Amazon launched the Fireplace HD 8 just a few months in the past. This pill is nice sufficient to stream Prime Video content material, play gentle video games, learn e-books, and take heed to Audible audiobooks. Nonetheless, the general display high quality leaves one thing to be desired, and the audio system are usually not the best. For elective audio, you’ll want to use Bluetooth with wi-fi headphones. The pill is accessible in fashionable colors like black, hibiscus, and emerald and encompasses a premium textured end.
{Hardware}
The Fireplace HD 8 2024 mannequin options an 8” high-definition (HD) touchscreen with a decision of 1280 x 800 and 189 PPI. The bezels are comparatively thick. An accelerometer mechanically switches the display from panorama to portrait mode, and an ambient gentle sensor adjusts the brightness relying on the surroundings.
Beneath the hood is a MediaTek MT8169A Hexa-core 2.0 GHz processor, 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of inner storage. There may be an SD card able to an extra 1TB of storage. There are just a few cameras on this mannequin. 2MP entrance snapper with 720p HD video recording and a rear 5MP with 1080p HD video recording. Constructed-in Bluetooth 5.2 with assist for A2DP suitable stereo headphones and microphone. Surf the online, obtain apps, and purchase Kindle books or audiobooks by way of Twin-band wifi. USB-C is used to cost the gadget or switch knowledge. After as much as 13 hours of studying, they browse the online, watch movies, and take heed to music.
The audio system within the Fireplace HD 8 are on par with the show—mediocre at finest. Two small audio system are discovered on the display’s backside edge when the gadget is used horizontally. The audio system are laborious to listen to in a loud surroundings, even at full quantity.
Software program and Studying
The Fireplace HD 8 2024 version runs Fireplace OS 8, based mostly on Google Android 11. That is thought of the twelfth Era Fireplace Pill. Like many Amazon units, this one has the Alexa voice assistant onboard. And you’ll function it hands-free. That’s nice for tablet-specific requests (play music, open Netflix, get a climate report) and for controlling any Alexa-compatible good units you might need. For instance, you should utilize the Fireplace HD 8 to show off a lightweight in one other room.
The principle residence display includes a number of Amazon apps and providers. The Amazon Retailer, Silk Browser, Prime Video, Amazon Youngsters, Kindle, Amazon Music, Audible, App Retailer and lots of others. The For You part is simply curated suggestions for apps and different digital content material. There are a collection of menu choices to get suggestions based mostly on Studying, Watching, Listening
There’s a writing assistant that guarantees to “proofread, polish and regulate the tone of emails, notes and extra.” You’ll have the ability to get natural-language summaries of internet pages in Amazon’s Silk browser. And you will get AI-generated wallpaper photographs.
The studying expertise is typical of a Fireplace pill, however it’s Kindle for Android. You get the entire options discovered on the studying app, and you may change the background color, font measurement, font sort, margins, and line spacing. Since that is an Amazon-branded product, you should buy e-books throughout the app and ditto with Audible audiobooks. It is because, with Fireplace HD 8, Amazon has their billing system on the pill, so that you don’t must open up an internet browser and purchase via that and sync your purchases such as you would on a typical smartphone or iOS gadget.
Studying isn’t nice for the reason that display’s decision is barely 189 PPI, whereas if you happen to learn on a contemporary Kindle e-reader, you get 300 PPI. So, the textual content seems a bit fuzzy, and a few anti-aliasing points happen. However this pill shines with digital comics, manga, magazines and newspapers.
Wrap Up
The Fireplace HD 8 is a little bit of a convoluted gadget, and I’ll clarify.
It’s the twelfth era launch of the Fireplace tablets since they deserted the “Kindle Fireplace” namesake.
With that comes an limitless barrage of incremental releases, various from 7-in units as much as 11-in Max units
This unit brings just a few issues new to the desk, like three gigs of RAM and a hexacore processor.
Sure, a hexacore processor
Outdoors of that, the unit gives nothing completely different from its predecessor. It’s nonetheless a flat black cookie-cutter big-bezel reflective pill with the identical plastic composition as each different unit earlier than, besides with a barely completely different perforated plateresque look on the again, although it’s simply plastic.
Alexa built-in just a few generations in the past, and this one additionally makes use of it. Nonetheless, exterior of that, the corporate’s enterprise is as common. For now, the brand new AI options really feel like gimmicks as a substitute of game-changers.
The largest draw for this unit, and it is a massive one… Is that that is about 50 bucks to purchase into this with adverts
That’s Insane at this stage. The worth level is the one saving grace of this unit.
However with that, it’s a good pill. Stepping into one thing so economically low cost that boasts such spectacular specs is just not horrible; we want they did one thing enjoyable and recent to revive the model just a little bit, nevertheless it appears it’s enterprise as common.
Amazon Fireplace HD 8 2024
$69.99
Professionals
- Hexacore processor
- 3 GB of RAM
- A lot of Amazon Providers
- Should purchase e-books and audiobooks within the app
- Inexpensive
Cons
- Cameras are poor
- Android 11 could be very outdated
- Sound is abysmal
- Interface and UI hasn’t been up to date in years
- PPI is weak
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the previous fifteen years. Newspapers and web sites such because the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Put up and the New York Instances have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
