Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet, 8” HD Display, 64GB, 30% faster processor, designed for portable entertainment, (2022 release), Denim

Super easy setup
This fire was super easy to set up. Within 5mins of turning it on it was completely functional. Screen quality is great! Speeds are fantastic. Overall I’m very happy with this product!

Great software held back by mediocre hardware
I got the 2022 Fire HD 8 to replace my 2013 Fire HDX 7. While the software on the new tablet is a huge upgrade, the hardware is rather lackluster (the decade-old HDX had an excellent display and processor, even by today’s standards). The Fire HD 8 is still perfectly usable for most basic tasks as long as you put up with occasional stutters, and the 8″ size is a sweet spot that is not too large for ebook reading but also not too small for watching videos. There are very few alternatives in the compact tablet market and pretty much none at this price point.Hardware:The display has a resolution of 1280×800, so it’s not full HD (compared to 1920×1200 on the old HDX 7 as well as the current Fire HD 10). The lack of sharpness is most noticeable with smaller text, but otherwise the resolution is not really an issue when reading ebooks (I use a medium font size) or when watching videos.The stereo speakers are also pretty good for a tablet of this size, certainly good enough for watching videos. For music, I use wireless headphones paired via Bluetooth, but there is also a wired headphone jack for those who prefer that.The MediaTek processor is perhaps the biggest letdown on the hardware side, it barely gets the job done and chokes if you try to do anything fancy.Battery life is excellent. Since my last charge 3 days ago, I’ve used the tablet about an hour each day (mix of reading, music and videos) and I have just under 80% remaining. That is pretty much in line with the advertised battery life of 13 hours, and it loses very little charge on standby. Using a USB-C charger capable of fast charging (not the bundled one), it charges fully in under 2 hours.Software:Fire OS is a pleasure to use, especially if you’re into the Amazon ecosystem. Obviously it comes preloaded with all the Amazon apps, but my favorite part of the UI is the Library tab on the home screen, which provides quick access to recently viewed content in each app (such as Kindle books or recently visited websites). It’s basically an improved version of the carousel on my old HDX, and it’s a really useful feature that other tablets could benefit from.Fire OS comes with the Amazon Appstore – it is technically possible to get access to the Google Play Store, but this is probably not the right tablet if you use a ton of apps. The Amazon Appstore does have apps for most subscription video services, however there is no official YouTube app (I just use the browser and it works fine).There is even a split-screen mode that lets you run two apps side-by-side, but the underpowered processor makes this unusable in practice. I even had the tablet lock up once when playing around with the split-screen feature. It’s a shame because the software features really deserve a better processor.Overall, it’s a decent tablet for the price and works fine for reading books, listening to music and watching videos. That “decent” could turn into “excellent” with a faster processor and a full HD (1080p) screen, and I would gladly pay a bit extra for that.

Very Easy to Set Up – Highly Versatile tablet
I recommend this Fire 8 because it allows me to read Kindle books — including a text book from which I am teaching a class — listen to Audible books, watch video, access the Internet and YouTube, and much more. With its high memory and speed of charging, it will be useful to me for a long time. My Kindle Fire First Generation still works, but this is a smart replacement. (Note: I tried a paper white kindle in the interim, but the black and white was hard to read from — not enough contrast for my eyes.) I am also pleased that it was easy to sync this with my kindle and audible books. Amazon’s delivery was remarkably quick — and they willingly replaced an earlier order that had a scratch on the screen. I couldn’t have had better service.