Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD has an improved and more vibrant screen than the original version that was last year. The new resolution makes watching movies and TV shows on the device a better experience. But what does Amazon's new tablet offer gamers?
The original Kindle Fire and its recent upgrade offered gamers many of the video games that are available for Android devices, games such as Modern War by Funzio and Angry Birds by Rovio Entertainment.
The Kindle Fire HD's screen is such a major improvement over the older model that it is at least in the same division as Apple's market-leading iPad, which features a resolution of 2048 X 1536, for its latest model.
The smaller Kindle Fire HD has a screen measuring 7 inches diagonally and has a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. Last year's model, and the new upgraded version have a screen resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.
At $199, versus $499 for the lowest priced iPad, the Kindle Fire HD could become a viable option and alternative for gamers looking to play mobile games. The new tablet could be more of a competitor to the handheld gaming community. The mobile gaming industry is bucking the current industry-wide decline, and Amazon can capitalize on this with the reasonably price Fire HD.
Nintendo reported this week that the handheld 3DS has seen a 68-percent increase in software sales and hardware sales have increased by 36 percent. The 3DS retails for $169.99, but has fewer multimedia options than the Fire HD.
Amazon announced the Fire HD will have a new features called Whispersync for games that stores all the levels players have unlocked in the Amazon cloud. This prevents the saves from being lost if a player has to re-install a game.
Amazon also announced on Thursday that it has been working with developers to offer new Android games exclusively on Kindle Fire HD. Activision games like Skylanders Cloud Patrol will have a special feature that allow gamers to make real-life purchases from inside the game.
The Fire HD could become a player in the mobile/handheld gaming industry by offering college students, teens, and adults a device that can act as an educational tool and a gaming device. We will just have to wait and see what kind of games Amazon eventual provides the new tablet.
The Kindle Fire HD will be released on Sept. 14, learn more here.