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 # Scratch
 
+As much as a I dislike Amazon as a company, nay, a cultural force, I find the company's cheap tablets compelling. Fire tablets are one of the best values out there, and the new Fire HD 8 is no exception. 
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+Note though that I said "value". It's not the fastest, nor the fanciest, nor the sturdiest, but for the price the Fire HD 8 is a compelling option for those that are all-in on Amazon content—subscribe to Prime, love Alexa and so on.
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+The Fire HD 10 remains a more versatile tablet, but the smaller 8-inch models are worth a look if you don't want to spend that much.
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+### What's Right
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+Amazon has not messed with the design of the Fire HD 8. The 2022 version looks identical to the previous model, retaining the same screen, form factor and all-plastic construction. Like the previous model that all-plastic construction is surprisingly sturdy. I've dropped mine from about waist height on a hardwood floor several times without doing any damage. That said, it's not as well made as more expensive, metal tablets.
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+It is slightly lighter than the last model according to the spec sheet, but it's not something you're going to notice much. At tk pounds, the Fire HD 8 is pretty heavy for its size.
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+The 2.0 GHz hexa-core processor is new and in my testing was marginally faster. Amazon claims the new Fire HD 8 is 30 percent faster than the previous release, my experience using them side by side is that it's slightly faster, but in most tasks, like browsing the web or playing video, you won't notice a huge difference. Considered on its own, let's charitably say that this is not a speedy tablet. It gets the job done, but put it up against just about any other Android tablet on the market and it's going to lose. Again though, it's fast enough to do what it's designed to do, which is deliver Amazon content.
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+That Amazon content lands on an 8-inch 1280 x 800 pixel display, which is not great. It's the sort of thing that would send David Lynch into fits, but it works well enough if you don't care that much about deep rich colors and solid blacks. Pixelation is still painfully visible in text, but no worse than any other tablet at this price.
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+The Fire HD 8 is available in either 32-gigabytes or 64-gigabytes of storage. The more the better if you can afford it. You can expand that storage capacity up to 1-terabyte using the microSD card slot.
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+One of the highlights of the Fire HD 8 is the impressive battery life. Amazon is touting 13 hours, I only managed 10:22 streaming video, but that's still very good.The downside is that charging up is slow. The provided 5 watt charger took... so long I went and found a 15 watt charger. With the 15 watt I was able to get it recharged in under 3 hours. Still not fast but better than the provided option.
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+If you want slightly more power there is also the Fire HD 8 Plus, which offers an extra gigabyte of RAM, wireless charging, and a 5 megapixel camera (to the base models 2 megapixel—neither are very good so don't let this be the selling point of the Plus). The extra RAM is very welcome and makes the Plus model worth the extra money if you've got it. That said, the difference here is not as noticible as it is with the 10-inch Fire HD where the Plus model turns that slate into something you can get real work done on. If you want to get real work done, neither Fire HD 8 tablets are for you.
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+Along with the Plus model Amazon has quite a few other bundles, like the Fire HD 8 Kids models, which feature protective cases, some extra software and content bundles along with parental controls. There's also now a Gaming bundle that comes with a Luna Controller, though give the limiations of Fire OS, I can't imagine this appealing to many.
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+There in lies the main rub with Fire tablets—Amazon's software.
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+## What Wrong
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+Out of the box Amazon's Fire tablets offer an experience that reminds me most of the hyper ad-saturated world of Idiocracy. From the moment you try to unlock your Fire HD 8 you are confronted with an onslaught of ads and design dark patterns engineered to get you clicking on stuff, especially if you opt for the ad-supported models. Just don't. Spend the extra $20 to free yourself from some of the ads. Don't worry, you'll still have Amazon content pushed on you every time you so much as look at your Fire HD 8.
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+Fire OS has been updated to run on Android 11, which is still two full versions behind stock Android, but other than the app switching screen and few minor theme details, I could not tell much difference. Fire OS remains extremely limited by its App Store.
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+Out of the box Fire HD 8 tablets do not offer any Google apps, and no access to the Google Play store. The selection in the Amazon App Store is what you might call lacking. Want to watch YouTube? Chat on Slack? Nope, not happening. Even if you want to argue that this is tablet mostly for consumption, and doesn't need much of what's in the Google Play Store, YouTube is a glaring omission. My suggestion would be that if you have specific apps you want to use, browse Amazon's App Store before you buy to make sure what you want is available.
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+What about "sideloading" Google Play? We do have a guide on how to Install Google Play on Your Fire Tablet, but unfortunately that guide doesn't work for this model. Or at least it doesn't work with the current version of Fire OS. Some Reddit users who have recieved a software update to Fire OS 8.3.1.3 claim that they have been able to install and use Google Play. My review unit is so far stuck at Fire OS 8.2.1.2, which I can confirm will install the Google Play Store itself, but does not allow you to login and install any apps from it. I will update our guide with info on how to do it once I can confirm that it works.
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+## Conclusion
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