Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8 Review: Only for Amazon Prime users | Tech Reddy

If you’ve spent five minutes with the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8, you’ll know it’s not in the same league as a top-of-the-line Android tablet like the current generation iPad Mini or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8. And that’s okay – it’s not an effort.

If you’ve spent five minutes with the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8, you’ll know it’s not in the same league as a top-of-the-line Android tablet like the current generation iPad Mini or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8. And that’s okay – it’s not an effort. Fire HD 8 is designed for content consumption and light productivity tasks. If you want a tablet that can play the latest games or process photos on the go, look elsewhere. But if you’re looking for a small tablet that can stream Netflix or Amazon Prime Video and play the occasional game of solitaire, the Fire DH 8 has you covered.

About Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8

• Chipset: Hexa-core 2.0 GHz
• Display: 8 inches, 1280 x 800 (189 PPI)
• RAM: 2 GB
• Storage: 32/64 GB (expandable via microSD card)
• Rear camera: 2 megapixels
• Front camera: 2 megapixels
• Wired connection: USB-C
• Wireless: Dual-band Wi-Fi (supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac)

What we like

Excellent build quality

While it doesn’t have an aluminum or magnesium body like the M1 iPad Air or the Surface Go 3, the Fire HD is still a tough little tablet. During the test, I gently held it at both corners and slid it around. Surprisingly, it didn’t squeak or creak under pressure. You should know that unlike Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Oasis e-readers, the Fire HD is waterproof. However, most of the tablets are not available either.

All Amazon, all the time

Fire HD provides a relatively inexpensive portal to Amazon’s most popular services: Amazon Prime Video, Audible, Comixology, Amazon Photos, Kindle, Goodreads, Amazon Kids, and of course the company’s vast online shopping empire. You can use it to bring Alexa into your life (although not everyone will see that as a plus). If you’re into content from the corporate juggernaut, the Fire HD 8 might serve you well.

What we don’t like

All Amazon, all the time

No, I didn’t fall asleep on the keyboard and type the same thing twice. What makes the Fire HD 8 great for some makes it a bad device for others.

All of Amazon’s tablets use a networked iteration of Android. The Amazon App Store comes pre-installed on this tablet as part of a special flavor of the company’s operating system. The App Store offers tons of apps to download, including favorites like Disney+, Microsoft 365, and Twitter, but those familiar with Android might find the Fire HD disappointing when they swipe and tap on their smartphones. If you’re not comfortable with a little thought, you won’t be able to access the Google Play Store from this tablet. This means Gmail, Google Docs, or many other popular apps that Play Store users expect to see.

Pay, pay, pay

At the time of writing this review, the Fire HD 8 was available at various prices:

• $99.99 for 32GB of storage (supported by lock screen advertising)
• $114.99 for 32GB of storage (without lock screen ads)
• $129.99 for 64GB of storage (supported by lock screen advertising)
• $144.99 for 64GB of storage (without lock screen ads)

For this review, I tested the 64GB ad-supported model. Every time I turned on the tablet, my eyes stung a little. I don’t like seeing ads on devices or apps I’ve already paid for. Your mileage may vary.

Additionally, one of the most popular tablets released in the past few years has offered base models with 64GB of storage. That’s not a lot of space considering the growing number of photos, videos, and attachment files. Amazon knows this because the Fire HD 8 is equipped with a MicroSD expansion slot that can handle MicroSD cards up to 1TB. It’s nice to have the option. However, if you have to buy extra storage to give your apps and content some breathing room, this will increase the cost of owning the device.

Poor display

A device designed primarily for consumption should provide a great consumer experience. Fire HD 8… just OK. Its eight-inch 1,280 x 800, 189 PPI (pixels per inch) touchscreen display is sharp enough that you won’t squint at it after watching a few episodes. Reacher. By comparison, Amazon’s current generation Kindle (2022) base model has a 300 PPI display.

Lag apps, silent

While the Kindle Fire HD 8’s display was fine for streaming video or a little reading, its dual speakers were a different story. Music, audiobooks, and other sounds lack presence and sound a little quieter. When companies cut corners to keep tablet prices down, speaker quality is one of the first things to be sacrificed.

The lower cost also means a slightly laggy app experience. Amazon claims the Fire HD 8 is 30% faster than its previous incarnation. While I don’t have a last-gen model to compare it to, I’ve noticed that most of the tablet’s pre-installed apps have a three-to-four second lag between the time I tap them and the time they open. That’s a long wait. However, once opened, the apps worked smoothly.

Should you buy a Brand/Product?

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Maybe if Amazon’s budget is your main concern

If your home automation is already powered by Alexa, or you’re deeply invested in Amazon’s music, e-books, and Amazon Prime, the Amazon Kindle HD 8 is an affordable device to use to access it all. It can also run other streaming services, games, and several apps that you need for productivity.

Given its shortcomings, the Amazon Kindle Fire 8 isn’t for everyone. If you have to pay to disable lock screen ads or a microSD card to unlock a reasonable amount of storage, it adds to the price of the tablet. Additionally, the lack of access to Google services or the Google Play Store, as well as disappointing audio quality and a lackluster display, may make it a better option to save money for a more expensive Android or iPadOS device.

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Prices were accurate at the time this article was published, but may change over time.