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Amazon content faucet: If you subscribe to Amazon’s Prime service, you can watch all included movies, music, TV, and books, shop all products with free 2-day shipping, and enjoy free Amazon Prime services. Browse your photo storage. You can do much of the same thing on Android tablets and iPads, but the Fire OS interface is made specifically for shipping Amazon products, with swipeable pages for each type of media Amazon sells. .
“Good enough” construction: Although Amazon’s Fire tablets are physically made of cheap-looking plastic, they’re designed with enough care that the build quality isn’t that noticeable. Wi-Fi reception is excellent and the front-facing camera has improved significantly over the last few releases. The Kids Editions are some of the highest quality children’s tablets wrapped in a rugged bumper, and all feature a microSD slot so you can add extra storage. (We recommend the $17 128 GB microSD card.) You can further enhance your card’s capabilities by following our guide to installing Google Play Store on your Fire device. This gives you access to the full range of Android apps. (Please note that some apps will not work, but 99% of apps for Android will work fine.)
cheap: Did I mention the price? With the exception of the new Max 11, all are priced under $200. However, if you stick to a cheaper model, it’s a great deal. You can also get it through Amazon’s lock screen ad for $15 less.
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Missing non-Amazon content: The biggest strength of these tablets is also their biggest weakness. If you’re not an Amazon Prime subscriber and don’t plan on getting your video, audio, or books from Amazon, the Fire tablet line isn’t all that appealing. It has Alexa on board, so that might be a plus, but again, it’s deeply tied to Amazon’s content library. You can download third-party apps like Netflix on Amazon’s Appstore, but your options are: far It’s more limited than what’s available on Apple’s iPad or the Google Play Store for standard Android tablets. To help you get around this limitation, we’ve put together a guide to installing Google Play Store on your Fire device. Installing Google Play Store gives you access to all kinds of Android apps. The end result is a $60 tablet that does 95 percent of what the $330 iPad can do.
Old technology: The technology inside these tablets is old. The processor isn’t the fastest, so you’ll notice some minor lag and an overall lack of power when compared to more expensive Android tablets. The touchscreen isn’t as responsive or sensitive as more expensive tablets. Many Fire OS apps are built with less processing power in mind, so that doesn’t really matter. The operating system is also older (depending on which Fire tablet you buy) and may hide some of its weaknesses. Amazon’s latest Fire OS is a modified version of Android 11 that arrived in 2020. Amazon continues to update the tablet to some extent, but not as often as it should.
Short warranty: Only Fire HD 10 comes with a full 1-year warranty. Oddly enough, the small device comes with a 90-day warranty.
Special offer: Over time, Amazon’s sale ads have become more blatant and intrusive. I recommend paying the extra $15 and buying a Fire tablet without them.
