Amazon’s Android-powered Fire tablets may not be quite as good for reading e-books as their dedicated Kindle e-readers, but a new bundle aims to change that.
Amazon is now accepting pre-orders for the Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition, a bundle that includes the Fire HD 8 Android tablet, a year’s subscription to Kindle Unlimited, and a limited edition leather cover, all for $249.99. While the Fire HD 8 doesn’t have a paper-like e-ink display like Amazon’s Kindle products, the device will include “Blue Shade,” a new feature that will optimize the Fire HD 8’s screen to reduce blue light exposure. It’s been said that exposure to blue light may lower a body’s production of melatonin, which can make it more difficult to fall asleep. Blue Shade also lets you add warm color filters and lower the tablet’s display brightness to a very low level.
The other detail about this Bundle that’s worth mentioning is the Kindle Unlimited subscription. The service offers unlimited access to more than 1 million books and “thousands” of audiobooks.
If you’re curious, the Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet has an 8-inch 1280x800 display and a 720p HD camera on its face, as well as a 5-megapixel camera on its rear. The slate is powered by a quad-core processor and offers dual stereo speakers, 8GB of storage, and a microSD slot that’ll let you add another 128GB of storage.
As I mentioned before, the Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition is now available for pre-order, and it’ll begin shipping on December 9. The bundle appears to be targeting toward folks that want a new multi-purpose device rather than a dedicated e-reader. While Amazon’s Kindle products are probably still better e-readers than this Fire HD 8 tablet with its Blue Light optimizations, the Fire HD 8 is a much better multi-purpose device because it can run Android apps and a real web browser.
