Amazon Prepping 7-Inch Android Tablet with $250 Price Tag

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Gizmodo's mockup of the Amazon Kindle tablet
Gizmodo's mockup of the Amazon Kindle tablet

Amazon’s rumored tablet is very real, according to MG Siegler of TechCrunch. The ‘Amazon Kindle’ tablet runs a fully-customized version of the Android OS that “you’ve never seen before.” The device will sell for half the price of the entry-level iPad, and it’s expected to ship in November.

MG Siegler was able to get his hands on a Design Verification Testing unit of the Amazon Kindle tablet, and he compares it to the BlackBerry PlayBook’s form factor.

The device will have a 7-inch capacitive touch screen (two-finger multitouch) with full color. There are also no physical buttons on the device.

Amazon’s tablet runs a special flavor of Android:

“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.”

The most interesting thing about Amazon’s Kindle tablet is the price point. At $250, Amazon has undercut Apple’s entry-level iPad by a 50% margin. Ouch.

Does the iPad finally have a worthy competitor?

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