Tested Amazon Fire 7 & New Nintendo 2DS XL A pair of handheld treats
Amazon has pepped up its ultra-affordable tablet with a slightly slimmer build and an added dash of Alexa
£50 / stuff.tv/fire7
Q Amazon’s totally got the right idea with its tablets – don’t bother trying to compete with the ipad, just bash out dirt-cheap devices that get the job done. And the new Amazon Fire 7 is exactly that kind of tab.
Q This is a tablet designed with one thing in mind: function. And in that regard, it’s a champion. The 7in form factor works really well, whether one-handed in portrait mode or two-handed in landscape, and it feels surprisingly well built.
Q The front is just a screen plus some fairly chubby bezels all the way round. The back and sides are made from durable-feeling plastic, but it’s pretty chunky and utilitarian. Other than an Amazon logo on the back, it’s entirely devoid of any flair or character.
Q The Fire 7’s display only has a 1024x600 resolution. Contrast is poor, colours are muted and viewing angles are very limited. The combined effect is that, unless you’re watching almost directly face-on, it’s as if you’re viewing through some kind of filter.
Q The Fire 7 runs on a quad-core 1.3GHZ processor, but it’s not a particularly beefy one and there are times when that shows. Opening apps can be a long and frustrating process, and it’s prone to crashes while gaming.
Tech specs
Screen 7in 1024x600 LCD Processor Quad-core 1.3GHZ RAM 1GB Battery life Up to 8hrs Storage 8/16GB (expandable up to 256GB via microsd) Connectivity Wi-fi, USB 2.0 Cameras VGA front, 2MP rear Dimensions 192x115x9.6mm, 295g It’s not great, but really, what else are you going to do with £50? Marc Mclaren The Fire 7 is full of compromises – the screen is poor, it’s slow, and the Amazon Appstore is way too locked-down. But most of the things you’d want to do with this device aren’t majorly hampered by those flaws. For sofa-based browsing or keeping the kids entertained on a long flight, the Fire 7 does its job perfectly. Unless you really want a premium tablet experience, this is a no-brainer purchase.