We’re live at Amazon’s Kindle event in Los Angeles, where the company’s showing off a range of new products, including the Kindle Fire HD tablet. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has been walking through the main features of the new tablets, and one stand-out for the Kindle Fire HD is its MIMO (Multi-In, Multi-Out) Wifi connectivity. Using multiple antennae, Bezos says Amazon’s new flagship tablet boasts Wifi that’s 54% faster than the Nexus 7, and 41% faster than the new iPad. The Fire HD also includes support for less-crowded 5GHz Wifi bands, unlike the Nexus 7.
Positioning the Kindle Fire HD as a high-definition multimedia consumption device, Bezos says “if you’re going to have HD content, this is important,” and a Amazon displayed a chart showing their new tablet pulling 31Mbps over Wifi compared to the Nexus 7’s 20 and the iPad’s 22. Bezos claims the Kindle Fire HD is the world’s first tablet with MIMO support. In addition to faster throughput, having more than one antenna should eliminate the “death grip” issues seen in some devices, where gripping near the antenna reduces signal strength.
Amazon’s still in the middle of unveiling its new products, so join our liveblog for all the developments as they happen
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