As a background, I am a retired Information Systems professional and I am writing my first impressions of the NEW Fire HD 8 released on September 21, 2016 from the perspective of being a long-term Kindle user. I have all the current e-readers and Fire devices from Amazon including the basic Kindle, the Paperwhite (2013,2014,2015 models), the Fire HD6, Fire HD7, Fire HDX7 and Fire HDX8.9 (3rd and 4th generation), the old Fire HD 8 and the Fire HD 10. Here is a summary of my initial impressions of the new Fire HD8.
Amazon has replaced the original HD 8 released in 2015 with an “All-New” HD 8. Amazon is also removing the Fire HD6, which is a shame as it is a great little tablet.
The new HD 8 differs from the old version as follows:
BEST NEW FEATURE:
The price has been reduced! The 16 GB version of the old device cost $169.99 with special offers (ads). The new 16 GB version costs 89.99 and you can get a 32 HB version for $30 more.
SECRETLY REMOVED:
Amazon has removed the ability to mirror your display on Miracast devices such as TVs. Now that feature is now only available on generation 4 and 5 Fires including last years HD 8. However, you can still cast Prime videos to a FireTV or Fire Stick.
WHAT COMES IN THE BOX:
The HD8 Fire, a short 3-foot USB cord and a power adapter so you can charge and use the device right out of the box.
SIZE:
The new HD8 is a fraction thicker than the 2015 HD8. Leather cases for the old HD 8 will fit the new HD 8 but hard shell cases will not. However the auto wake feature of some older cases won't work.
One complaint I had about the earlier versions was that the back was very slick and slippery to hold without a case. The new version is finely matted or textured so it is much easier to hold without dropping it and is no longer a fingerprint magnet on the back.
DISPLAY:
The resolution of the screen is the same 1280 x 800. However, the new HD 8 seems to have darker blacks with more contrast when compared to the older version. The display is nice and bright but still barely readable in bright sunlight. Amazon has added adaptive brightness to the new 2016 HD 8. When enabled, the brightness of the display changes depending on the level of light in the room. Practically speaking, this is only useful indoors when adjusting for night time reading because it is difficult to see the display in bright outdoor sunshine.
I do like that you can choose your own wallpaper! It comes with 9 stock images and if you don't like one of them, you can choose your own image in your Amazon Photos folder.
PROCESSOR:
Both the new and old HD8 use a System on chip (SoC) platform where the CPU, GPU and Bluetooth are integrated on one chip platform. The new HD 8 has a faster MediaTek MT8163V/B 64-bit quad-core processor advertised as running at 1.3Ghz. Tests show that this processor operates with a CPU frequency of 1300 MHz max and 600 MHz min.
The old processor was a MediaTek MT8135 32-bit processor which was advertised as having one quad-core processor operating at 1.5GHz. Tests reveal that operating speeds were 1200 MHz max and 364 MHz min frequencies.
The GPU (graphics processing unit) on the new HD8 is an ARM Mali-T720 versus the older PowerVRg6200. Overall, the newer chip operates faster than the old chip.
BLUETOOTH:
Bluetooth version has been upgraded from 4.0 LE to 4.1 LE.
STORAGE:
The HD8 is now available with 16 GB and 32GB instead of 8 GB and 16 GB and Amazon still has a slot where you can insert a microSD card. The 2016 HD 8 accepts a MicroSD card up to 200 GB instead of the maximum 128 GB on the 2015 HD 8.
I recommend purchasing the 32GB version instead of ordering the 16 GB and adding an SD card. You will probably not need an additional card with the 32 GB version, but if you find that you are running short of space, you can always add one later. If you do add an external card, I do not recommend installing apps on an auxiliary card for several reasons. 1) Some apps WON’T install on auxiliary cards and those that do, use space on the internal drive as well as the microSD card. 2) the Fire apps seem to run faster on the internal drive. 3) If your SDcard goes bad, you are going to have devote some time reinstalling all your apps and resetting your settings.
RAM MEMORY:
More importantly, the new device has 1.5 GB of RAM versus 1.0 GB. Because of these upgrades, the new HD 8 is much snappier than the old version.
WEIGHT:
It is heavier: 12.0 ounces vs 11.0 ounces thanks to the larger battery
BATTERY LIFE:
The battery life is a big improvement. The new battery has been sized up to 4,750 mAh from the previous version which had a 3,210 mAh battery. The older model was rated at 8 hours but the new model is rated at 12 hours of mixed use. My biggest criticism of the old version was the battery which ran down very rapidly. I just kept the thing plugged in all the time because I could only use it for about 5 hours, not 8 hours, without being plugged in. The new version is definitely improved and it seems to last about 50% longer than the old one. Your own results may vary from mine depending on use.
WIFI CONNECTIVITY:
Sadly, Amazon installs a single antenna and has removed the 802.11ac wireless protocol from the new HD 8. What does this mean? In a nutshell, speed.
802.11 ac WiFi is much faster, but its peak speeds are not really the selling point. Its speeds at long range are. The AC protocol factors in “beamforming.” Beamforming is a “smart signal” which detects where connected devices are and increases signal strength specifically in their direction. So the performance as well as higher speed of 802.11ac are maintained far better at long range. Speed is not a factor for really short actions such as downloading books but if you plan on downloading movie videos, plan on taking a long lunch break.
When testing both my old and new HD8 devices from a far corner of my house, the new 2016 HD 8 connected at 65 Mbps but the old 2015 connected at 433 Mbps.
As you can see, the results show how much faster 802.11ac operates.
CAMERA:
The new HD 8 has been reduced to the same camera specs as the basic Fire. The camera quality is not as good on the new HD 8 as the old HD 8. Instead of maintaining a 720 HD front-facing camera with a 5 MP rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video recording, the new HD 8 comes with a VGA front-facing camera with a 2 MP rear-facing camera with 720p HD video recording. The quality of the new camera is obviously inferior and it shows when taking pictures. The image inferiority is really obvious when used in indoor settings. There is no flash so the pictures often come out very grainy when used indoors.
SOUND:
This is where the HD 8 shines. Amazon includes Dolby Atmos and dual stereo speakers. The HD 8 has one of the best sounds, both in quality and loudness, as any tablet I own.
UPDATE October 14, 2016. I need to clarify my comment about the sound. The speakers are terrible on all the Fires, including this one. This has become so second nature to me that I always use headphones, bluetooth speakers and occasionally even pair up my device to my Amazon Echo. When connected to an alternate speaker device, the sound quality is excellent.
The volume buttons are placed along the top of the HD 8 along with the power button, the headphone jack and the power receptacle. So all the buttons you would touch are on top. No buttons are on the sides or bottom.
The nice feature of the volume buttons is that they are “sensitive” to the orientation of the tablet. So if you are watching a movie in landscape mode with the volume buttons on the left, the upper button increases volume and the lower button decreases sound. If you flip the tablet 180 degrees so that the buttons are now on the right, most devices will use the same buttons for volume but in order to increase volume, the button you will need to press is now the LOWER button. The Fire HD 8 is smart enough to reverse the functions so that the upper button still increases the volume.
Atmos is a surround sound technology, developed in 2012, that expands upon the current 5.1 and 7.1 set-ups. With Atmos, each speaker has its own feed, enabling new front, surround and ceiling-mounted height channels. I was watching a movie with cheap headphones and thought I heard helicopters fly by my house. It took me a minute to realize that the sound was from the helicopters in the movie. It really sounded like they were coming from the left and moving to the right OVERHEAD. Wow, I was impressed!! (Note: I used Bluetooth headphones to test the Atmos quality of the sound.)
GPS:
The new 2016 HD 8 location services are only WiFi-based. Some older Fires such as the HDX 7 and the HDX 8.9 also included GPS and a-GPS. Assisted GPS (a-GPS) significantly improved startup performance of a GPS satellite-based positioning system.
What this means is that location services in the new HD 8 really does not exist because there is no GPS location service utilizing satellites. Instead, the device approximates your location based on your WiFi IP address. When WiFi is turned off or not available, apps that utilize location services such as mapping apps do not work. This is a real bummer because I use my older devices in the car while traveling with downloaded maps and would like to replace them with the HD 8. The older Fires work so much better than my phone because of the larger screen size. This was a feature I really miss in the current Fires. I could connect to my car Bluetooth to listen to music and Audible books and receive driving instructions at the same time. I could also set my HERE map app to let me know when I was driving over the speed limit to ensure that my foot didn’t become a little too heavy.
CURRENT OS:
2016 HD 8 is Fire OS 5.3 based on Android 5.1.1, API level 22. 2015 HD8 is based on Android 5.1, API level 22. Effectively, the settings menus are slightly different.
FINAL IMPRESSIONS:
I like the new HD 8. It is a good basic tablet for those who love the Amazon experience. Even though it has some features that have been degraded, overall it is a snappier and brighter tablet at a very reasonable price. I cannot evaluate the Alexa enhancement nor On Deck for Prime members feature as they have not been released for any Amazon Fire yet.
The 8-inch size seems a good balance for those who want only one device. It is slightly larger than the basic Fire but not so cumbersome as the HD 10. If you only want one Amazon tablet, I would recommend this one, especially if you are an avid Amazon prime customer. If you have the older HDX 7 or the 2014 HD 7, it is probably not worth the upgrade unless you are running out of storage space.
If you want a device to read books, I recommend that you get the Paperwhite or the Voyage. They can be read ANYWHERE, even in bright sunlight, have incredible battery life and have a few features specific to reading that are not available on the Fires.
There are some default settings that I change for personal use. All changes are done from the Settings menu. For those who want to know what I prefer, some of the more important changes are:
1) I change the wallpaper. Amazon has some nice pictures but I like my own better.
2) I set the display sleep to 10 minutes instead of the default 5 minutes. I get sidetracked too often so need the extra time so that my display doesn’t go into sleep mode.
3) I set the “Find Your Tablet” to “ON.” You never know if it could be stolen or if you do stupid things like leave your tablet at Starbucks. :-}
4) I turn “Collect App Usage Data” to “OFF.” If you play a lot of games or use certain Amazon Underground apps that require it, you might need to keep this on.
5) I disable auto-correction. Under Personal->Keyboard and Language->Fire Basic Keyboard Settings->Text Correction->Auto-Correction, I select Off. I hate it when I am typing and I don’t catch it when the tablet changes my words because the auto-correction decided on something totally irrelevant.
6) I change my search provider from “Bing” to “Google” under Apps & Games->Amazon Application Settings->Silk Browser->Advanced settings->Search engine
7) I change my Email group into conversations settings. Go to Settings->Conversation Settings->Group Messages Into Conversations and set to “OFF.” Too many times, I can’t tell if I got a reply because it’s buried in the conversation.
8) I also change my “After delete, go to” setting to “Older message.” When I am reading an email and delete it, I prefer to go to the next message instead of back to the list of messages.
9) Under Home Settings, I turn Home Recommendations OFF as well as turning Show Apps on the Recent Page OFF. This helps to remove clutter.
10) On the Home screen, I move my more frequently used apps to the top so that I don’t have to scroll down to find them. The less used ones, I arrange alphabetically so that I can find them as I scroll down.
CAVEAT: The Amazon Fire tablets do not use Google play so many Android applications such as Google maps and a lot of games are not available. There are ways to get around this but I don’t recommend it unless you know what you are doing. I also noted that a few apps on my old tablet do not show up as available on my 2016 HD 8. I use HERE WeGo which is an excellent replacement for Google Maps. Now I don’t have Google maps or HERE. Amazon has its own Map app but it is inferior to the other two.
I am thrilled with the new Fire HD8 - even before it gets Alexa! At that time I will likely be ecstatic! I am far from a tablet novice - I had the original fire; the $50 fire; the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3; and the Galaxy Tab S 10.5. My phones have always been Samsung flagship phones, currently the S7 Edge. I say this to show that I 1) have experience with kindle fires, and 2) generally tend to have high standards for my most used devices -- I KNOW what is a good tablet and what is a so-so tablet. Admittedly, my previous fires have been "so-so", but I wanted something inexpensive yet adequate to take places with me instead of my Galaxy Tab S 10.5.
My HD8 is the 32gb option, with offers. Most users will likely be fine with 16gb and perhaps an added 32gb or 64gb SD card. However, I know how I use my devices, so went with the 32gb option, as well as a 64gb micro SD card. In the 48 hours I have had my new Fire, it has become my device of choice, even over my $500 samsung (more convenient size). I use the large samsung tablet as a computer replacement; whereas the new Fire replaces my two 7 inch tablets as the "go to" device.
Before receiving it, I wasn't sure about the low resolution (1280 x 800) on this tab, but honestly, it's not a problem! Sure, it's not bright and beautiful like my Tab S ... but its crisp, clean, and clear. The colors are sufficient, but not vibrant, sadly. (The comparison photo below is the HD8 (2016) and Fire 7 (2015).
Sound is quite good, with good volume. The speakers are on the left side when portrait, on top (or bottom) in landscape. I prefer them on top. The sound is good enough that you can enjoy a movie without having to use earphones, unless in a noisy environment, in which case you would likely want to use earphones anyway. Music was okay, but I prefer listening through bluetooth headphones for premium quality, and it delivers there also.
Whatever chip is used for the cpu is zippy and responsive. I have tested and used a variety of apps, games, and functions in trying this tablet out, and there has been no lag whatsoever, no hesitation, no hangups. Using the silk browser, surfing the web was quick and easy. At most, there was a half second lag for some graphics heavy pages (note that my high speed router is in my room, but even so, the $50 fire lags, not so this one!)
The only feature that is "less than" on this tablet, are the cameras. The rear facing camera is only 2mp, and photos with it are about what I expected ...slightly pixelated, washed out colors, print is readable but not crisp. It's usable in a pinch, when the alternative is no picture/video, or for reference/documentation; but it's not what you would want to use for travel or family photos that are of importance. For reference photos, pet photos, posting to facebook, it's adequate, but "just".
Battery life is excellent. I multi-task and heavily use tablets, with a lot of twitter (have found it to be battery intensive on all devices); a lot of web use, music streaming, texting (on messenger) and watching you tube. I've already gone through two battery cycles (100% to 15%) and the first one was ten hours (actual use time) and the second nearly 11, so it's very close to the maximum advertised.
Overall, this is a super tablet, and the bargain price makes it that much more so. It has exceeded my expectations and hopes in most all functions, and will be a welcome alternative for throwing in my backpack.
UPDATE: October 30, 2016 The Alexa update was pushed to my device on Oct 29th (verified with amazon customer service) and it "bricked" my tablet, rendering it unusable, will not turn on. After several hours on phone with four reps at customer service, it is being returned for a refund. Replacements are always refurbished items, so I chose refund instead. I still think it's a great tablet, but sometimes there are issues, and in the interest of honesty and full disclosure, needed to add this.
2nd UPDATE: November 10, 2016 Okay, apparently this is the "Goldilocks" of my tablets (just right!) and I could not live without it. By the 10th day without it, I was really, REALLY missing it, so I ordered a new one, this time investing in the extended warranty "just in case". I received the new one today, everything is perfect with it, and it feels so, SO good to have a Fire HD8 back in my hands. I know it sounds silly, but even though the specs of this are less than one of my tablets, and slightly better than two 7" ones - the 7" ones now feel too small, and the 10.5" one I have is just too large for most uses. The 8" Fire is just the right size for everything short of computer replacement. In the few hours of use, I've checked everything out and all is well. I will, however, update again, in about two months, to make sure this review is kept current. Right now, despite the issue with one tablet, it's still at least 4.5 stars in my book, but I won't hesitate to revise if that changes.
3rd Update: December 31, 2016 It's now been 7 weeks with my second Fire HD8 tablet. All is working well, and I now rate it a solid 4 stars. I use the playstore and several google apps on my device, and there are no issues. I also had several apps that frequently updated throughout the day, like periscope, facebook, twitter, news aggregators. With all of these apps, the tablet began lagging badly at least once a day, sometimes twice, and even with an app like Cleansweep on it, I would have to reboot. Finally, I uninstalled periscope and the news aggregators; but kept facebook and twitter and a few others similar. That made a huge difference in the lag. There just isn't enough RAM to handle heavy updating every half hour or so, nor does the tablet recover ram well. I also run 10 email accounts on the tablet (I use "bluemail") and set most of them to sync once daily, just two of them sync every hour. With the tweaks I have done, I am happy with the Fire HD8, and it runs smoothly most of the time.
4th update (and perhaps final) and tips -- April 22, 2017
I use the Fire HD8 daily, all day long, going through a battery cycle a day, sometimes more. With recent firmware updates, my Fire tablet is running smooth and fast, and I very rarely experience any lag. I used to reboot it daily, now I do so once a week or less. Apparently the firmware updates made a difference. I also have tweaked this tablet to the max, and thought I would share a few basic tips. (I really feel like, at this point, I should just write a Fire HD8 guide ... but I digress.)
Tips:
Get to know your tablet. Go through every single setting and sub setting and sub-sub setting and tweak anything you want. You can always go back and change it later.
Turn off everything automatic, unless it's a feature you like. Turn off: on-deck, adaptive brightness, automatic navigation, recommendations and most notifications. This streamlines the ram usage.
Keyboards are apps, email is an app, if you don't like the ones on the tablet, go to the amazon appstore and install an alternative one.
I bought two HD 8's, one 32G, one 16G. I own HDX 7, HDX 9, a HD 10 and an older HD 7 as well as an Oasis and current generation Paperwhite. I know Kindle products pretty well.
This 6th Generation HD 8 is faster and lighter than the HD 10. Stays connected to wifi better too. The user interface is the same with a few differences in settings. Fast Bluetooth. In fact the BT on the HD 10 occasionally disconnects even within a few feet of my BT speakers.
The speakers are decent for a tablet. Actually louder and better than on the HDX 7! There is a distinct improvement with the ATMOS Dolby over the "just" Dolby in either of the HDX models. The HD 10 has ATMOS also, the stereo effect is better on that model.
The cameras are much less quality on thr HD 8 than any of the other models I own.
Battery duration is outstanding! MUCH better by far than the HD 10. Even somewhat better than either HDX models.
The expandable storage is a big plus. HD 10 also has expandable storage. The HDX's do not. You can store apps, books, Audible, and music on the SD card.
The HD 8 is a compromise to be sure. But it's a good compromise to price ratio. This will become my "go to" for everyday use! I'm a happy camper.
I'm writing this review with the benefit of being an experienced Kindle Fire user vs. someone brand new to the Kindle family. In summary, for $119 you are getting a very good deal on a tablet computer - especially if you compare it to the $500 or more you can spend on other tablet versions. Overall, if you consider the price and the functionality I think this is a great tool / toy if you watch a lot of video or play a lot of games on your device: the video quality is outstanding and you can really tell a difference between this and last year's Fire, as that seems to be the case with each new generation of the Fire tablet.
If you are a first-time tablet buyer, where price vs. value is a key consideration, or if you are looking for an affordable tablet for the kids, I'd recommend this "regular" Fire HD vs. a more expensive version. If you're comparing last year's model to this version and last year’s model is operating fine, I'd say save your money and continue to get your money's worth out of that one.
My review below compares a lot of the features of this version of the Fire to last year's but also some of the features for a first-time user.
Consistent with my experience with setup of previous models of the Fire, setup took a while: despite being a brand new product, the Fire attempted to download and install several operating software updates. You just need to be patient while it downloads and installs. Since I have had previous Fire tablets, it went through a rather lengthy “restore” feature where it attempted to download my apps / games, settings, WiFI networks and settings, email, bookmarks, and browser search history: that part bombed and just wouldn’t work.
Screen Display / Video Playback:
This version of the Fire is advertised as “designed for entertainment” and that is true. This version has a great screen display and video feature appears more crisp: I compared the viewing experience watching a TV show. The display on this Fire was one heck of a lot better in terms of sharpness than last year's model. That may be a combination of some better technology as well as a new vs. year-old screen.
Sound / Music Playback:
The two speakers are located on the side of the Fire in two not-noticeable ports: both of them are on the left (or maybe it's on the top, depending upon your screen orientation) side of the Kindle: this is much better than last year’s version as the speakers were on the back and the sound could get muffled with a case. My test of this feature was cranking up Van Halen's Panama to maximum volume (I always want to see if it could really play back the guitar licks), and I would alternate covering one speaker up over the other: you have a nice sound with no degradation of the sound that makes you think you are about to blow the speaker. The Dolby speakers sound nice but "cranking" is misleading as it's really not that loud: you do get to hear the bass if you install and use an Equalizer app and adjust until it sounds "just right" to you. Mixing the sound with an equalizer app, and using good headphones, is really the way I want to listen to music on the Fire as you not only have a better sound experience but you're also not disturbing others in the room. The X-ray feature is pretty neat as it displays the lyrics on the screen if you are so inclined; if you are not, it is as simple as the tap of an icon to make the lyric feature go away.
Wi-Fi Connectivity:
After the final operating software update I mentioned above, it was fairly easy to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi. My standard test for trying out new gadgets is to see how fast they run side-by-side with a known piece of equipment doing the same test at the best place of Wi-Fi in my house and the worst place where it drags. In this comparison, I had this version of the Fire sitting next to last year's version of the Fire, as well as the 8.9" HDX Fire from two years ago, and all just using a Wi-Fi connection vs. cellular connectivity. There was no difference.
Email Setup:
Consistent with previous versions of the Fire, email setup was very easy for my main Gmail account, both with the software came with the Fire but my primary use of an existing app called Enhanced Email I purchased here in the Amazon app store. I did setup the email app that came with the program with no problem - it took about a minute to set it up.
Reading Books:
Turning pages is pretty darn easy - just tap the side of the screen to go to the next page or back a page, or you can swipe your finger across the screen to do the same. The fonts display well, and the screen isn’t too bright which is great on my eyes and allows for a long reading session.
Storage:
I purchased the 32 GB version, but I also added a micro SD hard drive to expand it: this way, I can add all of my music files to the Fire without having to worry about running out of room or relying upon everything being in the cloud. I just transferred all the music to the SD card directly from my computer which took about six hours (I have a lot of music files), then popped this memory card into the Fire. That was a lot better than tethering the Fire to my computer as I didn’t have it out of commission while transferring. You can do the same thing with your videos or pictures, as well as store other files and apps on the card.
Camera:
There is a camera on this model and focusing and taking a picture is pretty easy, and Amazon will by default store your pictures in the Cloud. I'm not much of a picture taker with my tablet, so I can't really comment on the quality.
If you've never owned a tablet before, or are looking to upgrade from an earlier model Fire, I would recommend this one if video and apps are your thing - but make sure you purchase the higher memory one vs. the minimum 16 GB if you can afford the extra dollars as you will see better performance. If you're comparing last year's model to this version and it is operating fine, I'd say save your money and continue to get your money's worth out of it.
Overall, at $119 for the 32 GB of memory model I think this is a good deal for someone who really uses the video / apps feature: if it is within your budget, I would also recommend buying the largest SD memory card you can for external storage. Kids will love it as they can read books, play games, watch TV and movies, and a whole lot of other things. Adults should like it for the exact same reasons, but while I try to minimize the amount of work-related stuff I do at home with the business apps that are available here in the Amazon App store and other places around the Internet I can also work on Excel and Word-compatible files when I have to without having to fire up my work laptop or whatever the case may be.
I received this tablet today and I absolutely love it! I bought it on sale for Black Friday and it has everything I would need in a tablet. I like that all the buttons are on the top. The screen is great and is responsive. I also use this for work so with my $1 stylus, I can write on pdfs without a problem. The sound is loud. It plays games and videos without a problem. The only con would be the camera, since it doesn't take the best quality photos and videos. I personally won't be using the camera but it still doesn't lower my opinion on the tablet. It was quick and easy to set up, and I was able to get the play store on it too. I also have Alexa on it now. Overall, I say buy it and see for yourself.
Feature Product
- 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
Description
All-new Fire HD 8, now with up to 12 hours of battery life, 2X the storage and 50% more RAM for faster performance – made for all day entertainment.
Engineered by Amazon
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Designed for Entertainment
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.
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.
Play
Over 300,000 apps including favorites like Facebook, Twitter, and Spotify. Plus Amazon Underground, a one-of-a-kind app store experience where over 2,000 apps, games, and even in-app items are 100% free. Play great titles like Frozen Free Fall, Angry Birds Slingshot Stella, and Sonic Dash from developers like Disney, Gameloft, Rovio Entertainment, and more.
Meet Alexa
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. Alexa will be available via a free over-the-air software update in the coming months.
One Press. Millions of Possibilities.
When connected to Wi-Fi simply press the home button for 2 seconds then ask. Alexa will respond to you and will even show visual responses to certain questions.
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.
Be Entertained
Whether you’re looking for your favorite playlist on Spotify 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 Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn, IHeartRadio, and more.
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.
Control your smart home
Alexa works with devices such as lights, switches, thermostats, and more from WeMo, Philips Hue, 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.
Fire OS
Fire OS 5.4 - coming soon
In addition to Alexa, our next Fire OS update will also allow 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.
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, and 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.
Apps that are actually free with Amazon Underground
Fire tablet owners have access to a one-of-a-kind app store experience where over 2,000 apps, games, and even in-app items are 100% free. Experience titles from top developers including Disney, Rovio Entertainment, Gameloft, Zeptolab, and Sega of America without ever having to pay for the app or in-app purchases.
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.
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.
Very pleased with this tablet - initially chose *with special offers* but ended up paying the extra $15 to remove them because the ads were more annoying than helpful. Have had slight issues with some apps that needed to update but a simple uninstall/reinstall solved it. I added the Sandisk 128GB sd micro memory card to the tablet to alleviate space issues (namely for Hearthstone app) and it has made all the difference. I use a headset often but the times where I haven't, the speakers on the unit have been excellent. I have nerve deafness and placing the tablet horizontally allows for the listening of movies and music as the speakers sit at the base so sound bounces off for better acoustics. I want to add that I purchased the kid-friendly rubber case for protection since I am all thumbs and it not only makes the tablet much easier to hold and grasp, but allows for the speakers to work optimally since the unit is slightly raised off any surface and the speakers don't get smothered.
**update** 12/5/2017 9 months later and it just shut off on me mid use while at home watching videos on Amazon Prime. Went from 5 stars to 3 - it's nice when it works but pretty lousy to die after 9 months. Nothing works to turn it back on. Will update if anything changes.
12/5/2017: ok so on the advice of some other reviewers, I plugged it in and while charging, I held down the power button for a couple of minutes and it powered on. It is now properly charging. Bumped it back up to 4 stars. If it lasts for more than 2 yrs I will change it to 5.
11/6/2018: working great still - use it all the time. well worth the price. The kid-proof case has saved it so many times.
I wanted something more portable than our laptop and I am not a smart phone guy. I hate answering phone calls. So, I was debating between a MS Surface and a Kindle Fire. My son-in-law has a surface and he likes it. It runs Windows and that is a plus. But along came Black Friday and an Amazon deal on the new Kindle 8 HD that I could not refuse. The price of the newest Surface put me off as well!
I am so happy that I made this choice. I am retired and suffering from an illness so I might need a bit of portable entertainment in my life. My Kindle Fire allows me to see Netflix and Amazon Video. I can also see our Comcast Xfinity TV, live, DVR, and on demand, on my Kindle.
I have videos and MP3s on our network file server, a NAS with multiple 1T hard drives in a RAID configuration. I have my computer act as a PLEX server for our TV. I found an app, E3 File Explorer that I used before, that lets me access our network file server's files. I can listen to MP3s and watch videos, etc. I can access any file on our server this way.
I rated this a a 4, not a 5, for two reasons:
One is the lack of native screen protection on the Kindle. I tried two 3rd party screen protectors and both were lousy, leaving bubbles and annoyances. I would like to see this built in to Kindle in a satisfactory way. I also don't like credit cards that offer credit card protection at a hefty price; I believe the credit card people should be doing that for no extra charge.
Two, I cannot get Google Play apps to work well with Kindle. Apparently Amazon has modified the Android OS so it does not play nice with Google. I had to return two Google Play apps before I fully grasped this. I tend to be geekier than most so my popular apps are utilities and more technical things. I do not have even one game on my Kindle (well, do Free Cell and Solitaire count?).
Three (okay, there are three not just two), I can open MS Word and Excel files, but I have no access to Access databases. I'm big on writing my own apps in Access. I have a finance db for all of our credit cards keeping track of all card details and payments. I am reduced to printing out a PDF report and viewing that on my Kindle. Obviously, a PDF lacks editing and entry ability.
Despite these three gripes, I am finding my Kindle to be quite useful and different enough than what I have in Windows to encourage me to write my own Android apps using SQLite databases.
I especially like reading Kindle books on the new Kindle 8. Color and increased screen size helps, and there are advantages such as a long tap to select text and look up definitions. I can also follow links to another part of the book and there is an easy way to zoom out of the page and go back to my previous location. This is better than my older Paperwhite Kindle.
I have to salute the Amazon designers for their work. The Kindle is a worthy addition to my adult toys (no, not adult in that sense). First class job, people.
I could have really loved it... its quick.. a stunning display, great colors, and a HUGE (and expandable) storage.. it truly is built to be an ENTERTAINMENT tablet... my problem? When I went to download Amazon Prime content (which it does seamlessly) After a couple of movies and TV shows it told me I had reached my download limit... what good is all that fabulous space to download entertainment if you are limited on how much content you can actually download... I got the big one... and cant download enough "unlimited" material from Prime to even scratch the surface...I guess its technically unlimited, but you have to get rid of content to download more content (even though there is plenty of space left) I suppose I could PAY to add additional content, which I'm not adverse to doing, but it would have been nice to know that the free Amazon Prine content is not going to load you up with movies and TV for a 2 week trip.... If I had known that beforehand, I would not have been so disappointed.. Alexa is not yet available - when she is up and running, I will update this review if my opinion changes.
I have been using the device for a month now, Over all I am coming closer to loving this device every day, it is quick and responsive and easy to use. I have recently added a hybrid (3 part plastic/silicone) case, which has corrected the slick hard feeling of the devise, making it much easier to hold on to. The downside, it is even bigger now, but it is much easier for me to get a secure grip. I am seriously considering getting a second smaller device for times when I am on the go.
The initial set-up was easy, turn it on, answer a few questions and tada!
I need a tablet that will provide me with a good reading experience first and foremost. I am an avid reader and since giving up 'paper' books 5 years ago I can't imagine not having a reliable e-reader within reach at all times. This Fire tablet is ALMOST there. Indoors it is near perfect, I like the variety of settings available on the tablet which provide instant feedback so you can tweak on the fly. Lighter/darker good font and spacing selections all together make it a breeze to adjust for interior conditions in seconds, you can also set it up automatically adjust brightness based on lighting conditions.
The screen is easier to read outdoors than the NookHD, but still not ideal outdoors in bright sunlight. I don't really use it for web surfing or gaming or social media, I have a computer for that and watching TV..... heck no!!!!! Occasional Skype and IMDb use is a bonus. Not sure I will ever use the cameras. But Alexa is fun.
Overall, I like it.
PROS
Standard USB charging/data cable:
Big plus over the proprietary cables/connectors some tablets have. In case one is lost or damaged I always have a spare
Side mounted speakers:
Much less likely to cover them/muffle the sound than back mounted speakers,
Top mounted connections for headphones and power:
I like having all of the connections in one location, easy to find everything. I did not think I would like the power onnector at the top,
but it really is better in some ways
Crisp bright display:
Great for my primary use. (Reading) occassional browsing, IMDb. Great controls for adjusting brightness/contrast
Good Battery Life:
I average 2 days between charges, a little more depending on my use.
CONS
No access to the Google Play store:
I don't care about Google play, but it seems this is the only way to get access to some pretty important(to me) applications I think that a company as big as Amazon would be eager to provide access to more mainstream apps.
Hard Slick feeling case:
Feels like it could slip out of my hand at any moment.
Charge Port:
Feels flimsy, could be wrong, but the connection does not feel durable.
Poor for reading outdoors:
Ok in the shade, but not good in bright conditions.
I purchased this kindle for my wife and set it up for her. Unfortunately, since we both use the same email address, I could not give her a separate account, even when I tried to use another email address that I have. The unit works well, but is kind of like a large phone. The carousel I have on my HD7 is not on this unit, so it was different for me to set up. I think there are way too many apps that a I cannot get off the device, even though they will probably not be used. I would prefer to be able to acquire the apps we use and not have them dumped on the machine, but I guess all companies do that, so we will live with it. Overall, I think she is pleased with the device and I think she will use it a lot. I think that, for the price, this is an excellent tablet. I have had my HD7 for about three years and it has been a solid performer. I expect this will be the case for the HD8.
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