE-ready and 3G versions of the Kindle Fire HD slates would also be available following the slates initial release in November.

Apple and Asus take note, Amazon has just become a very series player in the tablet space.