It’s just under a year since Amazon launched a trio of Fire HD tablets, but the company’s just refreshed the HD 8, offering better overall performance paired with a markedly lower price tag.
Last year’s HD 8 was up from grabs direct from Amazon for £129.99 for the 8GB model and £149.99 for the 16GB skew. Now the base storage option has been bolstered to 16GB and the price chopped significantly to an impressive £89.99 (there’s also a 32GB option for £109.99). MicroSD expandability has also been improved, as the tablet now accepts cards up to 200GB (previously it supported cards up to 128GB).
The new Fire HD 8 doesn’t just offer more storage for less money however, Amazon’s made a few other worthwhile tweaks to keep it feeling fast, fluid and current in the affordable tablet space. There’s a new 1.3GHz quad-core processor at its heart, backed up by 1.5GB of RAM (versus 1GB in last year’s model) and battery life is now quoted at up to 12 hours, giving you an additional four hours to play with.
The bigger battery does mean that it’s noticeably heavier than its predecessor at 341 grams (versus 311 grams) and the rear camera has dropped from 5 to 2-megapixels, but the cost-saving looks like it’s simply created a more well-rounded affordable offering that has its strengths in the right places.
Two aspects that haven’t changed are the tablet’s 8-inch WXGA (1280×800) HD display and the company’s Android Lollipop-based Fire OS 5 running onboard.
Amazon’s new Fire HD 8 slate is up for pre-order now and launches on September 21st. As before it’s available in four glossy colours: black, blue, magenta and tangerine, and there are also a range of first-party accessories, including screen protectors and cases for both adults and kids too.
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