The case fits to the back of the Fire HD 8 and slots into the microUSB socket on the side to provide power when mounted in the dock. You had to shout the wake word a bit more directly at the tablet than you would at an Echo device for it to respond at first, which is unsurprising as it lacks the advanced microphone array in Amazon’s smart speakers. The only differences I noticed between the tablet in show mode and an Echo Show is an inability to play music from Spotify and a less responsive Alexa. It can also be used as a digital photo frame, play videos from Amazon video, music and radio stations. On screen cards show up with the voice assistant’s answers, showing things like extended weather forecasts, pictures of people who you might has asked a question about, that kind of thing. With it enabled Alexa listens out for the wake word, which is by default “Alexa”, and then answers like any other Echo device. As the name might imply, it’s a mode that turns the tablet into a smart display like the Amazon Echo Show. The most obvious is the addition of Show Mode for the UK, which takes hands-free Alexa to the next level. It looks and behaves very similarly to the Fire OS 6 versions currently available on Amazon’s range of tablets and Fire TV devices, complete with ads on the lock screen called “Special Offers” which can be removed at the cost of £10. The 2018 Fire HD 8 comes running Fire OS 6.3 out of the box. Operating system: Fire OS 5 based on Android 5 LollipopĬamera: 2MP rear camera, 0.3MP front-facing cameraĪmazon Video is unsurprisingly great on the Fire HD 8, but so too is Netflix and others. Storage: 16GB microSD slot also available They also won’t quite fill a room with sound, but you can hear what’s going on in that video you’re watching while cooking in the kitchen without issue. They don’t rival those fitted to tablets more than four times the price, but they’re better than most phone speakers. Likewise the stereo speakers mounted in the top of the tablet do a good job of being loud and clear, with reasonable stereo separation. It won’t win any awards on colour accuracy or brightness, but it is bright enough to watch video while on a train with evening sun streaming through the windows or anywhere indoors. The screen is bright and clear with wide viewing angles. While text appears fairly crisp on the 720p screen, the tablet has essentially been designed for watching video. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The GuardianĪt 363g it’s not exactly feather-light, but it is 6g lighter than the old one and wielding it with one hand for reading or video watching is easy. The 2018 model was already a five-star product, so Amazon's decision to boost performance, extend the battery life and add USB-C charging for 2020 was always going to lead to another recommendation.Wielding the Fire HD 10 in one hand is fine for reading books or watching videos. Once again, Amazon has cooked up a fantastically priced tablet with its newest Fire HD 8. You can ask Alexa to tell you the weather, show sports fixtures or play the latest TV show on Amazon Prime Video, for instance. This allows you to bark your orders at Amazon’s digital assistant without pressing any buttons, and it functions just the same as on Amazon’s Echo devices. The Fire HD 8 also includes hands-free Alexa. Although most popular apps can be found, such as Facebook, Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Disney Plus, many games available on the Apple App Store and Google Play are missing in action. As an example, we typically use the Geekbench 5 app for performance testing of various devices, but Amazon’s store only contains the much older Geekbench 3 benchmark. The amount of applications on the Amazon Appstore continues to be rather limited, though. Your Kindle library, Prime Video content, Amazon Music tracks and more can be accessed with simple swipes left and right of the homescreen, as well as a list of your downloaded apps. If you’ve used a Fire tablet previously, then the experience remains largely the same.
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