Amazon Fire 7 (2022)
The Fire 7 is Amazon’s most affordable tablet. It packs a 7-inch display, a quad-core processor, and two cameras. Tablets don’t get simpler, or cheaper, than this.
Amazon Fire HD 8 (2022)
The Fire HD 8, featuring an 8-inch HD display, ticks a lot of the right boxes. It offers up to 13 hours of battery life, decent performance, and up to 64GB storage with a microSD card slot.
Amazon offers some of thebest cheap tabletson the market in its Fire lineup. Despite the rock-bottom pricing, theFire tabletsare chock-full of features and well-built, making them perfect for media consumption, web browsing, and more.
TheFire 7and theFire HD 8are two of Amazon’s entry-level tablet options. While both share some features in common, there are a lot more differences. So, if you’re in the market for a budget slate, which of the two should be your pick? Let’s find out.
Price, availability, and specifications
Amazon sells the Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 in two storage variants each. You can also pick fromversions with lock-screen adsand pricier versions without. The Fire 7 starts at $60 for the base 16GB variant with lock-screen ads. You can get the Fire HD 8’s base 32GB model with lock-screen ads at $100.
As is true for all Fire-branded Amazon products, the Fire 7 and the Fire HD 8 are frequently available at prices much lower than their list price. So you can always wait a bit to get a better deal.
Being 2022 models, both tablets are readily available via Amazon and Best Buy.
Design and display
The Fire 7 and the Fire HD 8 have essentially the same design, with a plastic build and thick bezels. Their backs are curved at the edges, which makes them slightly more comfortable to hold. The volume rocker, power button, USB-C port, and 3.5mm audio jack have been relegated to one edge of the tablet. The other sides are largely clean, with the microSD card slot on one side and the speaker grill on another. Overall, both slates' build quality is good for their price.
It’s the displays where the differences between the two start to emerge. The Fire 7, the most affordable in Amazon’s portfolio, has a paltry 1024x600p resolution (171 ppi). At a time when even the cheapest phones have at least an HD panel, it’s sad that this slate doesn’t have an HD screen, especially given that most people will use it as a media consumption tablet. But given the price, it’s hard to complain.
But, as the name suggests, Fire HD 8 comes with a higher definition 1280x800p (189 ppi) screen - though note that this is still below the 1080p resolution that most consider HD. Still, the resolution bump helps the tablet deliver a much better visual experience than the Fire 7.
Performance, connectivity, and cameras
Raw performance has never been a strong suit of the Amazon Fire tablets, particularly the Fire 7 and 8 models. And that’s not changed in the 2022 versions.
The Fire 7’s quad-core MediaTek MT8168V/B chip offers just enough to make the tablet functional. You will often find it sluggish, but things don’t become unusable unless you try to play a demanding game. Since most people will use it to watch the likes of Netflix and Prime Video, read e-books, and check social media, it will work fine. But don’t expect to play anything other than simple, casual games.
The Fire HD 8 has a slightly more powerful hexa-core MediaTek MT8169A chip. So, there is some improvement over the Fire 7. But don’t expect a drastically better performance, as it has the same 2GB RAM as the Fire 7. So it remains sluggish, and you won’t get the same experience as high-end or mid-range slates. But all this is expected considering the pricing. So, it’s an OK tablet for consuming media, web browsing, social media, and e-books.
In terms of connectivity, you’re limited to Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth. While the Fire HD 8 has Bluetooth 5.2, you get the older Bluetooth 5.0 on the Fire 7. There is no cellular version or even GPS. So, for location services, the tablets rely on Wi-Fi.
The twin 2MP cameras on both tablets are nothing exciting and are only suitable for low-resolution video calls and an occasional capture from the rear shooter when you don’t have your phone.
You get the Android 11-based Fire OS 8 on both the Fire 7 and the Fire HD 8. So, the software experience is the same, includingAlexasupport.
By default, here’s no access to the Google apps and the Google Play Store. But you can download apps from the Amazon Appstore, which has most of the popular apps and services you may want. If you’re comfortable with a bit of modding, you cansideload Google apps, but this unofficial method isn’t suitable for everyone.
Software support isn’t amazing, but that’s an issue for allbudget Android tablets. You will, at most, see one major Fire OS update. Otherwise, it’s mostly minor updates.
Amazon doesn’t reveal the exact battery specifications but shares the battery life in hours, which is pretty accurate. So you can expect up to 10 hours of battery life on the Fire 7 and up to 13 hours on the Fire HD 8.
As the HD 8 has a bigger battery, it also takes longer to charge. So, while you can juice up the Fire 7 in four hours with the bundled wall adapter, it will take five hours to do the same with the Fire HD 8. However, you can reduce the charging time to 2.5 hours by using a15W or faster USB-C power brick.
Which is the better tablet for you?
The Amazon Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 are excellent value for money. But if you’re in the market for a new budget slate, the Fire HD 8 makes more sense.
It has a higher resolution screen, which you’ll appreciate while streaming shows, longer battery life, plus a slightly faster processor and more storage. It costs more, but you’re able to still get the base model for under $100, which is a good deal.
Bigger screen plus more power
The Amazon Fire HD 8 provides excellent value for money with its decent display, reasonable performance, and great battery life. It’s made for media consumption.
However, if you want a more portable device that you won’t use a lot, the Fire 7 is a decent alternative. It’s not the fastest tablet, but it delivers enough performance for checking out social media, browsing the web, and enjoying videos. It’s also incredibly cheap, particularly when it’s on sale.
Decent alternative for the basics
The Fire 7 is a good option for anyone with basic needs and a shoestring budget. It delivers a decent battery life, an okay screen, and good build quality.
