AMAZON ON FIRE AGAIN
The tech giant has maintained its low price middle-ground while increasing performance
IF you’re in the market for a tablet computer, it seems these days you have two ways to go – expensive and fully-featured, or cheap and basic.
Amazon’s positioning itself very much in the second category with its line of Fire tablets – understandably these devices are primarily about watching, listening and reading. Not about making.
This week Amazon refreshed one of its Fire range with four new models – bang in the middle of the line up is the Fire HD 8, and there were two new versions each for adults and children revealed.
FIRE HD 8 AND FIRE HD 8 PLUS
The HD 8 Fire tablet is right about in the sweet spot of size and function for a device that will mostly be used for reading and watching, and maybe for listening to music. The 8in screen-size is just about big enough to allow you to comfortably watch a counter-top YouTube recipe, but not so big that it feels bulky and heavy in the hand when reading.
Most welcome in the latest version of the tablet is a beefed up processor which Amazon says is 30% faster than its predecessor on the old HD 8 line-up.
The new design is also thinner and lighter than previously, and Amazon says that it is also more durable, with something called “aluminosilicate” glass for a tougher screen.
A first for Fire tablets, starting with the HD 8 and expanding to all sizes, is a new accessibility feature called Tap to Alexa, which allows users to interact with the Amazon AI assistant via the device’s keyboard rather than by voice.
Also upgraded for the
HD 8 is battery life – Amazon says we’re looking at up to 13 hours of use on
a single charge, which now takes five hours with the included USB-C cable and 5W power adapter.
As is usual with Fire tablets, the biggest feature is the price – you can snag an HD 8 for £99.99 for a version with 32GB of storage, and £129.99 for the 64GB storage version.
If you want a little bit more performance and faster charging, the HD 8 Plus, which costs £20 more across the board, will bring more RAM for faster multitasking, and a 9W power adapter to bring the device to full charge in three hours.
The Plus also features wireless charging via the Qi standard, an upgraded 5MP rear-facing camera, and the ability to transform the device into a countertop smart display with the optional wireless charging dock, which costs £44.99.
FIRE 8 HD KIDS/FIRE HD 8 KIDS PRO
In addition to the two adult Fire tablets released this week, Amazon has also launched two children’s versions of the HD 8. In effect this means the same device in durable kid-proof cases, tight parental controls on content, and a year of the Amazon Kids+ service, which allows access to age-appropriate educational content from Amazon’s Kindle library.
The difference between them is the standard version is aimed at ages three to seven, while the Pro version is aimed at school-aged children between six and 12 – access to strictly filtered internet via the built-in browser is supposed to allow research for school projects and deny access to anything else… parents can monitor activity and set boundaries using the dedicated parents.amazon.co.uk website.
■ Both the HD 8 Kids and HD 8 Kids Pro cost from £149.99