Amazon Fire HD 8 Review

Last Updated on March 29, 2020

The latest generation of tablets, the Amazon Fire HD 8 is more durable than this year’s iPad, and it’s probably the best tablet for the price currently on the market. It is slim and quite portable, and if you are new to tablets, this model could be an excellent choice.

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Layout and Looks

With measurements of 214mm x 128mm x 9.7mm and weight of 369 grams, the Amazon Fire HD 8 is a relatively mobile tablet and easy to carry around. The plastic build comes in a variety of colors like black, punch red, canary yellow, and marine blue, the same as its predecessor, the Amazon Fire 7.

Plastic is not bad at all and can withstand occasional knocks and drops, but we should mention that is not water-resistant. It has a VGA front camera and 2 MP rear camera with 720p HD video recording, while the dual stereo speakers are on the left in portrait and on the bottom in landscape position.

 

Amazon Fire HD8 2017 Unboxing & Hands-on Review: Now with Alexa!

Horsepower, Storage & Display

The processor power remains the same as with the Amazon Fire 7, which is a 1.3GHz Mediatek. The difference is in RAM as the Amazon Fire HD 8 has 1.5 GB and that is 50{cc9a9509f9495fc077e13985dc9e33dda9630fd6d1a92c3cf67be84f810d7dd4} better than the HD 7, meaning faster surfing and fewer apps crashes.

It has a storage of 16 or 32 GB, but it’s expendable up to the 256 GB as well, which is more than enough spaces for anything you think is valuable to keep on your tablet. The 8-inch HD, 1280 x 800 (189 PPI) display is excellent for playing videos, and it is evident upgrade comparing to older versions.

OS, UI and Included Software

The Amazon Fire 8 HD uses the same Fire OS 5.4 software, which is the Amazon counterpart of Android 5.1, and it is also equipped with Amazon’s Silk browser and Amazon Appstore instead of the Chrome browser and Google Play Store.

You will not be able to use Google apps such as YouTube, Waze, Citymapper, or Microsoft Office, so missing on these apps is a serious downside. However, with Alexa now supported, you can voice search whatever you want, and it’s turned out to be a quite useful addition.

Networking and Peripherals

The usual 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n dual-band Wi-Fi support both public and private Wi-Fi networks and also provides WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security via password authentication. The 5 GHz WiFi band is obviously faster than the Amazon Fire 7, while the USB 2.0 allows you to connect your device to the PC or Mac.

Still, it cannot connect to the 4G network, and that’s a bit of a downer, but microSD card slot offers a 256 GB of external storage.

 

Amazon Fire HD 8 with Alexa (2017 Model) - Complete Review!

Performance in the Field

Although the processor is not upgraded, the Amazon Fire 8 HD is an excellent tablet and is quite responsive, mostly thanks to its 1.5 GB of RAM, and even though some slight hiccups can happen, videos are smooth, and the sound is fantastic.

However, the screen is slightly dim which is not perfect when watching dark scenes in a relatively bright room, but other than that, it seems fine. Still, the camera is not good enough, so if you are looking for the device to taking photos, you should look elsewhere.

The battery life is long and can last up to 12 hours of reading, surfing, listening to music, watching videos, and playing games, but it can vary depends on the usage.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • More than affordable price, excellent value
  • Speakers are improved
  • Long battery life
  • Durable build quality
  • Fast and responsive
  • Solid screen resolution

Cons:

  • Awful cameras
  • A bit slow navigation
  • Reflective screen

The Ideal Buyer

The Amazon Fire 8 HD is a great choice for the ones who are searching for the cheaper tablet and while it may not fulfill all your wishes, it’s hardly to find a better device for the price. Even if you are a new user and never had a tablet before, the simple Amazon Fire 8 HD will definitely be the right selection for you.

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Final Verdict

Although you cannot enjoy in Google Play store, the Amazon Fire 8 HD still delivers and it’s cheaper than most of the new generation tablets, so you should give it a go because it would be an excellent buy.