Performance-Fixing Kindle Fire Update Due in Less Than Two Weeks

Amazon will be releasing an over-the-air software update for its Kindle Fire tablet in less than two weeks, company spokesman Drew Herdener revealed to the New York Times yesterday. Most prominent in its list of fixes are improvements to both performance and multitouch navigation, two aspects of the Kindle Fire experience that most reviews of the device commonly mentioned. The last fix will allow users to edit the list of recent items on the device.

Our review of the Kindle Fire left us mostly impressed with the hardware, though sluggishness and stuttering in the UI were among our biggest gripes. Until it comes out, however, it's impossible to say the degree to which this software update will address these issues, or whether it will do anything to improve the somewhat lacking speed of the Silk browser.

The Kindle Fire uses a highly customized version of Android 2.3 that should improve steadily as Amazon refines it. The update doesn't have a set release date as of this writing, but "less than two weeks" strongly implies that the company hopes to release it in time to update any Kindle Fires sitting under Christmas trees right now.

Source: New York Times