Fire HD 8 is the new low-end tablet from Amazon. THEIts real strength - like all the tablets of the eCommerce giant - is the price. In, it starts from 99,99 euros for the version with 32 Gigabytes of expandable internal memory, up to 129,99 euros for the model with 64 Gigabytes of storage space. To these figures, however, it will be necessary to add an additional 15 euros to eliminate advertisements when the device goes into standby.
Such a low figure inevitably involves compromises to be accepted. The data sheet is in fact basic but just enough to make it Fire HD 8 a good companion in your free hours. Everything revolves around the ecosystem created by Jeff Bezos. You can see it immediately, right from the first start. Amazon services are ubiquitous: from shopping to videos to books. It is from this point of view that this tablet makes sense. It is only suitable for certain categories of users and only for certain uses.
Design and display
The Fire HD 8's design is old-fashioned. Compared to the previous generation, the bezels have been reduced but still remain well pronounced. The shell is made of plastic and has the Amazon logo in the center. All in line with the price range of belonging. Change the positioning of the 2 Megapixel front camera which passes from the center of the short side to the center of the upper long side. A more comfortable position for any video calls.
Placing the tablet horizontally, on the right side we find the volume rocker, the power button, the charging port (now Type-C) and the 3,5 mm audio jack. On the upper one, the two speakers have been integrated that reproduce a sound with an average quality. Excellent positioning, as it is difficult to cover them with your hands. While on the lower one, there is the slot for memory expansion up to 1 TB. The back cover tends to retain fingerprints but the dark color makes them less visible.
Fire HD 8 becomes a perfect tablet for entertainment and portability thanks to its small size. We are talking about measures equal to 202 x 137 x 9,7 and a thickness of 335 grams. Numbers that make it enough light and easy to handle.
The front part instead is occupied by a display IPS LCD from 8 inches with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The colors are not particularly vivid, nor are the deep blacks. Visibility outdoors is not the best also due to an unsuccessful oleophobic treatment of the front glass. It holds fingerprints a lot and they are very visible. Therefore, outdoor readability is compromised.
But reading ebooks is enjoyable. You can also activate the Blue Shade mode which reduces the amount of blue light emitted from the screen. A solution that can benefit the eyes, but still remains far from the comfort given by a real Kindle.
Performance and autonomy
Fire HD 8 is equipped with a processor 2 GHz quad-core MediaTek paired with 2 Gigabytes of RAM and 32 or 64 Gigabytes of internal memory. We said at the beginning, the technical data sheet is basic. We are far from the performance guaranteed by other tablets, but also sold at higher figures. Navigation is not always smooth and snappy.
There are some slowdowns and some blocks, especially if you expect to be able to perform several actions at the same time or leaving many applications in the background. In any case, he manages to carry out his duty serenely if he is not put under pressure. For example, there has never been a block when watching video content.
When browsing the web, however, it is not a splinter. You have to wait a couple of seconds for the pages to load and / or to switch between windows. As for gaming, the experience is satisfactory as long as you don't intend to play particularly heavy gaming titles.
As for connectivity, we find dual band WiFi ac, Bluetooth 5.0 while GPS is missing.
Amazon declares an autonomy of about 12 hours, data that are generally reflected in reality. You will be able to use Fire HD 8, with a fairly intense use, even for 9-10 hours. On the other hand, charging is very slow. In the box, a 5W charger is included which takes nearly 5 hours to fully charge.
Software and user experience
As we all know, Fire devices use a modified version of Android. Fire HD 8 is no exception. The software platform is FireOS based on Android 9 Pie. As we said at the beginning, the approach is very "Amazon-centrico". Everything revolves around the apps and services of the eCommerce giant. So, no Play Store.
Applications can be downloaded from the proprietary store (Appstore). From here, we can download several apps, including the most used ones such as Netflix, Disney +, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Spotify and more. There are still some shortcomings. There is - for example - the YouTube app. In this case, you need to access the web version. Gmail is missing, but we can use the pre-installed mail client. The app store would need to be more populated by more interesting applications or perhaps simply by the most used ones.
The central role of the Amazon ecosystem is clearly visible from the Home, where the cards relating to the various services of the Jeff Bezos giant are located: books for Kindle, videos for Prime Video, games and apps and finally music for Prime Music. In addition to pre-installed apps like Alexa, Amazon Shopping, and Photos.
In short, Fire HD 8 makes sense in relation to the use - by the user - of the Amazon services that complete the user experience offered by these devices.
Conclusions: who should buy it?
Amazon Fire HD 8 isn't a tablet for everyone. It could be the ideal device for home use by users who use the services offered by Amazon, such as Prime Video or Prime Music. It is suitable for entertainment, therefore for watching multimedia content and streaming videos. Not surprisingly, there is also the Netflix application. It could also be recommended for those who wish a kind of ebook reader that has additional features. If you intend to have a child use it, you must be careful not to make involuntary purchases. Given the presence of all the service apps, it wouldn't be that difficult.
The strong point, as mentioned, is the starting price: 99,99 euros for the version with 32 Gigabytes of storage. The reduced cost, however, requires sacrifices: fluctuating performance, display with an unconvincing color rendering and aesthetic solution not in step with the times. Against, The Fire HD 8 is cheap, has a good battery life and is handy.
