Amazon has unveiled its most ambitious budget tablet, seeking to offer features typically associated with high-end device, but at a price point that's as accessible as you'd expect from an Amazon Fire tablet.

It's called the Amazon Fire Max 11 and - as you might have guessed from the naming - it's got an 11-inch display - with a higher resolution panel than any previous Fire tablet. Specifically, that's 2000 x 1200 pixels, and means it's comfortably more pixel-rich than the Fire HD 8, but is quite similar to the Fire HD 10 Plus display (at least in terms of pixel count).

The display isn't the big story here though, the most important upgrades are - well - everything else.

Unlike older, previous versions of the Fire tablet, the device is built from aluminium and - what Amazon calls - "strengthened glass". In fact, the company says it's three times more durable than the 10.9-inch iPad. Exactly how that figure was reached we don't know, but it's a bold claim.

Regardless of how it compares to the iPad, it's a big change from previous tablets from Amazon, which typically use quite cheap plastic and screen protection in order to keep the user cost down to an absolute minimum.

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Amazon/Pocket-lint

It's also the first Fire tablet that comes with accessories designed to help you get work and creative tasks done. By that we mean there's an optional detachable keyboard folio (with a trackpad) and a stylus. That means you can type away, sign documents, draw and do everything you'd expect to do on a tablet. The Fire tablet is no longer just a media consumption device.

The full-sized, detachable keyboard case has 15 shortcut keys for convenient functions, while the built-in trackpad has a host of its own gestures for navigation within the software. It snaps on magnetically and works as soon as it's attached.

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Amazon

As for the Made for Amazon Stylus Pen, that works with Microsoft 365 apps, OneNote and a Drawing Desk, plus with the Write to Type feature, the Fire Max 11 can convert handwriting to text. It has a replaceable battery that lasts about six months.

There's more too: Amazon has built a fingerprint sensor into the device, protecting it with biometrics for the first time by building the scanner into the power button, just like the latest iPad model.

Other improvements include the more powerful 2.2GHz octa-core processor inside, which Amazon has promised is nearly 50 per cent faster than any of the current Fire tablet models, and that's joined by 4GB RAM to ensure it can keep up with your gaming, streaming and working. You'll get either 64GB or 128GB storage too.

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Amazon

As well as more powerful hardware, there's a software tweak to help boost productivity and gaming time. For multi-taskers, there's a new split-screen mode that'll allow you to have two apps running side-by-side on the display, and it has Amazon's Luna gaming service baked in so that you can put some time into your favourite games.

The Amazon Fire Max 11 is available to pre-order from today with prices starting at $229.99 in the USA and £249.99 in the UK for the standalone tablet, or you can buy a bundle which includes Made for Amazon Stylus Pen and Keyboard Case for $329.99 / £375. Both of those can be purchased separately with prices set at £34.99 for the pen and £89.99 for the keyboard cover.