After TechCrunch’s MG Siegler gave his initial glowing impressions of Amazon’s heretofore-unnamed tablet, we were understandably excited. A true iPad competitor. Now, with Amazon’s unveil just days away, new details have started trickling out. Including a new name: the Kindle Fire.
In terms of build, the 7-inch Fire has been confirmed to be very PlayBook-esque. That’s because, as gdgt’s Ryan Block confirms, Amazon called in the Playbook’s designers, Quanta, to push the design out the door quickly. That shouldn’t belie what’s underneath; it’ll reportedly have a dual-core 1.2GHz OMAP processor running a completely retooled build of Android 2.1.
Which an iPad killer does not make. You might even call the final product a tad rushed. But with a mature content environment that will only benefit from the newly inked deal with Fox and KEY publishers, Amazon is poised to have the one of the biggest tablet releases of the year. [TechCrunch, gdgt]