Amazon refreshes lineup of low-cost tablets, new kids model

SHARE Amazon refreshes lineup of low-cost tablets, new kids model
ap17136783687342.jpg

Amazon has found a niche in the tablet market with lower-cost models. | Amazon via AP

NEW YORK — Amazon is offering a thinner and lighter version of its cheapest, 7-inch tablet, while shaving $10 off the price of an 8-inch model.

Amazon’s bare-bones Fire tablet is now called the Fire 7. It also promises about an extra hour of battery, or eight hours total, and a display with higher contrast and sharper text. The price remains at $50.

The Fire HD 8 model is now $80, rather than $90. Features are largely the same as before.

Amazon has found a niche in the tablet market with lower-cost models, while Apple, Samsung and Microsoft chase professionals with higher-end devices.

Both models come with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant built-in, allowing users to control lights and household appliances, ask for the news or jokes and check the weather.

Amazon is also selling a kids version of the 8-inch tablet, for $130. It comes with a hardened case for kids and free replacements for two years. Before, a kids version was available only for the 7-inch model, for $100.

Amazon will start taking orders Wednesday. It will start shipping the new tablets on June 7.

The Latest
White Sox fans from all over will flock to Guaranteed Rate Field on Thursday for the team’s home opener against the Tigers.
Many kids in the audience came dressed up. I would recommend parents encourage it, as their youngsters will undoubtedly make new friends at intermission finding others who love the characters they do, or who identify with other ones.
Mayor Brandon Johnson made it clear he will not remove Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25as Housing Committee chair for appearing at a rally where an American flag was burned to protest U.S. support for Israel. He likened the controversy to the furor that surrounded Barack Obama’s controversial Pastor Jeremiah Wright.
Archer Courts, 2242 S. Princeton Ave., will soon get a new hot water system, ventilation system and rooftop solar panels through a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Leasure will make his major league debut on Thursday.