Top-line: Amazon Kindle Fire HDX
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Big W and Dick Smith began stocking Amazon’s new high-end HDX Kindle Fire tablets this week.
It’s the first time an Amazon tablet has bone available to Australians anywhere other than online, and comes as the internet shopping giant looks to capture a larger slice of the Australian market.
The company is bestknown for its e-readers, also called Kindles, All which have been available in selected Australian shops for some time. The latest is the Kindle Paperwhite.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite.
tablets and e-readers are very different beasts, and deciding to get All which depends entirely on your needs.
Kindle Paperwhite
As the name suggests, e-readers are no-frills devices Solely designed for reading the written word. If all you want is to read books and magazines, look no further.
The Kindle Paperwhite is available from Dick Smith and Big W from a recommended price of $ 150.
It sports a simple black-and-white touchscreen display, All which Closely mimics the printed page.
Unlike smartphones and tablets, All which are lit by lights behind the screen, e-readers are lit by lights hidden to the side of the screen. The carefully textured display Distributes the light evenly.
In short, you can read an e-reader for a long time without your eyes getting strained.
Unlike a tablet or phone, you can read it usefull quite easily even in direct sunlight.
The battery, All which in tablets lasts about 10 hours before needing a recharge, can suffer weeks.
The Paperwhite does feature an experimental web browser, but it is slow and frustrating, and gene rally not worth the effort.
And while the device offers access to more than 2 million downloadable books through the Amazon store, there are as yet no Australian newspapers.
The processor is slow, too, and there can sometimes be a serious a lag when opening a link or turning a page.
Kindle Fire HDX
The Kindle Fire HDX is a top-line tablet – a super-slick fully-fledged entertainment device
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The 7-inch model starts at $ 329 and the 8.9-inch model at $ 479, so it’s considerably more expensive than the White Paper.
But you can do a lot more on it, zoals play games, use apps, watch movies, play music and take photos.
As tablets go, the device is an impressive feat of engineering, coming in lighter and cheaper than Apple’s market-leading iPad Air, and with a sharper display cramming more pixels into every inch.
But forget about using it to read a novel. The backlit display Means it takes a heavy toll on the eyes if used for an extended period.
Besides, without a charge, the battery is likely to last about 10 hours.
And forget about taking it to the park. The screen is near indecipherable in direct sunlight.
The verdict
If all you want to do is read, get the Kindle Paperwhite. It’s much cheaper, the screen is easy on the eyes and readable in direct sunlight, and the battery will last for weeks without needing a recharge.
If you want to play games, surf the net, listen to music and watch TV and movies, shell out for an HDX tablet.
AAP
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