Which Amazon Fire Tablet Is Best for You?

Amazon’s Fire tablets are a number of the solely high-profile, ultra-affordable tablets round. The costs appear too good to be true—and in some methods, they’re—however Fire tablets are additionally utterly purposeful, fairly succesful gadgets. To enable you determine if certainly one of these slates is best for you, we reviewed each mannequin. These are our unfiltered suggestions. We listing Amazon’s base value, however we propose you spend the additional $15 to get an ad-free mannequin.

Be positive to verify our different shopping for guides, just like the Best Tablets, Best iPads, and Best Alexa Speakers.

Updated January 2023: We’ve up to date the Fire HD 8, Fire HD 8 Plus, and Fire HD 8 Kids tablets to the most recent fashions, and added a brand new part on helpful Fire HD equipment.

Special supply for Gear readers: Get a 1-year subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). This contains limitless entry to WIRED.com and our print journal (if you would like). Subscriptions assist fund the work we do day by day.

If you purchase one thing utilizing hyperlinks in our tales, we could earn a fee. This helps assist our journalism. Learn extra.

Best Fire Tablet

The Fire HD 10 is the biggest and speediest of Amazon’s tablets. Amazon refreshed it in 2021 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) with a brighter display screen and three gigabytes of RAM. Alongside it, there is a Fire HD 10 Plus, which bumps the RAM to 4 GB and provides wi-fi charging, which is price the additional $30 in case you plan to do greater than watch films and browse the net. And Amazon is hoping you will do extra, as there is a “productivity bundle” that features a good keyboard (no trackpad although) and a one-year subscription to Microsoft 365. Working on the Fire HD 10 is not unhealthy, as long as you do not want Google apps. None of Google’s workplace apps work on the Fire HD 10, not even within the browser. (There is a workaround.)

The Fire HD 10 has a bigger display screen with extra pixels (1080p) than its siblings, making it higher for watching movies. And, as with the Fire HD 8, you’ll be able to shout instructions at Alexa from throughout the room. To use Alexa’s Show Mode, swipe down on the notification overlay and verify the Show Mode field. After that, you’ll be able to set your HD 10 on a stand (in case you go for the Plus mannequin, we just like the official wi-fi charging stand) and it primarily turns into an Echo Show.

You can select between 32-gigabyte or 64-gigabyte fashions (with a MicroSD slot on each so you’ll be able to add as much as 1 TB of storage down the street in case you want more room). Whichever you select, Amazon will serve up commercials on the lock display screen. To eliminate that, you will must spend $15 extra for the model with out “special offers.”

Best-Value Fire Tablet

Amazon’s lately refreshed 2022 model of the Fire HD 8 (6/10 WIRED Review) includes a sooner processor and barely thinner design, but it surely’s very a lot an incremental replace. The processor improve is welcome and makes this extra travel-friendly-size pill very practically as quick as our high choose. The huge distinction is the display screen, which is not practically as good because the Fire 10 HD display screen. On this smaller mannequin, pixels are sometimes nonetheless seen and flicks usually really feel flat.

Still, the HD 8 has a lot of the advantages of the HD 10, together with hands-free Alexa, stereo sound, USB-C, and practically 12 hours of battery life. I like to recommend choosing up Amazon’s magnetic stand-up case in case you plan on watching films or TV, or, in case you go for the Plus mannequin, the Wireless Charging Dock, which turns your pill into an Echo Show speaker.

Best Fire Tablet for Kids

Recognizing that “kids” covers a variety of hand sizes and different components, Amazon has two completely different Kids Edition Fire tablets. There’s the common Kids Edition and a “Pro” mannequin. The latter, geared toward older children, has a streamlined case with rather less padding. We suppose the 2022 Fire HD 8 Kids ($150) is the very best gadget for youthful children, whereas the 2021 Fire HD 10 Kids Pro ($200), which is actually huge in little-kid palms, is best for older youngsters. The Fire 7 Kids ($110) is a fair cheaper possibility for younger youngsters, although mine have at all times discovered the 7-inch display screen dimension more difficult to make use of.

The Kids Edition variations are precisely the identical because the common Fire tablets, besides they arrive with a rugged case and a two-year worry-free assure, which implies Amazon will substitute the pill without spending a dime in case your children break it. It additionally comes with one 12 months of Amazon Kids+, providing entry to kid-friendly films, books, video games, and apps. It prices $5 per thirty days after the primary 12 months (for Prime subscribers, $8 if you do not have Prime). Be positive to see our information to managing Amazon Kids+ content material.

Best Budget Fire Tablet

Last 12 months Amazon refreshed its smallest Fire pill, the 7-inch mannequin. The 2022 model includes a barely extra highly effective processor, double the RAM, and longer battery life. It additionally prices by way of USB-C. Unfortunately, the paltry 16 gigabytes of storage stays, although the supported SD card dimension has gone as much as 1 terabyte, so if you need extra storage (and consider me, you do), you’ll be able to add it. Also up for this launch is the worth, which jumps from $49 to $59.

In the previous, we have advisable avoiding this one as a result of it was underpowered and the small display screen makes it much less helpful. After a couple of months of testing, it is turn out to be obvious that the processor is definitely ok—not quick, but it surely’s nice for net looking and watching video. The display screen, then again, stays small. We nonetheless suppose you are higher off spending $40 extra for the Fire 8, but when that is out of your price range, the brand new Fire 7 will do.

Best Fire Accessories

Get a Cover

Fire tablets are sturdy sufficient, however  I’ve discovered the screens do scratch fairly simply. It’s price defending your funding with a canopy. Amazon’s covers are good–they don’t seem to be too cumbersome and supply good safety–however they’re costly. At $30, Fintie’s Folio Cases aren’t less expensive, however they’re regularly on sale for extra like $15 to $20; in case you can seize one at that value they’re effectively price it.

Get a Keyboard for Work

I will not go as far as to recommend a Fire Tablet can substitute your laptop computer, however I’ve discovered that I can get a superb bit of labor performed on my Fire HD 10 after I pair it with Finitie’s Bluetooth Keyboard ($50). This is identical keyboard Amazon sells as a part of its productiveness bundle. It lacks a trackpad, and the keys are a bit of smaller, but it surely’s in any other case fairly good to sort on. If you rating a Fire HD 10 for $55 throughout a sale, get the keyboard for $55 (it is usually on sale for much less) and use our information to get the Google Play Store put in, and you will have very usable work gadget for round $100. That’s robust to beat.

Amazon Sells Older Fire Tablets. Don’t Buy Them

Only purchase one of many eleventh or twelfth Generation Fire tablets. We recommend sticking to the fashions we speak about on this article (additionally listed right here). Older-model Fire tablets will not get software program updates for so long as the present era will. You’ll additionally miss out on the sooner processor and extra RAM within the newer fashions. A much better concept is to attend for Prime Day or one other sale when you may get the brand new fashions at 30 to 50 % off.

If you will not be deterred from shopping for an older Fire pill proper now, make sure you cross-reference the most recent replace accessible for the pill you’re going to purchase (discover it on this sheet) with the most recent model of Fire OS to see how up-to-date your software program will likely be. And keep in mind that Amazon does reduce off outdated gadgets from accessing its content material.

What’s WIRED About All Fire Tablets

A faucet for Amazon content material: If you subscribe to Amazon’s Prime service, you’ll be able to eat all of the included films, music, TV, and books, store for all of the gadgets you may get with its free two-day delivery, and browse your free Amazon photograph storage. You can do a lot of the similar issues from an Android pill or iPad, however the Fire OS interface is crafted particularly to ship Amazon items, with swipeable pages for every sort of media Amazon sells.

Built “good enough”: Physically, Amazon’s Fire tablets are made from cheap-ish plastic, however they’re designed with sufficient care that the construct high quality received’t trouble you an excessive amount of. The Kids Editions are additionally a number of the best-quality tablets for youths, encased in a rugged bumper, and all have MicroSD slots so you’ll be able to add additional storage. (We suggest this 128-GB MicroSD card for $17.)