Last Updated on November 30, 2021
Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus
Amazon is known for its inexpensive tablets, and today we’re looking into the world of the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus.
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Amazon’s tablets are almost always created to be affordable alternatives to other leading tablets on the market. The Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus is the same, and it is a built-upon model of the popular Amazon Fire 8.
It is relatively similar to its predecessor, with the foundations of the Amazon Fire 8 remaining unchanged. However, the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus offers a better battery life, more storage, faster performance, and better connectivity.
Today we’ll be looking into whether the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus is worth the extra money or whether you should stick to what you know and opt for a market-leading tablet.
Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus
- Display: 8” high-definition touchscreen
- Size: 8.0” x 5.4” x 0.4” (202 x 137 x 9.7 mm)
- Weight: 12.5 oz (355 g) Actual size and weight may vary by configuration and manufacturing process.
- CPU & RAM: Quad-core 2.0 GHz with 3 GB of RAM
- Storage: 32 GB (24.8 GB available to user) or 64 GB (55.6 GB available to user) of internal storage. Add microSD card for up to 1 TB of additional storage.
- Battery life: Up to 12 hours of reading, browsing the web, watching video, and listening to music.
- Charge time: Fully charge in under 4 hours using the USB-C cable and 9W adapter included in the box.
- Wifi connectivity: Dual-band wifi.
Design
The Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus is exactly the same as the Amazon Fire 8 tablet when it comes to the design, with a plastic exterior and an unsightly black border around the screen. The border is there so that you don’t turn the pages prematurely when reading from the tablet.
However, we think that it looks bulky and unattractive if you’re planning on using the tablet for anything other than reading. This border is also the same width all around the screen, which is an improvement from the Amazon Fire 8.
Amazon has made improvements from the Amazon Fire 8 to make the buttons and cameras more accessible in landscape orientation. The camera is positioned to make video calls easier and the buttons can be reached easier too.
Display
The screen is an LCD 8-inch with a resolution of 1280 x 800. The resolution is not the best for watching movies and television shows for a prolonged period of time, which makes us wonder why HD has been placed in the title of this tablet.
The definition of the tablet is not the best, with games and videos appearing blurred and pixelated. Even the home screen isn’t as defined as we’d have expected from a supposedly HD tablet.
Performance
The 3 GB RAM offers more space than other Fire tablets on the market, so you can save more images and play more games on the tablet. The RAM gives a better overall experience with the tablet as it isn’t so laggy all of the time.
Games and videos run slightly faster and smoother than other Fire tablets, but it still isn’t to say that it’s a necessarily good performance. The tablet appears to lag when unlocking it, swiping to different screens, and looking for movies on Prime TV.
The performance seems to suffer the most when screens are filled with lots of images such as apps or movie posters. Bear this in mind if you’re considering this tablet for media purposes.
Software
All of Amazon’s Fire tablets are locked to Fire OS, which is a similar version to Android. Like with most software out there, you’ll either love Fire OS or hate it. The software is quite restrictive when it comes to the store.
A lot of the software revolves around Amazon products such as Kindle, Prime Video, and Amazon Music. Amazon also likes to promote its products throughout the tablet unless you pay an extra amount for no ads.
Without an active Amazon Prime account, you won’t be able to make the most of your tablet, so really you’ll be getting yourself into a subscription service with this tablet. Amazon Prime is a great addition to your life so this isn’t the worst thing to have, but bear in mind that it’s another expense.
There are still a few things that you can do without an Amazon Prime membership, but the app store is very limited compared to the Google Store or App Store. The major apps are still there such as Netflix and Spotify, but as we mentioned before this is not the best tablet for media usage.
Camera
There are two cameras on the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus which are both 2 MP. These are not the best cameras and won’t leave you with crystal clear images worth sharing with anyone. You’ll most likely find that your phone camera is better quality than either of the cameras that come with the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus.
The front-facing camera is now on the left side of the screen which might throw you off initially, but it does help video calling to keep the camera nicely at eye level. This is a clever innovation that we haven’t seen with many other tablets.
Battery Life
The battery life of the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus is said to be up to 12 hours. This is two hours more than the Amazon Fire 8 and four hours more than the Amazon Fire 7. The battery will drain quickly if you’re watching films online.
However, if you’re doing simple tasks such as reading, listening to music, or watching videos offline, you’ll get much closer to the 12-hour mark for one charge of the battery.
We like the fact that you charge the device with A USB-C port. This is much better than the previous micro-USB that many of the Amazon Fire tablets were using. Thanks to these ports being used for newer devices, you won’t need to carry lots of different leads with you whilst traveling.
Summary
Overall, the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus is a walking Amazon advert that offers a much wider range of applications if you have an Amazon Prime account. You can still use it without one, but you’ll be lumbered with promotions and adverts and a simplified app store.
The Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus is not that more expensive than the Amazon Fire 8, and there isn’t that much more to enjoy. Don’t be fooled by the HD in the title – the screen is not as defined as we’d have expected it to be.
The inexpensive tablet is fine for people who want it primarily for reading and listening to music, but heavy game players and media watchers will likely be disappointed with this purchase.
