Rebecca Smith
What Can I Do On Kindle Fire – The Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet is great for Amazon fans who don’t want to break the bank, but as a general-purpose tablet it falls short.
The standard for Amazon hardware hasn’t changed much over the years: pay a little to get it…not a lot, but at least, at least.
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Bezos’s hardware empire (like the Echo Buds 2) makes some compromises on horsepower and features to reduce price competition, and the latest Fire HD 8 tablet is no different. For just $90 (or $104 if you don’t want the on-screen ads), you get a simple, very capable tablet that’s perfect for people with their claws deep in the Amazon ecosystem. If you like reading books on your Kindle and watching movies on Prime Video, this is the budget tablet for you.
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But if you need a social media and work machine with fast performance, you may run into trouble here.
Amazon isn’t about reinventing the wheel with its budget devices, and as expected, the Fire HD 8 has the same rectangular shape as most of its peers. If you’ve touched a tablet before in your life, it’s instantly recognizable thanks to its overall look and feel. You could mistake the Fire HD 8 for a typical tablet on a TV show. It is available in black, white, plum and dark blue, although this color only replaces the back cover and not what you see when using the device.
The Fire HD 8’s substantial weight of 12.5 ounces makes it as comfortable to use on the go as you’d expect from a tablet. The 8-inch screen is generally bright and clear enough to do justice to everything you see, although the 1280×800 resolution doesn’t hold up in some cases.
For example, YouTube videos can’t play anything higher than 720p because, well, the Fire HD 8 doesn’t have enough pixels to display 1080p video. YouTube videos both in the standalone app and in the web browser actually max out at 720p, with no 60fps option (that I can find), which is a real bummer. Amazon has slowed down a bit here, but it seems to be the problem on YouTube’s end. Other apps performed better with higher frame rate options like ESPN.
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I’m not too critical of Amazon for the Fire HD 8’s relatively low screen resolution, since it’s a true budget device, and even some of the newest and most expensive devices, like the $350 Nintendo Switch OLED, are still stuck at 720p. At 8 inches, the screen is so small that the difference between 720p and 1080p will still be noticeable to most ordinary people. Just be aware that you don’t have a great display and YouTube is technically broken with the Fire HD 8.
USB-C charging is a great new addition, as previous models used micro-USB instead. As always, I prefer USB-C for charging because it’s faster and more importantly, I have access to about 10,000 USB-C cables. The only other notable port is the 3.5mm headphone jack. Between that and Bluetooth support, you can listen to your audiobooks or stream content the way you want. Unless you’re a big audiophile, even the airplane speakers are loud, clear, and perfectly audible.
I don’t like that the rear camera is located near all the buttons and ports. Credit: Molly Flores /
The only real issue I have with the physical design of the Fire HD 8 is that the camera and port placement is a bit awkward. The front camera sits inside one of the tall bezels, which means you have to hold the tablet in landscape mode for zoom calls. The rear camera sits in the corner on the same side of the tablet as the volume and power buttons, charging port and headphone jack. If you want to use this camera to charge a tablet or wear wired headphones, those wires stay on the top instead of the bottom, which is useless. I prefer the rear camera to be in the opposite corner, so the power​​​​​​​​​​ and volume buttons are clearly located at the bottom.
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That design price is somewhat forgivable, since the Fire HD 8 isn’t needed for photography anyway. Less Forgiveness charges an extra $15 to get rid of lock screen ads. Simply put, this is a wasteful policy. Amazon does this with Kindle devices as well, and it’s a really funny practice for a company that already milks enough money from the public. Enough!
Those complaints aside, I don’t mind the Fire HD 8’s typical design at all. The target audience for this is those who just want a tablet without breaking it, and that’s exactly what they’re going to get. Its display won’t strain the eyes, and its weight and form factor won’t cause hand pain.
The Fire HD 8 runs on Fire OS, the operating system that Amazon uses for its Fire Android hardware. The home screen looks like a typical Android home screen with app icons in a grid, but swiping left and right takes you to Amazon’s centralized menu for Kindle books, Prime Video streaming, direct online shopping, and more. If you’re someone who lives, breathes, eats and sleeps Amazon, you’ll feel right at home.
The Fire HD 8’s performance is generally good when you’re jumping between Amazon apps like Kindle Books and Prime Video. I read from him
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Android experience is not available by default. Instead of the Play Store, you have to install apps from the App Store that don’t support any of the apps you find on the Play Store. For example, native Android apps for Gmail and Chrome are not available here. You can technically download the Play Store app on the device, but it requires some technical knowledge and may not be worth it for beginners.
There are many great third-party apps available in the Amazon store, but I’ve had less experience with them than Amazon’s original apps. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are slow and cumbersome to use. Just scrolling down the Twitter feed feels like you dipped your tablet in coal. There was a noticeable blur when switching from one friend’s Instagram story to another. And then, YouTube videos are limited to 720p and 30 frames per second, showing display parameters that any modern smartphone can easily exceed.
With all that said, the battery life on the Fire HD 8 is certainly respectable for the price. Amazon rates it at up to 12 hours, and I got close to that when I put a lot of stress on the device.
On a full charge, I streamed a full NFL game, watched YouTube for about an hour, listened to podcasts on Spotify for a few hours, streamed from Prime Video, and just scrolled through social media feeds before returning. In total, I got about 10 hours of use out of a full charge over a 24-hour period, and probably more if I wasn’t streaming the entire soccer game.
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I never expected the Fire HD 8 to be a powerhouse, so I’m not surprised that it has issues with non-Amazon apps. It’s actually forgivable when you consider the competition.
Without beating around the bush, you won’t find anything else on the tablet market for less than $150. Your options include:
Of course, the latest iPads are not possible in this price range. There’s also the $109 Fire HD 8 Plus, an updated model with 3GB of RAM and wireless charging, but otherwise the same software and feature limitations as the Fire HD 8.
Needless to say, I have a problem with the Fire HD 8. It’s a relatively weak tablet, clearly aimed at people who rely more on Amazon for literature, entertainment and retail. So it performs these tasks admirably, but falls apart in other scenarios. Popular apps like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube just don’t work well or offer all the features you’d want on a budget tablet of this caliber.
Amazon.com: Original Glass For Amazon Kindle Fire Hd 8 /hd 8 Plus Tablet 10th Generation 2020 (2022 Version Not Supported) K72ll3 K72ll4 Touch Screen Digitizer Replacement Digitizer Panel Front Glass Lens
But as a streaming machine and Kindle, you won’t find a better value out there. Amazingly, you can spend less than $100 on a tablet that can stream Season 2 just fine.
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This newsletter may contain advertising, offers or affiliate links. By subscribing to the newsletter you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe from newsletters at any time. Sure, it’s slow and the screen is dim and dark, but it’s the best tablet you can get for $59.99. At this price, the fit is quite good.
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