Along with a handful of new tablets, Amazon has officially announced Fire OS 4 (codenamed Sangria), which it says adds hundreds of new features to the "content-forward" operating system.

First and foremost, Amazon says the user interface in Fire OS has gotten a facelift. Amazon hasn't gone into detail in describing its UI changes, but visual tweaks are certainly welcome to an interface that can at times seem scattered.

Besides that, Amazon is touting new features like ASAP, Smart Suspend, and the addition of individual user profiles to make for easier sharing among families.

ASAP stands for "Advanced Streaming And Protection," a feature from Amazon's Fire TV that attempts to predict what you want to watch next and queue it up automatically for playback as soon as you get done with the current content.

Smart Suspend, meanwhile, attempts to learn from your device usage patterns and automatically turn on or off wireless connections based on what times of day the device is typically in use. Amazon says that Smart Suspend will occasionally turn on Wi-Fi to refresh notifications and check for emails, so when you pick up the tablet it will be up to date.

Profiles, as you may expect, is Amazon's take on multi-user capabilities on a tablet. Each member of the family can get a profile, adjust their settings and connect their own personal accounts, making sharing the tablet as a household device easier and more personal.

Amazon also added Firefly to the new Fire OS for its tablets. For those unaware, Firefly is basically a content identification tool that can recognize tv shows, movies, music, and physical objects, connecting you with corresponding Amazon listings when possible.

Amazon isn't wasting any time in getting the new OS out the door - the new Fire HDX for instance is available for pre-order today, so it shouldn't be long before interested parties can find out exactly what the other new features are in Amazon's in-house OS.

Source: BusinessWire