Kindle Fire HD 8.9 inch now shipping, price $299

Amazon has just announced that the Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch starts shipping today, a week before the originally expected shipping date of November 20th. The larger-screened version of Amazon’s best-selling Kindle Fire HD tablet starts at $299 and will also be available to purchase in stores at Best Buy locations beginning tomorrow, with additional units making their way to Staples and Radio Shack later on.

Said Dave Limp, Amazon Kindle VP:

“Kindle Fire HD has been Amazon’s best-selling product worldwide since launch, and that was before we even started shipping the best tablet we’ve ever built. With the holiday season upon us, we’re excited to make our $299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9” available early—we think customers are going to love web browsing, email, gaming, watching TV shows, reading magazines, and more on the large, stunning HD screen, with fast Wi-Fi and exceptional audio”

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is targeted towards budget-minded tablet seekers who may be looking for a screen larger than 7 inches, though not as large as 10 inches. The standout features of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ include:

  • 8.9” HD Display at 1920×1200 resolution and 254 PPI
  • Dual antenna, dual-band Wi-Fi with MIMO technology for faster streaming and downloads
  • The latest generation TI OMAP 4470 processor and Imagination SGX544 graphics engine capable of over 12 billion floating point operations per second
  • Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus audio—the standard in high-end audio—available exclusively on Kindle Fire HD.
  • New Amazon-exclusive features like X-Ray for Movies, X-Ray for Textbooks, Immersion Reading, Whispersync for Voice and Whispersync for Games
  • Front-facing HD camera for video calling
  • Kindle FreeTime, a free, personalized tablet experience just for kids
  • Over 22 million movies, TV shows, songs, apps, games, books, audiobooks and magazines, from the Amazon ecosystem

Those keen on getting the 4G LTE enabled variant of the same device, would have to wait till November 20th, when it starts shipping. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 4G would be priced at $499. With both devices being made available for public consumption well in time before the holidays begin, Amazon looks set to continue the momentum created by the original Kindle Fire HD, and take on the tablet market, alongside recent entrants such as the Apple iPad Mini and the Google Nexus 10.