The Kindle Fire is available for pre-order on amazon for $199. At $199 the Kindle Fire is less than half the price for an Apple iPad, which sells for $499. It is strictly an Amazon product and will be the first tablet from a major company to seriously compete for sales with the iPad. Several of the online review resources have had their hands on one and all are extolling its virtues. The tablet will start shipping on November fifteenth on a first come, first served basis, pre-orders are being accepted only by Amazon.

The tablet does all of the regular things you would expect it to, such as email, browse the internet, play games, and most importantly read magazines in color. Its screen is high resolution at 1024X600 and will play HD video just fine. It has a fast dual core processor allowing you to browse the internet while downloading a movies or other data services. Among other proprietary software on the Fire is Amazon Silk a revolutionary browser using a “split browser” architecture to increase the computing speed and power by using Amazon's Web Services Cloud to accelerate your browsing experience, also supporting Adobe's Flash Player.

The Kindle Fire will also come with an Amazon proprietary Android operating system, which means you will be limited to Amazon's Android Market which is by no means limited. The Amazon website mentions that their are no system requirements, because it is wireless and does not require a computor, which also means that some of the computing power resides Amazon's cloud service. Tablet storage is 8gB internal and no method to plug in a memory chip. Amazon claims that is will be enough for 80 apps, and 80 movies or possibly 800 songs for instance. Their is though, free storage on Amazon's Cloud Service.

This is a great device for those who want a plug and play device, similar Apple's iPad. Great for grand mothers who are not technically proficient. If you are one who uses your tablet outside of the Amazon's idea of how a tablet should be used then this may not be the tablet for you. I feel that being restricted to (Amazon's cloud or Apple's Ipad service) someone else's box, limits my particular needs.

The introduction of Amazon's Kindle Fire will be a game changer in the over all price of Android tablets. It remains to be seen if the Kindle Fire will be as good as the pundits say it is, I will come back with a review as soon as mine comes in. Whether to wait and see if some of the other Android tablets come down in price will in large part depend on what you need in a tablet. If you feel you might need it to add to your office computing platform, you may want to look into some of the other Android devices. But right now, the Kindle Fire will be a great device for those wanting plug and play, ease of use, and an excellent organization backing it up.