wired
Amazon Content Faucet: If you subscribe to Amazon’s main services, you can consume all the included movies, music, TVs and books, buy free two-day shipping on everything you can get, and browse the free Amazon Photo Storage. You can do most of the same things from an Android tablet or iPad, but the Fire OS interface is designed specifically for delivering Amazon merchandise, with every type of media selling Amazon has a swipeable page.
Build “good enough”: Physically, Amazon’s firefighting sheets are made of cheap plastic, but they are designed with so much caution that the quality of the manufacturing doesn’t bother you too much. WiFi reception is excellent, and the front camera is greatly improved in the last couple of releases. The children’s version is also some quality tablets for kids and is wrapped in a rough bumper and both have microSD slots so you can add extra storage. (We recommend this 128 GB microSD card for $17.) You can make it more capable by following our guide to installing the Google Play Store on your firefighting device. This will give you access to all Android apps. (Note that some apps don’t work properly, but 99% of Android apps out there are working fine.)
Cheapest: Have we mentioned the price? They are all priced over $200 or less, saving new maximum 11. If you stick to cheaper models, they are of great value. You can also get them with Amazon Lock-Screen ads, which will reduce your price by $15.
Fatigue
Lack of non-Amazon content: The biggest advantage of these tablets is also their biggest weakness. If you are not an Amazon Prime subscriber and don’t plan to get videos, audios, or books from Amazon, then Fire Tablet Line is compelling. They do have Alexa, so that might be a plus sign, but again, it’s deeply connected to Amazon’s content library. You can download third-party apps such as Netflix on Amazon’s AppStore, but choose Yes Distant More limited than available on the Apple iPad or Google Play Store on a standard Android tablet. To help you with this limitation, we have summarized a guide to installing the Google Play Store on your firefighting device. Installing the Google Play Store gives you access to a full range of Android applications. Finally, you’ll get a $60 tablet that can make up 95% of the iPad’s $330.
Old technology: The technology inside these tablets is ancient. The processor isn’t the fastest, and you may notice smaller lag and a general lack of power compared to more expensive Android tablets. Touch screens are not responsive or sensitive for expensive tablets. Since many FIRE OS applications have weaker processing power built, you won’t notice much. The operating system is also outdated (depending on the firefighting piece you are buying), which may hide some weaknesses. Amazon’s latest Fire OS is a modified version of Android 11, which was released in 2020. Amazon has been updating its tablets to a certain extent, but not as often as it should be.
Short warranty: Only the Fire HD 10 comes with a full one-year warranty. Strangely, the smaller device comes with a 90-day warranty.
Special offer: Over time, Amazon’s special offer ads have become increasingly obvious and annoying. We recommend you pay an extra $15 for the firefighting tablet without them.
