This morning, Amazon quietly introduced two new pieces of hardware within its Fire tablet lineup. Its Show Mode Charging Dock turns Amazon’s Fire HD into an Echo Show-like device, displaying pertinent information and serving as a stand for watching content. We’re also getting a new Fire HD 10 Kids Edition tablet as well that sports the largest display in Amazon’s child-friendly line. More details below.
The new Show Mode Charging Dock offers support for both of Amazon’s Fire HD 8 and 10 tablets. Rotating your device to landscape activates ‘Show Mode’, a new software update that’s rolling out on July 2nd. When activated, this feature will make the display always-on with a live news ticker and weather. Built with the Echo Show in-mind, Amazon looks to leverage the Fire’s integrated Alexa capabilities more than ever before.
It’s a no-brainer for Amazon to go this route with its Fire Tablets. Ever since it added Alexa voice abilities in the most recent update, it seemed like an obvious choice to further leverage this feature. This new dock allows users to easily see content from various streaming services, watch news bulletins and lean on other Alexa skills hands-free.
Amazon has put a pair of magnets within the dock that attach via the included tablet case. This allows the device to snap into place when put in close proximity to the dock, and activates Show Mode.
Pre-orders are now available for the new Show Mode dock with the Fire HD 8 version selling for $39.99 and the larger HD 10 model going for $54.99. Amazon will begin shipping orders on July 12th.
Amazon also quietly introduced the new Fire HD 10 Kids, the larger version of its previously released HD 8. It packs much of the same hardware that we saw on the HD 10 that was released last year, including a 10-inch 1080p display, up to 10-hours of battery life, and a quad-core processor.
As expected, the new HD 10 Kids ships with those bright rubber cases that are designed to protect against any accidental damage. It also includes a year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited and a two-year guarantee against any sort of damage.
The new Fire HD 10 Kids is up for pre-order now with a $200 price tag and is slated to ship on July 11th.
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