Sep 25, 2013 04:04 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Amazon appears ready to go from being the affordable option in the tablet universe to actually competing with the likes of Windows, Android and Apple, NBC News reported.

The Kindle Fire HDX was announced Wednesday and seems to be a major upgrade from last year's model, while still staying low in price. The screen resolution and processing speeds of the devices are currently tops on the market.

"We make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told NBC News.

Amazon will offer the new HDX tablets in 7 and 8.9 inches, with 1,080x800 high-definition screen display and improved color accuracy and several other lighting conditions.

The prices will be hard to beat this holiday season, as the new HDX tablets will be $329 and $479 for the most expensive, 4G version of both 7-inch and 8.9-inch models, respectively. The Kindle Fire HD will also drop in price to $139.

Other specifications include a super lightweight frame. At 375 grams it is 300 grams lighter than the iPad and just 30 grams heavier than the iPad Mini. It is equipped with Dolby Digital Plus audio and virtual 5.1 multi-channel surround sound. It boasts ten hours of battery life and "sort of" runs an Android operating system.

The operating system is both a strength and a weakness, according to ZDNet. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes noted some will avoid the Kindle HDX because it does not actually run an Android operating system. Fire OS, Amazon's mobile operating system, is comparable, but not as sophisticated.

While Amazon's app store is comparable to Android and iOS', some people may also want a choice here too. Even though Kindle users are locked into Amazon's ecosystem of plenty of books, music, TV and films, some users may still be turned off by Fire OS.

Kingsley-Hughes wrote the major selling point with the new Kindles are the price tag. Combined with huge upgrades to the device, it will compete with other tablets.

"I'm willing to bet right now that these tablets are going to be a huge hit over the holidays," he wrote, "and is going to put pressure on other Android tablets."

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