All right so I was scrolling through the reviews and read some pretty ridiculous reasons to not give this tablet five stars. One such was that the tablet weighed a whole 3 oz more and that resulted in a 3 star review. Let me start off by saying if that is the reason for giving a crap review that is ridiculous. It says the tablet weight depends on the manufacturing. The other funny one is that someone is upset with the "special offers" on the front screen. That's why you get a cheap and good tablet. It even says in the discription that there will be ads on the lock screen. It takes a second to swipe up and unlock the screen. So the bad reviews are just reviews by people looking to nit-pick.
This tablet is exactly what Amazon was describing. It is cheap, looks good, loads apps quickly, expandable storage, good speakers, decent screen and all while staying under 80 bucks.
The start up didn't take long and it came preloaded with my account on it. For 80 dollars this is a good buy and the complaints on the wieght and the ads are ridiculous reasons to give this tablet a shabby review.
Buy this tablet if you want a cheap e-reader that can also sure the web, watch movies and shows, check Facebook or Twitter, or read books on. Ignore the negative reviews and you won't be disappointed.
Edit: After having this for a few months and using it at least once a day I can safely say that for 80 bucks (its on sale right now (08/26/17 for 60 bucks) it is the steal of century. It is an 80 dollar tablet and it will freeze if you try and treat it like something that has an insanely powerful processor and RAM. If you treat it like a digital e-reader you will never have an issue. Just be patient and let things load instead of getting frustrated and trying to keep clicking on things. This will cause it to freeze. Treat it well and it will not let you down.
First, let me say that this is my first Fire tablet. I've previously had either iPad's or Android tablets. I was skeptical at first because I've generally only liked iPad's, but I decided to give it a try and I'm glad I did. I paid full price for this product and am not being compensated in any manner to post this review.
Let's just jump right to the Pro's and Con's shall we?
Pro's:
~Fast
~Amazing Screen resolution
~Great sound
~Responsive
~Alexa is kind of awesome
~Battery life. OMG! I've charged it once so far, I've watched YouTube videos on it, streamed a movie and a few TV shows and I use it for Facebook and I'm not even half way down on the battery after 3 days. Wow!
~The OS. The operating system is simple, responsive, and beautifully done. Everything is easy to find and it's really easy to navigate.
Con's:
Only one Con...
~Charge port. The charge port is sticky and doesn't seem as high quality.
Overall this is a fantastic tablet and worth so much more than the price. I LOVE IT!
I work at a Ford and Dodge dealership in their internet department and needed a new tablet for work. I didn't want to spend a ton of money. I noticed an ad for a pre-release on the fire HD eight tablet. The specs looked decent but didn't expect much for an $80 tablet. I noticed Amazon offered me a short payment plan which made the decision a no brainer. When I got it in I was pleasantly surprised at how clear the screen was, how well it played videos. I was a little worried when I realized Amazon has their own marketplace. However there App Store isn't half bad and me working at a car dealership I use the web browser more than apps anyways and the browser "Silk" Runs very well. I can bounce from multiple tabs fairly quickly. Alexa is also an awesome add on. I can tell it to play me music while I'm working on a project, or look something up for me. I highly recommend this tablet for any professional and really anybody in general that wants a well overall tablet at an awesome price point.
Let me start by saying I purchased this item from my local Best Buy store for the same price here on Amazon (plus tax) but I feel that more people read Amazon reviews so I wanted to leave my review here. Now, I didn't expect this to be an amazing tablet, but people were generally saying it was snappy enough. I wanted a media tablet. Something I could use late at night to watch YouTube videos or an episode of my favorite show while laying in bed. I also like it for online shopping so I don't have to hold a laptop but am not looking at my phone screen.
PROS:
Tablet exceeded my expectations. It's great for media. I use this more than my phone and my laptop now.
It's snappy, I was able to complete my homework for online classes, watch videos from CNN and other tasks without too much struggle
It can be a general purpose tablet. HEED MY WARNING doing the following may void your warranty with Amazon, I'm not sure. But I installed the Google play store on my fire HD 8 and now have access to a huge selection of apps. I decided to do this after finding there was no good YouTube app from Amazon's app store. Because fire OS is basically Android with a heavy skin on it, everything runs perfectly as you can see from the pictures.
SOUND IS FANTASTIC!!!! Did I say that loud enough? Yes they are still tablet speakers, no they won't fill your whole room with bumping bass but MY GOSH these are some GOOD tablet speakers. Better than my $900 smartphone, $1000 laptop and $500 iPad. What I'm trying to say is, the speakers are way better than the price point would suggest. Bravo Amazon.
CONS:
Ram is lacking. Doesn't excel in multitasking, drops tasks while you're away even if it was the last thing you were doing. It does this randomly however, and it's not always a problem. When it is it's very annoying.
Screen is meh. It's good enough to not be a bother but coming from a 4k laptop and AMOLED display on my Google pixel XL, the screen is lacking. To the standard user, I don't think it will be noticeable though, and looks pretty good.
Case and screen protector selection are sad and limited. Hopefully that changes soon as this tablet was just released this month.
Cameras are useless. Not what I bought the tablet for so it didn't bother me one bit, but don't buy it for the cameras, a potato could take better photos.
CONCLUSION:
So overall I adore this tablet. I use it every day and now that I can have my Google apps and such on it, it is a fully functional Android tablet. It's wonderful, suits my needs, and hasn't disappointed me yet. Highly recommend.
If you’re looking for the BEST tablet in this price range, look no further! The NEW Fire HD-8 is absolutely the best tablet you can get for this price. Period.
The box contains the tablet itself, instruction manual, charging cable, and wall outlet.
To begin, the tablet is 8 inches. This is the perfect size in my opinion. I feel that 7 inches is too small, and 10 inches is too big, so 8 inches is just right. This makes the screen the perfect size for watching videos, reading the news, and more. The tablet itself feels very sturdy, and much more durable than the iPad mini in the house. The back is made out of a non-slick material, so I do not ever worry about dropping the tablet. The display on the tablet is very nice as well, considering how inexpensive the tablet itself is. The screen gets plenty bright and even features a "Blue Shade" mode, which gets rid of the blue colors on your screen. These colors have been shown to interrupt sleep and can keep you up at night, so this mode is PERFECT for reading your kindle books, or whatever you choose, before bed.
The tablet is even better if you have Amazon prime, as you can watch your favorites on the tablet through Amazon prime. You can also watch YouTube and much more through the tablet.
For an $80 tablet, this thing moves! Since it has 1.5 gb of ram (most tablets either have 1 or 2), you will easily be able to perform your favorite tasks such as streaming, watching videos on YouTube, etc. It honestly moves just as fast as my iPhone, which says a lot, considering the iPhone was $700.
The Battery life on the tablet is very good. Mine came pre-charged with 80% battery, and has still not gone past 50% through moderate use. Very good! I will post an update on the battery life, should anything change.
The sound quality on the tablet is very good. The tablet features dual speakers that get very loud if necessary. There is also a headphone jack on the tablet should you choose to listen to music quietly. The placement of the speakers if very good. The iPhone and iPad feature speakers on the bottom of the tablet, which is NO GOOD if you're listening to your media with the tablet on your chest, if you're in bed for instance. I really like the placement of these speakers.
The camera on the tablet is OK at best. 2/5 on a good day. It is 2 mega-pixels and isn’t really meant for anything other than skype or similar services. Please refer to the pictures for a sample of the picture quality that this tablet features. While quality does improve while indoors, I find that the camera is very good. Please do not purchase the tablet IF you plan on using it solely for a camera… you will be disappointed. However, for an $80 tablet, you really cannot ask for much more. Older iPads from 4 years ago have a better camera which really says something, however, the price on the Amazon Fire Tablet is definitely preferable!
I really wish this tablet included the Google Play Store. You can get it on your tablet (look up a guide on YouTube), but I really wish the extra effort was not required. Further, I really do not like using the Silk Browser. I'd much prefer Google Chrome or something more familiar. I really don't like that you're stuck with the Silk Browser unless you manually install the Play Store.
The tablet I went with features the ads. I included a picture as to what the ads look like to give everybody an idea of what to expect, should you go with the version that has ads. Honestly, I don't even notice the ads. They are on the lock screen only, and it is hard to justify spending an extra $15 or so to have them disappear.
All-in-all, there’s a lot more to like about this tablet than there is to not like. For $80, you’d really be a fool to not consider the tablet. Although I wish the tablet’s camera was much better, and that you could use Google Play Store (without having to put in extra effort), I think that this tablet is perfect for anybody shopping for a tablet!
Feature Product
- Up to 12 hours of battery life, a vibrant 8" HD display, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 1.5 GB of RAM, and Dolby Audio. More durable than the latest iPad.
- 16 or 32 GB of internal storage and a microSD slot for up to 256 GB of expandable storage
- Just ask Alexa for quick access to the information and entertainment you want. Ask questions, play music, check your calendar, get the news, weather, and more.
- Ask Alexa to call or message almost anyone, or make video calls to family and friends with a Fire tablet, Echo Spot, Echo Show, or the Alexa App. Instantly connect to enabled Echo devices.
- Enjoy millions of movies, TV shows, songs, Kindle eBooks, apps and games - including Netflix, Facebook, HBO, Spotify, and more
- Prime members get unlimited access to over a thousand books and magazines, millions of songs, and thousands of movies and TV episodes - at no additional cost
- Watch downloaded videos anywhere with a Prime membership, Netflix plan, or Showtime subscription
Description
I had low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised. But, keep in mind that this is not an iPad or typical Android tablet. This is an Amazon media and shopping machine. It is well built, has good battery life, reasonably fast and responsive, dual band wifi, SD card slot, decent display and so-so camera. No tablet is going to give you awesome sound, but I was surprised at how well the two speakers sound on this tablet. No tablet it going to give you a great camera, and this tablet is probably on the lower end of the spectrum - it works, but it won't be your go-to camera for important shots. This tablet excels at playing Amazon content - music and video. It is a great reader, although a little heavy compared to a Kindle device. It makes shopping easy - perhaps too easy. The OS is based on Android, but don't look for Google Play or Google apps in general - this is nothing like an Android tablet. Finally, you can't beat the price. I think Amazon wants to get these in the hands of as many people as possible. I would have given this 4.5 stars if that option was available. I didn't give it 5 stars only because it is not a general purpose tablet. This is a dramatic improvement over the Fire 7. The integration of Alexa is flawless and works very well - depends on whether or not you have an Echo and on how you feel about that product. I have an Echo and find it useful (not essential but useful). I find myself using Alexia on this tablet more than I thought I would.
For $110 I think I may have my moneys worth. When trying to load apps, such as BBC news, it would not install. This happened a lot and I nearly sent it back. I finally got some other apps I wanted including Netflix, VCL player and Instagram so I am keeping it. The essential ES file manager works as well. Truthfully, some of the apps you cannot load are not a big miss as you can go to the website and access the information you want which I do for BBC News and Flightradar24. The screen is good, not excellent, and the size is perfect for movies. The sound is close to useless so get a Bluetooth speaker or headphones. The expansion memory synced flawlessly which is where I put my movies. Get the 32GB model so you have plenty of storage. The case is not very easy to hold on to so you may need proper case. The device could have had a silicone back to improve the quality.
I looked at a ton of tablets in this size and the Fire is one of the best. There are more expensive tablets that will give access to more apps but they don't have removable batteries which will eventually be the downfall of whatever you buy.
So far I'm really enjoying the new Fire HD 8". This is my first Fire tablet since the HDX 7" so being on the latest Fire OS is really nice. Finally I no longer have to use the carousal UI that I always found bothersome. And I can change the wallpaper! Simple things but nice to finally have. Of course, this comes with some trade-offs.
First up - the screen. For an $80 tablet this screen is really nice. The colors on it are great and watching videos is very pleasant. Having said that, if you're coming from an HDX or an iPad, you'll notice a difference. The resolution isn't as high as those screens, but for me personally this isn't a deal breaker. I still find the screen very nice and reading books on it is still great. Though I do wish Amazon opted for at least 1080p to make video watching even more enjoyable. I also have some light bleed along one of the edges of the screen. Nothing too horrible, and it's a characteristic of LCD technology. But my HDX did not suffer from that.
*UPDATE* - I originally listed the speakers/sound as great, but the more I use the Fire HD 8" the more I wish that the volume went higher. The sound quality itself isn't bad, but the volume is low even at the highest setting. Even with headphones on it doesn't seem to go very high. I still feel the tablet earns 4 stars so I'm not changing that.
Build quality - very solid. If I had to choose one thing I'd change it would be the grip on the back. It's a bit slippery to me but that's probably because I'm so used to the rubbery feel of the HDX. If you've had a new Fire you won't notice a difference.
Battery - I can't say much on this yet. When I opened the packaging it was at 60% and it dropped to 23% before I gave it a full charge. This morning, with a full charge, I watched a show that lasted 53 minutes and it only dropped down to 97%. So that was very nice. My HDX was definitely showing some age when it came to battery life.
Overall - I'm very happy with my decision to get the new Fire HD 8". The HDX served me well over the years, and it will continue to stay in the family, but it was time for an updated experience. The new Fire HD 8" delivers and the price can't be beaten.
I've never owned a Fire tablet before as I've always thought, "You get what you pay for." I've always been into iPads, Samsung tablets, and all the other high-end tablets out there. So when I was browsing some items on Prime Day, I saw the Fire HD 8 Tablet and decided to check it out. After all, it was only $49.99! When I received it today, I spent time setting it up and exploring its functions and boy, I was impressed! I mean I could not believe that a small, cheap tablet could actually perform so well that I felt it's so underpriced for all the things you could do with it. If you are looking for something basic for reading, listening to music, or watching videos, Fire HD 8 tablet is a great alternative to other expensive, fancy tablets. I already have a laptop and a smartphone and I didn't really think I'd need a tablet. Needless to say, this was such a great addition to my productivity gadgets.
Pros:
- GREAT value.
At $79.99, you can't do much better and still be a mainstream tablet.
- GREAT build quality.
I've read reviews of previous Kindles where the plastic back has some flex - this does not. At least mine does not.
- GREAT speakers
I'm a musican and an audiophile. I enjoy great studio headphones, speakers to monitor my recordings, etc. These speakers are GREAT for a $79.99 tablet. Sure you could do better with a $150 tablet, but this is $79.99. I watched James Bond: Spectre on it and almost sounded like surround sound with the Dolby sound enhancements on the device as well. Even though it is just stereo and from a tablet, the sound widening from Dolby did a fantastic job.
- GREAT at mobility.
It is both lighter than an iPad Mini 4 and a Samsung Galaxy Tab A and battery life is still PHENOMENAL. I watched James Bond: Spectre (2hr+ movie) on battery and it went from 70% to 50% with full brightness and full volume. If I equate that to expected battery life, I could basically watch 10-12 hr of movies at full brightness before I'm charging. Most tablet manufacturers will try to "round up" on their battery life, but this shows me Amazon's 12 hour estimation is really 12 hours with full brightness, volume up, wifi on, watching a movie... 12 hours.
- GOOD at screen quality.
I prefer battery to resolution, and higher resolution means lesser battery, so just know my perspective is different than some other reviewers. I gave this screen quality a GOOD rating not on resolution, but on its lack of ANY oleophobic coating. Unlike Apple, Samsung, Motorola... Dell... anybody else... there is literally no oil or water resistant coating on the screen... so it is a huge fingerprint magnet. Again... it is a $79.99 tablet, so I can't knock it too much for this. The very positive side is you can purchase a tempered glass screen protector that both protects the device and has the oleophobic coating already on it for less than $20. So unless you don't like protecting your device from one single drop breaking the display, you'll probably purchase one which will solve this problem anyway (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0144AAIWQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_dp_T2_4TArzb5T67JQJ). I'm also weird for even caring about this, but I also prefer the screen to be amoled, which I do not believe this to be... so when the screen is off, rather than seeing a black panel that blends perfectly into its surrounding bezel, the screen turns to a dark gray. Again... it is a $79.99 tablet, so I'm not going to knock it for that.
- FAIR cameras
I don't think people expect good cameras in a $79.99 tablet. So unless you still have an old Blackberry Bold or a flip phone, you're probably using your phone to take pictures anyway. Just know, that I wouldn't suggest this tablet for video conferencing or anything camera-related. Use your phone.
I highly recommend the official Amazon case for your Kindle, and throw on a tempered glass that specifically states "oleophobic". With these two things, a great device becomes even better.c
UPDATE: the latest update for the Kindle, as of today (08/28/2017), adds a huge performance boost to the Fire. It was much more sluggish but now it is great for everything I throw at it!
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