Amazon has just extended press invitations to attend a virtual event where the e-commerce giant will announce new products, features, and services. The invite-only stream will take place on September 28, a year after Amazon’s last announcements made last fall. The invitation refers to various categories of ad types, although no specific product is mentioned.
Still, Amazon’s presentations should focus first on the new Kindle e-reader, announced earlier this month. After seeing Amazon announce new Kindle and Kindle Kids e-readers, the company has also just announced four new Kindle Fire HD 8 tablets. As a result, Amazon is freeing up time during the invitation-only event to focus on other announcements. And so much to say that they must be numerous.
Based on similar events in previous years, we can expect Amazon to announce more Echo devices, improvements to Alexa, possibly including new home security services, perhaps new Ring devices. Has the Ring autonomous drone ever taken off? – and maybe a full release of the dog-like Astro robot. A few years ago, Amazon used a similar event to announce an Alexa-enabled microwave and a clock that interacted with timers you set through Alexa.
tablets galore
As for the new Kindle Fire HD 8 models, these range from the standard Fire HD 8 to the Fire HD 8 Kids Pro for older kids. Amazon even announced the launch of a Disney designer bundle this year, with Disney Mickey or Disney Princess cases. All new Fire HD 8 tablets have the same basic specs, like an 8-inch HD display, a 30% performance boost, up to 13 hours of total battery life, and a USB-C charging port. You can get the Fire HD 8 with 32 or 64GB of storage, and they all support microSD cards for expanded storage up to 1TB.
The Fire HD 8 Plus features 3GB of memory (up from 2GB for the standard model), 9W wired charging, wireless charging, and a 5-megapixel rear camera. Amazon’s Fire HD 8 Kids tablets also get a hardware upgrade. The standard Fire HD 8 Kids tablet comes in blue or purple. It’s designed for kids ages 3-7 and comes with a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+ and a two-year worry-free guarantee.
The Fire HD 8 Kids Pro tablet is aimed at kids ages 6-12 and comes with a case designed for older kids, plus the same one-year Amazon Kids+ subscription and two-year warranty. The Kids Pro tablet has access to Amazon’s digital stores, where kids can search for new apps, books and games, then send permission requests to their parents if they want to download them.