Amazon Fire HD 8" Wi-Fi Tablets
$35.99
Condition: Amazon Certified Refurbished; Open Box
Screen Size: 8"
Capacity: 8GB
Top positive review
10 people found this helpful
A Kindle HD6 user upgrades
By John L. Murphy on Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2015
I had two Kindle HD6 models the past year. One lasted eight months until it refused to charge anymore, suddenly. its replacement took only two months to refuse a charge. The store (Best Buy) I purchased these from is no longer stocking the 6 model, so I hesitated between a 7 2015 and the new 8 model. While many reviewers have lamented its battery power, so far, fingers crossed, the 8 seems about the same rate as my 6's. That is, you will get a drop in sleep mode or when off, same as with a smartphone, so I advise easing up on use if you take this with you. Unfortunate, but as a Android phone user, so with a Fire: you need to pack an external battery in your travel kit, just in case, to last a longer journey away from a plug in power supply. I try to reduce the brightness and opt for a green background that I find easier in reading. The differences for those moving up, like me, are not major. I wanted a larger screen as I use the Kindle mainly for reading documents and texts, and the wider screen that works best in landscape mode is appealing and easier on the eyes. I found the 6 model was hard to enlarge and keep the sense of where I was on a small space, especially when navigating the web. The same Silk browser and default Bing are here; I did notice unlike the switch between my two 6 models that the bookmarks I had stored on Bing did not transfer, although all else did seamlessly. Set-up took about half an hour. Much easier than some have reported. One glitch I noticed from my end was I kept trying to enter my account and getting a registration error. I had kept pressing "continue" on the tablet rather than the enter on the keyboard. It already had me in the system but I could not figure this out until I rebooted, returned to the home screen, and found this out. But I had not gotten a confirmation message before then. Not sure how that happened, but it registered me wirelessly and invisibly. It started at 70% out of the box and was 56% by the end of the process. One other dilemma one reviewer found is easily solved. Docs are still here but no longer as a menu option. Instead, they are moved to an app. It works the same, and save-to-Kindle is a nice feature that now is given along with the choice of archiving to the cloud or keeping docs on the Kindle. This is a big relief for those of us who rely on the Kindle as a reader of other material besides the books we purchase from Amazon. I wish you could get rid of apps such as Free Time and Firefly, although there's less bloatware than on your smartphone. The ads are there instead, but this is a compromise for the "special offers" to save $15 off the price. You can use that towards a case or screen protector combination. Another reviewer asked if the Blue Shield was installed for easier lighting before bedtime, and blocking the blue frequencies that interfere with sleep. I am pleased to note it is on this Kindle HD 8, and not only (as I thought when researching options on the Amazon site) on the pricier Reader's Edition. You don't get the fancy case and a year of Kindle Unlimited, but this basic model is a hundred dollars cheaper. As others agree, unless you pack a lot of games or videos for portable access, the 8 GB model should suffice. I understand your own saved file material is not able to be moved to it off a SD card. This appears confounding, but I reckon Amazon wants us to store its own content, and again, this is a capitulation we all make for a bargain tablet. One crucial difference I must note: this does not seem as sensitive as previous Kindle models (Touch and 6HD) as to picking up my router. I can walk around with this and watch the bars go down or up, whereas with other Kindles, they did not register a difference. I could stand next to my router and still may get on of my two home one router channels a "connection failure" message when trying to connect to wi-fi. I almost deducted a star from the rating, as this is a serious issue. While still a $100 more than the great 7 reboot model, I opted for the 8 for its screen size to read and browse the web. I do not use a Kindle (to date) for keyboard entry for word processing but I may try this now that I have a larger layout. I also notice keyboards are beginning to bundle with cases as with other tablets out there. I am neither a video watcher on the Kindle nor a gamer, but I imagine the configuration appeals to many that way. Nice choice of screensavers, not that heavy at all, and a nice fit in the hands. It takes two to handle the heftier model securely. but you get the larger screen, of course. The Bellini OS is an elegant upgrade, and I like the drop-down menu with a few key settings such as airplane mode. This is handier, as I go into this normally when not on the web. Thinner than I expected, and as I will use this primarily at home and once in a while on the road, it fits into a small bag neatly. If you have a purse, I am not sure how this fits or not, but for those with a small shoulder bag or backpack, this is of course two inches longer than the 6, so it no longer fits into many a coat or any jeans pocket. The apps control as well as back button and home are now the three master controls at the bottom of any touchscreen. The SD slot has a cover over it, like some other devices, but all other ports and speakers are open, with two small speakers on the long side. Color display is as expected, and realize that full brightness and high volume will consume the battery rapidly. So far, the transition for this Kindle 6 user has been smooth and not as perilous as others seem to have encountered. Let me know if this review helped you, and I wish you fulfillment as you choose the Kindle best matched for your education and entertainment.
Top critical review
1,193 people found this helpful
Disappointed First Impressions
By Kindle Customer on Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2015
As a background, I am a retired Information Systems professional and I am writing my first impressions of the Fire HD 8 from the perspective of being a long-time Kindle user. I have all the current e-readers and Fire devices from Amazon including the basic Kindle, the Paperwhite (2013,2014,2015 models), the Fire HD6, Fire HD7, Fire HDX7 and Fire HDX8.9 (3rd and 4th generation). Here is a summary of my initial impressions of the new Fire HD8. Amazon removed the Fire HD7, the Fire HDX7 and the Fire HDX8.9 and replaced them with the Fire HD (7" screen), Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10. HARDWARE: WHAT COMES IN THE BOX: The HD8 Fire, a short USB cord and a power adapter. Finally, Amazon ships a power adapter with their Fires so you can charge and use the device right out of the box. (Picture attached) SIZE: The HD8 is longer than the older HD7 but the same width as the discontinued HD7. It is also thinner. (8.4"x5.0"x0.3" versus 7.5"x5.0"x0.4"). I have large hands and can hold it with one hand, but even with my hands, I really need to use both hands. Because it is longer, it seem "top heavy" to me. The back is also slick and slippery to hold. Mine has a habit of sliding off the table. Display: The resolution of the screen is 1280 x 800 same as the HD 7 but the pixel density is lower due to the longer screen length. In practical use, though, you can't tell the difference. The display is nice and bright but barely readable in bright sunlight. One nice touch is that now, you can choose your own wallpaper! It comes with 9 stock images and if you don't like one of them, you can choose your own image in your Amazon Photos folder. BATTERY: Like the HD6 and the HD7, the battery in the HD8 is rated at approximately 8 hours of mixed use. I wish Amazon had included the 11-hour battery life of the HDX7. The extra 3 rated hours of older HDX7 is a substantial improvement on the new HD8. With this device, I have to travel with a portable battery charger when flying across the country. I also have to constantly stay close to a plug at home when using it heavily while I browse the internet or watch videos. Realistically, I can use it for about 4-5 hours before trying to find power. STORAGE: The HD8 can be ordered with 8 GB or 16GB. However, Amazon has now added a slot where you can insert a microSD card. All Fire tablets support all classes of Ultra High Speed (UHS) MicroSD Cards. Important! For non-UHS MicroSD cards, Amazon recommends Class 10 MicroSD cards for optimal performance. Class 2 MicroSD cards may not perform well enough to support video playback or capturing burst mode photos. Although most apps can be stored on the SD card, I recommend that you order the 16GB version of the HD8 as not all apps can be loaded on the SD card, including downloaded books. You will need more than the 8 GB if you plan on downloading any books, music, videos or take photos. You can probably get by with buying the 16 GB version and using it without an SD card. If you find a need to store more content, you can always add the SD card later. The SD card slot is located on the upper right side of the device (see picture). You just open the flap and pop the SD card in. The slot is spring-loaded so that a push should spring it out again. The spring was rather stiff in my device and I had a heck of a time getting it to seat in the slot without popping out again. But once I got it to stay in, the card has performed flawlessly. WIFI: Amazon has improved the WiFi from the HD7. It comes with a dual-band antenna that operates under the a/b/g/n/ac protocols using both the 2.4 Ghz and the 5 Ghz frequency range. I live where there are about 30 routers that the HD8 can detect and it picks up my router fine without a lot of interference. I would rate the WiFi performance of the HD 8 as above average. SOUND: This is where the HD 8 shines. Amazon has upgraded the sound with Dolby Atmos and dual stereo speakers. While there are not very many movies or videos available yet, when they do become available, you're set. Atmos is a new surround sound technology, developed in 2012, that expands upon the current 5.1 and 7.1 set-ups. With Atmos, each speaker has its own feed, enabling new front, surround and ceiling-mounted height channels. I was watching a movie with cheap headphones and thought I heard helicopters fly by my house. It took me a minute to realize that the sound was from the helicopters in the movie. It really sounded like they were coming from the left and moving to the right OVERHEAD. Wow, I was impressed!! The volume buttons are placed along the top of the HD 8 along with the power button, the headphone jack and the power receptacle. So all the buttons you would touch are on top. No buttons are on the sides or bottom. Amazon improved the placement of the speakers on the HD8 by moving them from the back to the side of the device. Still not as good as having them on the front, but better than the back. I found that just placing my palm behind a speaker reflects the sound to the front for improved listening. Speaker sound is pretty good for normal listening. CAMERA: The back camera is not bad and it is considerably better than the camera on the new basic Fire HD. The front camera might be OK for Skyping but color saturation and focus aren't that great on the front. There is no flash on the back so all pictures have to be taken in adequate lighting. All the pictures uploaded to this review were taken by the back camera of an HD8 so judge for yourself. I have uploaded pictures of 1. The new basic HD 7 on top of the HD 8. 2. The device, cord and power adapter included with the device. 3. The new HD8 (magenta) next to the old HD7 (pink but called magenta). As you can see the shades are different. 4. The front screen of the old HD7 and the new HD 8. 5. The new basic Fire HD, the HD8 and the HD10, side-by-side. 6. Screen showing carousel of apps loaded and running 7. New home, back and app buttons on bottom of screen 8. Top of HD8 showing power and volume buttons. SOFTWARE: When I turned on the HD8 and started through the initial setup, it immediately had to download updated software and reboot. After that setup was slightly quicker and easier than the older devices but very similar. The HD8 software version is Fire OS 5 which is a redesigned Amazon skin that runs on top of Android Lollipop version 5.1. There are a lot of changes from Fire OS 4. First, the carousel is gone. In its place, Amazon has tabs across the top (under a search line) called RECENT, HOME, BOOKS, VIDEO, GAMES, SHOP, and APPS. You swipe right or left to move back and forth between tabs or touch the tab name. The HOME tab starts with a row called "New Items" with icons for the latest books, videos, etc. that you have downloaded or purchased. Under that is the traditional grid of apps. The RECENT tab contains a grid of icons of the most recent used items for the device. In order to read books, watch movies, etc., you must either swipe to or touch the appropriate tab. You are not going to get away from Amazon's marketing on these tabs. For instance, the BOOKS tab has a row call "FROM YOUR BOOKS LIBRARY" which displays a couple of icons of your books. At the right is small text link that you can touch titled "See all your books." Under that you have "Recommended for you in Kindle Unlimited." (I don't subscribe to Kindle Unlimited so don't know why I need that.) Below that are more rows "Recommended for you." Best Sellers, Recommended for you in Mystery, Thriller and Suspense, Recommended for you in Science Fiction, Recommended for you in Nonfiction, etc. with a "See more products" link and a "SHOP KINDLE BOOKSTORE" link at the bottom. The tab contains lots of real estate acreage for selling books with a postage-stamp sized lot for my stuff. The older Fires have three icons on the bottom of some screens that were a back arrow, a house and a search magnifier for back, home and search respectively. The new Fires have three new icons: a left-facing triangle, a circle and a square (see picture uploaded). These are available on every screen. The left-facing triangle is the back button, the circle is the home button and the square brings up the currently running or loaded apps. This is a new feature that you can access from anywhere, including the home screen. Hit the square and a carousel of loaded apps appears. You can browse up and down the list, close any running apps or hit the one you want to open. (see uploaded photo) I haven't used the device but a day but I am already disappointed. The new FIRE OS 5 operating system has quite a few bugs. I was reading email and a couple of times when I opened up a daily email from bookbub.com which contains quite a pictures of book covers. Paging down to email caused the screen to wig out with color lines and blocks of randomly colored squares. If you ever had an HD television that pixelated on the screen because of a weak signal and it couldn't decode the signal, you know what I mean. I should note that the processors in all three new Fires are slow and can't keep up. Switching screens, browsing, and even reading has some hesitation or delays. The new Fire OS 5 also has problems with collections. Because I have thousands of books, I use collections extensively for my book inventory. I have categories such as "Books Already Read," "Sci Fi," "Mystery," "Currently Reading," etc. Every book I buy, I assign it to a category of its genre, whether it is in my reading queue, currently reading or have already read. This is the way I can find anything quickly, including what I am reading. Anyway, when assigning new books to categories on the new FIRE's, the assignments won't stick. In Fire OS 5, in order to assign a book, you have to go to the "BOOK" tab, select "See all your books" on the right of the first row, hold-press the book icon to select it, hit the plus button in the upper right bring up the collection list, click the collections to add to, and hit the OK button. You do all and bring up the book collection list only to find that the book you assigned to the collection isn't there. You go through the process again and guess what, it comes up blank. I can't seem to assign books to collections, especially if they are in the cloud. So I have to grab my trusty Paperwhite or older Fire to assign books to categories. IN SUMMARY: The HD8 has several nice features and some aggravating features. The new FIRE OS 5 is a different experience but is too buggy to be used seriously. The hardware is improved with the addition of a microSD card slot. However, the battery still sucks but at least Amazon includes a power adapter which you should keep close when using the HD 8. You'll need it. The HD 8 is certainly a substantial upgrade over the basic $49 Fire HD but it costs quite a bit more. The HD 10 is essentially the same, just a bigger screen. (See uploaded side-by-side pictures for comparison) FYI. The icons, etc. are the same size on the HD 8 and the HD 10. The HD 10 puts more "space" between the icons and shows more content. Should you buy the HD 8? If you have an older Fire, NO. I can't see a compelling reason to "upgrade" because it is not really an upgrade. There are too many problems with the OS. In fact, I would probably buy an equivalently-priced Android or Apple tablet over this one--especially if you are using the internet for browsing or like to play games. At least you will have access to Google or Apple store for the wealth of apps available that aren't in Amazon's Fire Store. If you primarily read books, get either the Paperwhite or the Voyage. Either of these devices are outstanding for reading books, having high quality screens that you can read in the dark or the bright sunlight as well as a battery that will last weeks instead of hours. If you are set on buying one of Amazon's new Fire's and can't decide which one, I would recommend the FIRE HD 6. I carry that little tablet everywhere. It fits in a purse; it fits in a pocket; it even fits in a nook in my car and I can connect it to the car's Bluetooth to read Audible books and play my music when driving. Although small, the screen resolution is outstanding on the HD 6 and it runs the stable Fire OS 4 operating system. If you just HAVE to get one of the new devices, get either this one or the basic Fire HD. I prefer the HD 8 over the basic Fire because 1) the battery is 8 hours versus 7 hours, 2) better sound, 3) much better WiFi, 4) faster processor (even this one is slow), 5) higher resolution screen 6) better cameras, 7) better audio 8) you can get this in the 16GB version and 9) you can pick your own color. Later as I continue to use these new Fire HDs, I'll update my review. ====================
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