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I recently came upon an offer I could hardly ignore. Amazon's Fire HD 8 was being sold in its basic version for just $50 on "Prime Day". Reason enough to give it a go - it's not like there was anything else to do during my vacation. My reasoning was that, at that price point, I wouldn't be getting a high-end device but it was likewise unlikely that Amazon would market a dud under their own name . Oh the excitement!
My first impression was solid. The device sports a 8 inch glass display with the rest covered by rough-textured plastic. The tablet's thickness measures below 1 cm and its weight is about 370 grams. At 1280 x 800, the resolution won't break any records though (some smaller cellphones offer more) and sound is delivered via two speakers at the long side. Overall, the build quality is flawless. Inside, the tablet features a MediaTek MT8163 quad-core processor, an ARM Mali T720 GPU and 1.5 GB of RAM - specifications that aim towards power saving instead of super performance. In its basic configuration, the tablet comes with 16 GB of storage capacity with 11 GB available to the user. The device accepts SD cards of up to 256 GB to solve any potential storage issues. Connectivity-wise, it's WLAN only so strolls in the park are mostly out of the question.
My first test run made one thing immediately clear: Amazon has the say over everything! The entire user interface is plastered with Amazon offers and services. That can be a bit depressing at times especially when even low-end device manufacturers are holding back on that practice these days. If you're not an Amazon Prime member, you'll be left out with many services being unusable. Important: you can't uninstall Amazon's apps. Luckily, the user interface supports a nifty feature: if you stack several apps on top of each other, they'll be grouped under a single folder. This way, you can at least keep the unnecessary apps in a single location and save screen estate for more important programs - provided you can find them because there's another small problem...
Not much to do without Prime membership
Although Amazon uses Android (version 5.11 which is fairly outdated), they don't want Google on their devices. That's why they came up with their own store that only hosts apps they approve of. Alas, the selection is paltry and often a few versions behind. If you're looking for Youtube or anything else related to Google or smaller developers, you'll be out of luck. Knowing this, it's almost surprising that Netflix is included as other competitors are locked out on principle. It's not that hard to manually install Google's App Store to get to your favorite apps (see here for details) but, according to Amazon, you'll void your warranty in the process. So it's either that or your warranty. After just a few minutes of use, I felt like I'm being kept on a short leash (very unusual for Android).
What doesn't bother me, against all my expectations, are the "special offers", i.e. ads. Amazon offers two versions of their devices: one with and one without special offers. Naturally, the former are a little bit cheaper and I feared the ads might interrupt my work flow. That fear went away when I found them to be simple overlays that pop up once you take your device out of sleep mode. They're mostly well-designed book covers that are easily swiped off the screen - no deal-breaker for me. If you'd like to save money, you should think about this option.
Amazon also left their mark on the Android system itself. The user interface is well-structured and you'll quickly find your way around but it's definitely optimized for sales. You see your contents but they're always mixed with suitable offers. If that's not to your liking, you may find using the device difficult. Swiping through the various sections, I also noticed that everything feels fast and looks professional. Both CPU and GPU aren't screamers yet they provide enough horsepower for a smooth and snappy experience: a rarity in this price range. The system itself is mature and stable (as you'd expect from a 7th-gen device) and I didn't experience crashes or illogical behavior.
The cameras definitely show how much importance Amazon attaches to this device aspect - none whatsoever! The front camera is a throwback to the year 2000 when 640 x 480 was considered a decent resolution. This may just be enough for video chatting - if your goal is to stay anonymous. Things look a little better on the back with a 2 megapixel camera that may come in handy for the occasional snapshot. Make sure there's enough light though and try to ignore the bluish cast. You may also have to try a couple of times to get a decent enough sharpness in your photos. High-res videos come out laggy and exude the flair of a flip book which is mildly irritating for a device in 2017.
Despite all the criticism, battery life is top-notch! If you enjoy binge watching your favorite series on a portable device, this may be the tablet for you as it apparently was built for constant use. Amazon touts 12 hours of battery life for reading and web surfing and I measured 10.5 during my test. Impressive! The sound is also excellent with subtle nuances throughout the audio spectrum. Expectedly, media consumption is where this table shines. Video playback, web surfing or reading pose no problem at all but you might notice the limited pixel depth for anything other than reading or watching TV series. If this suits your requirements, you're in for hours of entertainment with the Fire HD.
The Fire HD is a mixed bag. I don't mind that the tablet won't top the performance charts for this device category and the price (currently $79 without discounts) certainly reflects that. However, I feel that Amazon went a little overboard with their branding almost making Google look like an angel in this respect. Locking out competitors is also a no-go for me and similar attempts by others have failed ten years ago. Customers expect certain apps and can't be expected to jump through hoops to install the Google Playstore (and void their warranty in the process!). That's a huge letdown which is why I can only recommend this tablet to users with low expectations or those who feel at home in the Amazon universe. If all you need is Amazon Video, Amazon Music, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Prime Photos and their many other services, you'll have a blast with the Fire HD. All others should look elsewhere for a less restricted experience.
What I would like to know: do you consider getting an Amazon Fire HD 8? Or would you rather stay out of Amazon's walled garden?
Pics: Amazon
Welcome back from holiday, Sven. I hope it was a good one.
The fact that you can't uninstall Amazon's apps from this Fire tablet is nothing new. I have a very basic Android tablet, and Google won't allow you to uninstall any of their apps, despite the fact that they're taking up valuable storage space that I'd like to use for my own choice of more useful apps.
What's more, you can't move the Google apps from the on-board storage to an SD card. It's not allowed!
As a result, my little 16GB tablet has its on-board storage permanently full, while the 32GB SD card is barely used.
Thanks a lot! I had a great vacation and I can wholeheartedly recommend Iceland. The issue with SD cards has been solved by now and any files not related to the operating system can now be moved.
Excellent article and I agree - locking just about everything out does not work and I think that they will regret the decision.
At a cost of loose change from the pocket it is so basic that if you lose the product it is hardly worth worrying over.
That answers many questions. But I don't use the camera, nor many other features, but I do like Google
and have no problems. Thank you for you information.
Bill
Amazon restricts their products so you only buy their stuff. Competition is for multi-millionaires. Cynical! I know. I bought this model because of its physical size; I still have my 1st gen Kindle! I use mine for email, a little web surfing, watching the occasional movie and reading. Amazon came out with a new and improved font for reading that is great for my tired, old eyes. I find myself using my iPad and Kindles more than my laptop. This model fits my needs; I have both dslrs and analog cameras for pix taking. I'll wait until the "tri-corder" is invented before I change.
I'm not trying to malign the device for anyone as there'll certainly be many users who'll be totally satisfied with it. But since there're always buyers who'll be surprised and disappointed by the focus of this device, I decided to write this short review. :)
I own the smaller even cheaper Amazon 7 tablet ($35 on Black Friday). I bought it mostly as an experiment - I mean, really, $35? I installed the Google Store and several apps, not caring at ALL about the warranty. It was $35. If it breaks, it goes in the recycling bin.
Low end, poor quality screen, slow, pathetic cameras, the list of non-features goes on and on. I had to keep reminding myself it was just $35. What I finally did was hack it to remove most of the Amazon-centric nonsense, installed the half dozen apps that allow remote control of my home entertainment devices, and assigned it to just that function - it's now a big remote, and has that on-screen keyboard for entering search requests, logins, and so on. It's good enough for that.
I did recently buy a MUCH more sophisticated Lenovo tablet, much faster, decent cameras, beautiful high resolution IPS screen, very few apps and almost no ads forced down your throat, just a lovely well made little device for about three times what you paid for your HD 8.
Yes, it's $150, but it's a whole different world from the cheap Fire tablets. Check out the Lenovo line of tablets if you're in the market for something like that. Very pleased so far.
I don't care much about the warranty, I just found it highly remarkable that customers are being "punished" for their desire to use standard apps.
I think the Amazon app market is very poor and very insecure to my licking. Some apps are 'fake' or say something in the description that they are not. I had to install my favorite applications by using the apk file. The interface is very outdated and very basic.
To me, the table is useful to access Internet and read the news (better than a phone) and read my email.
If you are a user of Amazon apps, it will be good. But if you want to make it the "center of your operation", look for something else.
I also use it as a second device to watch movies, surf the web or use news apps.
I use the Fire and love it.
I ignore most of the apps they installed, using it to surf the web or stream video.
True, to get the most out of it you need prime but dollar for dollar it's the best deal for your money. If you loose it or misplace it not much harm is done.
It's not for everyone but for those like me it's a blessing!
I'm surprised that Amazon designed this with so many restrictions. My opinion is that they are not very confident when it comes to competition.
bought one of these, and agree that it is very restrictive, but as I am an avid reader, it serves me well, for that alone.
I do use it sometimes to look up pages of tect, or run little videos, and I can use Messenger on it as well, which is handy, as I then don't need to reach for my phone in the middle of reading a novel.
All in all, much as you describe, and limited use only.