Amazon Aims High
With the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, the online retail giant has reaffirmed its determination to play rough in the high-end mainstream tablet market. It sits between the established “small” (7-inch) and “big” (10-inch) tablet forms. The 16GB Wi-Fi version (without ads on the home screen) will set you back a tenner more than the smaller iPad Mini Retina or 70 pounds less than the bigger iPad Air and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition.
Its little brother, the Kindle Fire HDX 7 has its sights on the value end of the market, matching Google’s Nexus 7 with a price tag of £ 200, so you might wonder quite where the HDX 8.9 fits into. In many ways it feels like one step down from the top tier tablet, if your budget will not quite stretch to the very best that’s Not such a bad place to be
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Is this a premium product
In a word, no That is, the HDX 8.9 Particularly does not feel special, even though it’s priced a long way above the “value” end of the scale. While it lacks the chic design of its rivals Apple and Samsung, it is remarkably thin and light. It’s comfortable to hold thanks to rubbery backing and edges that do not feel cold or sharp. That’s important in a tablet Primarily designed for leisurely, handheld reading and viewing.
Flip it over and you can not fail to notice a large embossed logo Amazon. It’s something thatwill turn off tech brand snobs for sure. The tapered top strip houses an 8MP camera and LED flash framed by a few Darth Vader helmet creases, flanked by stereo speakers. Hardware volume controls are usefully located to sit beneath the fingers of your right hand when holding the tablet in landscape mode. There’s work to be done in the desirability stakes but in terms of practicality Amazon has done a good job here.
CHECK OUT OUR FULL KINDLE FIRE HDX 8.9 GALLERY HERE
Beneath the surface
As with the Kindle Fire 7 HDX, the HDX is actually built on Android 8.9 but Because The interface is a bespoke top layer it does not look or feel like an Android tablet. The design and layout of the interface is neat enough but lacks some cohesion and Is not as intuitive as it could be, as if Amazon’s designer’s could not decide on a single system or heirachy for its various online services, apps, settings and navigation controls.
A row of text labels runs along the top of the screen, reminiscent of the company’s own website. Maybe that’s as unsurprising as it is uninspiring, Because most of them take you off to Amazon’s physical and virtual stores.
We find the interface more user-friendly than Windows 8 and it does not have Android’s tendancy to become cluttered, but it still feels as if it needs a stronger direction and focus. There are too many blank screens with no explantion (for example, if it fails to connect to the app store) and an over-reliance on swipes from offscreen in order to bring up essential menus and navigation controls. For simplicity and ease of use, Apple’s iOS 7 is still the best.
READ MORE: Check out our Apple iOS 7 review
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 specs
Operating system – Fire Mojito 3.0 (based on Android 4.2.2)
Processor – 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon CPU 800, Adreno 330 GPU
RAM – 2GB
Screen – 8.9in, 2560×1600 resolution (339ppi)
Cameras – 8MP rear with LED flash, 720p front
Storage – 16GB/32GB/64GB (not expandable) plus cloud storage
Connectivity – Bluetooth, dual-band Wi-Fi, MicroUSB, 3.5mm headphone
Battery life – Up to 12 hours (claimed ‘)
Dimensions – 231 x 158 x 7.8mm
Weight – 374g
ring-fenced app store
While the Kindle Fire is built on Android 8.9 HDX, it will not access the main Google Play app store. Instead, developers can submit their fiduciary Kindle editions apps to Amazon where they are then vetted and, if all is well, added to the Kindle App Store. The benefit is it That cuts out a lot of the dross and Reduces the Likelihood That’ll be mugged off or scammed by a dodgy app, and most of the big-hitters from Android are available, but there are some big exceptions, Such as WhatsApp Messenger and Instagram.
There are apps for all the functional stuff but if you want high quality games, educational apps or serious creative apps you’ll be disappointed by the omissions. Apple’s App Store continues to be leagues ahead in terms of the quality and range of apps available.
READ MORE: The 10 Best Kindle Fire Apps HDX
Kindle FreeTime: a safe place for kids
Much of Amazon’s tablet ethos revolves around security, and this extends beyond the app store. There’s a feature called Kindle FreeTime, designed to allow parents to “child-proof” the Kindle Fire HDX. It allows you to put the tablet into a mode where only specific apps or books can be used, and it’s usefull possible to Impose time limits on sessions thesis.
As a parent, you set up a new profile for a child or a number of children and Authorise certain apps or books whichwill be accessible when you log in to That profile. The profile can only be exited by entering a password, set by the parent. It’s a simple system that works very well and could be a major selling point for parents looking for a family-friendly tablet. It’s not unique (the Android 4.3 update includes a similar feature) but it is very useful and something that’s currently not available on many other tablets.
Mayday, the video helpdesk
Another helpful feature is the Mayday button. Accessed from the pull-down menu settings, this connects you to the Kindle help desk with a couple of taps. In our tests, calls have been answered in just a few seconds. Once you’re connected you get to see your little helper in a video window (they can not see you), and from there they can answer technical questions, aided by the ability to remotely control your device (with your permission) or sketch onto your screen to show you how to do things yourself.
We’ve found the helpdesk’s level of technical knowledge to be sufficient is to solve minor queries and the service has always friendly leg. This is a service to help out users who have “lost” all Their photos, or found that “the Internet has leg switched off”, so we’ll cut it some slack for the slightly vague responses we got to some more technically taxing queries .
Battery life
Amazon’s battery life claims or “Up to 12 hours of reading, web surfing over Wi-Fi, watching video or music playback” are probably achievable at low brightness settings, and in many sitations (in bed or on a flight) you will not need the luminance cranked up to the max In our tests, it lasted 5 hours, 20 minutes playing a continuous stream or live TV via the iPlayer app with brightness turned right up. A side-by-side tests with a Nexus 7 saw the smaller tablet pegging out at the 3hr, 45mins mark. Standby performance was a little disappointing, though: our 25%-charged Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 drained itself completely in a 63-hour spell of inactivity
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Music and video streaming
If you’re the kind of person who grumbles a mild obscenity and hit the “back” button as soon as the suggestion of a free 30-day trial pops up on your screen, the Kindle Fire range is probably not for you . The HDX 8.9 is full of Such things Because it’s really all about getting you hooked up to Amazon’s media subscription services, zoals a Lovefilm (for on-demand movies and TV), Amazon Prime (for access to a library-style book-lending service) and Audible (for audio books).
You can still buy music and ebooks as one-offs, and there’s the option usefull or uploading your own music files to Existing Amazon’s cloud storage, from where they can be streamed back to your tablet.
If you’re going to get the most from the HDX 8.9′ll need to buy into all of these, literally and figuratively. Once you do, the Kindle Fire 8.9 really starts to make sense. So long as you’re in range of a strong Wi-Fi signal you’ll have access to a huge amount and variety of entertainment.
A screen for crisp video
The screen is one of the HDX 8.9 ‘s best features. Depending on your source, images and video can sometimes have a slightly yellow hue but this is very minor and not something you’re likely to notice Unless doing side-by-side testing. The pixel density is sufficient is for the little dots to be invisible to the naked eye, rendering fonts, icons and webpages very cleanly. Viewing angles are pretty good, too, with an acceptable level of brightness reduction when shared around a boardroom table or across a sofa.
Verdict
The HDX 8.9 is certainly a safe option. Bigger than an iPad Mini Retina, cheaper than an Air or iPad Galaxy Note 10.1, it’s an outstanding middle-of-the-road option, and that’s not as much of a contradiction as it would seem.
tidier and simpler than the regular Android option, the HDX 8.9 will please Those looking for a no-fuss tablet solution, but if you stretch the budget just a little bit further Top you could have the best from Apple or Samsung. For this reason the far cheaper HDX 7 makes a lot more sense to us.
Review by Tony Horgan.
READ MORE: The 10 Best Tablets in the World right now
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