WIRED
A faucet for Amazon content material: For those who subscribe to Amazon’s Prime service, you possibly can eat all of the included motion pictures, music, TV, and books, store for all of the gadgets you may get with its free two-day delivery, and browse your free Amazon picture storage. You are able to do many of the similar issues from an Android pill or iPad, however the Fireplace OS interface is crafted particularly to ship Amazon items, with swipeable pages for every sort of media Amazon sells.
Constructed “ok”: Bodily, Amazon’s Fireplace tablets are manufactured from cheap-ish plastic, however they’re designed with sufficient care that the construct high quality gained’t hassle you an excessive amount of. The Children Editions are additionally a few of the best-quality tablets for youths, encased in a rugged bumper, and all have microSD slots so you possibly can add additional storage. (We advocate this 128-GB microSD card for $17.) You may make them much more succesful by following our information to putting in the Google Play Retailer in your Fireplace gadget. That gives you entry to the total vary of Android apps. (Word that some apps will not work, however 99 p.c of the apps on the market for Android will run simply tremendous.)
Low-cost: Did we point out the worth? All of them value $200 or much less, save the brand new Max 11. For those who follow the cheaper fashions although, they’re an excellent worth. You can too get them with Amazon lock-screen advertisements, which can decrease your worth by $15.
TIRED
Non-Amazon content material is missing: The best power of those tablets can be their best weak spot. For those who aren’t an Amazon Prime subscriber and do not plan to get your video, audio, or books from Amazon, the Fireplace pill line is much much less compelling. They do have Alexa, in order that may very well be a plus, however once more, that’s tied deeply into Amazon’s content material library. You may obtain third-party apps like Netflix on Amazon’s Appstore, however the choice is far extra restricted than what’s accessible on Apple’s iPad or the Google Play Retailer on customary Android tablets. That will help you get round this limitation, we put collectively a information to putting in the Google Play Retailer in your Fireplace gadget. Putting in the Google Play Retailer offers you entry to the total vary of Android apps. In the long run, you get a $60 pill that is able to 95 p.c of what a $330 iPad can do.
Outdated tech: The tech inside these tablets is previous. The processors aren’t the quickest, and you may possible discover small matches of lag and a basic lack of energy in comparison with dearer Android tablets. Since lots of the apps for Fireplace OS are constructed with weak processing energy in thoughts, you don’t discover it an excessive amount of. The working system can be dated (relying on which Fireplace pill you are shopping for), which may conceal a few of the weaknesses. Amazon’s newest Fireplace OS is a modified model of Android 11, which got here out in 2020. Amazon retains updating its tablets to some extent, however not almost as usually because it ought to.
Quick warranties: Solely the Fireplace HD 10 comes with a full one-year guarantee. Oddly, the smaller units include 90-day warranties.
Particular affords: Over time Amazon’s Particular Presents advertisements have gotten extra overt and annoying. We advocate you pay the additional $15 to purchase a Fireplace pill with out them.