Kindle Fire HD 7 unboxing and initial impressions

Kindle Fire HD 7

UPS just dropped off our Amazon Kindle Fire HD, and we wanted to share a look at the first new Kindle to be released. It's a 7-inch tablet that sort of runs Android -- Amazon has forked off the stock Ice Cream Sandwich build and made it their own, never once mentioning the word Android on the device or packaging. The Fire HD 7 (my new name for it) comes with 16 or 32GB of storage (we grabbed the 16) and features a TI OMAP 4460 under a 7-inch 1280x800 screen.

Of course we're going to review the unit at length, but first impressions come back positive. The Fire HD 7 is well built, and feels like it was constructed out of quality materials. It's light enough to use with one hand, and balanced well -- it should serve purposes just fine for reading or lounging and watching a video or two.

All your Amazon content is instantly available from the moment you register the device with your Amazon account, which was painless. The screen itself seems to be of good quality, is nice and bright, and easy to see. We'll have to put it to further testing, but I'm not afraid to call it "good" at first glance. The tablet's performance seems fine as well, but of course we need to see how it handles some gaming or streaming long video.

We'll have more about the Kindle Fire HD 7 coming, including the inevitable comparison to the Nexus 7 over the next few days, and stay tuned for the full review. For now, hit the break for an unboxing and quick 10 minute look .