Yesterday, Amazon dropped an avalanche of new hardware, updating nearly its entire lineup of home devices. While we saw new Echo speakers, Fire TVs, and security cameras, the star of the show is undoubtedly the new Kindle Scribe lineup, which finally includes a color model.
Here’s everything Amazon announced
Amazon is releasing a lineup of new Ring cameras. | Image credit — Amazon
It was a whirlwind of an event, with Amazon rolling out next-generation devices for almost all of its major brands. The central theme was smarter, faster hardware infused with a more conversational “Alexa Plus” AI. It’s a lot to take in, so here’s a bulleted list of the biggest announcements.
Ring & Blink Security: A major jump in resolution with new 2K and 4K cameras, including the Ring Wired Doorbell Plus 2K and the dual-cam Blink Arc. They’re also getting smarter with features like Ring’s Retinal Vision and a “Search Party” mode for finding lost pets.
Fire TV & Streaming: A new trio of affordable TVs including the Fire TV Omni QLED Series, 4-Series, and 2-Series. For current TV owners, there’s also the new Fire TV Stick 4K Select running the streamlined Vega OS.
Echo Speakers & Displays: The audio lineup gets a boost with the high-end Echo Studio and the bass-heavy Echo Dot Max. We also saw two new smart displays, the Echo Show 11-inch and Echo Show 8-inch.
Kindle Scribe: This was the biggest news — at least as far as we’re concerned. The lineup now includes the base Kindle Scribe ($430), a model with a front light ($500), and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft ($630). They all get new AI features like “Story So Far” and enhanced note-taking capabilities.
What this all means for your smart home
The three Kindle Scribe options that will be available. | Images credit — Amazon
This massive refresh is Amazon’s strategy in action: to be the connected, AI-powered hub for every part of your home. By infusing Alexa Plus across security, entertainment, and now productivity, Amazon is creating a tightly integrated ecosystem. While the updates to Ring and Echo are solid improvements to keep pace with Google and Apple, they are largely iterative. The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, however, is different. It’s a bold move into a new category that has been dominated by niche brands. By bringing a color e-ink device to the mainstream, Amazon is trying to create a new market for people who want a focused, eye-friendly tablet for comics, textbooks, and notes.
The Kindle Scribe is the real game-changer here
All three Kindle Scribe devices. | Image credit — Amazon
Honestly, it’s a lot to process. While the upgrades to the Echo speakers and Fire TVs are nice, they feel like expected yearly updates. Nothing in that list, aside from the Kindle, made me feel like I needed to upgrade my current gear.The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is the one product that truly feels new and exciting. I’ve wanted a color Kindle for years, and the potential is huge. That said, the $630 price is a major barrier. I think this device is for a very specific person: the student buried in PDF textbooks or the professional who needs to mark up documents all day. I’m waiting to see reviews, but it’s by far the most interesting thing Amazon announced.
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Samsung is not done for 2025 just yet – there are still more Galaxy phones on the way, and one of them is the Galaxy S25 Fan Edition. It is the more budget-friendly alternative in the flagship Galaxy S lineup and while most of the specs have already leaked, we now also have a fresh look at the phone’s design.A new image shows off (translated source) the Galaxy S25 FE in four color options and yep, the design once again sticks very close to last year’s model. If you remember, the Galaxy S24 FE came in Blue, Graphite, Gray, Mint and Yellow. This year’s S25 FE is expected to launch in:
Dark Blue
Light Blue
Black
White
This is how the upcoming Galaxy S25 FE might look like.
That said, we wouldn’t rule out more options showing up later and Samsung might also decide to spice things up with more playful marketing names, as previously rumored. It is not unusual for a company to rename “Dark Blue” into something like “Navy Fog” just for the marketing punch.
Aside from the new colors, the S25 FE is said to bring a slimmer and lighter body, with thinner bezels that should help the design feel a bit more modern. However, internally, Samsung seems to be sticking to the same formula as last year, essentially cramming all the S24 FE hardware into a sleeker shell.
You are still getting a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and camera-wise, nothing is expected to change, either. That means the same setup as before – and actually, the same as the base Galaxy S24:
50 MP main with OIS
12 MP ultra-wide
8 MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom
This trio already delivered solid results in our camera tests, so even without any upgrades this time around, users should still be happy with the overall performance.
Under the hood, the Galaxy S25 FE is expected to run on the Exynos 2400 chip, with 8 GB of RAM and your choice of 128 GB or 256 GB storage. 45W charging should finally be on board too, although we still don’t have the full battery details just yet.Samsung usually launches its Fan Edition models in the fall, so that is the window we are expecting again this year. If pricing stays the same, you are looking at a $650 starting price. That’s notably higher than the Google Pixel 9a, which starts at $499 and often sees discounts, making the Pixel a tough competitor in this affordable flagship space.
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