8.9-Inch Kindle Fire HD

Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD makes the best-selling small tablet faster, slicker, and better looking. I spent about 15 minutes with it at Amazon's launch event, and came away impressed, but a little cautious.

The Kindle Fire HD is a very solid-feeling black slab. It has a matte black back with a shiny stripe down it; the stripe ends, on both sides, in the much-vaunted Dolby stereo speakers. And yes, those speakers are really loud, even in a busy room. I could easily imagine them filling a dorm room.

There's a pretty big bezel around the 7-inch screen, making this Kindle bigger than either the original Kindle Fire or the Google Nexus 7. It actually looks a little chubby, rounder, and inflated next to the original Fire (I brought one to the event.) The power button is on the right side now, not the bottom. There's a video chat camera on the front, and no back camera.

Because the new HD and the cheaper $159 Kindle run the same "Amdroid" software (a highly Amazonized version of Android 4.0), the screen is the first big change that jumps out at you. (Read my hands on with the $159 Kindle Fire for more on the new software.) It looks much brighter, text is easier to read and graphics really pop. It's only a little bit higher resolution than the original Kindle Fire - 1,280 by 800 as opposed to 1,024 by 600 - but Amazon has really improved the brightness and reduced reflectivity with the new IPS screen.

The tablet's build is more solid, with less noticeable seams than the old Kindle Fire; it just feels like a more premium product. It also compares well to the Nexus 7, although I like the Nexus 7's textured back better.

Performance is up in the air right now. The 1.2-GHz TI OMAP4470 chip the Kindle Fire HD uses isn't quite as powerful overall as the Nexus 7's Tegra 3, but I couldn't see any stuttering when I flipped through the Kindle Fire HD's carousel of large, colorful icons.

The real test will come with high-end games, especially games designed for the high-res screen, and with complex Web pages. Speaking of Web pages, I went to Amazon.com in the Silk browser and it looked sharp. It took a while to load, but that may have been the Wi-Fi, which is always lousy at these events. In the settings screen, it showed the 16GB tablet had about 12.6GB free for users.

There's a lot that needs to be tested about the Kindle Fire HD. What does that HD screen mean for battery life, for instance, and how does the performance really compare to the Nexus 7? The Fire is still still extremely easy to use, though, and its high-res screen offers a plus you probably won't see on any other 7-inch tablet any time soon. I look forward to reviewing the Kindle Fire HD and seeing how it compares to our current Editor's Choice, the Nexus 7.
