Today Amazon released a new updated version of the Fire HD 8 tablet. It comes with a number of improvements and a much lower starting price, so it’s a win win.
I knew something was going on with the Fire HD 8 last month when all the various colors and model variations suddenly and mysteriously became unavailable to purchases all at once.
The new Fire HD 8 has a larger battery for up to 12 hours of battery life.
That’s up from 8 hours on the last model, which from my experience was more like 6 hours so the increased battery life is definitely a plus.
The RAM has also been upgraded by 50% to 1.5GB, and the starting storage space has been bumped up from 8GB to 16GB (there’s also a 32GB model).
Along with the new Fire HD 8, Amazon has announced that Alexa support is coming to the entry-level Fire, the Fire HD 10, and both generations of Fire HD 8 tablets in the coming months.
Here’s more from the press release:
When connected to Wi-Fi, simply long-press the home button and ask Alexa to play your favorite song, open a game, or read you the latest audiobook—Alexa provides quick access to the entertainment you want. Plus, you can ask Alexa for the news, weather, jokes, questions, and more—Alexa provides natural-language responses, combined with on-screen information on the tablet’s display. Third parties can publish Alexa skills, so you can ask Alexa to play music from services including Pandora and Spotify, and turn off the light or adjust the temperature on compatible smart home devices.
The new Fire HD 8 is available for pre-order starting today from $89. It is expected to ship on September 21st. There are 4 color choices available, black, magenta, blue, and tangerine, plus each has the option for 16GB or 32GB with special offers or without.
When I reviewed the Fire HD 8 last year I was impressed by how nice it was. It’s very thin and sleek and the screen looks surprisingly nice for being on the lower end of the resolution scale with 189 ppi.
At $89 the Fire HD 8 is going to give the $49 Fire tablet a run for its money because it is a much nicer tablet for the price with better overall specs.
The hd10 is also sold out in some models. Like the black with 32gb. Yet still in stock for the 16gb. Seems odd they would let that one option be out of stock. Plus the white is completely unavailable. But if they were doing a upgrade on the hd10, wouldn’t you announce that at the same time?
But, I just read this comment:
“Keep the old HD 8, it is quicker (1.5GHz vs 1.3GHZ), lighter (11oz vs 12oz), faster WIFI (b/g/n/AC vs b/g/n) and has a better camera (5MP vs 2MP). Wait for next upgrade.”
Your opinion? Thanks
It just depends on what’s important to you. It’s probably not worth “upgrading” from a 1st gen Fire HD 8 but for $60 less it’s going to be a lot more appealing to new buyers. Obviously the weight and thickness had to increase a bit for the larger battery. I doubt 0.2GHz makes any noticeable difference whatsoever, and all tablet cameras pretty much suck so the drop-off isn’t going to make much difference to most people.
I noticed that the “without special offers” version is $25 more. I though this “upgrade” was generally $20. Is this a change to the pricing or did I miss something because I don’t follow Amazon devices?
It must be too early in the morning or something because it’s showing $15 more on my end. 😀 It’s costs $15 for Fire tablets and $20 for Kindles.
Oops. I never was very good at arithmetic. Sorry.
I like the form factor of this 8 inch Fire tablet. I bought mine used for $60 and its been great, except for the battery. Battery life sucks on it. Thats why I didnt hesitate to pick up this new version. This has become my go-to tablet. I use it equally as much as my iPad Mini but when I travel, I take the Fire. Nothing beats having an SD card you can dump full of movies, books, magazines and so on. And for sub-$100 pricing, if it breaks or gets stolen, Im not as put out as I would be with my iPad Mini breaking.
I’m super excited for the release of the upgraded fire HD. I’m totally blind and, thus far, Apple have been the leaders in tablet accessibility but given I’m looking for a tablet exclusively for listening to/reading kindle books, I cannot justify the iPad mini’s price tag. I know that the current Fire HD model is accessible too but given this 1 is going to be cheaper, have an SD slot, will have access to Alexa and has a better battery life, why would i not just wait? If you want a full review of its accessibility features then I’m happy to provide but I may not get 1 until Xmas as my hubby needs spoon feeding when it comes to presents. He openly admits he’s rubbish at thinking what people might want though. lol
I recently purchased the Fire HD 8,to try as an e-reader. I am VERY disappointed in its capabilities as an e-reader. PDFs do not take up the whole screen,which means there is not a big difference from a 6″ or 7″ reader.
The Helvetica font on the Fire HD 8 is thinner than on my basic Kindle. I thought Amazon had solved that earlier in the year. I guess they solved and unsolved it. Which is why I keep my basic Kindle off the Internet.
I have read that one can add e-reading software to Kindle tablets. That will be my next step.