Amazon has just released their Fire HD 8 tablet for 2022 and it is a barebones device that is geared towards anyone that is heavily invested in the Amazon ecosystem. The ideal customer is someone who subscribes to Prime Video, Audible or Amazon Music. You will be able to read books, magazines, manga and newspapers too. The company doesn’t pay much attention to tablet design other than perhaps how it serves functionality, which means you won’t find fancy materials or top-notch build quality here. The Fire HD 8 is a basic, no-frills tablet that isn’t overly attractive. It comes in three colors: Black, Denim, or Rose.
The Fire HD 8 2022 edition features an 8-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 by 800 with 189 PPI and a 16:9 aspect ratio. The light comes from the backlit screen, so it will be shining into your eyes. If this really bothers you, or if you have vision disorders, go with a Kindle. You won’t get good viewing outside, but this tablet is good for indoors, primarily due to the 400-nit brightness.
Underneath the hood is a hexa-core ARM MT8169A processor with 2GB of RAM and graphics are handled by a Mali-G52 MC2 GPU. There are two different storage configurations 32GB/64GB and it also has a SD card capable of an additional 1TB of storage. There are stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 5.0 and USB-C for charging or transferring data. Amazon doesn’t disclose battery life, but you should get about ten hours of use, such as watching YouTube videos or streaming video. There’s a 2MP camera on both the front and back of the Fire HD 8 (2022). These might be useful for things like scanning QR codes or basic video calling. You won’t be using them to take photos worth sharing.Â
Amazon is using FireOS which is based on Android 11. Apps are downloaded from the Amazon app Store. It has no Google apps or services. No Play Store. No Gmail app. No Chrome browser. If you want to see Google Photos you can navigate the included web browser to the Google site.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
