The Fire HD 8 is available in black, blue, purple and white; the $89.99 base model comes with 32GB of storage and ads on the lock screen; you can remove ads for $15 and upgrade to 64GB of storage for $30 (all models have a microSD card slot for media storage for all current card capacities). You can also add wireless charging and RAM to turn your tablet into a Fire HD 8 Plus for an additional $20. There is also a Kids’ Edition with a rugged case, extended warranty and Amazon Kids+ content subscription, priced at $139.99.
Performance is a little low The user interface is designed to work well on this tablet, but we found scrolling through complex pages to be a little awkward. It is not unusable, but it is definitely low-end. As for the games, there are mixed reviews. The older action game Asphalt 8 played smoothly, while Riptide GP 2 dropped frames significantly and ran fine on the Fire HD 10. Children’s games such as the Toca Boca series were also OK.
Home is a grid of apps, as is common on Android devices. Library is a carousel of different types of content downloaded from Amazon – Kindle books, audiobooks, apps, Prime Video, Amazon Music playlists, etc. For You is what you’ve used recently, what you’ve downloaded from Amazon, what you’ve downloaded from Amazon, etc. And a slightly annoying stack of algorithmically generated things Amazon wants you to buy based on what you’ve used before.
Streaming amateur baking show Nailed It on Netflix reveals the contestants’ ludicrous failures in all their gruesome, colourful glory. The footage flows surprisingly smoothly, even when one contestant’s dinosaur cake collapses and she frantically presses the panic button. There is a moment of judder when the money gun sprays cash around the potential winner, but overall it is a competent performance.
Expansive renditions are also possible, such as a baby blue whale coming in from the depths to the left ear and calling for its mother, with the response coming from the right ear.While we can’t fully endorse the Fire HD 8’s Dolby Atmos claims, the stereoscopic sound that the tablet’s tiny speakers can provide is limited, so it remains a tablet with good sound quality at this price.
Once again, Amazon has created a fantastically priced tablet with its latest Fire HD 8. The 2018 model was already a five-star product, so Amazon’s decision to boost performance, extend battery life and add USB-C charging for 2020 was always going to lead to another recommendation.