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Fire HD 8 Tablet with Alexa, 8" HD Display, 16 GB, Black - with Special Offers (Previous Generation - 6th)
- Fire HD 8, now with up to 12 hours of battery life, 2X the storage, and 50% more RAM for faster performance
- Stunning 8" HD display, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, and Dolby Audio. Available in four colors.
- Now with the Alexa cloud-based voice service - just press and ask
- Enjoy millions of movies, TV shows, songs, Kindle e-books, apps and games
- Prime members get unlimited access to a huge selection of songs, books, videos and more
- 16 or 32 GB of internal storage and a microSD slot for up to 200 GB of expandable storage
Fast and responsive
Enjoy your entertainment with a fast 1.3 GHz quad-core processor. Fire HD 8 now delivers faster performance thanks to a 50% increase in RAM over the previous model.
Power when you need it
Now with up to 12 hours of mixed-use battery life, Fire HD 8 gives you the flexibility to go where the day takes you.
Beautiful HD display
Fire HD 8 features a widescreen 1280 x 800 high-definition display with over a million pixels (189 ppi) and a bright, vivid picture. Enjoy movies and games in a crisp, clear HD resolution, with less glare and more brightness thanks to a stunning IPS (in-plane-switching) LCD display.
Capture life’s moments
Fire HD 8 features a 2 MP rear-facing camera for taking photos or shooting 720p video. The front-facing VGA camera is perfect for Skype calls with friends and family.
No more worrying about storage space
Now with 2X more internal storage, Fire HD 8 comes standard with 16 GB. Expand your tablet’s storage by up to 200 GB using a microSD card, and keep photos, movies, and compatible games and apps with you. Plus enjoy free unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content and photos taken with your Fire tablet.
Stands up to everyday life
Amazon engineers Fire tablets to hold up against everyday life. As measured in tumble tests, Fire HD 8 is 2X more durable than iPad Mini 4 (and costs a lot less too).
Read
Choose from millions of Kindle e-book and magazine titles. Connect with the largest online community of book lovers on Goodreads. Discover over a million titles with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Also, listen to your favorite books with Audible. Plus, enjoy exclusive Kindle features you only get from Amazon like X-Ray, Whispersync, Vocabulary Builder, Page Flip, Blue Shade and more.
Watch
Enjoy all your favorite movies and TV shows on Amazon Video, Netflix, HBO NOW, and more. Discover hundreds of thousands of TV episodes and movies, plus fling Amazon Video content to your TV using Second Screen. Enhance your video experience with features you only get from Amazon, including ASAP, X-Ray, On Deck, and FreeTime Parental Controls.
Play
Over 400,000 apps including favorites like Facebook, Twitter, and Spotify. Play great titles like Frozen Free Fall, Angry Birds Slingshot Stella, and Sonic Dash from developers like Disney, Gameloft, Rovio Entertainment, and more.
Alexa comes to Fire Tablets
Alexa provides quick access to the entertainment you want, including music, games, audiobooks, and more. You can also ask Alexa questions, check your calendar, get news, find sports scores, and even control your smart home. All you have to do is press and ask.
Be Entertained
Whether you’re looking for your favorite playlist or need a quick joke, you can ask Alexa. Just press and ask for a song, artist or genre, and stream directly over Wi-Fi. Alexa also provides voice control for Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn, IHeartRadio, and more.
One Press. Millions of Possibilities.
When connected to Wi-Fi simply press the home button for 1 second then ask. Alexa will respond to you and will even show visual responses to certain questions.
Stay Informed
Now you can ask Alexa a question and get an immediate voice response. When you press and ask, Alexa can pull up your Flash Briefing, Wikipedia articles, news, sports scores, and more.
Everyday tasks made easier
Alexa on Fire tablets helps make the everyday easier. Just press and ask to set alarms and timers, check traffic, your calendar, to-do or shopping lists, and more.
Control your smart home
Alexa works with devices such as lights, switches, thermostats, and more from SmartThings, Insteon, Nest, ecobee, and Wink. Switch on the lamp before getting out of bed, turn on the fan or change the temperature on your thermostat while reading in your favorite chair, or dim the lights from the couch to watch a movie—all voice controlled from your tablet.
New Fire OS 5 features
In addition to Alexa, our latest Fire OS update allows you to quickly access great game play directly from the Games tab with Twitch, the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. Fire tablet owners will also have easy access to over 65,000 recommendations from ComiXology, which provides an unrivaled library of comic books, graphic novels, manga and more.
Share content with Family Library
Family Library links your Amazon account to that of your spouse or partner so you can easily share apps, games, audiobooks, and books, and it now allows Prime members to share their Prime Video content. Access your family's content across devices—both Amazon devices and free Amazon apps for other platforms, including iOS and Android.
Find the things you love easier
Fire OS is the best entertainment experience on a tablet with quick access to the things you do most. The home screen includes dedicated content pages for books, games, apps, video, music, audiobooks, and Newsstand, making it quick to pick up right where you left off. Powered by Amazon’s recommendations engine, you can quickly browse books, movies, TV shows, music, apps, and games suggested just for you.
No more waiting
With ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction), Amazon movies and TV episodes are ready for you to watch instantly. ASAP dynamically adapts to your viewing habits.
On Deck automatically downloads Prime Video (for Prime members) and the first episodes of Amazon Original Series while your device isn’t in use, ensuring that there is always something new to enjoy instantly, even when offline.
Integrated on-device tech support
Screen Sharing brings Mayday-powered customer service to Fire tablets. Simply call customer service and Amazon experts can connect to your Fire tablet to co-pilot through features by drawing on your screen, walking you through how to do something yourself, or doing it for you—whatever works best.
Try Prime free for a month
If you haven't tried Amazon Prime in the past, we'll give you a 30-day free trial. Experience what millions of members already enjoy—unlimited streaming of thousands of hit movies and TV episodes, ad-free access to over a million songs, reading a Kindle book a month for free, and Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items. Learn more
Unlimited reading on any device
Prime Reading gives you unlimited access to over a thousand books, current issue magazines, comics, Kindle Singles, and more. With access from any device – including your phone, tablet, or Kindle – you can read however you want, whenever you want.
Stream thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Video
With Amazon Prime, members enjoy unlimited streaming of thousands of movies and TV episodes at no additional cost, including award-winning Amazon Original Series Transparent, top HBO shows; like True Blood, Girls, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and more popular movies and TV shows; like Downton Abbey, Under the Dome and Transformers: Age of Extinction.
No Wi-Fi, no problem—Prime Video downloads
Exclusive to Prime members, download thousands of Prime Video movies and TV episodes. Watch downloaded videos anywhere—on a plane, on vacation, in the car, or wherever you don't have a wireless connection. Prime Video offers offline viewing, included at no additional cost.
Over a million songs free with Amazon Music
Amazon Music gives Prime members unlimited, ad-free access to over a million songs, more than a thousand playlists, and hundreds of stations with unlimited skips. Find more music from your favorite artists, your favorite genres or let Amazon’s personalized recommendations introduce you to your next favorite band.
Add SHOWTIME, STARZ, and more to Prime
Prime members can add SHOWTIME, STARZ, and more to their Prime membership. These subscriptions are ready to watch anywhere, anytime—no cable or satellite subscription required. Starting as low as $2.99 a month, Prime members can go to Amazon Video to pick and choose their favorite channels to subscribe to, giving them instant access to episodes the same time they air on TV, including Homeland and The Affair from SHOWTIME, and Outlander and Ash vs Evil Dead from STARZ. Prime members can try any or all of these subscriptions with a free trial, and can cancel anytime.
Hundreds of Thousands of movies and TV episodes to stream, buy, or download
Whether you're a Prime member or not, enjoy a huge selection of TV episodes and movies, plus exclusive features like ASAP and Amazon FreeTime. Fire Tablets are an easy way to enjoy Netflix, Amazon Video, HBO NOW, Hulu Plus, and low-cost movie rentals.
Looking to cut the cord or get more from your cable?
Now you can watch TV without cable with subscriptions to apps like HBO NOW and Showtime, and with Sling TV—which includes ESPN and CNN—you can watch the big game or live news. Or use your cable subscription to stream what you love with on-demand through apps like HBO GO, Showtime Anytime, and Watch ESPN.
Watch on the big screen
Fling Amazon movies and TV shows from your tablet to your big-screen TV using Second Screen. This turns your TV into the primary screen, freeing up your Fire tablet to provide playback controls, a customized display for X-Ray, or simply be a place to email, browse the web, and more while you watch a movie. Second Screen is available for Amazon Fire TV, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.
Exclusive titles at the lowest prices
Over one million exclusive titles that you won't be able to find anywhere else. Shop the Kindle Store for millions of books, newspapers, and magazines. Over one million titles are priced at $2.99 or less. Over two million are $9.99 or less.
Read as much as you want with Kindle Unlimited
Choose from over one million titles and thousands of audiobooks. From mysteries and romance to sci-fi and more, freely explore new authors, books, and genres on any device for just $9.99 a month. Create virtual bookmarks with Whispersync, so your Fire tablet picks up right where you left off. Try Kindle Unlimited free for 30 days. Learn more
Enjoy vibrant magazines
Our interactive magazine experience allows you to start reading in just a few seconds with access to any back issue at any time on the cloud. Plus, most Kindle Magazines come with a 30-day free trial.
Share with friends on Goodreads
Fire tablets are integrated with the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations, with over 40 million members, 1.1 billion books added, and 43 million book reviews. See what your friends are reading, share highlights and rate the books you read with Goodreads on your Fire tablet.
NEW—Flip through books while saving your place
Page Flip makes it easy to find pictures, charts, maps and even your notes and highlights from different parts of a book. While you swipe to other pages or zoom out to see page thumbnails, Page Flip automatically saves the page you’re reading, pinning it to the side of your screen so you’ll never lose your place.
Read comfortably at night…
Blue Shade is an exclusive Fire OS “Bellini” feature that works behind the scenes to automatically adjust and optimize the backlight for a more comfortable nighttime reading experience. Simply tap Blue Shade on the quick actions menu to turn on this feature and enjoy your favorite book, news article, app, or any other nighttime activity without straining your eyes.
…without giving up a good night’s sleep
Recent studies by Harvard Health Publications have shown that evening exposure to blue light from electronic screens can suppress our bodies’ production of melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone. The suppression of melatonin can prolong the time it takes to fall asleep, which in turn can delay REM sleep and reduce alertness the following morning. Blue Shade gives you the option to fine-tune the color settings, with the device intelligently adjusting the color filtering so that at any color or brightness, the blue wavelength light is always sufficiently suppressed compared to other wavelengths.
Over 400,000 apps and games
Fire tablets feature instant access to thousands of the most popular free and best-selling games, social media, premium TV and movie providers, and so much more.
The best games
Enjoy best-selling games such as Game of War - Fire Age, SimCity BuildIt, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Monument Valley, and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.
Huge music selection
With millions of songs from thousands of artists, the Amazon Digital Music Store brings all your favorite music to your fingertips. Music you buy on your Fire tablet is saved to Your Music Library for free, and you can play or download it anytime.
Ad-free access to over a million songs with Prime Music
Prime members can enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to over a million songs, over a thousand playlists, and hundreds of stations. Find more music from your favorite artists, follow along to lyrics with X-Ray, or let Amazon's personalized recommendations introduce you to your next favorite band.
Listen to your favorite books
Audiobooks are great for your commute, while cooking, working out—all those times you can listen but can't read. Audible, an Amazon company, offers more than 180,000 titles, including best sellers, romances, thrillers, and much more. Every book is read by a professional narrator, including leading Hollywood actors such as Jake Gyllenhaal (The Great Gatsby) and Kate Winslet (Matilda).
Sync books across multiple platforms with Immersion Reading
Fire tablets can synchronize Kindle text with companion Audible audiobooks with real-time highlighting to create a more immersive reading experience, as well as deepen learning and comprehension. More than 60,000 Kindle books and companion Audible audiobooks are available across a wide array of genres.
Introducing Amazon Music Unlimited
For just $7.99/month for Prime Members (non-Prime price: $9.99/month), stream tens of millions of songs and explore curated playlists, stations, and weekly new releases—on-demand and always ad-free. Plus, with offline listening, your music is always at your fingertips.
Designed with kids in mind
When kids use Amazon FreeTime, it's like they have their very own personalized tablet. The background color and fonts change to a kid-friendly design and they only see the titles that you give them access to.
Over 10,000 kid-friendly titles with FreeTime Unlimited
Amazon FreeTime Unlimited is the first-ever all-in-one subscription that brings together books, games, educational apps, movies, and TV shows—all the types of content that kids and parents love. From just $2.99 per month, enjoy unlimited access to content including titles from Disney, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, PBS, and more.
Perfect for parents
Amazon FreeTime is built from the ground up to help give parents peace of mind when it comes to tablet use. Parents can create a profile for each of their children and choose which books, apps, games, and videos they want to give their kids access to. Amazon FreeTime is free on every Fire tablet.
Fire Kids Edition also available
The Fire Kids Edition includes the Fire tablet, 1-year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, and a Kid-Proof Case—up to $109 in savings. Plus a 2-year worry-free guarantee. Learn more
Limit screen time, so they don’t just play
With Amazon FreeTime, parents can set daily limits for tablet use, or restrict certain categories—like games and video—while leaving unlimited time for reading.
Content on hundreds of devices
It's easy for you to access your content on other devices. The books, videos, audiobooks, and music that you buy can be enjoyed on other devices through Amazon apps, including apps that are available for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, game consoles, TVs, and more.
Sync your content across all your devices with Whispersync
Start streaming a movie from Amazon Video on your Fire tablet, pause, then resume watching the same scene on your TV. Whispersync remembers how much you've watched, read, or listened to so you can pick up right where you left off, no matter which device you are using.
Free cloud storage
With every Fire tablet, you get free, unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content including unlimited storage on photos you've taken with your Fire tablet, so you can rest easy knowing that you'll never accidentally lose the content you love. See details
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Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers like the performance, quality and battery life of the tablet. For example, they mention it runs smoothly and quickly, has snappy ram performance and that it lasts a good amount of time. That said, some complain about the app store.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers like the performance of the tablet. They mention that it runs smoothly and quickly, has snappy ram performance, and performs really well for everything they need it to do. They also appreciate the responsive controls and the good screen and speed. The basic connection speed is not bad.
"...watched various types of movies and all look very clear with no graininess or lag...." Read more
"...I also found they worked well with my BT keyboards as well as my Logitech K-400 keyboard and touchpad in one, that uses one Logitech Unifying full..." Read more
"...Then, you use it like you do with the other platforms. This MySms is very fast and does a great job!..." Read more
"...No matter how good a value this is for the hardware, the usefulness drops when I can't install apps I need, or have to hack around everything I want..." Read more
Customers like the quality of the tablet. For example, they mention it's very well-made, decent, and one of the best electronic devices they have ever owned. They also say it'll do anything, is reliable, and durable. Customers also say the tablet is excellent for moderate web-browsing, Kindle books, and non-gaming tasks. They say reading PDF documents is a true joy.
"...The text appears very sharp with no jaggedness. I placed a matte finish plastic screen protector which greatly aids in reducing glare...." Read more
"...I needed a dime to press it in all the way.Build quality is more solid than I expected.Amazon App Store is great...." Read more
"...It is really good for my Kindle books.Yes, I continue to recommend this excellent tablet with the downsides of #1 and #2 above...." Read more
"...but I feel prompted to do so because this truly is one of the best electronic devices I have ever owned...." Read more
Customers appreciate the value of the tablet. They mention it's an excellent value for the money and a solid budget tablet.
"...While I believe that both tablets are well worth the money, they will not replace your Samsung S2 or high end iPad...." Read more
"...Listen, at the end of the day this tablet is impressive for its price point and what it is...." Read more
"...Pros: Great size. Fast and smooth OS. Great price. OTG works. 128GB Micro SD card works. Lightweight...." Read more
"First the Pros:The price is incredible, and this is a very well-made tablet. You will not find a better value for this level of hardware...." Read more
Customers like the ease of use of the tablet. They mention that it has clear images, decent sound, and is pretty simple to set up and use. They also appreciate the easy to follow help menus, and the ability to use as an ereader without strain. Customers also mention that the tablet is easy to figure out how to add apps, surf the web, and watch movies. They say it's convenient and has a decent interface.
"...After you turn it on, it is fairly easy to enter the data you need.It connected to our fastest wifi connection and seems very secure...." Read more
"...ES File Explorer.Setup: Out of the box the setup was easy, I just entered my wifi password and off we go...." Read more
"...apps, and the Fire OS, while having a few odd nuances, has a pretty decent interface. The stable Android backend is a definitely plus...." Read more
"...Cons: video format support is lacking, customization is not as easy as other android distros, Ads to deal with, USB port located right near power..." Read more
Customers are satisfied with the display of the tablet. They mention that it has a nice screen, good display quality, and beautiful display. They also like the content screens, and the response is quick and without lag. The screen is HD quality, very crisp, clear, vivid, and vibrant.
"...62;>>6-18-17 Update: I like the display! Crystal clear and looks great. Just do not watch next to your Asus tablet LOL...." Read more
"...Great screen, and my Amazon books are very readable. The white/black screen is better than my Acer tab and our Androids...." Read more
"...I like the content screens, and the response id quick and without lag...." Read more
"...+ True HD TV screen quality (720p - which is almost as good for videos as 1080p would be, on this 8" sized tablet)..." Read more
Customers like the size of the tablet. They say it fits nicely into their purse, has a fairly large screen, and the virtual keyboard is big enough. They also say it suits their needs perfectly and is a good match between portability and readability. However, some customers have reported issues with the Fire 7 display being passable and not as crisp or clear as the HD8.
"...I found that I could easily transport all of my google contacts which makes life easier...." Read more
"...Pros: Great size. Fast and smooth OS. Great price. OTG works. 128GB Micro SD card works. Lightweight...." Read more
"...I found the size to be a very good match between portability and readability and relatively easy to hold when reading...." Read more
"...It support Micro SD cards, thanks God for that! So it fits my usage perfectly: download YouTube videos to watch later when on a bus...." Read more
Customers like the battery life of the tablet. They mention that it has a great battery life, it doesn't drain much overnight, and it lasts a couple of days of use between charges. Some say that the battery is good for non-games and lasts about 4 hours on the browser or YouTube on. It charges quickly and last a good amount of time.
"...Battery life: Outstanding. This seems to be a compromise area for many tablets. The HD8 will play for rated time no problem...." Read more
"...The battery life on the little tablet is phenomenal. I love my HDXs but can't justify keeping 7 tablets here...." Read more
"...Battery Life: Phenomenal. Spent 10-15 minutes playing with this thing and battery still read 100 percent. Not used to that...." Read more
"...to the next and often just went to black screen; the battery would drain in a matter of minutes and recharging took hours; I had to re-download..." Read more
Customers dislike the app store. They say it's limited and missing many apps. They also say the lack of adding simple Google apps from the Google Play Store is disappointing. Customers also say that the Amazon shopping app can't understand "My orders" voice command. They mention that the app selection is limited and the apps are mostly internet window based.
"...But the fact that our Fire 7 and 8.9" HDXs had no easy to load MicroSD card capability made me very curious about the Fire 8HD sixth generation...." Read more
"...2. The lack of adding simple Google apps from the Google Play Store. Yes, it supposedly works, but it didnt' for me and my Grandson, our family IT...." Read more
"...Kindle comes with a number of pre-loaded apps including Amazon Appstore, Kindle books, music and a dedicated app for the Amazon website itself...." Read more
"...That being said, removing the ability to install apps from the Google Play store is a show stopper...." Read more
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I have posted several comments to other reviews, especially those that state that Google Play is not available. It is and is relatively easy to do.
"I have been making the mistake of writing my reviews on the 7” and comments on the Fire HD 8 (HD8) as a primary tablet. That is not the case for me and many of those to whom I gifted the F7s. While I believe that both tablets are well worth the money, they will not replace your Samsung S2 or high end iPad. They are great first tablets, good for kids, great for older folks. They can be modified safely and for free to include Google Play Store and a new launcher to replace the Amazon interface." - Me
=== I am not sure whether to delete the previous paragraph. I have been using this exclusively since I received it and it had continued to grow on me. This makes for an excellent primary tablet. I may revise this on an update to this review. ===
There are too many reviews where re-booting and power has been an issue to be coincidence. I am hoping that is was a single batch of the devices that caused these problems.
>>>6-18-17 Update: I have had zero restarts or freezes while using this everyday for the past month. Used for e-books, movies and mp3 player.
I also own a Samsung Tab S, ASUS ZenPad S 8 Z580CA-C1-BK 8" 64 GB Tablet, Insignia Elite Flex 8 and 10 inch models, Acer Iconia 8”, Fire 7”, Samsung Tab 4 8”, and now the Fire HD 8”. They have capabilities which range from mirroring HDMI connection to extremely high screen resolutions. The HD8 ranks behind Samsung, ASUS and the Acer Tablets. I purchase the F7 and HD8 as “back-up” and beater tablets that I use for outside uses and where wear and tear is expected to be higher.
The HD8 is a very good tablet, especially at the price point of $89 (I paid $64 on sale!) for the 16GB model. I can understand how some people say the table has a “cheap” feel. When you touch the back of the tablet it has a hollow feel. It is actually very sturdy. I would not want to drop it without a protective case (as with most tablets). It is slightly too slick and could benefit from a gel or other case.
Glass: It does collect finger prints as would ANY glass not specifically designed to be oleo phobic. That anyone could expect this glass to be top of the line is unfair. You can buy a tempered, oleo phobic screen protector for $10-$20 that resists finger prints and cleans up very easily compared to stock glass. Here is one link: https://www.amazon.com/OMOTON-All-New-Fire-Screen-Protector/dp/B0144AAIWQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1494570381&sr=1-3&keywords=fire+hd+8+screen+protector. I use the oleo phobic type protectors on other devbices and they resist fingerprints and are easy to clean up.
Display Clarity and Color: The screen looks very good despite what the resolution might suggest. I have watched various types of movies and all look very clear with no graininess or lag. I have the two of the best displays available in the ASUS and Tab S. Compared to those two, the colors appear slightly washed out but very acceptable.
>>>6-18-17 Update: I like the display! Crystal clear and looks great. Just do not watch next to your Asus tablet LOL.
UPDATE June 4, 2017 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The Bluetooth is the weakest I have experienced of any of my devices that play music. This is definitely a line of sight, 20 foot MAXIMUM distance device. It must be in the same room as the device the is broadcasting to. Even with that I still like this tablet.
Wireless Speed/Connectivity: I tested response by watching a 1080p movie while downloading two 1-GB files. No lag or buffering. I was 10 feet away from my wireless router so I cannot confirm or disprove that there are issues with WiFi connection.
Speakers: This is one area where I do not understand the complaints of the speakers being terrible. They sound very clear and have plenty volume to where they are too loud at the highest setting. There is no distortion when listening to music or movie soundtrack. The technical design of how they sound is projected is very impressive. When listening to movies on the tablet you can hear sounds that move from left to right as if the object making the sound is moving, from left to right, and up and down. Very impressive.
>>>6-18-17 Update: I came here to update this review because I was watching a movie and the sound from my Fire 8" was too loud! I like the speakers and they are good sounding speakers.
Battery life: Outstanding. This seems to be a compromise area for many tablets. The HD8 will play for rated time no problem. I have watched 6 hours of video, some web surfing, a bit of reading, installed a couple of apps, and it still has 32% power.
>>>6-18-17 Update: Battery life has been as stated in the specs. This alone makes the tablet worth the price.
Storage: I do not load very many apps and all my media is stored on SD card/s so I cannot comment on this topic. I was an advocate of installing apps to SD cards, but no longer. I load all apps to internal storage and use SD storage for all other data.
Interface/Launcher: I replace this on all Amazon tablets. They may work well for many but I prefer a more Android experience. I use Nova Launcher (downloaded from Google Play Store).
Apps Store: the Amazon store is decent but for those who have tasted Google play, it is disappointing. Google Play Store can be installed safely and relatively easy. Search the web and you will find detailed instructions on how to do it.
eReader: I use the F7 and HD8 as eReaders and both work very well for this purpose. Sunlight is definitely the enemy with this and most all other tablets. The text appears very sharp with no jaggedness. I placed a matte finish plastic screen protector which greatly aids in reducing glare. Makes it more eReader friendly. The matte protector cuts down a bit on video clarity but worth the loss.
I am even more impressed with this tablet. I keep discovering new features and things that, while not intuitive for a primarily Windows tablet guy, are even more value added. The battery run time is amazing! I use it to check actors and TV trivia while watching in evenings and used a few hours a day I looked at charge and it had 50% or more?? This tablet, when the WiFi is used does not use all kinds of power when I am done and put it in airplane mode like my windows and HDX tablets did. This little tablet outlasts my Surface Pro 3, my Dell Venue 11 Pro, and my two Fire 7" HDXs (Latest gen made) and one HDX fire 8.9 gen4. Get it, you will love it. I prefer full HD but I don't even notice the lower resolution than the HDXs until I put them side by side. There are no better resolution tablets that human eyes can see than the Fire HDX series.
I am at a point where I can buy all the computers and tablets, Bluetooth speakers and headsets, phones, and lately, and everything Amazon I want to play with. Tally? Three Amazon Fire TVs - full size with the 4k hardware, two Amazon 7" HDX tablets, one HDX 8.9" tablet, two Amazon Echo Dots, and we've been Amazon Prime members forever. Our newest addition, the Fire HD8 16GB arrived yesterday, I AM IMPRESSED!! With a 128GB SD card it can do everything one would get from any Apple offering. It is just the learning curve that keeps folks loyal to one or another. It takes a lot for me to learn another OS too, but I have been doing tech all my life and I am to the point of going to YouTube to watch all the user tops for the new Fire HD 8.
We are a retired techie couple and own two large touchscreen all in one desktops running Win 10, and a mini Win 10 PC in the guest bedroom. We have had a lot of tablets since our Samsung Tab10 and Tab 7 back in 2011. We tried the Original Surface running Windows RT which we sold in a month and replaced with the 11.6" HP x2 with full Windows 8 in Jan 2012. Then added a Lenovo Lynx 11.6", then a Dell Venue 11 Pro with the Atom Z3770 and Full HD which is now the wife's, and then an ASUS T200 with the Z3795/64GB internal drive and another laptop SSD in its drive bay in the keyboard part, and 4GB RAM. But the T200 had only 1280X800 resolution not full HD.Then I bought a Surface Pro 3 i5, 128GB HD with a Surface Pro 4 typecover and sold the ASUS T200. Then we saw some pretty great deals on used Amazon Fire HDX tablets in Craigslist last year. I first bought a 7" with 64GB of storage inside, and then another with 16GB of storage. We replaced our first two Kindles, a great push button one with no back light and a back lit touch with the two Fire HDX 7" for the terrific better than full HD screens. (I kept our Kindle PaperWhite for outdoors) Then I found a Fire HDX 8.9" fourth Generation with 32GB of storage and the Otterbox defender as well as the Amazon Origami smart case for 1/5th of new price. They originally sold for ~$300-400! We use the two 7" HDX's for kindles now inside, and my wife like to play games as well as read books on it. I used the 8.9" HDX for trips and back surgery recovery. It was a pain but I could load my backup movies to it via the Micro USB port. I also found they worked well with my BT keyboards as well as my Logitech K-400 keyboard and touchpad in one, that uses one Logitech Unifying full size USB receiver. I bought 7" converter cables with the full size female at one end and a regular micro USB male on the other and with it I have been able to connect my full size spare wireless PC keyboard and mouse set just like a computer. However with my tablets, unless on a trip, the keyboards stay in my file cabinets. On a trip I take the typecovers or K-400,because at home I use my desktop Dell XPS 2720.
But the Fire HDX tablets had no Micro SD card slot. That was the initial draw of the new Fire. I kept looking.
Last month I saw a new ASUS T100 Chi with the same Atom Z3795 quad core processor my old T200 had, full HD, a 128GB SSD inside and 4GB RAM for $239 new. I bought it to play with and love it too. Very thin and light but not as light as the Fire HD 8.
But the fact that our Fire 7 and 8.9" HDXs had no easy to load MicroSD card capability made me very curious about the Fire 8HD sixth generation. (Current) I saw the new HD 8 go on sale for a very low price and almost bought one.
Before I wanted nothing but full HD, even if I was spending only $239.00!
Amazon put it on sale again for $69.99? SOLD! My new Fire HD 8 Tablet came in yesterday and it is terrific for what it can do, and without worrying too much about breakage. It is the lightest of all my tablets and connects to our 200 mbps cable Internet and screams!
Cool things:
The volume rocker switch changes with orientation, so it is always up or right, for volume up, and changes to match - too cool.
SD card slot is easy to get to and well recessed. I needed a dime to press it in all the way.
Build quality is more solid than I expected.
Amazon App Store is great. I don't use a bunch of apps but the few like the free office suite and a few others work great.
ALEXA is as good as on the Echo Dots, but I have to press the home button for a few seconds. You know Alexa is on because it does the same rainbow at the bottom that the dots do around their tops. Alexa beats Cortana, but not my Moto X Droid voice. It always gets results like Alexa.
See the pics for how easy it is to adapt any USB peripheral to use it like a laptop. I have all kinds of tablet stands, in addition to the under cabinet one in the pics.
Note: All the above was to let you know this is not a one tablet or iPad phone OS tablet family. We have had them all. We did not like the closed system with Apple.
I found the screen's lack of full HD (1080p, these are 720p) to not bother me at all. It is not the best screen of my tablets, but excellent despite the lesser specs there. I also found the speakers to be very good for the size but because I am retired military my hearing isn't great and the bass does muddy a bit at full volume. However, we have two SoundLink Minis and a SoundLink III, Bose headsets and very good in ear headsets,. So our sound is terrific. I never listen to music on tablet, laptop, or even TV speakers anyway. I am now listening to a Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 album I downloaded free with Prime and it is going through My SoundLink mini. The other Bose mini is in the living room and is mostly used with the Amazon Echo Dot. My wife has another Echo Dot on her nightstand for sleeping music and wake up alarms as well as music.
I put in one of my old 64GB micro SD cards, with about half loaded with my local ripped music, and the other 28GB for my storage and downloads of apps/music/videos/books. For the money it is truly a fantastic device. The camera pics are legible and are usable but not full HD quality. I am picky though; I still use a standalone camera, an Olympus with 24X optical zoom among other features. I also have great cameras on our two new Moto Z Droid phones. The Fire 8 HD cameras work way better than any child would need. And good enough if they are all you have. Remember I don't use my Surface Pro cameras or the ones on the other tablets and hybrids when I am home. Traveling, the phones and Surface 3 Pro do exceptionally well.
I like to read in bed and my arm and hand get tired with even the 7" HDXs. I wanted to see how the very light HD8 worked there, and after one night am convinced it is a keeper. That is the beauty of my Windows ecosphere and my Amazon ecosphere. All devices can access all my stuff all the time, within their OS group. I am about to learn my Lenovo 3GB personal cloud and hook it up to my home network and then can access across all directly.
The battery life on the little tablet is phenomenal. I love my HDXs but can't justify keeping 7 tablets here. We may end up with just the Fire HD 8s and our two best Windows tablets to be laptops when needed away from home.
A word about why we only have only Windows and Amazon Tablets. We avoid Android because Google has nothing to sell but our info mostly, with the occasional Google venture into phones or tablets and not doing well. Amazon is not going to share my info with other vendors because they want to sell it all through Amazon. If I need more power I have my Surface and Dell Pro tablets running Windows 10 and Microsoft Office Home and Biz 2010. But I really like how this little tablet does with WPS Office for docs (built in?) I took pics of a Document I did using a Logitech combo kb and touch-pad. I like the regular PC wireless keyboard sets with mouse or touchpad built in that use one receiver for both. They have no lag like Bluetooth wireless keyboards and devices have and with the PC accessories there is no pairing either. I have several tablet stands to use them with. It just takes a female full size USB to micro USB to plug into the charging/data micro USB port on the Fire tablets.
I do not want the Google Play Store, nor have found any restrictions using the Amazon App store. I have the Google Play Store on our phones but we have only used a few Apps there. We have Windows phones too and they have more apps than we will ever need or want. For $69.99 give it a try and learn the OS. Great systems, for the price of eating out for a family of four. And unlike dinner, these don't end up in the septic system! <wink>
I am even more impressed with this tablet. I keep discovering new features and things that, while not intuitive for a primarily Windows tablet guy, are even more value added. The battery run time is amazing! I use it to check actors and TV trivia while watching in evenings and used a few hours a day I looked at charge and it had 50% or more?? This tablet, when the WiFi is used does not use all kinds of power when I am done and put it in airplane mode like my windows and HDX tablets did. This little tablet outlasts my Surface Pro 3, my Dell Venue 11 Pro, and my two Fire 7" HDXs (Latest gen made) and one HDX fire 8.9 gen4. Get it, you will love it. I prefer full HD but I don't even notice the lower resolution than the HDXs until I put them side by side. There are no better resolution tablets that human eyes can see than the Fire HDX series.
I am at a point where I can buy all the computers and tablets, Bluetooth speakers and headsets, phones, and lately, and everything Amazon I want to play with. Tally? Three Amazon Fire TVs - full size with the 4k hardware, two Amazon 7" HDX tablets, one HDX 8.9" tablet, two Amazon Echo Dots, and we've been Amazon Prime members forever. Our newest addition, the Fire HD8 16GB arrived yesterday, I AM IMPRESSED!! With a 128GB SD card it can do everything one would get from any Apple offering. It is just the learning curve that keeps folks loyal to one or another. It takes a lot for me to learn another OS too, but I have been doing tech all my life and I am to the point of going to YouTube to watch all the user tops for the new Fire HD 8.
We are a retired techie couple and own two large touchscreen all in one desktops running Win 10, and a mini Win 10 PC in the guest bedroom. We have had a lot of tablets since our Samsung Tab10 and Tab 7 back in 2011. We tried the Original Surface running Windows RT which we sold in a month and replaced with the 11.6" HP x2 with full Windows 8 in Jan 2012. Then added a Lenovo Lynx 11.6", then a Dell Venue 11 Pro with the Atom Z3770 and Full HD which is now the wife's, and then an ASUS T200 with the Z3795/64GB internal drive and another laptop SSD in its drive bay in the keyboard part, and 4GB RAM. But the T200 had only 1280X800 resolution not full HD.Then I bought a Surface Pro 3 i5, 128GB HD with a Surface Pro 4 typecover and sold the ASUS T200. Then we saw some pretty great deals on used Amazon Fire HDX tablets in Craigslist last year. I first bought a 7" with 64GB of storage inside, and then another with 16GB of storage. We replaced our first two Kindles, a great push button one with no back light and a back lit touch with the two Fire HDX 7" for the terrific better than full HD screens. (I kept our Kindle PaperWhite for outdoors) Then I found a Fire HDX 8.9" fourth Generation with 32GB of storage and the Otterbox defender as well as the Amazon Origami smart case for 1/5th of new price. They originally sold for ~$300-400! We use the two 7" HDX's for kindles now inside, and my wife like to play games as well as read books on it. I used the 8.9" HDX for trips and back surgery recovery. It was a pain but I could load my backup movies to it via the Micro USB port. I also found they worked well with my BT keyboards as well as my Logitech K-400 keyboard and touchpad in one, that uses one Logitech Unifying full size USB receiver. I bought 7" converter cables with the full size female at one end and a regular micro USB male on the other and with it I have been able to connect my full size spare wireless PC keyboard and mouse set just like a computer. However with my tablets, unless on a trip, the keyboards stay in my file cabinets. On a trip I take the typecovers or K-400,because at home I use my desktop Dell XPS 2720.
But the Fire HDX tablets had no Micro SD card slot. That was the initial draw of the new Fire. I kept looking.
Last month I saw a new ASUS T100 Chi with the same Atom Z3795 quad core processor my old T200 had, full HD, a 128GB SSD inside and 4GB RAM for $239 new. I bought it to play with and love it too. Very thin and light but not as light as the Fire HD 8.
But the fact that our Fire 7 and 8.9" HDXs had no easy to load MicroSD card capability made me very curious about the Fire 8HD sixth generation. (Current) I saw the new HD 8 go on sale for a very low price and almost bought one.
Before I wanted nothing but full HD, even if I was spending only $239.00!
Amazon put it on sale again for $69.99? SOLD! My new Fire HD 8 Tablet came in yesterday and it is terrific for what it can do, and without worrying too much about breakage. It is the lightest of all my tablets and connects to our 200 mbps cable Internet and screams!
Cool things:
The volume rocker switch changes with orientation, so it is always up or right, for volume up, and changes to match - too cool.
SD card slot is easy to get to and well recessed. I needed a dime to press it in all the way.
Build quality is more solid than I expected.
Amazon App Store is great. I don't use a bunch of apps but the few like the free office suite and a few others work great.
ALEXA is as good as on the Echo Dots, but I have to press the home button for a few seconds. You know Alexa is on because it does the same rainbow at the bottom that the dots do around their tops. Alexa beats Cortana, but not my Moto X Droid voice. It always gets results like Alexa.
See the pics for how easy it is to adapt any USB peripheral to use it like a laptop. I have all kinds of tablet stands, in addition to the under cabinet one in the pics.
Note: All the above was to let you know this is not a one tablet or iPad phone OS tablet family. We have had them all. We did not like the closed system with Apple.
I found the screen's lack of full HD (1080p, these are 720p) to not bother me at all. It is not the best screen of my tablets, but excellent despite the lesser specs there. I also found the speakers to be very good for the size but because I am retired military my hearing isn't great and the bass does muddy a bit at full volume. However, we have two SoundLink Minis and a SoundLink III, Bose headsets and very good in ear headsets,. So our sound is terrific. I never listen to music on tablet, laptop, or even TV speakers anyway. I am now listening to a Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 album I downloaded free with Prime and it is going through My SoundLink mini. The other Bose mini is in the living room and is mostly used with the Amazon Echo Dot. My wife has another Echo Dot on her nightstand for sleeping music and wake up alarms as well as music.
I put in one of my old 64GB micro SD cards, with about half loaded with my local ripped music, and the other 28GB for my storage and downloads of apps/music/videos/books. For the money it is truly a fantastic device. The camera pics are legible and are usable but not full HD quality. I am picky though; I still use a standalone camera, an Olympus with 24X optical zoom among other features. I also have great cameras on our two new Moto Z Droid phones. The Fire 8 HD cameras work way better than any child would need. And good enough if they are all you have. Remember I don't use my Surface Pro cameras or the ones on the other tablets and hybrids when I am home. Traveling, the phones and Surface 3 Pro do exceptionally well.
I like to read in bed and my arm and hand get tired with even the 7" HDXs. I wanted to see how the very light HD8 worked there, and after one night am convinced it is a keeper. That is the beauty of my Windows ecosphere and my Amazon ecosphere. All devices can access all my stuff all the time, within their OS group. I am about to learn my Lenovo 3GB personal cloud and hook it up to my home network and then can access across all directly.
The battery life on the little tablet is phenomenal. I love my HDXs but can't justify keeping 7 tablets here. We may end up with just the Fire HD 8s and our two best Windows tablets to be laptops when needed away from home.
A word about why we only have only Windows and Amazon Tablets. We avoid Android because Google has nothing to sell but our info mostly, with the occasional Google venture into phones or tablets and not doing well. Amazon is not going to share my info with other vendors because they want to sell it all through Amazon. If I need more power I have my Surface and Dell Pro tablets running Windows 10 and Microsoft Office Home and Biz 2010. But I really like how this little tablet does with WPS Office for docs (built in?) I took pics of a Document I did using a Logitech combo kb and touch-pad. I like the regular PC wireless keyboard sets with mouse or touchpad built in that use one receiver for both. They have no lag like Bluetooth wireless keyboards and devices have and with the PC accessories there is no pairing either. I have several tablet stands to use them with. It just takes a female full size USB to micro USB to plug into the charging/data micro USB port on the Fire tablets.
I do not want the Google Play Store, nor have found any restrictions using the Amazon App store. I have the Google Play Store on our phones but we have only used a few Apps there. We have Windows phones too and they have more apps than we will ever need or want. For $69.99 give it a try and learn the OS. Great systems, for the price of eating out for a family of four. And unlike dinner, these don't end up in the septic system! <wink>