It’s called the “Amazon Kindle”, sells at $250.

Displays content in full color.

Back-lit, 7-inch capacitive multi-touch (two fingers) screen running Android.

Design similar to BlackBerry PlayBook.

Targeting end of Nov for release. If it's a hit, the more expensive 10-inch tablet will be released in Q1 2012.

The interface is all Amazon and Kindle. It’s black, dark blue, and a bunch of orange. The main screen is a carousel that looks like Cover Flow in iTunes which displays all the content you have on the device. This includes books, apps, movies, etc. Below the main carousel is a dock to pin your favorite items in one easy-to-access place. When you turn the device horizontally, the dock disappears below the fold.

Above the dock is the status bar (time, battery, etc) and this doubles as a notification tray. When apps have updates, or when new subscriptions are ready for you to view, they appear here. The top bar shows “YOUR NAME’s Kindle” and then the number of notifications you have in bright orange. It looks quite nice.

There are no physical buttons on the surface of the device. You bring up a lower navigation menu by tapping the screen once. This can take you back home, etc.

But the key for Amazon is just how deeply integrated all of their services are. Amazon’s content store is always just one click away. The book reader is a Kindle app (which looks similar to how it does on Android and iOS now). The music player is Amazon’s Cloud Player. The movie player is Amazon’s Instant Video player. The app store is Amazon’s Android Appstore.

The Kindle OS was built on top of some version of Android prior to 2.2. And Amazon will keep building on top of that of that over time. In other words, this won’t be getting “Honeycomb” or “Ice Cream Sandwich” — or if it does, users will never know it because that will only be the underpinnings of the OS. Any visual changes will be all Amazon. They are not working with Google on this. At all.

Browser looks pretty much the same as the Android’s WebKit browser. Yes, it has tabs! And yes, Google Search is still the default (the Kindle also has its own search tool to find content on your device).

Overall, the UI of this Kindle felt very responsive. You can flick through the carousel seamlessly.

I believe the visual web reading app Pulse will be bundled with the Kindle.

I believe it is running on a single-core chip. My understanding is that the 10-inch version, if it comes, will have a dual-core chip.

The device only has 6 GB of internal storage. The idea is that this will be more of a “cloud device” for things like music and movies. The storage is meant for storing books and apps. There were a few references to an SD card expansion, but I couldn’t find a slot on the hardware itself.

This initial version of the device will be WiFi-only. Amazon is supposedly working with carriers to possibly product 3G-enabled versions (as they have with their other Kindles), but that won’t be the case at launch.

I’m not sure what the battery life is like (I only played with it for about an hour), but I imagine it is very good and in line with other tablets — 10 hours or so.

The back of the device is rubbery. The power button is underneath if you’re holding it vertically. There’s a micro-USB port (presumably for powering the device as well). The speakers are of the top of the device (again, if it’s being held vertically).

There is no camera.

The plan right now is to give buyers a free subscription to Amazon Prime. The service, which Amazon currently sells for $79 a year, gives users access things like free unlimited two-day shipping, and no minimum purchases for free shipping. More importantly for this product, Prime users get access to Amazon’s Instant Video service. There will be more Kindle-related perks, I imagine.

As far as the existing e-ink-based Kindles, all I’ve heard is that they’ll continue to co-exist with this new tablet (though the DX may or may not stick around). They’ll simply be the low-end, low-cost Kindles, whereas this new one will be the high-end one (at least until the 10-inch version comes out, if it does). One source said it doesn’t seem likely that Amazon is going to release a touch-screen e-ink Kindle, like the new Nook, anytime soon. But none of that is confirmed, it’s simply speculation based on the emphasis on getting this new tablet to market.

Oh and one more thing: Amazon has been working on a multi-touch screen/e-ink hybrid tablet device. But that’s nowhere near completion, I’m told. So for now, this new Kindle will have to do.

Hmm, outdated and no hope of it getting a modern, bug fixed version of the underlying operating system? Doesn't sound like a good start...

Amazon is entering the tablet market -- starting the tablet wars for real later this year -- with at least two of a line of color tablets targeted directly at Apple’s iPad, several sources independently confirmed to BYTE this week. Amazon declined comment.

The two tablets, 7.1 and 10.1 inches, are reportedly code-named Coyote and Hollywood. The smaller tablet will cost less than $250, sources close to the company said, and will have a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra2 processor inside. But it’s the higher-end tablet – originally planned for early 2012 but now purportedly pushed up for release this year -- that really is the attention-grabber.

Several sources independently confirmed that the Hollywood tablet, to be priced under $400, will use NVIDIA's Tegra3 quadcore technology. It will be Android 3.1-based and feature glass-on-glass dual screen technology, they said. The 10.1 inch Hollywood tablet will allow users to switch between e-reading mode, which uses the e-ink technology popularized in Kindle e-readers now, and a back-lit color touch display. It will be optimized for video streaming, several sources added.

Whispernet: This hasn't been widely reported because it isn't widely understood, but the new Amazon tablet will come with a free 3G data plan built in. Whispernet is Amazon's wireless network that up until now has been used only by 3G Kindles to keep track of your reading progress and highlighting on your eBooks via Whispersync. Whispersync would become much more dynamic on an Amazon tablet, providing on-demand data without any additional plan. Take your Amazon tablet out of the box, charge it up, turn it on, and if you're in range of a 3G signal, you're automatically online and ready to start streaming from Prime or Cloud Drive, or (Amazon hopes) to start shopping.

I an not so sure an Amazon Tablet is what is needed...

I'd buy one tomorrow for $250 if it came with free 3G that worked all over Europe.

I'd buy one tomorrow for $250 if it came with free 3G that worked all over Europe.

If only EU mobile networks would play nicely together, all movement with regard to EU-wide pricing has come at the hand of the EU Commission unfortunately.

If only EU mobile networks would play nicely together, all movement with regard to EU-wide pricing has come at the hand of the EU Commission unfortunately.

If only EU mobile networks would play nicely together, all movement with regard to EU-wide pricing has come at the hand of the EU Commission unfortunately.

[I thought the Whisper net on the Kindle worked all over Europe as well, certainly the US version gets free books whilst travelling in Europe.
But it is only for books, not for "data" - not for browsing, e-mails etc.

if they could retain some kind of 'free 3G' in the tablet it'd be a heck of a selling point.