Amazon's autumn/winter 2014 tablet and eBook reader refresh is headed by the Fire HDX 8.9, an 8.9-inch powerhouse of a slate that sits at the top of the retailer's line-up.

Unlike the 6 and 7-inch Fire HD tablets that are more aimed at the family unit and those looking for a quick, simple device, the HDX 8.9 is Amazon's answer to the Apple iPad Air, albeit a tad cheaper.

It is extremely light, lighter than the Air by almost 100g (although its screen is almost an inch smaller), and we feel that you could hold it for a prolonged period without fatigue.

Its screen resolution of 2560 x 1600 is higher than the Air's too, so as it is slightly smaller than means the pixels per inch is insanely high, at 339ppi. Certainly, we couldn't see the pixels with the naked eye - not from a normal viewing distance anyway. Content looked amazing, including beautiful high-res photography.

It also moved like the clappers thanks to a 2.5GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. We were also impressed with the audio performance from its stereo speakers. Combined with Dolby Audio decoding, even at half volume it sounded like a flatscreen TV, not a device that's just 7.8mm thick.

We didn't get to play with many of the features on the tablet, that will come when we fully review it in the coming weeks, but as with all HDX tablets, it comes with Fire OS 4 with the Mayday button for instant customer service and help. And there's now a rear-facing camera (8-megapixels), which we're looking forward to testing properly.

The front-facing camera is HD.

On 4 November, when it is first available on Amazon.co.uk, you will be able to get the Wi-Fi-only model that starts at £329 with special offers (curated adverts on start-up) and 16GB of storage. However a 4G LTE version will follow.

Optional extras will include a Fire Tablet Keyboard for £54.99 so you'll be able to work on the device too.