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Amazon updates the Fire HD 10 with a faster processor and USB-C

Amazon updates the Fire HD 10 with a faster processor and USB-C

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Starting at $149, or $199 for the Kids Edition

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The biggest member of Amazon’s line of Fire tablets is getting an update: a refreshed Fire HD 10 tablet. It will keep the same 10.1-inch screen and overall design but overhauls the internals with a new processor, better battery life, and, in a first for an Amazon hardware product, USB-C for fast charging.

Amazon says that the new Fire HD 10 is now 30 percent faster, thanks to a new processor, and it offers 20 percent better battery life, which are big improvements over the old model, if those numbers hold up in the real world. There’s also “enhanced” Wi-Fi, and microSD storage has been expanded to a maximum of 512GB (up from 200GB on the older model). Lastly, Amazon has finally added USB-C to one of its tablets for the first time, which, in addition to being far more convenient to charge, also enables fast charging on the Fire HD 10. There are also some new colors — twilight blue, plum, and white — in addition to the standard black.

On the software side of things, Amazon isn’t changing much. It’ll still run the same customized version of Android as Amazon’s other tablets, although the company is using the launch to roll out a new picture-in-picture mode that will allow you to keep watching video content while in other apps. Right now, only a few apps are supported (like Amazon’s own Prime Video app and Netflix), but more should add support over time. The new feature will launch with the Fire HD 10, but it’ll make its way to the entire lineup in a future software update.

The Fire HD 10 Kids Edition, Amazon’s child-friendly bundle, now offers a new case (similar to the Fire HD 7 Kids Edition), which features a built-in adjustable stand for easily propping up the tablet. The rest of the Kids Edition perks are still the same: a two-year extended replacement program and a free year of Amazon’s hand-curated FreeTime service, which offers thousands of premium apps, books, and TV shows and movies for kids as well as advanced parental controls for monitoring and limiting time spent in front of a screen.

One thing Amazon isn’t changing is the price: the new Fire HD 10 will start at the same $149 as the old model, or $199 for the Kids Edition. Both products will ship on October 30th, with preorders starting today.