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Amazon Fire 7 (2022) Review

Improved Performance that’s just Good Enough

Even though Amazon’s Fire 7 tablet has never had top-of-the-line performance, it has always been good enough to get by. That approach remains unchanged with the 2022 version. Amazon is using a quad-core processor with 2GB of memory in the Fire 7, which the company says will provide a 30% performance boost over the 2019 model.

The 2GB of memory alone is double what was in the previous model, and it’s a noticeable addition, especially when gaming. However, overall performance with the Fire 7 is something that will teach you to have patience.

The Fire 7 tablet is usually quick and responsive when moving between sections of the interface, such as opening the Kindle Store, and Amazon Appstore, and then viewing the Library tab. However, there is a longer-than-expected delay for the Fire 7’s keyboard to show up when you tap on a search box.

There’s a dedicated gaming mode built into the Fire 7’s operating system that automatically turns on when it detects you’ve opened a game (any game you’ve installed from the Appstore will trigger it). Game Mode optimizes the device’s memory, hides notifications, and disables the Alexa feature. Even with Game Mode, it can take a minute or two before a game becomes playable.

It seems that as long as an app stays in memory, the performance of the Fire 7 is noticeably improved. However, if you use the Silk Browser for a few minutes and then exit it, and later return to it after using the Fire 7 for another task, the next launch of Silk will take a few extra seconds to load. Therefore, the Fire 7’s performance is good enough for single-app use but it isn’t as good at multitasking.

Amazon touts a 10-hour battery life for the Fire 7, another improved stat over the 2019 model. And, while I can’t confirm 10 hours of use is possible, I can say that battery life is one area of the Fire 7 where I don’t have any complaints. I had plenty of battery life left after streaming free live TV for a couple of hours in the Freebee app, browsing the web, and attempting to play Roblox.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Reviews

Amazon has announced a new and improved version of the Fire HD 8 that will be released in 2022, but it won’t be available for purchase until after Prime Day 2. Although the new model features a faster processor and sleeker design, the changes are quite minimal (and the price will be slightly higher at $100). However, we still believe that the 2020 version of the Fire HD 8 is one of the best values on the market for a tablet — especially when it’s on sale!

The new Fire HD 8 series is much more capable than its smaller sibling, with a processor upgrade and a Plus model ($110) with 3 gigabytes of RAM and wireless charging. It’s portable enough to take with you anywhere, and its screen won’t torture your eyes when you watch Netflix. That said, the screen is not quite as nice as the one on the larger Fire HD 10, which boasts a higher pixel density.

Still, the HD 8 has most of the benefits of the HD 10, including hands-free Alexa, stereo sound, USB-C, and nearly 12 hours of battery life. I recommend picking up Amazon’s magnetic stand-up case if you plan on watching movies or TV, or, if you opt for the Plus model, the Wireless Charging Dock, which turns your tablet into an Echo Show speaker.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus (2022) Review

Like other Amazon-branded tablets, the Fire HD 8 Plus tablet is a nice little device if you’re heavily invested in the e-commerce giant’s ecosystem. It comes with everything you need to manage Alexa-enabled devices, all while you get your fill of Amazon-branded entertainment with the preinstalled Prime Video, Amazon Music, Kindle, and Audible apps.

The tablet comes in two flavors: the standard Fire HD 8 and the Fire HD 8 Plus, as well as versions with and without ads. While the Fire HD 8 Plus with ads (the one I’m reviewing) starts at $119.99, you’ll have to pay about $25 extra to remove lock screen ads — but I think it’s worth it — putting its price at $134.99. Meanwhile, the standard Fire HD 8 model starts at $99.99 with ads (or $114.99 without). The main differences between the two devices are camera quality and RAM, with the Fire HD 8 Plus coming with marginally better cameras, 3GB of RAM instead of 2GB, and wireless charging

As the “8” in its name implies, the Fire HD 8 Plus tablet features an eight-inch 1280 x 800 LCD display surrounded by a fairly solid plastic chassis in black, blue, or pink. The display itself isn’t the most impressive, as colors can appear dull when streaming, and the device’s maximum brightness just isn’t quite bright enough. Take the device outside on a sunny day, for example, and it’s difficult to make out anything on the screen. Even still, the display is good enough if you don’t care much about the vibrancy of what you’re streaming and if you just plan on using it indoors (or at least in some shade).

The tablet comes with 32GB or 64GB storage options (with the option to upgrade to 1TB with an SD card) and 3GB of RAM. It has a six-core processor that Amazon says is 30 percent faster than its predecessor. The tablet is speedier than I initially expected, but I found that you still have to wait several seconds when opening an app, which makes using the device a lot less fluid. I noticed more clunkiness when navigating my way around the tablet, as trying to scroll or select something becomes difficult when the device is in the middle of loading an app or webpage.

The tablet uses Fire OS 8, Amazon’s forked version of the two-year-old Android 11. Not only does the OS look and feel a bit outdated but also Google’s apps are notably absent from the Amazon Appstore. This means you can’t even download YouTube, which seems contradictory for a tablet focused on entertainment. The mountain of YouTube copycats on the Amazon Appstore is another issue; after searching for YouTube once, phony YouTube look-alikes populated my “Discover” feed on the tablet’s home screen and in my recommended apps on the Appstore. (There are ways to sideload the Google Play Store onto the Fire 8, just like you’ve been able to do for years on Amazon’s older tablets, but that’s not exactly a straightforward process and outside the scope of this review.)

The lack of YouTube aside, the tablet is a solid device for streaming, especially if you pay $139 a year for Prime. It might take a little bit to actually open Prime Video or Peacock, but when the app finally loads, I can easily cue up a show or movie, and it doesn’t look all that bad, either. Sure, it’s no 4K screen and the video can appear a bit grainy at times, but it’s good enough for viewing while on the go or when lying in bed. If you are planning on watching something, though, make sure to grab a pair of headphones. The Fire HD 8 Plus comes with a headphone jack, and you should use it if you don’t want to subject yourself to the speaker’s tinny-sounding audio.

Accessing smart home controls is pretty simple, too. As I mentioned earlier, you can simply swipe the left tab on the lock screen to gain access to your connected devices, open the Amazon Alexa app, or use a voice command. Like Amazon’s other Fire tablets, you can also convert it into a smart display by swiping down on the screen and toggling on Show Mode. With this enabled, you can prop the device up on a dock or use its case as a stand and it becomes a cheaper version of the Amazon Echo Show.

But if you want to use the Fire HD 8 Plus for video calls, don’t expect the crisp camera quality that you might get on your phone or a high-end webcam. The Fire HD 8 Plus comes with a subpar 2MP front camera with 720p video and a rear 5MP camera with 1080p video, while the base model sports an even weaker 2MP front and rear camera with 720p HD video. Both the front and rear cameras capture unsurprisingly grainy photos and videos.

Amazon says its Fire HD 8 Plus tablet comes with up to 13 hours of battery life, and after playing around with the device for about a week, I can say that this estimate is about right. I didn’t have to charge the device all that much, and even when I do, I can just hook it up to the same charger I use for my Samsung phone, as it conveniently supports USB-C. (And, unlike other companies like Apple and Samsung, Amazon actually includes a cord and charging brick with the device.) The device takes about three hours to charge, and the same goes if you were to use it with the $49.99 wireless charging dock. It supports any Qi-certified wireless chargers as well.

Amazon Fire HD 10 Review

Amazon’s Fire HD tablets may not be the last word when it comes to luxury or performance, but they do the job for a low price and are often great gifts for kids or tablet newbies. Predictably, Amazon refreshes its budget tablet lineup every few years or so, and the latest update is its most expensive model, the Amazon Fire HD 10.

The Fire HD 10 is an affordable 10.1-inch tablet with a full HD screen. It runs Amazon’s Fire OS Android overlay and comes preloaded with Amazon’s App Store and Alexa voice assistant. You can choose between 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, and it accepts microSD cards of up to 1TB. It also has the same 2MP front-facing camera as the 2019 model.

When it comes to similarities, this is it. In terms of headlines, the new Fire HD 10 is thinner and lighter than the previous model and is said to feature a 10 percent brighter 1200p resolution display and 50 percent more memory (3GB). If you’re looking for a no-frills, big-screen tablet from Amazon, look no further than the Amazon Fire HD 10.

Amazon Fire HD 10 Review: What you need to know

The display here is similar to the Plus variant of the same tablet, a 10.1-inch 1080p touchscreen with a 1920 x 1200 resolution. We found the screen to be sharp enough and the colors to be particularly vibrant. That means watching HD video looks great, making it a useful option for streaming TV and movies. In our tests, however, it looked a bit dim even at full brightness and quickly became unreadable in bright sunlight.

In terms of performance, the Fire HD 10 is powered by an octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM, and as we found in our testing, it provided enough performance to surf the web and stream video without any noticeable lag. The choice of 32GB or 64GB of storage is handy, and users can expand it up to 1TB if they need that much storage on an affordable tablet.

The cameras here, with a 5MP snapper on the back and a 2MP rear camera, offer meager performance at best, images from the rear camera are overly sharp, selfies on the front are good, and for this software, the Fire HD 10 offers the same The functional Fire OS experience is just like the other operating systems on this list.

The design here is kept simple and functional, the Fire HD 10 is made of matte plastic that feels reasonably durable if it looks a little cheap, and at 465 grams, it’s one of the lighter 10-inch tablets out there. making it easy to carry around. Thick bezels adorn all four sides of the display, which can make this particular Fire tablet feel more dated than the competition, although the lack of physical buttons is inconsistent and offers a more modern look.

Battery life here is slightly below average, with the Fire HD 10 lasting just over 7 hours during testing. This contract is pretty strict as Amazon’s own offer for 12-hour Go-Juice. On the other hand, we found it charged quickly

Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus Review

For years, Amazon’s Fire devices have been the go-to for cheap, basic media consumption — the iPad is beautiful but expensive, there are few decent Android tablets (the Galaxy Tab S series being the main exception), and Amazon will continue to do so with its affordable, low-spec, innocuous tablets account for a large portion of the market.

But what do we have here? 4GB of memory? Up to 64GB of storage? The additional “plus sign” at the end of the name? Wireless charging? Bundled option for Microsoft Office and Bluetooth keyboard? Yes, the Amazon Fire line is clearly growing and becoming more important — the new 10.1-inch Plus model wants more than surfing the web and watching movies on Amazon Prime.

Sure, these extras are welcome, but they don’t really do much. Even if the Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus is the best of the bunch, it’s still going to appeal to the majority of its audience — people who want a cheap, reliable tablet

On the positive side, this is a well-built tablet, with a good display and perfectly adequate battery life. Alexa can’t be faulted, and you get easy access to all of Amazon’s apps and services — photos, music, movies, ebooks, audiobooks, and everything else (the software also does a capable job of remembering where you are up to in your various bits of content). It’s not all that fast, but it doesn’t need to be.

As for the negatives: well, it looks like a cheap tablet, on the whole. The Fire OS software is based on Android, but lacks a few key apps, including all of the Google ones (and YouTube, unless you want to visit YouTube in a web browser) — if you’re heavily invested in the Google ecosystem, you might well be better off looking elsewhere.

Fire Kids (3–7)

Fire 7 Kids

Fire HD 8 Kids

Fire HD 10 Kids

Fire Kids (6–12)

Fire HD 8 Kids Pro

Fire HD 10 Kids Pro