Top positive review
26 people found this helpful
Amazing Deal for the Price
By Freddy Slogan on Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2019
I bought the tablet on Prime Day for a discounted price. For $50 I knew it was not going to be better than my previous tablet which was an iPad Air (1st generation) for which I paid 16 times more than the Fire HD 8. Since I gave my iPad to my daughter for school, I needed a tablet for myself. I didn't want to spend more than $500 on a tablet for sure, so this tablet was perfect for my budget. All I use my tablet for was to watch videos and reply to emails, so I knew I didn't need a powerhouse like the new iPad Pro. And most definitely I needed something portable, which the iPad Pro definitely isn't. So I decided to try out the Fire HD8. Honestly I am genuinely surprised with how much the HD8 has to offer. For $50 I was able to do a lot, so here are the cons and pros after using it for 1 month. Pros: Very affordable (get the one with ads, ads are only on the lock screen totally not intrusive, you save $15.00, close to 20% off total price) Alexa hands-free (amazing feature to control all my smart appliances at home) 720p video SD Card (unlike the iPad) Feels sturdy (I feel that if I drop the tablet it won't break fairly easy) Battery life (pretty solid battery for a small tablet, about 10 hours from my experience) Cons: Limited amount of apps from the Amazon app store (absolutely no google apps at all, made from google anyways, only knock-offs) Speakers (they are not very loud and it's very apparently once you start to consume media, but they are ok) Cameras (every time you open the cameras you'll feel as if you're back to 2005, but not a deal breaker for me though) Not a full Android experience (you will need to install the Play Store APK in order to get android apps, but not a lot of people will be able to) Laggy (it is laggy at times, especially if you have multiple apps open in the background, so try to close any apps you're not using) SD card slot is a very difficult to pop open... seriously (might have been just my unit though) Screen (resolution is adequate, especially considering the price, but it doesn't get too bright) Conclusion: In conclusion, I would totally recommend the HD 8 because I feel that for the price you are getting a lot. That being said, don't go in and expect the performance of an iPad because you won't find it. If you go in and know what to expect, you will enjoy the experience like I have. 6 Weeks Later: The tablet broke down on me. It got stuck on the booting screen. I called Amazon and the lady who helped me was absolutely not knowledgeable on how to fix the problem. She sent me a replacement instead, which I was happy for. 2 days later I receive it on my door. I opened the package and it was a refurbished unit sent to me. How do I know it was a refurbished unit? Well, it said so in the box it came in LOL. I paid for a brand new unit the day I bought it, and 6 weeks later it breaks down and now I am stuck with a REFURBISHED tablet. Needless to say, I am very disappointed that Amazon sent me a refurbished HD8 instead of another brand new one, but at least it works, for now anyways. I will post a follow up to see how the refurbished replacement holds up. Follow up: I have been using my HD8 for a while now and after the replacement was sent I have had no issues whatsoever. Battery lasts 2 days for me and I am pleasantly surprised. Definitely recommend it!
Top critical review
1 people found this helpful
This is not a tablet. If you are ok with no Google, go for it...
By Gil Hamilton on Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2020
This is not a tablet. It is a mobile screen designed to sell Amazon products. Everything you do on it is Amazon-branded, and you can pretty much only do Amazon-branded things. Look at your Amazon music, listen to your Amazon movies, and buy more Amazon stuff. Every screen has Amazon on it. If you don't watch out, you will accidentally open something Amazon. Thankfully it is no easier to buy something on it than on the Amazon site. Whew, what a relief! Did I say Amazon? In fact, they tell you all of this pretty much, you just don't see it because you are excited by a tablet for under $100. You get what you pay for. Yes, the screen is dark. No, changing the settings will not fix it. The screen is exactly as big as they said, and exactly as bright as they didn't say. They are serious about ads on the lockscreen: it costs $15 to eliminate those helpful, non-Amazon ads. They tell you that (well, not the price), so it is ok. But you cannot even control which icons show up on the screen. Amazon knows what you need. IMPORTANT SUBSEQUENT NOTE: Screen can be "fixed" under Settings -> Automatic Mod Switching (set to off), then re-adjust your brightness. This does not save the product, but makes it much more useful. No, you *cannot* run Google, other than Amazon-sanitized Google search. You must use Amazon's browser, which will not go to the Google Play Store. You cannot install Google. This is intensely frustrating. There is no Google. Yes, I am serious. And no one on the interwebs could ever possibly be smart enough to crack Amazon's secret code. No Google for you! But, if you are willing to put up with more Amazon in your life, it is ok. It is a $60 dollar disappointing and slightly annoying screen. By the time you buy screen protector, case, and no-ad option it comes out to about $107. So, a $107 screen that is noticeably dim. The resolution is ok. Battery seems ok. If you plug it into a slow USB slot and watch Pluto (see below), the battery won't run completely down for a long time, if ever (depends on how much Pluto is tasking it). If you just want Pluto on in the background (I don't know if you can access it, actually), it is ok. If you just need to stop burning your phone screen to have Pluto in the background, it is ok. Actually what I bought it for, except I wanted Google. If you want a tablet for your kid for school, don't buy it. If you want a tablet to do work on, don't buy it. If you like Google and you don't want to go through a maze of non-existent instructions on the youtubes, don't buy it. Please do not buy this for your child, they will be disappointed. If you just want to access your Amazon stuff, it is decent. Oh, by the way: turning it "off" with the button may not make the sounds stop, like your music or your Pluto (if it indeed works). I discovered that today. What other little surprised might I have in store? Why do I suspect that all is brighter in Amazon's browser? This earns a guarded meh from me. Your disappointment may vary. P.S. If there were a way to add Google, and Amazon made it go away, I would erase this whole review and write such a nasty review I would be banned for life. From Amazon. P.P.S. Buy an SD card with this... a 250G SanDisk (Samsung may be OK too) is a good deal is you can afford it. Otherwise you will only be able to store one (1) movie. Add about $50 to the price tag (so now we are in the $160 range). Card can be purchased easily from Amazon using this device. Share and Enjoy!
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