Amazon announces cheap 4K gaming console, bargain $50 Fire tablet

Amazon overnight rocked the market with a 4K gaming console under $US100, and a quadcore processor tablet under $US50.

Amazon rains cheap tablets

Amazon overnight rocked the tablet/gaming market with a 4K gaming console to cost less than $US100, and a tablet with a quadcore processor to sell for under $US50.

So cheeky is Amazon about undercutting all competition with its pricing, it’s announced a “sixpack deal”. If you buy 5 of its new tablets, Amazon will throw in one for free — all for $US249.95.

4K TV-quality gaming is to be delivered by the Fire TV Gaming Edition which Amazon says will offer more games than other streaming media players.

But whether the TV Gaming Edition finds a home in Australia is to be seen. It says the new console is 75 per cent more powerful than its inaugural Fire TV console last year, with best-in-class Wi-Fi.

It’s announcement comes exactly one week after Apple debuted its upgraded Apple TV which gives third party developers a way to offer games and media content through a new app store.

In the US Fire TV lets users watch Netflix, Amazon Video, HBO NOW, Hulu, and WatchESPN. Amazon says more than 3,000 channels, apps, and games would be available — more than with Apple TV, Roku, or Chromecast.

Users can add up to 128 GB of additional storage via a microSD card to take advantage of that selection. Again, Australian availability of any of these services and content is unknown.

In the spirit of Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana speech engines, it says Alexa, the brainchild behind Echo, will be available on TV Gaming Edition, and capable of handling queries about music, weather, traffic and general information.

Video plays on Amazon's new $50 Fire tablet.

“Since we launched Amazon Fire TV last year, gaming has been a customer-favourite,” said Peter Larsen, vice president, Amazon Devices.

“Today, we’re excited to expand gaming on Fire TV by providing a new option — Fire TV Gaming Edition — for customers and families who are looking for affordable and high-quality gaming.”

Amazon also announced a Fire 7-inch IPS screen tablet computer with a quad core 1.3 Gigahertz processor that in the US will costs less than $US50. Amazon says it is more durable than the latest generation iPad Air, and with 2 times more processing power than Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite.

It includes access to the Amazon Underground app store which it says offers more than $US10,000 in paid apps, games, and even free in-app purchases,

Its operating system, Fire OS 5 “Bellini” has an updated user interface, new features and platform enhancements, and there is access to Amazon’s content ecosystem of more than 38 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, apps, and games.

The Fire tablet has front and rear cameras, up to 128 Gigabytes of expandable storage, and a battery that Amazon says offers up to 7 hours of reading, browsing the web, listening to music, and watching video.

The Seattle firm also announced an up-market Fire HD tablet which has a thin and light design, an HD display with more than 1 million pixels, a fast quad-core processor, stereo speakers with Dolby Audio, front and rear facing cameras, and expandable memory via microSD.

An 8-inch version costs $US149.99 and one with a 10.1-inch display goes for $US229.99.

Amazon announced a Fire Kids Edition tablet for $US99.99.