With fashions obtainable in 7-, 8- and 10-inch display sizes and priced as little as $50 earlier than Prime Day reductions, Amazon’s Fire tablets have lengthy been the go-to choice for cut price gadget hunters. But with its 2020 refresh of the 8-inch Fire HD 8 pill, lengthy the Goldilocks choice of its line, Amazon is including a twist which will depart you questioning which one to purchase. There at the moment are two 8-inch fashions to select from: a baseline Fire HD 8 beginning at $90 (£90), and the $110 (£110) Fire HD 8 Plus, which provides wi-fi charging and barely higher efficiency. The pill is not presently obtainable in Australia however the beginning worth converts to about AU$160.
LikeQuicker processor than final versionFast USB-C chargingBetter entrance digital camera placement2GB of RAM (up from 1.5GB)Hands-free Alexa voice assistantImproved battery life
Don’t LikeHD 8 Plus presents good step-ups for only a bit extra moneyDisplay is HD however not 1080p (might be sharper)Amazon Appstore is proscribed in contrast with Google Play and Apple App RetailerAmazon Prime membership is a should
The two fashions look equivalent on the surface. The HD 8 Plus is just obtainable in a slate colour whereas the usual HD 8 is offered in black, white, plum, twilight blue and slate. But aside from the white model, all of them have a black bezel across the show. Both fashions are improved over the earlier 2018 Fire HD 8 model with a sooner processor, USB-C charging, higher Wi-Fi efficiency and a bump from 16GB to 32GB of storage within the base mannequin. The customary HD 8 has 2GB of RAM — that is up from 1.5GB — and the HD 8 Plus has 3GB of RAM, which is the place you get the efficiency enhance. The USB-C charging does assist scale back charging occasions by about an hour from the earlier HD 8, with the HD 8 Plus charging even sooner.The 2018 Fire HD 8 (left) is taller however barely slimmer than the brand new Fire HD 8 and HD 8 Plus.
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What’s a giant deal is that Amazon has moved the front-facing digital camera. It was once on the prime of the pill once you had it in portrait mode. Now it is on the aspect, so it is on the prime when you’ve got it in panorama mode. That helps once you’re doing video calls with Zoom and different video-calling apps, together with Amazon’s personal. The new mannequin is a bit wider than the 2018 HD 8, but it surely’s shorter and the bezel is now the same width round the entire show, which stays the identical 8-inch dimension. Only a high-end pill just like the iPad Pro has extra display and fewer bezel: Other price range tablets sometimes have large bezels.
Thanks to the mixture of a brand new 2GHz quad-core MediaTek 8168 processor and a few software program updates, battery life is now rated at 12 hours of “mixed use” as an alternative of 10. The different small improve is that the microSD enlargement slot now accepts as much as 1TB playing cards. Previously, the utmost capability was 512GB.So all in all, there are some substantial adjustments. And you will need to pay extra for them. As acknowledged above, the usual HD 8 now prices $90 as an alternative of $80 and the HD 8 Plus with wi-fi charging and the additional gigabyte of RAM is $20 extra at $110. The worth for the Plus goes up one other $20 in the event you purchase the companion wi-fi charging dock for the Plus, which you most likely wish to do.The Fire HD 8 now options USB-C charging.
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Both new Fire HD 8 fashions have the identical 1,280×800-pixel decision show because the earlier HD 8. The display is technically HD but it surely’s mainly 720p and never 1080p. It’s advantageous for watching movies but it surely’s not practically as sharp because the display you get with, say, an iPad, which is why you are paying quite a bit much less for this. At 355 grams, the brand new Fire HD 8 weighs a contact lower than its 363g predecessor.
A couple of years again, the HD 8 appeared sluggish, however its efficiency has steadily improved and now it is fairly zippy (Amazon says the brand new HD 8s are 30% sooner than the 2018 HD 8 because of the brand new processor and software program optimization). It is not as responsive as an entry-level iPad, which is commonly on sale for about $250, but it surely’s general fairly clean and I did not have any downside operating video games like Asphalt 9: Legends. That stated, the eight-core processor and GPU — the graphics processor — are sooner within the 10-inch Fire HD 10, which additionally has a sharper 1080p show. When that mannequin goes on sale for $100, it is most likely the very best worth in tablets. But some persons are searching for a smaller, lighter pill and the HD 8 is a major bump up from Amazon’s most cost-effective pill, the Fire 7.The costlier HD 8 Plus options wi-fi charging and is offered in a bundle with a wi-fi charging dock. The HD 8 Plus mechanically goes into Show Mode when within the dock.
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I did not see a giant distinction in efficiency between the HD 8 Plus and customary HD 8, however the additional gig does assist. Apps open a contact sooner and it may well assist with multitasking and extra graphically intense purposes. It by no means hurts to have extra RAM, I can inform you that. The HD 8 Plus appears to wirelessly cost on any Qi-enabled charging pad — not less than those I attempted with 7.5 watts or better charging energy. But you really need the charging dock that Amazon bundles in for an additional 20 bucks. That’s as a result of one of many huge appeals of the Fire HD 8 Plus is which you could drop it within the dock and it mechanically goes into present mode, turning your pill into one thing very like an Echo Show 8, full with hands-free entry to the Alexa voice assistant. It’s nonetheless utilizing the pill’s inside audio system as an alternative of an actual speaker and the pill would not have a extra in depth microphone array for selecting up your voice like an Echo speaker does. But it really works effectively sufficient and the sound is OK for watching video (it is not so nice for music). You may wirelessly join a Bluetooth speaker to reinforce the sound.The customary Fire HD 8 is offered in white and different colour choices.
César Salza
I put the dock in my kitchen and used the HD 8 Plus as a mini TV as a result of I’ve Spectrum TV as my cable supplier. There occurs to be a Spectrum app that provides me all my channels on the Fire HD 8 or HD 8 Plus as long as I’m on my dwelling community (you get a lowered variety of channels once you’re away from your house community). Like the Fire HD 10, the HD 8 now has a picture-in-picture mode for watching video in a small window within the nook of the show whereas utilizing the pill’s different purposes, corresponding to utilizing a browser to lookup recipes. You may get a canopy with a built-in stand — Amazon sells loads of these, together with its personal properly designed however costly covers — and create the identical setup for watching movies with both the HD 8 Plus or customary HD 8. But you would not be capable to wirelessly cost the pill on the identical time.The Fire HD 8 has at all times been a useful pill for consuming Amazon video content material, ebooks and music, and it is nonetheless notably helpful for Prime members. You also can watch different streaming video providers corresponding to Netflix and Hulu, however the collection of apps within the Amazon Appstore has at all times been restricted in contrast with what’s obtainable for Android and iOS, particularly in terms of video games. You will not discover apps for Vudu or HBO Max, for example (although HBO Max could also be coming).The pill runs on Amazon’s newest Fire OS, a custom-made model of Android P, which was launched within the fall of 2018. And whereas Amazon would not encourage it, you possibly can set up the Google Play retailer by following some directions on the web. That would will let you run much more apps. But some individuals might really feel intimidated by the method.The earlier Fire HD 8 was fashionable with dad and mom wanting an inexpensive pill for his or her youngsters. If that is who you are shopping for this for, the usual HD 8 goes to be simply advantageous. (There’s additionally a $130 Kids Edition that bundles in a protecting case and a 12 months of Amazon’s Freetime Unlimited all-in-one subscription service that provides youngsters entry to hundreds of age-appropriate books, movies, apps, Audible books and video games.)I like with the ability to wirelessly cost the Fire HD 8 Plus and the dock is properly designed. I believe you will find yourself utilizing the pill extra as a result of it does double responsibility as a extra modest Echo Show substitute; it is mainly at all times charged and able to go once you wish to use it outdoors the dock. That stated, the bundle with the dock is presently $40 greater than the usual HD 8, and for some people that is a giant bounce in worth in the event you’re searching for a price range pill.The earlier Fire HD 8 offered for as little as $50 through the holidays final (and different flash gross sales this 12 months). This one most likely will not go that low, however count on to see it for $20 to $30 off in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later. At $90, it is a respectable worth, and it will be an actual cut price if it drops to $60 or $70. I do want the display had been 1080p, however you apparently cannot have all the things at this modest worth.Editors’ notice: Because the Fire HD 8 reviewed right here is similar to its sibling product, the Fire HD 8 Plus, most of this language is borrowed from our evaluate of that mannequin.