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  • (mellow music)

  • - This is Amazon's Fire HD 8 Plus tablet.

  • It is running Android.

  • Well, technically, it's Amazon's Fire OS,

  • but we'll get to that.

  • The base model of the Fire HD 8 costs just 90 bucks,

  • and this model with a little more RAM

  • and wireless charging is $110.

  • And you can also get it with a wireless charging dock

  • that turns it into a little Echo Show

  • for 140 bucks as a bundle.

  • And you know what?

  • This thing is great, I mean, it's terrible.

  • It's juttery and it's slow, and it's really limited

  • in app selection without a bunch of hacking,

  • but also, it is great, just not terribly great.

  • Look, you get what you pay for with this thing, sure,

  • but what you pay for isn't just the $110 for this tablet,

  • it's maybe also $120 a year for Amazon Prime.

  • And if you pay for Amazon Prime,

  • this tablet gets much more interesting.

  • If you've ever watched me talk about tablets

  • on video before, you've probably seen me

  • take a swipe at Android tablets.

  • I mean, like a joke swipe, not a literal interface swipe.

  • Look, there just aren't that many Android tablets

  • left anymore, especially here in the U.S.,

  • where even Samsung has struggled

  • to get any kind of real traction with them.

  • Google's also basically given up on Android tablets.

  • The last thing they really tried was this right here.

  • This is the Pixel Slate running Chrome OS,

  • but also Android apps, and it really didn't go so well.

  • The best and, in my opinion,

  • the only truly great Android tablet was the Nexus 7,

  • the second generation one, from all the way back in 2013.

  • And really, that thing was only good

  • because it acted like a big phone,

  • and that's basically what you've got here

  • with the Fire HD 8 Plus.

  • It is kinda like a really big phone.

  • So it sort of acts like a big phone,

  • but it doesn't really have the specs

  • you'd expect from a big phone.

  • It's got a quad-core MediaTek MT8168 processor in it

  • that runs at two gigahertz.

  • This Plus version has three gigs of RAM

  • and 32 gigs of storage, but you could upgrade

  • to 64 if you want, or you could put in

  • your own Micro SD card in the slot.

  • The screen is 1280x800, which at eight inches,

  • is not the most pixel-dense thing you're ever gonna see.

  • There are a couple of cameras, they're both two megapixels.

  • You should only use them for video calls, if at all.

  • They're pretty bad.

  • There is USB-C for charging, finally,

  • and a headphone jack, hooray.

  • If you know Android, you know that those specs

  • are enough to launch some apps and run most of your apps,

  • but it's not nearly enough to make any of it feel fast.

  • And, again, this thing runs Fire OS,

  • which is Amazon's version of Android,

  • and that also means it uses Amazon's app store

  • instead of Google's, so a lot of the time,

  • the app that you're gonna need just might not be there.

  • I mean, it's got the basics.

  • I've got Messenger and Zoom and some games,

  • but you can't get Google apps without doing some hacking,

  • and that's a huge pain.

  • But, again, this costs 110 bucks,

  • and I think that the bundle that costs 30 bucks extra

  • that gets you the wireless charger is totally worth it.

  • It puts the tablet into Show Mode,

  • which turns this into a Echo smart display

  • with decent-ish speakers for a tablet,

  • but it won't be as good as an Echo Show.

  • But, for me, it's just so much convenient

  • to have a wireless charger,

  • and it makes this thing feel like it's a part of my home,

  • in addition to the added Alexa functionality.

  • Okay, so why would you get this thing over,

  • say, an Echo Show?

  • Well, two words: Consuming content.

  • If you are an Amazon Prime subscriber,

  • it's easy to forget just how much free stuff you get

  • as part of your subscription.

  • Amazon Prime video has all of their Amazon Prime Originals,

  • but it also has a bunch of TV shows and movies

  • that they've licensed from other studios,

  • and a bunch of 'em aren't bad.

  • Like, you can stream the entire series of "Psyche,"

  • which is the most wholesome show from the late 2000s,

  • or "Burn Notice," also wholesome.

  • Anyway, they're great.

  • You could also get Prime Music,

  • which is a totally respectable radio-style

  • music streaming service.

  • It's not Spotify or Apple Music or anything,

  • but it's included.

  • You can get Amazon Photos,

  • which is a totally respectable photo storage service.

  • There's Prime Reading, which gives you

  • a bunch of free books, and again, some of 'em aren't bad.

  • I am also a Kindle user, so it has my entire Kindle library.

  • So, Amazon good, free stuff on a cheap tablet.

  • And it doesn't really matter that it's

  • kind of a slow tablet, because all you're really doing

  • is getting to the video or the book or the music.

  • And, actually, most of the video apps

  • you care about are available.

  • Netflix and Hulu and HBO whatever-it's-called now.

  • There is a YouTube app, but it's a web app, and it works.

  • But, also, Amazon bad, because there is a lot

  • of upselling going on on this tablet.

  • I'm already a $120 a year Prime subscriber,

  • but they want me to sign up for Kindle Unlimited,

  • which is a book subscription service,

  • or maybe set up for Starz or some other cable channel

  • via their cable channel subscription service,

  • or get Audible, a audiobook subscription service,

  • or Prime Music Unlimited, a music subscription service,

  • or get subscriptions to newspapers

  • or magazines through Amazon.

  • It's just a minefield up upsells.

  • And also, speaking of selling stuff,

  • the home screen has the Amazon store right on it,

  • which is very dangerous for me.

  • It is a whack-a-mole for ways

  • that you could pay Amazon more money,

  • but instead of trying to hit the little buggers,

  • you're trying to avoid them.

  • All right, Amazon good, Amazon bad.

  • Amazon actually really good,

  • because the Fire tablets have a kids mode

  • that has really strong parental controls.

  • In fact, Fire tablets fully support multi-user accounts,

  • and so this tablet can really feel

  • like it belongs to the entire family.

  • You could have default everybody account

  • that uses the Alexa stuff.

  • You could also have a separate account for each person

  • who might wanna use it, with all of their personal email

  • and whatever else.

  • The iPad still can't do that.

  • So you get an inexpensive knockaround tablet

  • that runs (grunts), and feels like it's a part of your house

  • instead of your tablet that you have to loan out

  • to your entire family.

  • Oh, and you know what?

  • Batter life is really good.

  • Depending on the screen brightness, which isn't that high,

  • you should expect eight to 10 hours of watching video.

  • That's what I'm getting.

  • And it also charges a little bit faster

  • because it's got USB-C here.

  • The nine-watt charger that comes with it

  • charges this thing up 20% in a half an hour.

  • A faster charger can get you an even faster charge.

  • $110 tablet that lets me watch, basically,

  • any video or read any book, what's not to love?

  • Well, you know, using it to do anything

  • other than open up a video app or a Kindle book,

  • because, again, it's slow.

  • If you can afford it, even the lowest-end $329 iPad

  • has a bigger screen, runs circles around this thing

  • in terms of speed and has more and better apps.

  • The Fire HD 8, it's gonna feel slower than your phone,

  • even if your phone is a few years old.

  • But, look, slow is okay if you're just using it

  • to open up Prime Video or Netflix or a Kindle book,

  • and slow doesn't matter for running Alexa in Show Mode.

  • It doesn't need speed.

  • If you try and do more than that stuff,

  • this thing is terrible, but if you don't,

  • it's actually pretty great.

  • Hey, everybody, thanks so much for watching.

  • I really hope I didn't set off your smart speaker.

  • I did my very, very best not to say Alexa.

  • Let me know in the comments if I did.

  • And if you're looking for other great videos to watch,

  • Verge Science just made a really good video

  • about how SpaceX sent humans

  • to the International Space Station.

(mellow music)

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