![]() Their first and major selling point is the price level – these are cheap tablets, and even the Fire HD 10 which I’m reviewing here, normally starts at less than £150, and sometimes even less than £100, if you catch a good deal.īut the surprising bit is that for this low price – you’re getting a lot. So we’re mostly left with Apple’s iPads, which are expensive, Samsung’s tablets on the Android side, which are also expensive, and a few additional not-very-popular minor Android models. Laptops are still very much around, and with smartphone screens getting bigger and bigger, the need for tablets is decreasing. These days, however, tablets are somewhat of a niche product. Up until a few years ago, tablets were the hot gadget to get – big screens (well, bigger than phones), a wide range of apps, and the promise of productivity with optional keyboard attachments – some even believed tablets would replace laptops. So, is this the tablet to get in 2021, and who is it best for? Let’s dive in… Though of course, it’s not perfect – this isn’t an official Android device, so there are a lot of apps missing (especially Google’s ones), the camera is average at best, and you’re constantly being pushed into the Amazon ecosystem. So the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021 model) is sort of in a category of its own: It’s a 10.1″ tablet with a bright Full HD screen, it’s pretty swift and easy to use, has a decent library of apps that includes most of the major streaming apps (including all the UK broadcasters’ catch-up apps) along with games and productivity apps – and it even has Alexa built-in, for hands-free voice control.Īll this – for a VERY affordable price, far lower than almost any tablet with similar features. The Android tablet market is almost non-existent, except for Samsung, which is expensive – and very few others. iPads pretty much defined what a tablet is, but they’re expensive and gated with iOS. They're also robust and colourful, qualities that come into their own on the Kids Editions, both of which are also regularly updated.Tablets are a strange product category these days. While nobody is going to accuse Fire tablets of being at the cutting edge of processing power or beautiful design, they are more than adequate for practically all standard tablet tasks, easy to grip and manoeuvre, and dirt cheap at under £50 and under £80 respectively for the 7-inch and 8-inch models.Īlthough the screen resolutions are not changed from the older models, contrast has been boosted to make ebooks easier to read and video to ping a bit more. Pleasingly, Alexa is also available on previous generation Fires (as the 7-inch one used to be called), and the HD 8 and HD 10 tablets via a free software update. In fact, presumably Amazon won't roll out most of the core Show functionality to Fire tablets, because if they did, why would you bother buying a Show?įrom what we've seen of it, the integration with general tablet activities is very slick, letting you dismiss Alexa, but then call it back via a pull-down menu, when you realise you've forgotten what it said about the weather, or what the tune stuck in your head is.Īlexa's music and news feeds can play in the background as you do other tablet-related stuff, and all the usual support for a wide range of smart home kit is present and correct, for your lightbulb-dimming and thermostat fiddling pleasure. What it doesn't do, that the Show does, is let you make video calls or check in on elderly relatives (although since the calling service hasn't even launched in the UK yet, that's arguably a moot point). Just like the Echo Show smart displays, the Fire tablets add a visual element to certain replies, with a week's worth of weather highlights appearing on screen, for instance. Once enabled, you can ask Alexa for the weather, sports scores, news and much, much more. On the latest Fire tablet models, you can have hands-free access to Alexa ("hey Alexa"), but you need to enable the feature in the device settings. Unlike the Echo devices, but like Amazon's Fire TV media streamer line, Alexa on the Fire tablets is activated with a button press by default. What the latest Amazon Fire tablets can do ![]()
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