Best Amazon Fire Tablet 2021

Best

• Amazon Fire Tablet
• Android Central
• 2021

Best overall Amazon Fire Tablet: Fire HD 8 Tablet (2020)

The Fire HD 8 sits between the Fire 7 and Fire HD 10 in more ways than one. It’s roughly in the middle of the two sizes, but it’s also priced in the middle. Those two data points alone justify the Fire HD 8 as a great choice, but let’s explore more about what makes this device special.

For starters, it’s the lowest-priced Fire device you can get with a 1280×800 resolution display. The base model comes with 32GB of storage, but you can quickly and cheaply add to that with a microSD card and expand up to 1 TB. With up to 12 hours of battery life, you’ll have plenty of juice to watch several movies or play games on the go. The device features Dolby Atmos in its dual stereo speakers and comes with a headphone jack to enjoy your music or videos. You won’t get access to Google apps, but the Amazon app store has better offerings than it used to.

Our favorite feature here is the hands-free Alexa. You can call out to Alexa to ask questions or give commands. This device is great as an entertainment portal and can also serve as a smart home hub. You can use the touchscreen or Alexa to control your lights and thermostat, show you who’s at the front door through your Ring camera, or video chat with friends and family through its 720p HD video camera. You also get two 2MP cameras — one on the front and one on the back.

Even though the Fire HD 10 has a bigger screen with a higher ppi (pixels per inch) resolution, we think the Fire HD 8 has all you need for a fantastic entertainment experience. Adding Game Mode for distraction-free gaming will please both the kids and the adults in the family. The current iteration has a USB-C port for more efficient and faster charging, like the HD 10. Ag

If you want the most immersive video and gaming experience on a Fire tablet, you want a Fire HD 10. We know it’s the most expensive Fire, but you know what? It’s still darn affordable! Try firing another Android tablet or iPad of this size at anywhere close to this price.

The Fire HD 10 is the most prominent Amazon tablet with a full HD 1080p display, coming in at 1920×1200 resolution. It features a VGA front-facing camera with 720p HD video recording and has the same 2MP cameras as the HD 8. It offers up to 12 hours of battery life, including video watching, web browsing, and music listening, and it comes with Dolby Atmos, dual stereo speakers, and a headphone jack.

As its size would suggest, the Fire HD 10 comes with more storage (up to 64GB) that is expandable up to 512GB, and it has the best processor of the Fire tablet line. You can use that storage and processing speed to watch hours of Prime Video, Netflix, or Showtime, and playing mobile games on that full HD screen is a delight.

Even though it may be a bit heavy for some at just over a pound (17.8 ounces), we find it an excellent device for reading books, newspapers, magazines, or even websites — particularly if you need or want to enable a larger font. There is just so much more screen space to view your content on!

Amazon recently announced an all-new Fire HD 10 and HD 10 Plus, available for pre-order now and expected to ship in late May 2021. The Fire HD 10 Plus shares many of the same features as the HD 8 Plus, including wireless charging capabilities and increased RAM. The HD 10 Plus is also available in the Productivity Bundle, with a year of Microsoft Office 365 and a Bluetooth keyboard. We will update this guide once we’ve had a chance to review the new devices.

While the Fire HD 8 (2020) is an iterative improvement over the 8th-gen (2018) version in just about every way, the new HD 8 Plus brings all those enhancements plus some fascinating features that will help future-proof your tablet for years to come.

For starters, the HD 8 Plus has 3GB of RAM instead of 2GB in the HD 8, and it can charge up to an hour faster than the HD 8 (four hours vs. five hours). However, the most significant difference between the two tablets is that the HD 8 Plus can charge wirelessly. Amazon is selling an add-on wireless charging dock to keep your Fire HD 8 powered and in Show mode when you’re not actively using it. This doubles its value as a deviFirend, possibly negating the need for an Echo Show.

Yes, the HD 8 Plus is more expensive than the regular HD 8, and the wireless charging stand is an additional expense, putting it in or above the price range of the HD 10. However, I think the benefits those extras bring to the device mean that you’ll probably get a lot more and much longer use out of it than any other Amazon Fire tablet.

Every excellent product line has its entry point; for the Fire tablets, that’s the Fire 7. This version is the perfect portable companion for anyone who wants a low-cost tablet to watch their favorite shows on, play games, read their favorite new Kindle book, or maybe occasionally surf the web or check Facebook. As with the other Fire tablets, this device comes with 2-megapixel front and rear cameras and a 720p HD video camera, so you can still snap some decent shots and video chat to your heart’s content.

This would be a great option if you could get an affordable family tablet to share with your kids. With the savings you’ll get on this device, you can easily afford to pick up a protective case (maybe one that isn’t neon pink or yellow!). You can also add Amazon Kids+ to this or any other Fire tablet.

The Fire 7 is already cheap, but you can often find it unique for even less, making this practically an impulse buy. You can still access all of your favorite content from Amazon and other services through this device, and even though it’s not HD resolution, the screen looks good enough for most use cases. The battery life is decent, and you can add to its internal storage with a microSD card.

Some may object to this pick based on the price alone. The Fire HD 8 Kids Edition is significantly more expensive than the Fire HD 8 tablet, even though they are essentially the same device. So why is this so? It’s about all the extras which add to a good value.

Amazon’s Kids Edition Fire tablets all come with a kid-proof case with a built-in stand to protect the devices from inevitable accidents, and in the topic (pun intended) of the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition, you can get them in blue, pink, or purple. In addition to this point, Amazon throws in a two-year worry-free guarantee, so you can send the device back at any time if it gets damaged, and Amazon will send you a new one.

Just as important as physical device security is digital peace of mind. The Fire HD 8 Kids Edition has parental controls that allow you to decide what your child can and cannot do on-device. For example, it’s easy to set screen time limits, curfews, or limit content. Alexa and in-app purchasing are disabled by default. The device also comes with one year of Amazon Kids+, giving you access to 20,000 apps, books, videos, games, audiobooks, and educational content from PBS Kids, Nickelodeon, Disney, and more.

Back to the specs, this tablet features 32GB of storage, with the option to expand up to 1TB via the microSD card slot. The device can get up to 12 hours of battery life depending on usage, and it features dual stereo speakers and, blissfully, a headphone jack. There are also 2MP front and rear-facing cameras and a 720p video camera for when you want to have the kids chat with the grandparents. Of course, you also get unlimited cloud storage for any content purchased through Amazon.

Amazon is expanding its popular Kids Edition lineup of tablets to include new Fire Kids Pro models. The Fire 7 Kids Pro, Fire HD 8 Kids Pro, and Fire HD 10 Kids Pro are available for pre-order now and will ship in late May 2021. We will update this guide once we’ve had a chance to review the new devices.

Bottom line

The lineup of Amazon Fire tablets has never been so complete, and we can understand why these are among the best Android tablets on the market. They offer a great entertainment experience with industry-leading parental controls, child content options, and access to Alexa and Amazon’s connected home ecosystem at a fantastic value. Aside from the iPad, no other tablet series can compete!

When looking at the Fire tablets, we feel that the Fire HD 8 (2020) is the best choice for most people. It has an impressive HD screen, expandable storage, and hands-free Alexa. For the price, you can feel comfortable picking up two or three of these for less than the cost of an iPad, and you can easily share it with your family members if you choose.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide