kindle amazon tablet and the 411 on its future and how to use it.

Fourth generation: Kindle

 Kindle

Fourth-generation Kindle

Amazon announced the fourth generation Kindle on September 28, 2011, offering both ad-supported and non-ad supported models, retailing for $79 and $109 respectively. Retaining the 6 inch e-ink display of the previous Kindle model as well as Amazon's experimental web-browsing capability (when within Wi-fi range), the fourth generation Kindle features a slightly smaller and lighter form factor^[42] as well as five hard keys, a cursor pad, an on-screen rather than physical keyboard, a flash storage capacity of 2GB, and an estimated one month battery life.^[43][44]

 Kindle Touch

Amazon announced a touchscreen version of the Kindle on September 28, 2011; available with Wi-Fi ($99 ad-supported, $139 no ads) or Wi-Fi/3G connectivity ($149 ad-supported, $189 no ads). Via 3G is enables to connect just to the Kindle Store, download books and periodicals, and access Wikipedia. Experimental web browsing (outside of Wikipedia) on Kindle Touch 3G is only available over Wi-Fi. ^[45]. The device uses the same 6-inch E-ink screen of the previous Kindle model, with the addition of an infrared touch-screen control.^[42] Like its predecessor, the Kindle Touch has a capacity of 4 gigabytes and battery life estimated at two months.^[46] The Kindle Touch began to ship on November 15, 2011.^[47]

Kindle Fire

Main article: Kindle Fire

Amazon announced an Android-based tablet with a color touch screen on September 28, 2011. It costs $199 and has a 7-inch IPS display. This is the first Kindle without an E Ink display. Unlike previously released Kindles, it has no 3G option. The Kindle Fire also has an unused light sensor but lacks a microphone, camera, and an SD card reader. It has 8GB of storage and a projected battery life of up to eight hours. ^[32]

 Kindle applications

Amazon released a "Kindle for PC" application in late 2009, available as a free download for Windows 7, Vista, and XP.^[48] This application allows thousands of books to be read on a personal computer in color, with no Kindle unit required, as e-books can simply be purchased from Amazon's store.^[49] Amazon later released a version for the Macintosh, in early 2010.^[50] In June 2010, Amazon released a "Kindle for Android" version. With the Android application release, versions for the Apple iPhone, the iPad, Windows and Mac computers, and BlackBerry cellphones are also available.^[51] In January 2011, Amazon released Kindle for Windows Phone 7.^[52] In July 2011, Kindle for HP TouchPad (running under WebOS) was released in the US as beta.^[53] At this writing (November 2011) Amazon has expressed no interest in releasing a similar application for Linux. In August 2011, Amazon released an HTML5 based webapp supporting Chrome and Safari Browser called Kindle Cloud Reader.^[54]